Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between heads of sales and commercial directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a head of sales, becoming a commercial director takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a head of sales has an average salary of $166,100, which is higher than the $143,615 average annual salary of a commercial director.
The top three skills for a head of sales include CRM, sales strategy and sales organization. The most important skills for a commercial director are project management, kpis, and healthcare.
| Head Of Sales | Commercial Director | |
| Yearly salary | $166,100 | $143,615 |
| Hourly rate | $79.86 | $69.05 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 112,592 | 97,667 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 46 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 10 |
The head of sales is primarily responsible for overseeing the sales performance of a company and devising strategies to optimize practices. Their responsibilities typically revolve around monitoring the progress of every sales effort, setting objectives and deadlines, performing research and analysis to identify sales opportunities, and coordinating with different departments to improve procedures and reach sales targets. Furthermore, as the head of sales, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Commercial Directors are executives who manage the performance and subsequent growth of the company. They lead activities related to the commerce side of the business. Commercial directors study the current trends in both the economic market and in the industry that the business operates in. They also study their target market. With this research, they devise ways to ensure that a company's performance will not decline as they navigate the changing market landscape. Commercial Directors should have good foresight and strong analytical skills to make sense of the current trends and how they would affect their future.
Heads of sales and commercial directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Head Of Sales | Commercial Director | |
| Average salary | $166,100 | $143,615 |
| Salary range | Between $110,000 And $248,000 | Between $93,000 And $221,000 |
| Highest paying City | Portland, OR | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Flexport | Emergent BioSolutions |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a head of sales and a commercial director in terms of educational background:
| Head Of Sales | Commercial Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between heads of sales' and commercial directors' demographics:
| Head Of Sales | Commercial Director | |
| Average age | 46 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.5% Female, 33.5% | Male, 80.9% Female, 19.1% |
| 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, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 10% |