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The differences between internal sales representatives and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an internal sales representative, becoming a customer service representative takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an internal sales representative has an average salary of $44,872, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for an internal sales representative include phone calls, internal sales and product knowledge. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Internal Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $44,872 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $21.57 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | 4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 234,019 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 47 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
An internal sales representative aims to promote and sell different products and services to a target client. This career significant for a successful business and the growth of revenue. Typically, they receive many queries and suggestions, which means they must communicate with clients quickly and efficiently to develop a concrete solution for each issue. They log each issue to a database for future reference.
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
Internal sales representatives and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Internal Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $44,872 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $68,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | - | Insurance |
There are a few differences between an internal sales representative and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Internal Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | - |
Here are the differences between internal sales representatives' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Internal Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |