Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between regional sales specialists and sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a regional sales specialist and a sales representative. Additionally, a regional sales specialist has an average salary of $75,047, which is higher than the $56,591 average annual salary of a sales representative.
The top three skills for a regional sales specialist include CRM, regional sales and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a sales representative are sales process, product knowledge, and customer service.
| Regional Sales Specialist | Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $75,047 | $56,591 |
| Hourly rate | $36.08 | $27.21 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 167,579 | 205,456 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.33 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Regional sales specialists are professionals who possess the necessary skills to sell all company products and services to improve sales and overall business growth within an assigned region. These specialists must handle all sales responsibilities by providing a training process for new hires to support the regional sales team. They are required to follow an established sales process and provide accurate forecasting and reporting of sales activity to the company's directors. Regional sales specialists must also target new customers to increase sales volume by implementing strategies.
Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.
Regional sales specialists and sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Regional Sales Specialist | Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $75,047 | $56,591 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $90,000 | Between $33,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a regional sales specialist and a sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Regional Sales Specialist | Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between regional sales specialists' and sales representatives' demographics:
| Regional Sales Specialist | Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 64.0% Female, 36.0% | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |