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The differences between retail sales representatives and business sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a business sales representative has an average salary of $58,288, which is higher than the $37,907 average annual salary of a retail sales representative.
The top three skills for a retail sales representative include retail sales, retail store and POS. The most important skills for a business sales representative are business sales, customer accounts, and customer service.
| Retail Sales Representative | Business Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $37,907 | $58,288 |
| Hourly rate | $18.22 | $28.02 |
| Growth rate | - | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 391,763 | 226,438 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
A retail salesperson's responsibility is to sell products and provide necessary information to the consumers to convince them of availing items. Retail salesperson's duties include coordinating with promotional programs, recommending strategies to increase sales, answering customer's inquiries, and escalating any concerns to the management that might affect the company's sales performance. A retail salesperson must have excellent communication skills to build a good rapport with the customers and assist them with their needs. A retail salesperson also helps with inventories and documenting a customer's suggestion for service improvement.
A business sales representative's role is to develop strategies in identifying leads and opportunities to secure sales. Their responsibilities revolve around reaching out to clients to offer products and services, discussing the pricing and specifications of products, processing payments, and gathering necessary client information. They may also arrange appointments with clients to negotiate and sign contracts. Furthermore, as a business sales representative, it is essential to produce progress reports and presentations, handle issues and complaints, maintain records of all transactions, and regularly update databases.
Retail sales representatives and business sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Retail Sales Representative | Business Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $37,907 | $58,288 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $50,000 | Between $31,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | Portland, ME | Bothell, WA |
| Highest paying state | Maine | Washington |
| Best paying company | Pella | Amazon |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between a retail sales representative and a business sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Retail Sales Representative | Business Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between retail sales representatives' and business sales representatives' demographics:
| Retail Sales Representative | Business Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.6% Female, 45.4% | Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 20.9% Asian, 6.9% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |