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The differences between sales associates and sales people can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales person has an average salary of $42,010, which is higher than the $32,167 average annual salary of a sales associate.
The top three skills for a sales associate include customer service, sales floor and cash handling. The most important skills for a sales person are basic math, phone calls, and POS.
| Sales Associate | Sales Person | |
| Yearly salary | $32,167 | $42,010 |
| Hourly rate | $15.46 | $20.20 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 579,849 | 378,132 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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.
A salesperson is in charge of ensuring that the products, goods, or services of the company get sold to customers. They are trained to market the products well, understand what the customer needs, and find the product that best fits the customer's needs. As such, the salesperson should be familiar with all of the company's products and should be able to explain the features of each. They should know how to approach customers and to close out sales. Salespersons are expected to have good communication, interpersonal, and persuasion skills.
Sales associates and sales people have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Associate | Sales Person | |
| Average salary | $32,167 | $42,010 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $47,000 | Between $14,000 And $121,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Oceanside, NY |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Barclays | Douglas Elliman |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between a sales associate and a sales person in terms of educational background:
| Sales Associate | Sales Person | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between sales associates' and sales people' demographics:
| Sales Associate | Sales Person | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% Asian, 7.3% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |