Outside sales person vs inside sales associate

The differences between outside sales people and inside sales associates 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 person and an inside sales associate. Additionally, an outside sales person has an average salary of $70,621, which is higher than the $40,687 average annual salary of an inside sales associate.

The top three skills for an outside sales person include customer service, plumbing and sales orders. The most important skills for an inside sales associate are inside sales, sales associates, and strong customer service.

Outside sales person vs inside sales associate overview

	Outside Sales Person	Inside Sales Associate
Yearly salary	$70,621	$40,687
Hourly rate	$33.95	$19.56
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	145,342	320,863
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

Outside sales person vs inside sales associate salary

Outside sales people and inside sales associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outside Sales Person	Inside Sales Associate
Average salary	$70,621	$40,687
Salary range	Between $43,000 And $113,000	Between $30,000 And $54,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	MSCI
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between outside sales person and inside sales associate education

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

	Outside Sales Person	Inside Sales Associate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Outside sales person vs inside sales associate demographics

Here are the differences between outside sales people' and inside sales associates' demographics:

	Outside Sales Person	Inside Sales Associate
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 89.6% Female, 10.4%	Male, 57.3% Female, 42.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.6% 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%

Differences between outside sales person and inside sales associate duties and responsibilities

Outside sales person example 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.

Inside sales associate example responsibilities.

Manage individual sales activities by developing highly effective, communications focuse relationship with multiple sales channels.
Provide awareness to customers of the benefits of moving to a cloud platform for intra/customer facing web applications.
Develop a standardize, customize CRM system to track sales and marketing ROI that link into operational and financial ERP systems.
Calculate roofing amounts/square footage etc.
Maintain cleanliness and organization of stockroom shelves.
Conduct effective outbound telemarketing calls to potential and existing clients.

Outside sales person vs inside sales associate skills

Common outside sales person skills

Customer Service, 31%
Plumbing, 10%
Sales Orders, 8%
Gross Profit, 7%
Product Knowledge, 7%
Product Line, 7%

Common inside sales associate skills

Inside Sales, 13%
Sales Associates, 7%
Strong Customer Service, 6%
Sales Process, 5%
Customer Satisfaction, 5%
Sales Floor, 5%

Outside Sales Person vs. similar jobs

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Sales Industry
Outside Sales Person
Outside Sales Person vs Inside Sales Associate

Updated January 8, 2025

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