Director of retail sales vs account director

The differences between directors of retail sales and account directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a director of retail sales and an account director. Additionally, an account director has an average salary of $114,728, which is higher than the $36,773 average annual salary of a director of retail sales.

The top three skills for a director of retail sales include customer satisfaction, product line and retail sales. The most important skills for an account director are account management, project management, and work ethic.

Director of retail sales vs account director overview

	Director Of Retail Sales	Account Director
Yearly salary	$36,773	$114,728
Hourly rate	$17.68	$55.16
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	180,640	132,260
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 78%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

What does a director of retail sales do?

A director of retail sales is in charge of spearheading and overseeing retail sales operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. They are primarily responsible for setting goals and objectives, supervising product roadmaps, managing budgets, coordinating managers and different departments, and making decisions in adherence to the company's needs. They must also monitor the progress of sales, implementing solutions in problem areas. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage the employees to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does an account director do?

An account director is responsible for managing client accounts, monitoring budgets, and sales forecasting. Their goal is to maintain stable account management strategies, meet clients' demands, develop healthy professional partnerships that would generate revenues, increase profitability, and achieve the organization's long-term goals objectives. Account directors supervise the account management staff, ensuring the project's successful completion with the highest efficiency and accuracy. An account director also plans training programs to maximize their performance and productivity, especially when dealing with deadlines and clients' requests.

Director of retail sales vs account director salary

Directors of retail sales and account directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director Of Retail Sales	Account Director
Average salary	$36,773	$114,728
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $62,000	Between $82,000 And $158,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	New Jersey
Best paying company	BlackRock	BuzzFeed
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Professional

Differences between director of retail sales and account director education

There are a few differences between a director of retail sales and an account director in terms of educational background:

	Director Of Retail Sales	Account Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 78%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Director of retail sales vs account director demographics

Here are the differences between directors of retail sales' and account directors' demographics:

	Director Of Retail Sales	Account Director
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 65.1% Female, 34.9%	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between director of retail sales and account director duties and responsibilities

Director of retail sales example responsibilities.

Manage initial contact, negotiation and administration of all OEM programs.
Manage a staff of 2 OEM account managers and 3 national account managers.
Monitor and manage all KPI's driving DTC business including taster count, bottles per visitor, conversion rates and attrition.
Manage multi-million dollar advertising budgets and strategically book vehiclesgarnering optimal visibility and ROI.
Full responsibility for all sales activities for a start-up electronic commerce company managing electronic data flow in the healthcare industry.
Visit and train in store sales staff on new products, sales reports, POS placement and customer service.

Account director example responsibilities.

Manage coordination with HCP agencies for launch.
Manage the development and creation of print and broadcast advertising and in-store merchandising.
Manage relationships with all GPO pharmacy, medical device, and physician preference teams.
Manage client accounts as well as introducing cross selling into other verticals to increase the portfolio.
Manage RFP / RFI process and drive all opportunities that provide a consultative, long-term solution and support.
Increase clients SEO rankings and achieve first page placement both locally and nationally for highly search phrases for a client.

Director of retail sales vs account director skills

Common director of retail sales skills

Customer Satisfaction, 11%
Product Line, 8%
Retail Sales, 6%
CRM, 6%
POS, 5%
Market Research, 5%

Common account director skills

Account Management, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Work Ethic, 7%
Healthcare, 7%
Digital Marketing, 5%
Email Marketing, 4%

Director Of Retail Sales vs. similar jobs

Director Of Retail Sales related careers

Director Of Retail Sales related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Executive Management Industry
Director Of Retail Sales
Director Of Retail Sales vs Account Director

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse executive management jobs