As a sales assistant, you can probably imagine that most days are similar and nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen. And you'd probably be right. But there will be unexpected surprises some days. Just reading through Reddit, you'll find all sorts of horror stories about being a sales assistant. Especially if you work in a place that has fitting rooms.
We didn't mean to scare you. For the most part, you'll just clean the store, check on stock, assist customers and maybe even try out the products or services you're offering. With some customers, you'll definitely need to have some patience. That's a really important part of this job. You want to be able to interact with people, and sometimes that means really difficult people.
And don't forget your smile! This is one of those jobs where the phrase "you're never fully dressed without your smile" applies. Smiling is just one of those things that will get customers to come back. Even if they didn't find what they were looking for that day. A smile can go a long way.
What is a Sales Assistant?
What Does a Sales Assistant Do
There are certain skills that many sales assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed math skills, persistence and selling skills.
How To Become a Sales Assistant
If you're interested in becoming a sales assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 60.4% of sales assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.4% of sales assistants have master's degrees. Even though most sales assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Sales Assistant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a sales assistant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as account executive, progress to a title such as sales manager and then eventually end up with the title district manager.
Average Salary for a Sales Assistant
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Sales Assistant
The role of a sales assistant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general sales assistant responsibilities:
- Greeting buyers and providing them with information pertaining to our homes
- Prepares proposals for account executives, which may include rates, descriptions, locations
- Answer calls and provide information or route calls to appropriate associate; place outgoing calls assist in providing community tours to prospective residents
There are several types of sales assistant, including:
Sales Consultant
Role:
A sales consultant is responsible for meeting with existing and new clients in a sales approach. Your goal as a sales consultant is to effectively sell products. Well, in a way.
The clients you meet with will come to you with certain problems concerning their business, your job is to figure out how to sell those products or services in a way that increases the company's sales as a whole.
To become a sales consultant, you'll want to earn a bachelor's degree. Generally speaking, an advanced degree will help you in the long run, especially when it comes to meeting sales goals. And everyone knows that more sales means more money.
- Average Salary: $60,135
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Sales Clerk
Role:
Ever been into a store with no idea of what you're getting (phew, what a hassle!)? Or have you a hard time picking between two beautiful-colored sneakers (why not get both anyway)? Worry no more! A sales clerk might be who you need to get your shopping spree done.
Sales clerks are usually those employees walking around the store to assist customers with their store experience. They know a lot about certain products, so you can trust them to give you advice on which is the best one for you. They even demonstrate the features of these items and recommend alternatives, if you're on a tight budget. Pretty cool, right? They interact with people for over eight hours, as needed, probably even during weekends, as their job requires. But really, being a sales clerk can be an awesome job. I mean, believe me, if it wasn't for sales clerks, it would be hard to look for your favorite baseball cap or fashion tee.
Being a sales clerk gives you so much exposure interacting with different people and gaining your self-confidence. If you're into customer service, this might be a good stepping stone for gaining professional expertise!
- Average Salary: $25,739
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Sales Agent
Role:
With an average salary of $41,574 per year and a job growth rate of 4%, entering the career world as a Sales Agent is a good start. Not only will you have a stable job, but you also have the chance to explore other careers related to your professional path. You can be an Agent, an Account Executive, a Regional Sales Manager, and a National Sales Manager.
As a Sales Agent, also known as a sales representative, you will offer clients goods and services. Since you are selling or offering goods to existing and potential clients, you need to be knowledgeable about the product of the company in order to be able to assist the customers when they have concerns.
When it comes to skills and traits, you need to be creative and detail-oriented. You also need to have good math skills since you are doing business. Lastly, excellent customer service skills are needed as a Sales Agent; you need to know what your customer needs and provide them with appropriate goods and services.
- Average Salary: $45,217
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Sales Assistant Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active sales assistant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where sales assistants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Sales Assistant Jobs By State
Top Skills For a Sales Assistant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 35.6% of sales assistants listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as math skills and persistence are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Sales Assistant Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Sales Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Sales Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Sales Assistant diversity
Sales Assistant Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among sales assistants, 71.8% of them are women, while 28.2% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among sales assistants is White, which makes up 55.5% of all sales assistants.
- The most common foreign language among sales assistants is Spanish at 46.0%.
Online Courses For Sales Assistant That You May Like
1. The Complete B2B Sales Masterclass: 6 Courses in 1
1. Generate Leads, 2. Pitch, 3. Close & Handle Any Objection: Get Certified in Cutting Edge, Non-Pushy B2B Sales System...
2. Sales Training: Practical Sales Techniques
Sales Hacking: Essential sales skills, sales strategies and sales techniques to sell just about anything!...
3. Sales Fire: B2B Sales & Business Development for Startups
The Ultimate Sales Methodology for Business Development & B2B Sales to Learn Sales Strategy, Sales Skills & Deal Closing...
Best States For a Sales Assistant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a sales assistant. The best states for people in this position are New York, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. Sales assistants make the most in New York with an average salary of $45,280. Whereas in Washington and Idaho, they would average $45,170 and $44,856, respectively. While sales assistants would only make an average of $44,144 in Alaska, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$45,280
Avg. Salary
2. New Hampshire
$39,220
Avg. Salary
3. Idaho
$44,856
Avg. Salary
How Do Sales Assistants Rate Their Jobs?
Top Sales Assistant Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ sales assistants and discovered their number of sales assistant opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Best Buy was the best, especially with an average salary of $33,898. Robert Half follows up with an average salary of $34,208, and then comes Walmart with an average of $35,725. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a sales assistant. The employers include Beacon Hill Staffing Group, TÜV SÜD America, and Bertelsmann
Most Common Employers For Sales Assistant
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merrill Lynch | $49,931 | $24.01 | 119 |
| 2 | Morgan Stanley | $47,009 | $22.60 | 243 |
| 3 | Michael Kors | $40,279 | $19.36 | 263 |
| 4 | ViacomCBS | $40,006 | $19.23 | 108 |
| 5 | Target | $38,960 | $18.73 | 117 |
| 6 | Katz Media Group | $37,515 | $18.04 | 137 |
| 7 | Bank of America | $36,220 | $17.41 | 106 |
| 8 | Sears Holdings | $36,169 | $17.39 | 113 |
| 9 | Wells Fargo | $36,096 | $17.35 | 98 |
| 10 | Victoria's Secret | $35,752 | $17.19 | 90 |
Becoming a Sales Assistant FAQs
How Long Does It Take To Become A Sales Assistant?
It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a sales assistant. That is the time it takes to learn specific sales assistant skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.