Inside product specialist vs sales representative

The differences between inside product specialists and sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an inside product specialist and a sales representative. Additionally, a sales representative has an average salary of $56,591, which is higher than the $34,230 average annual salary of an inside product specialist.

The top three skills for an inside product specialist include sales process, service offerings and customer relationships. The most important skills for a sales representative are sales process, product knowledge, and customer service.

Inside product specialist vs sales representative overview

	Inside Product Specialist	Sales Representative
Yearly salary	$34,230	$56,591
Hourly rate	$16.46	$27.21
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	79,599	205,456
Job satisfaction	-	4.33
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

What does an inside product specialist do?

An Inside Product Specialist is typically in charge of securing product sales by reaching out to potential customers and businesses through calls and correspondence, building positive client relationships along the way. They offer products and services, discuss product specifications, introduce promotions, answer inquiries, arrange payment plans, and even process payments. Their responsibilities also include conducting research and analysis to find client and business opportunities, generating leads, and maintaining transaction records. Inside Product Specialists may perform follow-up calls, negotiate contracts, and address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and efficiently.

What does a sales representative do?

Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.

Inside product specialist vs sales representative salary

Inside product specialists and sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Inside Product Specialist	Sales Representative
Average salary	$34,230	$56,591
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $49,000	Between $33,000 And $94,000
Highest paying City	-	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	-	Massachusetts
Best paying company	-	Google
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between inside product specialist and sales representative education

There are a few differences between an inside product specialist and a sales representative in terms of educational background:

	Inside Product Specialist	Sales Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Inside product specialist vs sales representative demographics

Here are the differences between inside product specialists' and sales representatives' demographics:

	Inside Product Specialist	Sales Representative
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 72.7% Female, 27.3%	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between inside product specialist and sales representative duties and responsibilities

Inside product specialist example responsibilities.

Manage telephone relationships with senior management of client companies to troubleshoot and develop product.
Log all communications with customers in CRM contact database.
Account analysis and preparation, assessing customer needs, and preparation of professional sales recommendations tailor to each customer s business.
Full cycle from interest generation to close and track all activity via Salesforce.com.
Experience in Salesforce.com, deal registering and forecasting pipelines.
Analyze customer current/project electrical usage and ROI.

Sales representative example responsibilities.

Manage prospective leads and existing accounts through a CRM platform to accurately forecast revenue and develop long-term business partnerships.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Search for procurement contracts, attend trade shows, design flyers, postcards, etc.
Utilize POS sales software to maintain monetary sales information produce reports for organizational review.
Develop and maintain business relationships with businesses and policyholders using establish methods such as customer relationship management CRM.
Handle administrative and sales duties as Jr.

Inside product specialist vs sales representative skills

Common inside product specialist skills

Sales Process, 22%
Service Offerings, 12%
Customer Relationships, 9%
Technical Support, 9%
Strategic Product, 9%
Sales Organization, 8%

Common sales representative skills

Sales Process, 9%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Customer Service, 7%
CRM, 6%
Business Development, 6%
Sales REP, 5%

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Inside Product Specialist
Inside Product Specialist vs Sales Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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