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The differences between inside sales specialists and field 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 specialist and a field sales representative. Additionally, an inside sales specialist has an average salary of $50,944, which is higher than the $48,460 average annual salary of a field sales representative.
The top three skills for an inside sales specialist include customer service, CRM and sales process. The most important skills for a field sales representative are excellent time management, customer service, and powerpoint.
| Inside Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $50,944 | $48,460 |
| Hourly rate | $24.49 | $23.30 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 251,423 | 228,254 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An inside sales specialist is primarily responsible for securing sales by reaching out to clients to sell products and services. They may communicate with customers through calls and correspondence or personally recommend products in a retail store setting. Moreover, they are also responsible for responding to inquiries or concerns, identifying the customers' needs, devising strategies to find sales opportunities, and discussing products to customers. An inside sales specialist is often required to meet sales goals and report to managers should there be any issues or problems.
A field sales representative is an employee who is employed by business-to-business (B2B) and wholesale organizations to visit leads and sell products or services to their customers in person. Field sales representatives must attract new customers and win new accounts so that they can maximize profitability within their territory. They travel around their assigned territory and visit their customers regularly to educate them on how their products can benefit them. Field sales representatives must also maintain records of all sales leads and monitor the organization's competitor, new products, and market conditions.
Inside sales specialists and field sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Inside Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $50,944 | $48,460 |
| Salary range | Between $34,000 And $75,000 | Between $26,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | Keller Williams Greater Seattle | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Real Estate | Technology |
There are a few differences between an inside sales specialist and a field sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Inside Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| 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 specialists' and field sales representatives' demographics:
| Inside Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.2% 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% |