Outside sales engineer vs outside sales

The differences between outside sales engineers and outside sales can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an outside sales engineer, becoming an outside sales takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an outside sales engineer has an average salary of $79,145, which is higher than the $77,292 average annual salary of an outside sales.

The top three skills for an outside sales engineer include customer relationships, HVAC and product line. The most important skills for an outside sales are customer service, product knowledge, and ongoing support.

Outside sales engineer vs outside sales overview

	Outside Sales Engineer	Outside Sales
Yearly salary	$79,145	$77,292
Hourly rate	$38.05	$37.16
Growth rate	6%	4%
Number of jobs	113,925	333,400
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	44	47
Years of experience	6	4

What does an outside sales engineer do?

An outside sales engineer is both a specialist and a salesperson of scientific and technological products or services to businesses. You have an in-depth knowledge of the products and the engineering processes that make these products work so that you can demonstrate their benefits to customers. Outside sales engineers are technical customer service representatives working for businesses that sell engineering products or the makers - they are out in the field interacting, educating, and selling to potential customers.

What does an outside sales do?

An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals. An outside sales representative must have excellent communication and customer service skills, immediately resolving complaints and assisting on marketing promotions to gain sales prospects.

Outside sales engineer vs outside sales salary

Outside sales engineers and outside sales have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outside Sales Engineer	Outside Sales
Average salary	$79,145	$77,292
Salary range	Between $55,000 And $113,000	Between $56,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	-	Arlington, VA
Highest paying state	-	New Hampshire
Best paying company	-	Morgan Stanley
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between outside sales engineer and outside sales education

There are a few differences between an outside sales engineer and an outside sales in terms of educational background:

	Outside Sales Engineer	Outside Sales
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Outside sales engineer vs outside sales demographics

Here are the differences between outside sales engineers' and outside sales' demographics:

	Outside Sales Engineer	Outside Sales
Average age	44	47
Gender ratio	Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8%	Male, 78.3% Female, 21.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 1.6% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 5.8% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	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%
LGBT Percentage	7%	6%

Differences between outside sales engineer and outside sales duties and responsibilities

Outside sales engineer example responsibilities.

Manage inbound domestic and international logistics and domestic shipping with respect to carrier selection, forwarding, brokering and expediting.
Increase sales to existing OEMs and develop new OEM customers.
Develop and implement sales and marketing strategies to aggressively develop new OEM accounts.
Price, sell, and engineer HVAC products and services to contractors and building owners.
Increase revenue by developing better understanding of buying trends and customer decision-makers by instituting CRM and sales tracking software.
Design and maintain corporate CRM, customer quoting and invoicing systems for inside, outside sales teams, including accounting.

Outside sales example responsibilities.

Plan logistical outside sales route, planned/schedule sales calls with web-base CRM program, manage various sales cycles.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Perfect the craft of upselling customers.
Prepare material estimates/bids for houses, windows, doors, trusses, etc.
Increase existing customer base and generate new dealer and customer relationships within the HVAC equipment and sales.
Estimate, price, bid and follow up to all mechanical HVAC and plumbing plan and spec projects.

Outside sales engineer vs outside sales skills

Common outside sales engineer skills

Customer Relationships, 10%
HVAC, 7%
Product Line, 7%
CRM, 5%
Trade Shows, 5%
Territory Sales, 5%

Common outside sales skills

Customer Service, 30%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Ongoing Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
CRM, 4%
Flyers, 4%

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Outside Sales Engineer
Outside Sales Engineer vs Outside Sales

Updated January 8, 2025

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