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The differences between customer service representatives and sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a customer service representative, becoming a sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a sales representative has an average salary of $56,591, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer service representative include cleanliness, POS and data entry. The most important skills for a sales representative are sales process, product knowledge, and customer service.
| Customer Service Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $32,260 | $56,591 |
| Hourly rate | $15.51 | $27.21 |
| Growth rate | -4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 209,515 | 205,456 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 4.33 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Average age | 40 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 4 |
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.
Customer service representatives and sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $32,260 | $56,591 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $41,000 | Between $33,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | Des Moines, WA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Oracle | |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a customer service representative and a sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between customer service representatives' and sales representatives' demographics:
| Customer Service Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |