How To Become An Outside Sales Person: What It Is and Career Path

What is an outside sales person and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Frederik Beuk,

John Cicala Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an outside sales person. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.95 an hour? That's $70,621 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 63,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an outside sales person?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.

ScoreOutside Sales PersonUS Average

Salary

5.5

Avg. Salary $70,621

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 5.23%

Black or African American 4.11%

Hispanic or Latino 14.13%

Unknown 3.75%

White 72.55%

Gender

female 10.39%

male 89.61%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an outside sales person

Explore outside sales person education requirements

Most common outside sales person degrees

Bachelor's

54.9 %

Associate

18.7 %

High School Diploma

16.2 %

Start to develop specific outside sales person skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	31.27%
Plumbing	10.16%
Sales Orders	8.17%
Gross Profit	7.22%
Product Knowledge	6.99%

Complete relevant outside sales person training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New outside sales people learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an outside sales person based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real outside sales person resumes.

Research outside sales person duties and responsibilities

Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Perform inside sales, including telemarketing, prospecting, account penetration and product application, consulting and delivery of customer service.
Create a zip code analysis tool to identify Medicaid recipients' target areas for strategic marketing penetration.

Prepare your outside sales person resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your outside sales person resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an outside sales person resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable outside sales person resume templates

Build a professional outside sales person resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your outside sales person resume.