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.
How to Become a Direct Sales Representative
What is a Direct Sales Representative
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Direct Sales Representative. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.62 an hour? That's $44,967 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 35,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Direct Sales Representative Do
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.
How To Become a Direct Sales Representative
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.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Direct Sales Representative. When we researched the most common majors for a Direct Sales Representative, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Direct Sales Representative resumes include High School Diploma degrees or Master's Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Direct Sales Representative. In fact, many Direct Sales Representative jobs require experience in a role such as Customer Service Representative. Meanwhile, many Direct Sales Representatives also have previous career experience in roles such as Sales Representative or Sales Associate.
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Direct Sales Representative Career Paths
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.
Direct Sales Representative Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Direct Sales Representative
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12 Direct Sales Representative Resume Examples
Build a professional direct sales representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your direct sales representative resume.
Jacob Hunt Direct Sales Representative |
Johnny Jackson Direct Sales Representative Experience Direct Sales Representative2020 - Present TruGreen•Crestwood, IL
Outside Sales Associate2015 - 2020 AT&T•Chicago, IL
Appliance Sales Specialist2011 - 2015 Lowe's•Oakbrook Terrace, IL
Skills Special Order SalesGreeting CustomersREPProfitable SalesRevenue GrowthAppropriate SolutionsDepotProspective CustomersProduct KnowledgeTV Education Bachelor's Degree Business2003 - 2006 DeVry University•Oakbrook Terrace, IL |
Learn How To Write a Direct Sales Representative Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Direct Sales Representative resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Direct Sales Representative Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Direct Sales Representative Resume templates
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.
Direct Sales Representative Demographics
Direct Sales Representative Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Direct Sales Representatives, 31.6% of them are women, while 68.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Direct Sales Representatives is White, which makes up 76.5% of all Direct Sales Representatives.
- The most common foreign language among Direct Sales Representatives is Spanish at 69.1%.
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Direct Sales Representative Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Direct Sales Representative Jobs - $64K and Up
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- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Direct Sales Representative Jobs
Top Colleges for Direct Sales Representatives
1. SUNY College of Technology at Alfred
Alfred, NY • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
4. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
5. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
6. Baylor University
Waco, TX • Private
7. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Private
8. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Private
9. SUNY College of Technology at Delhi
Delhi, NY • Private
10. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
Find the best Direct Sales Representative job for you
Direct Sales Representative Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Direct Sales Representative Jobs - $64K and Up
- Entry Level Direct Sales Representative Jobs
- Part Time Direct Sales Representative Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Direct Sales Representative Jobs
Online Courses For Direct Sales Representative That You May Like
Lead Generation and pre-sales skills: Learn lead generation, introducing yourself & qualifying your lead in 3 hours...
Practical, Hands-on Sales Techniques and Tools to Effortlessly Engage your Customers In Your Sales Presentations...
Closing Sales: Sales Training Course: Sales Skills; Selling Techniques; Sales Strategies for B2B, B2C Direct Sales...
Top Skills For a Direct Sales Representative
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, 26.9% of Direct Sales Representatives listed Customer Service on their resume, but soft skills such as Interpersonal skills and Physical stamina are important as well.
Best States For a Direct Sales Representative
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 New Jersey, Maryland, Indiana, and Minnesota. Direct Sales Representatives make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $71,091. Whereas in Maryland and Indiana, they would average $69,485 and $69,181, respectively. While Direct Sales Representatives would only make an average of $68,901 in Minnesota, 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 Jersey
$71,091
Avg. Salary
2. Minnesota
$68,901
Avg. Salary
3. Indiana
$69,181
Avg. Salary
How Do Direct Sales Representative Rate Their Jobs?
Direct Sales Representative Videos
