Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between inside sales representatives and outbound 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 sales representative and an outbound sales representative. Additionally, an outbound sales representative has an average salary of $45,723, which is higher than the $44,413 average annual salary of an inside sales representative.
The top three skills for an inside sales representative include customer service, CRM and outbound calls. The most important skills for an outbound sales representative are outbound sales, customer service, and excellent interpersonal.
| Inside Sales Representative | Outbound Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $44,413 | $45,723 |
| Hourly rate | $21.35 | $21.98 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 244,168 | 240,781 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An inside sales representative is responsible for selling services and products to clients, driving the company's revenues and increase sales profitability. Duties of an inside sales representative include developing strategic sales pitches, responding to customer's inquiries and requests, offering promotional products and discounts, researching potential clients, creating sales reports, and managing customer's possible complaints. An inside sales representative also provides strategic solutions to share with the sales team to improve their sales performance. Inside sales representatives must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to deal with customers' needs.
An outbound sales representative focuses on securing sales by reaching out to clients through calls, correspondence, or face-to-face interactions. They primarily offer products and services, assisting customers every step of the way to ensure client satisfaction. To carry out their duties, they must perform research and analysis to identify business opportunities, develop sales strategies, generate leads, discuss product specifications with customers, introduce payment plans, and negotiate contracts. Moreover, an outbound sales representative must build positive relationships with clients while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
Inside sales representatives and outbound sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Inside Sales Representative | Outbound Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $44,413 | $45,723 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $69,000 | Between $24,000 And $84,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Hoboken, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Wyoming | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Berkshire Hathaway | Altice USA |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between an inside sales representative and an outbound sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Inside Sales Representative | Outbound Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between inside sales representatives' and outbound sales representatives' demographics:
| Inside Sales Representative | Outbound Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.7% Female, 45.3% | Male, 45.9% Female, 54.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |