Outside sales vs sales trainer

The differences between outside sales and sales trainers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an outside sales and a sales trainer. Additionally, an outside sales has an average salary of $77,292, which is higher than the $74,457 average annual salary of a sales trainer.

The top three skills for an outside sales include customer service, product knowledge and ongoing support. The most important skills for a sales trainer are customer service, lead generation, and sales professionals.

Outside sales vs sales trainer overview

	Outside Sales	Sales Trainer
Yearly salary	$77,292	$74,457
Hourly rate	$37.16	$35.80
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	333,400	112,599
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

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.

What does a sales trainer do?

As a sales trainer, you will perform various duties and responsibilities for an organization. Your job will typically include conducting orientation for new sales representatives, determining and organizing training, creating traditional and digital educational materials such as case studies and videos. You are responsible for coordinating sessions for individual and team performance and the monitoring of sales objectives. This role also requires you to gather feedback about training courses from managers and trainees and accomplish organization mission and sales training.

Outside sales vs sales trainer salary

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

	Outside Sales	Sales Trainer
Average salary	$77,292	$74,457
Salary range	Between $56,000 And $104,000	Between $56,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	Arlington, VA	Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Alaska
Best paying company	Morgan Stanley	Pandora
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Pharmaceutical

Differences between outside sales and sales trainer education

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

	Outside Sales	Sales Trainer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Outside sales vs sales trainer demographics

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

	Outside Sales	Sales Trainer
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 78.3% Female, 21.7%	Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8%
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, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between outside sales and sales trainer duties and responsibilities

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.

Sales trainer example responsibilities.

Manage LMS system content uploads, expiration of materials, permission access to learners for internal and external channels.
Design and facilitate sales training programs, including corresponding manuals, PowerPoint, and training implementation.
Top KPI performer Q4 2013 & Q2 2014 by exceeding metrics in sales, traffic, & guest service.
Administer an LMS for entire sales team.
Accompany various sales representatives on discovery meetings / presentation to procure and increase existing revenue.
Learned proficiency in CRM software and applications.

Outside sales vs sales trainer skills

Common outside sales skills

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

Common sales trainer skills

Customer Service, 20%
Lead Generation, 4%
Sales Professionals, 4%
Product Knowledge, 4%
Training Content, 3%
Sales Management, 3%

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Sales Industry
Outside Sales
Outside Sales vs Sales Trainer

Updated January 8, 2025

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