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The differences between retail sales leads and sales associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a retail sales lead has an average salary of $40,781, which is higher than the $32,167 average annual salary of a sales associate.
The top three skills for a retail sales lead include math, sales floor and retail sales. The most important skills for a sales associate are customer service, sales floor, and cash handling.
| Retail Sales Lead | Sales Associate | |
| Yearly salary | $40,781 | $32,167 |
| Hourly rate | $19.61 | $15.46 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 442,994 | 579,849 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
Retail sales leads are responsible for the recruitment and training of new sales team members, assisting the management in selling products, and creating sales reports. Some duties and responsibilities of a retail sales lead include customer services such as answering inquiries and complaints, providing assistance and product information, suggesting items and opinions. Such experiences are an advantage for them to be promoted if they perform their tasks effectively and efficiently.
Sales associates are responsible for promoting the company's goods or services. They are expected to provide exceptional customer service to prospective buyers. They should be familiar with all features of the company's products or services so that they can answer the customers' inquiries. Sales associates also assist customers in processing their checkouts, refunds, returns, and other needs. They should be customer-oriented, and they should have great communication skills. They should know how to sell their products or services to customers. They are considered the company's representatives on the ground.
Retail sales leads and sales associates have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Retail Sales Lead | Sales Associate | |
| Average salary | $40,781 | $32,167 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $59,000 | Between $21,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Bellevue, NE | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | New York |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Barclays |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a retail sales lead and a sales associate in terms of educational background:
| Retail Sales Lead | Sales Associate | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi | - |
Here are the differences between retail sales leads' and sales associates' demographics:
| Retail Sales Lead | Sales Associate | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 46.4% Female, 53.6% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 6.9% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 7% |