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The differences between sales engineers and sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a sales engineer, becoming a sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a sales engineer has an average salary of $93,727, which is higher than the $56,591 average annual salary of a sales representative.
The top three skills for a sales engineer include pre sales, customer service and sales process. The most important skills for a sales representative are sales process, product knowledge, and customer service.
| Sales Engineer | Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $93,727 | $56,591 |
| Hourly rate | $45.06 | $27.21 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 132,324 | 205,456 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4.33 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A sales engineer is responsible for assisting customers with their technical equipment and advanced scientific product needs. Sales engineers must have excellent knowledge of the scientific processes and component functions of the products they're selling to deliver presentations and orient the customers. Sales engineers' duties also include troubleshooting, identifying product defects, and upgrading systems for better optimization. They are also responsible for analyzing cost estimates documents, performing adjustments as needed, process payments, arranging deliveries, and settling customers' complaints by replacing damaged items or doing refunds.
Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.
Sales engineers and sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Engineer | Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $93,727 | $56,591 |
| Salary range | Between $66,000 And $132,000 | Between $33,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Meta | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a sales engineer and a sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Sales Engineer | Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between sales engineers' and sales representatives' demographics:
| Sales Engineer | Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9% | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 76.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |