Director of sales vs director of client relations

The differences between directors of sales and directors of client relations can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a director of sales, becoming a director of client relations takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a director of client relations has an average salary of $116,480, which is higher than the $111,068 average annual salary of a director of sales.

The top three skills for a director of sales include sales process, customer service and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a director of client relations are project management, client issues, and healthcare.

Director of sales vs director of client relations overview

	Director Of Sales	Director Of Client Relations
Yearly salary	$111,068	$116,480
Hourly rate	$53.40	$56.00
Growth rate	5%	8%
Number of jobs	91,891	63,226
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	46	42
Years of experience	8	4

What does a director of sales do?

A sales director is responsible for managing the sales operation of the team, ensuring that members comply with the sales strategies and procedures in meeting sales goals. Sales directors' duties include maintaining consistency of sales targets, providing reports and important updates for sales improvement, managing customers' inquiries and resolving complaints, launching new services to expand product offers, researching the current market trends, and improving sales plans. A sales director must have excellent leadership and decision-making skills to support and acknowledge the team's best efforts.

What does a director of client relations do?

A director of client relations is responsible for maintaining healthy business partnerships with clients, offering the company's quality services to boost brand awareness for the target audience on various market platforms. Directors of client relations identify the clients' needs, as well as their long-term goals, to strategize business techniques and project management procedures that would help the clients reach their maximum objectives. They also handle budget allocation for different teams, ensuring that each department receives adequate resources for operations.

Director of sales vs director of client relations salary

Directors of sales and directors of client relations have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director Of Sales	Director Of Client Relations
Average salary	$111,068	$116,480
Salary range	Between $73,000 And $168,000	Between $82,000 And $163,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	Washington
Best paying company	Mayo Clinic	Cambridge Associates
Best paying industry	Finance	Technology

Differences between director of sales and director of client relations education

There are a few differences between a director of sales and a director of client relations in terms of educational background:

	Director Of Sales	Director Of Client Relations
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	Stanford University

Director of sales vs director of client relations demographics

Here are the differences between directors of sales' and directors of client relations' demographics:

	Director Of Sales	Director Of Client Relations
Average age	46	42
Gender ratio	Male, 69.4% Female, 30.6%	Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8%
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, 5.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 75.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	7%	16%

Differences between director of sales and director of client relations duties and responsibilities

Director of sales example responsibilities.

Lead the OEM business transformation.
Manage projects & action items for EVP.
Manage during periods of dynamic challenge and change relative to start-up, turnaround and revitalization situations.
Manage relationships with toll manufacturers and logistics providers to exceed cost reduction and inventory turn targets.
Cultivate and manage business relationships with wholesale distributors creating positive impact for newsstand product sell at retail.
Full responsibility for all sales activities for a start-up electronic commerce company managing electronic data flow in the healthcare industry.

Director of client relations example responsibilities.

Manage social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn to network and gain more exposure to the firm.
Develop RFP responses, participate in sales presentations, and manage major existing accounts such as Wal-Mart and Exxon-Mobil.
Manage projects for extensive keyword research and develop a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Join sales team to help with SaaS transformation.
Design and implement sales and marketing strategies that introduce the organization into the national group Medicare market.
Develop KPI standards for collectors and sales team base upon clients needs to promote efficiency and collection results.

Director of sales vs director of client relations skills

Common director of sales skills

Sales Process, 7%
Customer Service, 7%
Customer Satisfaction, 6%
Sales Management, 6%
Healthcare, 5%
CRM, 4%

Common director of client relations skills

Project Management, 9%
Client Issues, 7%
Healthcare, 6%
Account Management, 5%
Business Development, 5%
Client Relations, 4%

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Director Of Sales
Director Of Sales vs Director Of Client Relations

Updated January 8, 2025

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