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Sales administrator vs sales support associate

The differences between sales administrators and sales support associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a sales administrator, becoming a sales support associate takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a sales administrator has an average salary of $41,404, which is higher than the $34,454 average annual salary of a sales support associate.

The top three skills for a sales administrator include customer service, sales support and powerpoint. The most important skills for a sales support associate are sales floor, back room, and math.

Sales administrator vs sales support associate overview

Sales AdministratorSales Support Associate
Yearly salary$41,404$34,454
Hourly rate$19.91$16.56
Growth rate5%4%
Number of jobs82,712447,642
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age4647
Years of experience84

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 a sales support associate do?

A sales support associate is an individual who is responsible for assisting sales staff and help customers. To provide this assistance, sales support associates use customer communication methods such as telephones or email to process customer orders and ensure that they are accurate. They work closely with distributors to make sure that products are available for their customers. Sales support associates may function as either part-time or full time, but companies may require excellent communication skills.

Sales administrator vs sales support associate salary

Sales administrators and sales support associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

Sales AdministratorSales Support Associate
Average salary$41,404$34,454
Salary rangeBetween $29,000 And $58,000Between $25,000 And $46,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CABoston, MA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaMassachusetts
Best paying companyKLAGoldman Sachs
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between sales administrator and sales support associate education

There are a few differences between a sales administrator and a sales support associate in terms of educational background:

Sales AdministratorSales Support Associate
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaSUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Sales administrator vs sales support associate demographics

Here are the differences between sales administrators' and sales support associates' demographics:

Sales AdministratorSales Support Associate
Average age4647
Gender ratioMale, 21.0% Female, 79.0%Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5%
Race ratioBlack 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, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage7%6%

Differences between sales administrator and sales support associate 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.
  • Show more

Sales support associate example responsibilities.

  • Contribute to marketing business online and manage Facebook page.
  • Cross trained on POS function and inventory management
  • Assist patients with Critical/Triage calls; document necessary symptoms for medical assistants to determine what medical intervention is necessary.
  • Work with A/R on short payments and credit/debit discrepancies.
  • Identify and prioritize account opportunities and upselling value add services.
  • Process new service for external customers and initiate upselling opportunities for additional products and services.

Sales administrator vs sales support associate skills

Common sales administrator skills
  • Customer Service, 37%
  • Sales Support, 13%
  • PowerPoint, 5%
  • Data Entry, 5%
  • CRM, 4%
  • Salesforce, 4%
Common sales support associate skills
  • Sales Floor, 21%
  • Back Room, 13%
  • Math, 13%
  • Sales Support, 12%
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Sales Service, 6%

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