1. SUNY College of Technology at Alfred
Alfred, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,570
Enrollment
3,721
Direct sales representatives are responsible for creating customer awareness of the company's products and services. They present these products and services to potential customers to aid in closing sales. Some of their duties include researching the products of competitors and identifying opportunities to increase sales. They assist in developing and executing sales and marketing plans. As a direct sales rep, you will answer customers' inquiries about product pricing, availability, features, and benefits. You'll help management in finding viable marketing and pricing strategies.
The minimum educational requirement for this role is a high school diploma or GED. However, having a bachelor's degree in marketing, business administration, or a related field can be advantageous. Candidates must have proven sales experience. You must possess selling, networking, negotiation, customer service, and communication skills. You must be able to retain important information. Direct sales reps make an average annual salary of $38,759. This varies between $20,000 and $74,000.
There are certain skills that many direct sales representatives 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 interpersonal skills, physical stamina and self-confidence.
If you're interested in becoming a direct sales representative, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 53.4% of direct sales representatives have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.2% of direct sales representatives have master's degrees. Even though most direct sales representatives have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
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 account executive you might progress to a role such as account manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title director, inside sales.
What Am I Worth?
The role of a direct sales representative 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 representative responsibilities:
There are several types of direct sales representative, including:
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.
An inside sales representative is responsible for generating sales. As opposed to outside salespeople, who travel to broker sales on location and face-to-face, an inside sales rep works remotely.
Inside sales reps typically communicate with potential clients over the phone or via email. They research and identify leads and do their best to create hype for a product, all while building fruitful relations with customers. They also contribute to creating marketing strategies.
Inside sales reps generally work for commission, so the more you work, the more you make, and working hours are pretty much up to you. This is a job that can be done from home, which may or may not result in higher productivity.
Your salary will vary significantly, though, depending on where you work, what industry you work for, and whether you have that sales DNA or not. Or call it skills. It is up to your temperament, whichever makes you feel more comfortable.
Outside sales representatives are responsible for increasing sales by maintaining and developing relationships with clients and customers. To do this, you will need to identify potential clients, follow up on the potential clients, and also maintain relationships with the existing clients. After identifying potential clients, you are expected to meet their sales needs to ensure a lasting relationship. You will also sometimes need to travel to meet clients and inform them of new products and their features so you can negotiate sales contracts.
In the process of identifying potential clients, you will have to schedule and perform product demonstrations to the new clients in a convincing manner. Other duties involve generating and submitting sales reports to management and recommending a marketing strategy for specific regions. One of the major secrets to succeeding as a sales representative is to learn to sustain relationships.
Excellent communication skills, outstanding marketing strategy skills, and consumer psychology are crucial to succeeding as an outside sales representative. Apart from this, you must enjoy traveling and must be proficient with presentation software, spreadsheet, and word processing. The annual salary of an outside sales representative is $71,145, and the educational background is a bachelor's degree in business management or other related disciplines.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active direct sales representative jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where direct sales representatives earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 8,783 | $55,674 |
2 | Texas | 4,915 | $56,185 |
3 | Florida | 4,729 | $50,187 |
4 | Pennsylvania | 4,390 | $49,044 |
5 | New York | 3,799 | $57,087 |
6 | Ohio | 2,999 | $52,074 |
7 | New Jersey | 2,882 | $53,384 |
8 | Illinois | 2,755 | $59,252 |
9 | Massachusetts | 2,488 | $56,334 |
10 | North Carolina | 2,256 | $51,485 |
11 | Georgia | 2,169 | $53,063 |
12 | Virginia | 2,169 | $51,767 |
13 | Minnesota | 1,825 | $63,662 |
14 | Arizona | 1,710 | $49,003 |
15 | Wisconsin | 1,631 | $56,169 |
16 | Indiana | 1,570 | $60,319 |
17 | Washington | 1,546 | $63,617 |
18 | Michigan | 1,468 | $54,397 |
19 | Tennessee | 1,465 | $45,299 |
20 | Maryland | 1,464 | $47,952 |
21 | Colorado | 1,301 | $50,408 |
22 | Missouri | 1,207 | $49,503 |
23 | Oregon | 1,098 | $60,943 |
24 | South Carolina | 1,054 | $39,540 |
25 | Alabama | 1,025 | $46,790 |
26 | Connecticut | 1,020 | $57,578 |
27 | Utah | 893 | $49,968 |
28 | Iowa | 887 | $57,463 |
29 | Kentucky | 778 | $53,813 |
30 | Kansas | 658 | $51,465 |
31 | Arkansas | 623 | $45,700 |
32 | Louisiana | 595 | $39,184 |
33 | Oklahoma | 567 | $36,303 |
34 | Nebraska | 485 | $41,538 |
35 | Nevada | 477 | $50,432 |
36 | Rhode Island | 392 | $58,409 |
37 | Idaho | 392 | $52,175 |
38 | West Virginia | 370 | $36,206 |
39 | Mississippi | 359 | $35,492 |
40 | New Hampshire | 356 | $52,266 |
41 | Maine | 353 | $69,856 |
42 | Delaware | 346 | $44,570 |
43 | New Mexico | 317 | $44,562 |
44 | Montana | 300 | $47,058 |
45 | Vermont | 220 | $53,393 |
46 | North Dakota | 208 | $56,478 |
47 | South Dakota | 184 | $53,330 |
48 | Alaska | 152 | $54,503 |
49 | Hawaii | 145 | $34,915 |
50 | Wyoming | 142 | $54,016 |
Alfred, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,570
Enrollment
3,721
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-State Tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,309
Enrollment
9,142
Waco, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$45,542
Enrollment
14,159
Muncie, IN • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,896
Enrollment
15,529
Madison, WI • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,555
Enrollment
30,360
Delhi, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,360
Enrollment
3,142
Waltham, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$49,880
Enrollment
4,177
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, 33.4% of direct sales representatives listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and physical stamina are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Direct Sales Representative templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Direct Sales Representative resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a direct sales representative. The best states for people in this position are Maine, Minnesota, Washington, and Oregon. Direct sales representatives make the most in Maine with an average salary of $69,856. Whereas in Minnesota and Washington, they would average $63,662 and $63,617, respectively. While direct sales representatives would only make an average of $60,943 in Oregon, 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. Maine
$69,856
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$58,409
Avg. Salary
3. Minnesota
$63,662
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Standard Chartered | $75,509 | $36.30 | 24 |
2 | Progressive | $50,187 | $24.13 | 113 |
3 | Mediacom Communications | $47,828 | $22.99 | 115 |
4 | Cable ONE | $47,070 | $22.63 | 22 |
5 | Comcast Technology Solutions | $46,461 | $22.34 | 377 |
6 | DISH Network | $43,701 | $21.01 | 30 |
7 | Allstate | $43,165 | $20.75 | 58 |
8 | PepsiCo | $42,605 | $20.48 | 28 |
9 | Knology | $42,267 | $20.32 | 36 |
10 | Cablevision | $41,569 | $19.99 | 40 |