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The differences between directors of sales and senior sales managers 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 sales and a senior sales manager. Additionally, a senior sales manager has an average salary of $140,662, 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 senior sales manager are customer satisfaction, sales process, and customer service.
| Director Of Sales | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $111,068 | $140,662 |
| Hourly rate | $53.40 | $67.63 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 91,891 | 115,070 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
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.
Senior sales managers take the lead in handling sales operations in the organization. They supervise the activities performed by the junior sales management team. It is their responsibility to maximize the potential of the sales team, establish sales plans, and justify these plans to superior management. They aim to expand the customer base of the company and its strong presence in the market. The skills these managers should have include leadership, organization, communication, and the ability to recruit talented sales agents.
Directors of sales and senior sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Director Of Sales | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $111,068 | $140,662 |
| Salary range | Between $73,000 And $168,000 | Between $95,000 And $206,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | Maine |
| Best paying company | Mayo Clinic | Leprino Foods |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Professional |
There are a few differences between a director of sales and a senior sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Director Of Sales | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between directors of sales' and senior sales managers' demographics:
| Director Of Sales | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.4% Female, 30.6% | Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6% |
| 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% |