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Job outlook for inside sales assistants in the United States
Inside sales assistant job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected inside sales assistant job growth rate is 4% from 2018-2028.
About 63,300 new jobs for inside sales assistants are projected over the next decade.
Inside sales assistant salaries have increased 9% for inside sales assistants in the last 5 years.
There are over 305,813 inside sales assistants currently employed in the United States.
There are 116,749 active inside sales assistant job openings in the US.
The average inside sales assistant salary is $42,598.
Are inside sales assistant jobs in demand?
Inside sales assistant job and salary trends over time
Inside sales assistant jobs over time
Inside sales assistant job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 305,813 | 0.09% |
| 2020 | 304,325 | 0.09% |
| 2019 | 330,689 | 0.10% |
| 2018 | 333,342 | 0.10% |
| 2017 | 335,203 | 0.10% |
Average inside sales assistant salary over time
Inside sales assistant salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $42,598 | $20.48 | +3.6% |
| 2024 | $41,129 | $19.77 | +2.4% |
| 2023 | $40,154 | $19.31 | +2.7% |
| 2022 | $39,098 | $18.80 | --0.3% |
| 2021 | $39,214 | $18.85 | +2.5% |
Inside sales assistant jobs by state
Most common states for inside sales assistants
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 187 | 27% |
| 2 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 2,312 | 26% |
| 3 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 277 | 26% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 268 | 26% |
| 5 | Delaware | 961,939 | 253 | 26% |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 3,235 | 25% |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,720 | 25% |
| 8 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 902 | 25% |
| 9 | Vermont | 623,657 | 156 | 25% |
| 10 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 2,689 | 23% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 727 | 23% |
| 12 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 136 | 23% |
| 13 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,855 | 22% |
| 14 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,303 | 22% |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 1,262 | 22% |
| 16 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 302 | 22% |
| 17 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 289 | 22% |
| 18 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 360 | 21% |
| 19 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 1,389 | 20% |
| 20 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 817 | 20% |
Most common cities for inside sales assistants
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elgin | 2 | 2% | $43,951 |
| 2 | Rockford | 2 | 1% | $43,386 |
Inside Sales Assistant job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of inside sales assistant experts
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Southern Mississippi
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
University of Maryland - College Park
North Dakota State University
University of North Alabama
William & Mary
University of Central Missouri
What Inside Sales Assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Kathleen Kelly: Maximizing your salary potential requires research, flexibility, and being your best advocate.
What general advice would you give to an Inside Sales Assistant?
Kevin Buckley: The biggest factor in earning potential is performance - salespeople get paid based on their ability to hit and exceed quotas through revenue generation. With a sales career, you have a lot of control over earnings. My advice is to be metrics-driven and have a plan to intentionally grow your sales skills through training, mentors, and personal development. Build a reputation for consistent over-achievement. It's also important to do research and understand typical compensation benchmarks. Some may offer higher base pay, while others offer more earnings leverage through aggressive commission/bonus structures.
What will help Inside Sales Assistants increase their earning potential?
Kevin Buckley: My top advice is to be a continuous learner, both about your company/products and about the sales profession itself. Sales is a skill that requires ongoing development through practice, coaching, and studying new techniques. Don't rest on what you learned in school - seek out mentors, training opportunities, and ways to keep enhancing your sales capabilities. I would also advise resilience and to view every 'no' as a step closer to 'yes.' Sales has its share of rejection. Have a positive attitude, persist through obstacles, and be a student of why buyers say no so that you can improve.
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.
ChairSouthern Illinois University Edwardsville
Communication And Media Studies
What Inside Sales Assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.: All things social media are important, and so writing skills still matter.
What will help Inside Sales Assistants increase their earning potential?
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.: With this major, probably the best salaries are from sales jobs, which many people shy away from because they think only of hustling used cars, but sales can be very good work.
What Inside Sales Assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Hank Boyd: With the looming prospects of AI, soft skills will reign supreme in sales. While at
first blush it might seem counterintuitive in that product knowledge used to be cardinal
skill, today's salesforce relies heavily on networking. Numerous academic papers lend
credence to this idea. Great people skills often trump wonkish knowledge about the
product line.
As we wade further into the 21st Century, environmental scanning (or better yet
the innate ability to read prospects) will remain pivotal. Exceptional salespeople
instinctively scan a prospective client's office noticing all the trappings. They are trying to find something they can comment upon, by doing so they can establish common
ground. Once a connection is forged, salespeople move out of the box of being pesky
interlopers into becoming valued associates.
Lastly, if you decide to embark on a career in sales never forget the tried-and-
true axiom of ABC - always be closing. This phrase means having the gumption to ask
for the business. While sales recruits might have congenial and bubbly personalities, if
they cannot look the prospect in the eye and ask for the business, they ought to find
another profession.
Eric Gjerdevig
Lecturer in Marketing, Director for the Center for Professional Selling and Sales TechnologyNorth Dakota State University
Marketing
What general advice would you give to an Inside Sales Assistant?
Eric Gjerdevig: First, remember that what you get out of your first job is so much more than compensation. A great manager mentoring you is priceless: it will pay you back dividends for the rest of your career. That said, in sales our compensation is typically tied to our performance. That means we need to put yourself out there, pay attention to the actions of the most successful salesperson in the company, learn everything you can, and manage your time well.
John Cicala Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Digital MarketingUniversity of North Alabama
Management & Marketing Department
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Inside Sales Assistant job market given the pandemic?
John Cicala Ph.D.: Increased use and reliance on digital-based marketing, thereby resulting in an increased need for people who understand and appreciate the differences in and among the many digital marketing avenues available. Also, a need for individuals who can not only analyze collected data but who can understand and interpret it as well.
Dr. Matteo Cantarello Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Hispanic StudiesWilliam & Mary
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
What technical skills for an Inside Sales Assistant stand out to employers?
Dr. Matteo Cantarello Ph.D.: Programming has become an asset within the humanities, too. Even though hires of digital humanists are still limited in number (at least within my discipline), they are probably destined to increase in the near future. Also, flexibility and versatility with respect to teaching are also highly marketable. Any candidate who has experience with in-person, hybrid, and online courses and who has degrees, titles, and certificates that demonstrate that is extremely appreciated on the academic job market.
Stephen (Tyler) Hirlinger
Assistant Professor of MarketingUniversity of Central Missouri
Division of Business Strategy, Marketing Program
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Inside Sales Assistants?
Stephen (Tyler) Hirlinger: The pandemic will certainly have a lasting impact on graduates, both positively and negatively. To start with the positives, I think the transition to online learning the past two semesters has forced students to gain many valuable skills that will be necessary for success in the post-pandemic work environment. The work dynamic in many industries may remain radically different for the foreseeable future and I think graduates will be more resourceful, organized, more productive in remote settings, and work better in groups due to the recent circumstances. I also think students will learn to be more entrepreneurial and improve their ability to "sell themselves" due to fewer career opportunities and higher competition in the workforce. Time will tell, but I think the lack of job availability may stunt the career growth for many recent graduates, while those that learn to grow when faced with adversity will thrive.