Sales administrator vs account manager

The differences between sales administrators and account managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a sales administrator and an account manager. Additionally, an account manager has an average salary of $68,535, which is higher than the $41,404 average annual salary of a sales administrator.

The top three skills for a sales administrator include customer service, sales support and powerpoint. The most important skills for an account manager are customer service, account management, and healthcare.

Sales administrator vs account manager overview

	Sales Administrator	Account Manager
Yearly salary	$41,404	$68,535
Hourly rate	$19.91	$32.95
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	82,712	152,261
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

What does a sales administrator do?

A sales administrator supports sales representatives to make customer deals. Aside from that, tasks such as answering customer queries, checking stock availability, processing deliveries, sending out invoices, and maintaining records and databases are a sales administrator's duties. Overall, a sales administrator focuses on orders, communicating to customers via telephone or face-to-face, invoicing, targeting sales, and record keeping.

What does an account manager do?

Account managers are employees who act as the bridge between the company they represent and the client of the company. They are assigned to handle specific clients so that the company will be able to tailor-fit any product or service according to the clients' requirements. Account managers are responsible for maintaining a harmonious relationship between the two parties by ensuring that any agreement made is amenable to both the company and the client. They are also responsible for ensuring that the company will be able to provide the needs of the client within any limitation that the client may have. Account managers also ensure that the company's reputation and well-being are always considered in any dealings.

Sales administrator vs account manager salary

Sales administrators and account managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sales Administrator	Account Manager
Average salary	$41,404	$68,535
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $58,000	Between $42,000 And $110,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	KLA	NVIDIA
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between sales administrator and account manager education

There are a few differences between a sales administrator and an account manager in terms of educational background:

	Sales Administrator	Account Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Sales administrator vs account manager demographics

Here are the differences between sales administrators' and account managers' demographics:

	Sales Administrator	Account Manager
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 21.0% Female, 79.0%	Male, 54.8% Female, 45.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between sales administrator and account manager duties and responsibilities

Sales administrator example responsibilities.

Manage distributor accounts including inventory management, allocations, and communicating internally with purchasing, logistics, finance and shipping departments.
Work with operations to expedite deliveries, or track shipments as requested by customer.
Confer with sales, shipping, and warehouse to expedite or trace missing or delay shipments.
Publish POS materials and create correspondence to distributors for seasonal promotion items.
Design and produce consumer/distributor incentive programs, POS materials and retail display systems.
Manage distributor accounts including inventory management, allocations, and communicating internally with purchasing, logistics, finance and shipping departments.

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Account manager example responsibilities.

Manage financial departments with responsibility for managing payroll, bank re-consolidations, bank deposits, budgeting and cost control.
Manage $4 million territory encompassing three Mid-Atlantic states.
Manage new business and renewals for leading Saas legal solution.
Manage an inside sales territory of multiple states with Avaya technology solutions.
Negotiate and manage all contracts and pricing for IDN's in the territory.
Manage customers' accounts utilizing laptop and internet base CMS reporting software and ADM field guide.

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Sales administrator vs account manager skills

Common sales administrator skills

Customer Service, 37%
Sales Support, 13%
PowerPoint, 5%
Data Entry, 5%
CRM, 4%
Salesforce, 4%

Common account manager skills

Customer Service, 19%
Account Management, 8%
Healthcare, 6%
CRM, 6%
Product Knowledge, 5%
PowerPoint, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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