Sales internship vs inside sales specialist

The differences between sales interns and inside sales specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a sales internship and an inside sales specialist. Additionally, an inside sales specialist has an average salary of $50,944, which is higher than the $34,460 average annual salary of a sales internship.

The top three skills for a sales internship include customer service, sales intern and powerpoint. The most important skills for an inside sales specialist are customer service, CRM, and sales process.

Sales internship vs inside sales specialist overview

	Sales Internship	Inside Sales Specialist
Yearly salary	$34,460	$50,944
Hourly rate	$16.57	$24.49
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	341,195	251,423
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 82%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

What does a sales internship do?

Sales internship is a program that requires work in the business and sales development. Sales interns work as assistants to managers and senior staff. Their duties and responsibilities are administrative. They do research, send emails, update records, and make calls. It is their job to maintain good client relationships. They observe the process and other details related to sales. Also, they help in identifying and tracking sales leads, evaluating success, and generating sales reports.

What does an inside sales specialist do?

An inside sales specialist is primarily responsible for securing sales by reaching out to clients to sell products and services. They may communicate with customers through calls and correspondence or personally recommend products in a retail store setting. Moreover, they are also responsible for responding to inquiries or concerns, identifying the customers' needs, devising strategies to find sales opportunities, and discussing products to customers. An inside sales specialist is often required to meet sales goals and report to managers should there be any issues or problems.

Sales internship vs inside sales specialist salary

Sales interns and inside sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sales Internship	Inside Sales Specialist
Average salary	$34,460	$50,944
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $45,000	Between $34,000 And $75,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Washington
Best paying company	IBM	Keller Williams Greater Seattle
Best paying industry	Technology	Real Estate

Differences between sales internship and inside sales specialist education

There are a few differences between a sales internship and an inside sales specialist in terms of educational background:

	Sales Internship	Inside Sales Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 82%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Sales internship vs inside sales specialist demographics

Here are the differences between sales interns' and inside sales specialists' demographics:

	Sales Internship	Inside Sales Specialist
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 52.2% Female, 47.8%	Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between sales internship and inside sales specialist duties and responsibilities

Sales internship example responsibilities.

Track leads and manage accounts with SalesForce.
Produce press releases and distribute via multiple platforms such as the company website, email, twitter, etc.
Generate content for YouTube videos and penned the channel s description.
Redesign the public website with a focus on SEO, CRM, usability, and social media.
Create value proposition presentation decks that outline return-on-investment (ROI) models, competitive analysis and case studies.
Audit and categorize their website's incoming links on excel, for search engine optimization purposes (SEO).

Inside sales specialist example responsibilities.

Manage individual sales activities by developing highly effective, communications focuse relationship with multiple sales channels.
Present presentations to potential clients through Microsoft PowerPoint.
Maintain and update assigned territory through SalesLogix CRM program.
Revise and update CRM database to ensure accurate customer information.
Operate as inside sales consultant, primarily in areas of customer relations, sales/service support, coordinating production and transportation scheduling
Call on corporate counsel, c-level executives and law firms to sell solutions with traditional litigation support.

Sales internship vs inside sales specialist skills

Common sales internship skills

Customer Service, 18%
Sales Intern, 15%
PowerPoint, 5%
CRM, 4%
Work Ethic, 3%
Salesforce, 3%

Common inside sales specialist skills

Customer Service, 13%
CRM, 7%
Sales Process, 5%
Work Ethic, 5%
Product Knowledge, 5%
Outbound Calls, 4%

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Sales Internship vs Inside Sales Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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