What is a Direct Sales Agent?

Direct sales agents are independent salespeople who distribute goods through the network they create. They work directly with consumers, selling the products and finding each customer personally.

As a direct sales agent, you will be self-employed and responsible for arranging market materials and samples for yourself. You will be working for a commission after the merchandise you sell, and you are free to manage your own working methods. No one will check your schedule or tell you how to do your job; whether you sell online or door-to-door is entirely up to you.

You will need to build a network of clientele on your own. People typically start with family and friends, so that might work for you as well. If word gets around, your product will be successful, but you might invest in other marketing strategies as well. Your only limit is your creativity

What Does a Direct Sales Agent Do

There are certain skills that many direct sales agents have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, math skills and analytical skills.

Learn more about what a Direct Sales Agent does

How To Become a Direct Sales Agent

If you're interested in becoming a direct sales agent, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 53.3% of direct sales agents have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.6% of direct sales agents have master's degrees. Even though most direct sales agents have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Direct Sales Agent

Top Direct Sales Agent Jobs Near You

Career Path For a Direct Sales Agent

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of assistant manager you might progress to a role such as account manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title senior account manager.

Direct Sales Agent

Average Salary for a Direct Sales Agent

Direct Sales Agents in America make an average salary of $57,712 per year or $28 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $107,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $30,000 per year.

Average Direct Sales Agent Salary

$57,712 Yearly

$27.75 hourly

$30,00010%

$57,000Median

$107,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Direct Sales Agent

The role of a direct sales agent includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general direct sales agent responsibilities:

Receives incoming calls/emails from commercial lines insurance prospects
Supervise team responsible for retaining current subscribers of comcast business class high speed internet, video
Conduct sales presentations as trained on the telephone. Engage the owner/customer by creating interest in the campaigns being marketed. Build rapport with owners/customers in a short period of time. Persuade owners to add to their portfolio. Gather

There are several types of direct sales agent, including:

Sales Representative

Role:

As the sole point of contact, sales representatives are responsible for all business matters when it comes to their clients. They ensure the right products are delivered, follow customer leads, and pitch prospective customers.

Probably the most important aspect of a sales representative's job is closing on sales. That's what keeps the business running and your paycheck coming. There are some times when you'll have to deal with tough situations, like customer complaints, and you'll have to know how to fix the situation.

The majority of sales representatives spend about 47 hours a week at work. From travel time to breaks and interacting with customers, you've got some long days ahead. Although, it's not a bad gig, especially since you only need a high school diploma. The majority of your education in your career will come from on-the-job training - nothing beats hands-on experience.

Average Salary: $56,591
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Sales Consultant

Role:

A sales consultant is responsible for meeting with existing and new clients in a sales approach. Your goal as a sales consultant is to effectively sell products. Well, in a way.

The clients you meet with will come to you with certain problems concerning their business, your job is to figure out how to sell those products or services in a way that increases the company's sales as a whole.

To become a sales consultant, you'll want to earn a bachelor's degree. Generally speaking, an advanced degree will help you in the long run, especially when it comes to meeting sales goals. And everyone knows that more sales means more money.

Average Salary: $60,135
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Agent

Role:

So long to the days of claiming you don't know where you want to go for lunch because, as an agent, you have a lot of decision-making power in your hands. Be prepared to use it.

Agents help clients by acting as their liasion. They negotiate terms of contracts, particularly on a financial level. The more money you make your client, the more money you'll be able to collect. So you'll want to work on your negotiation and persuasion skills.

Agents work in a variety of industries, so you can have your pick of opportunities. Some work in the entertainment industry, while others are in the financial scene. Wherever you end up, you'll most likely be working a full-time job. Although, some client meetings can be done outside of normal work hours. This means you might want to prepare yourself for some late nights.

Average Salary: $37,864
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview Job Description Jobs

States With The Most Direct Sales Agent Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active direct sales agent jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where direct sales agents earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Direct Sales Agent Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	10,569	$66,586
2	Texas	7,212	$60,802
3	Florida	6,804	$54,301
4	Pennsylvania	6,629	$66,138
5	New York	5,944	$116,245
6	Ohio	4,635	$61,292
7	Illinois	4,222	$58,725
8	Massachusetts	4,099	$64,817
9	New Jersey	3,982	$70,549
10	North Carolina	3,377	$62,915
11	Georgia	3,350	$39,687
12	Virginia	2,891	$64,857
13	Minnesota	2,578	$61,623
14	Michigan	2,542	$55,427
15	Arizona	2,429	$51,032
16	Tennessee	2,401	$49,714
17	Indiana	2,376	$59,694
18	Missouri	2,195	$66,884
19	Maryland	2,156	$60,399
20	Washington	2,143	$62,438
21	Wisconsin	2,084	$56,270
22	Colorado	1,867	$49,812
23	Oregon	1,769	$56,104
24	South Carolina	1,660	$40,706
25	Alabama	1,505	$47,377
26	Utah	1,331	$47,503
27	Connecticut	1,327	$73,149
28	Iowa	1,143	$48,153
29	Louisiana	1,079	$44,413
30	Kentucky	1,075	$58,405
31	Kansas	992	$80,662
32	Oklahoma	965	$39,573
33	Arkansas	868	$55,351
34	Nebraska	868	$47,899
35	Nevada	806	$53,164
36	Mississippi	693	$48,197
37	Rhode Island	623	$80,389
38	Idaho	603	$39,941
39	New Hampshire	600	$66,133
40	New Mexico	558	$50,562
41	West Virginia	530	$64,689
42	Montana	504	$46,797
43	Maine	491	$64,859
44	Delaware	476	$62,297
45	North Dakota	319	$50,927
46	Vermont	311	$65,923
47	South Dakota	301	$44,540
48	Hawaii	231	$59,410
49	Wyoming	212	$57,711
50	Alaska	174	$50,082

Direct Sales Agent Education

Direct Sales Agent Majors

Business

35.0 %

Marketing

8.2 %

Psychology

5.5 %

Direct Sales Agent Degrees

Bachelors

53.3 %

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 25.5% of direct sales agents listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and math skills are important as well.

Customer Service, 25.5%

Medicare, 14.6%

Health Insurance, 11.9%

Direct Sales, 11.2%

Underwriting Process, 5.9%

Other Skills, 30.9%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Direct Sales Agent Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Direct Sales Agent templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Direct Sales Agent resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Direct Sales Agent diversity

Direct Sales Agent Gender Distribution

Male

58%

Female

42%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among direct sales agents, 42.0% of them are women, while 58.0% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among direct sales agents is White, which makes up 68.2% of all direct sales agents.

The most common foreign language among direct sales agents is Spanish at 60.0%.

Online Courses For Direct Sales Agent That You May Like

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Best States For a Direct Sales Agent

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a direct sales agent. The best states for people in this position are New York, Kansas, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Direct sales agents make the most in New York with an average salary of $116,245. Whereas in Kansas and Rhode Island, they would average $80,662 and $80,389, respectively. While direct sales agents would only make an average of $73,149 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. New York

Total Direct Sales Agent Jobs: 5,944

Highest 10% Earn:

$193,000

Location Quotient:

1.22

$116,245

Avg. Salary

View 5,944 Direct Sales Agent Jobs In NY

2. Rhode Island

Total Direct Sales Agent Jobs: 623

Highest 10% Earn:

$135,000

Location Quotient:

1.34

$80,389

Avg. Salary

View 623 Direct Sales Agent Jobs In RI

3. Pennsylvania

Total Direct Sales Agent Jobs: 6,629

Highest 10% Earn:

$116,000

Location Quotient:

1.49

$66,138

Avg. Salary

View 6,629 Direct Sales Agent Jobs In PA

Full List Of Best States For Direct Sales Agents

How Do Direct Sales Agents Rate Their Jobs?

Top Direct Sales Agent Employers

Most Common Employers For Direct Sales Agent

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Tupperware Brands	$74,868	$35.99	9
2	Anthem	$69,481	$33.40	74
3	Intelliweather	$63,188	$30.38	11
4	Progressive	$59,545	$28.63	18
5	Nationwide	$56,837	$27.33	159
6	Vivint Smart Home	$53,314	$25.63	11
7	Allstate	$50,559	$24.31	54
8	Comcast Technology Solutions	$47,144	$22.67	43
9	DISH Network	$44,531	$21.41	48
10	AT&T	$44,486	$21.39	25

Direct Sales Agent Videos

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Updated April 6, 2023

What is a Direct Sales Agent?

What Does a Direct Sales Agent Do

How To Become a Direct Sales Agent

Career Path For a Direct Sales Agent

Average Salary for a Direct Sales Agent

Roles and Types of Direct Sales Agent

Sales Representative

Role:

Sales Consultant

Role:

Agent

Role:

States With The Most Direct Sales Agent Jobs

Number Of Direct Sales Agent Jobs By State

Direct Sales Agent Education

Direct Sales Agent Majors

Direct Sales Agent Degrees

Top Colleges for Direct Sales Agents

1. Stanford University

2. University of Pennsylvania

3. Northwestern University

4. Maine Maritime Academy

5. University of Southern California

6. California State University - Bakersfield

7. SUNY at Binghamton

8. Villanova University

9. San Diego State University

10. Bentley University

Top Skills For a Direct Sales Agent

Choose From 10+ Customizable Direct Sales Agent Resume templates

Direct Sales Agent diversity

Direct Sales Agent Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Direct Sales Agent That You May Like

Best States For a Direct Sales Agent

How Do Direct Sales Agents Rate Their Jobs?

Top Direct Sales Agent Employers

Most Common Employers For Direct Sales Agent

Direct Sales Agent Videos

Direct Sales Agent Related Careers

Direct Sales Agent Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs