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The differences between key account representatives and sales support representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a key account representative and a sales support representative. Additionally, a key account representative has an average salary of $48,841, which is higher than the $38,310 average annual salary of a sales support representative.
The top three skills for a key account representative include business development, account management and product knowledge. The most important skills for a sales support representative are sales support, phone calls, and POS.
| Key Account Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $48,841 | $38,310 |
| Hourly rate | $23.48 | $18.42 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 236,207 | 319,292 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A key account representative identifies opportunities for increasing sales and defines outreach strategies. Key account representatives find, develop, and maintain customer accounts. The account representatives serve as the main point of contact between an organization and its clients. They make regular communication with the clients, address their concerns, and track their transactions and payments. Part of their job is to present expanded and new opportunities to the clients. They have to be adaptable and have empathy in performing their job. Among the skills they need to develop include people or communication skills, relationship building, and time management.
A sales support representative is responsible for assisting the complex operations of sales departments, performing administrative duties under the supervision of a direct manager. Sales support representatives' tasks include acknowledging and encoding customers' orders in the system, processing payments, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, writing sales reports, and updating the customer of the shipment details. They also support the sales representatives on selling goods and services to potential customers by creating marketing materials and communicating with customers over the phone and e-mail to generate revenues and increase profits.
Key account representatives and sales support representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Key Account Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Average salary | $48,841 | $38,310 |
| Salary range | Between $34,000 And $69,000 | Between $30,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | NetApp |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a key account representative and a sales support representative in terms of educational background:
| Key Account Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| 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 key account representatives' and sales support representatives' demographics:
| Key Account Representative | Sales Support Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 52.3% Female, 47.7% | Male, 39.9% Female, 60.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |