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What is a customer sales representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Frederik Beuk,
John Cicala Ph.D.
introduction image

A customer sales representative is an individual who works in a sales or marketing role and is responsible for selling products or services to customers. They can work in various industries, such as retail, telecommunications, or finance. Their primary duties include finding potential clients, promoting products or services, answering product questions and then closing sales deals and providing after-sales support. They also are responsible for maintaining customer records, tracking sales performance, and achieving sales targets.

What general advice would you give to a customer sales representative?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.
ScoreCustomer Sales RepresentativeUS Average
Salary
3.0

Avg. Salary $38,744

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
9.0
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.72%

Asian 6.79%

Black or African American 10.60%

Hispanic or Latino 24.37%

Unknown 5.37%

White 52.15%

Gender

female 55.11%

male 44.89%

Age - 39
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39
Stress level
5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level
6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance
6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a customer sales representative?

Pros

  • Opportunity to develop strong communication skills

  • Possibility to earn commission or bonuses

  • Often offers flexible scheduling

  • Provides valuable experience in sales and customer service

  • Can lead to career advancement opportunities

Cons

  • Can be challenging dealing with difficult customers

  • May require working long hours, including weekends or holidays

  • Can be stressful due to performance expectations

  • Often involves repetitive tasks and a high volume of calls or interactions

  • Can have a high turnover rate due to the demanding nature of the job.

Customer sales representative career paths

Key steps to become a customer sales representative

  1. Explore customer sales representative education requirements

    Most common customer sales representative degrees

    Bachelor's

    36.6 %

    High School Diploma

    30.6 %

    Associate

    19.2 %
  2. Start to develop specific customer sales representative skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Customer Service18.82%
    Product Knowledge13.39%
    Customer Sales8.71%
    Cleanliness8.37%
    Excellent Interpersonal5.98%
  3. Complete relevant customer sales representative training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer sales representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer sales representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer sales representative resumes.
  4. Research customer sales representative duties and responsibilities

    • Manage call center productivity levels by maintaining CSR schedule adherence.
    • Help customers if internet are running slow, if phone are not working, and also help to troubleshoot with them.
    • Practice good housekeeping methods and overall cleanliness.
    • Maintain cleanliness and organization of inventory within the assigned department.
  5. Prepare your customer sales representative resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer sales representative resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer sales representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable customer sales representative resume templates

    Build a professional customer sales representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer sales representative resume.
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    Customer Sales Representative Resume
    Customer Sales Representative Resume
    Customer Sales Representative Resume
  6. Apply for customer sales representative jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a customer sales representative job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first customer sales representative job

Zippi

Are you a customer sales representative?

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Average customer sales representative salary

The average customer sales representative salary in the United States is $38,744 per year or $19 per hour. Customer sales representative salaries range between $27,000 and $54,000 per year.

Average customer sales representative salary
$38,744 Yearly
$18.63 hourly

What am I worth?

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How do customer sales representatives rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Customer sales representative reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2024
Pros

remote job, more schedule flexibility

Cons

very low salary, no career growth, very stressful and not rewarding


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A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022
Pros

I got to do a variety of tasks daily. Got treated with respect from management and other coworkers.

Cons

Sometimes I had to finish up job tasks that were assigned to others that were not completed.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2022
Pros

Getting to know the people and the you work.with

Cons

Being required to answer a minimum number of calls a day. This pushes the idea that the caller is a number and as such, it is more difficult to personalize the call the the person calling in


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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