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The differences between outside sales engineers and senior sales executives 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 a senior sales executive takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a senior sales executive has an average salary of $110,808, which is higher than the $79,145 average annual salary of an outside sales engineer.
The top three skills for an outside sales engineer include customer relationships, HVAC and product line. The most important skills for a senior sales executive are sales process, healthcare, and business development.
| Outside Sales Engineer | Senior Sales Executive | |
| Yearly salary | $79,145 | $110,808 |
| Hourly rate | $38.05 | $53.27 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 113,925 | 168,737 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 8 |
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.
Senior sales executives are the most experienced members of a sales team. It is their responsibility to lead the customer representatives, ensuring that sales targets are met. Their job includes analyzing business trends to identify ways to improve products, ensuring customer satisfaction is met with the company products or services acquired, as well as submitting account plans and sales reports to higher management. They should also be able to timely resolve issues concerning complaints from the customer.
Outside sales engineers and senior sales executives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Outside Sales Engineer | Senior Sales Executive | |
| Average salary | $79,145 | $110,808 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $113,000 | Between $59,000 And $207,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | IBM |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between an outside sales engineer and a senior sales executive in terms of educational background:
| Outside Sales Engineer | Senior Sales Executive | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between outside sales engineers' and senior sales executives' demographics:
| Outside Sales Engineer | Senior Sales Executive | |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8% | Male, 71.3% Female, 28.7% |
| 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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |