Sales lead and sales associates are two different sales positions in the retail industry. A sales lead is in charge of supervising the sales department. Sales leads perform administrative duties like recruiting and training staff, monitoring inventories, and maintaining sales performance. On the other hand, sales associates guide potential customers to acquire the products or services that fit their needs. The associates notify clients of sales promotions then present to them the product or service. Employees for these positions are looking for candidates with relevant experience in sales and related degrees like marketing and sales.

Sales Lead/Sales Associate Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales lead/sales associate resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Partner in managing operations of multiple retail outlets, including hiring, performance management, scheduling, and merchandising management.
  • Complete customer transactions using POS register system and fraud security protocol.
  • Monitor inventory accountability by physically checking inventory, running inventory reports, receiving shipments, and completing transfers in the POS.
  • Demonstrate strong leadership, communication and supervisory skills by providing coaching and feedback to maximize individual and store performance.

Sales Lead/Sales Associate Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 16% of Sales Lead/Sales Associates are proficient in POS, Cash Control, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Math skills.

We break down the percentage of Sales Lead/Sales Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • POS, 16%

    Completed customer transactions using POS register system and fraud security protocol.

  • Cash Control, 13%

    Maintain 100% accountability of cash, key control, and adherence to company security practices and cash control procedures.

  • Customer Service, 9%

    Modeled and directed sales associates in applying proper customer service techniques in order to resolve customer complaints and heighten customer satisfaction.

  • Bank Deposits, 8%

    Run store when managers were unavailable-Handle all money, bank deposits, paperwork-Take orders-Assist with inventory

  • Inventory Control, 8%

    Trained in forklift operation in shipping and receiving emphasizing inventory control.

  • Sales Transactions, 7%

    Completed sales transactions, replenished merchandise displays, supported bi-annual inventory counts and semi-annual sales.

"pos," "cash control," and "customer service" aren't the only skills we found sales lead/sales associates list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of sales lead/sales associate responsibilities that we found, including:

  • Customer-service skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a sales lead/sales associate to have. According to a sales lead/sales associate resume, "retail sales workers must be responsive to the wants and needs of customers" sales lead/sales associates are able to use customer-service skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: "coached and developed sales associates, training sales techniques, inventory management, merchandising and customer service. "
  • Another commonly found skill for being able to perform sales lead/sales associate duties is the following: interpersonal skills. According to a sales lead/sales associate resume, "a friendly and outgoing personality is important for these workers because the job requires almost constant interaction with people." Check out this example of how sales lead/sales associates use interpersonal skills: "exhibited great customer relationships ensuring returning customers utilized interpersonal, analytical and strategic skills during audits and customer scenarios. "
  • Another skill that is quite popular among sales lead/sales associates is math skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a sales lead/sales associate resume: "retail sales workers must have the ability to calculate price totals, discounts, and change owed to customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "demonstrated customer service kept store organized and clean operated cash register handled cash utilized math skills supervised store operations"
  • A sales lead/sales associate responsibilities sometimes require "selling skills." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "retail sales workers must be persuasive when interacting with customers" This resume example shows how this skill is used by sales lead/sales associates: "coached and strengthened proper sales techniques with team members, set weekly goals to motivate the staff and focus on corporate goals"
  • See the full list of sales lead/sales associate skills.

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    What Assistant Manager, Saless Do

    An assistant sales manager assists the sales manager in supervising the daily store operations. It is their responsibility to develop strategies to improve the store's profit, effectively resolve client's issues, and manage the recruitment of sales staff. They need to train and guide the sales staff to learn sales strategies to enhance their sales performance. Assistant sales managers must have strong management and leadership skills so they can do the duties of the sales managers in case of their absence. Candidates applying for the job should have excellent customer service skills and relevant experience in sales.

    We looked at the average sales lead/sales associate annual salary and compared it with the average of an assistant manager, sales. Generally speaking, assistant managers, sales receive $3,615 higher pay than sales lead/sales associates per year.

    While their salaries may differ, one common ground between sales lead/sales associates and assistant managers, sales are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like pos, customer service, and bank deposits.

    As far as similarities go, this is where it ends because a sales lead/sales associate responsibility requires skills such as "cash control," "sales transactions," "cash handling," and "front end." Whereas a assistant manager, sales is skilled in "excellent interpersonal," "sales training," "payroll," and "strong analytical." So if you're looking for what truly separates the two careers, you've found it.

    Assistant managers, sales tend to make the most money in the manufacturing industry by averaging a salary of $36,707. In contrast, sales lead/sales associates make the biggest average salary of $30,271 in the retail industry.

    On average, assistant managers, sales reach similar levels of education than sales lead/sales associates. Assistant managers, sales are 2.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of an Associate/Team Lead?

    An associate/team lead oversees the performance of team members while ensuring that clients get to receive optimal services. Their responsibilities typically include establishing guidelines and objectives, managing schedules, generating leads, performing market research and analysis, and developing strategies to optimize the daily operations. They may communicate with clients and assist them by identifying their needs, answering inquiries, and resolving issues and concerns. Moreover, as an associate/team lead, it is essential to guide and encourage staff to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.

    Next up, we have the associate/team lead profession to look over. This career brings along a higher average salary when compared to a sales lead/sales associate annual salary. In fact, associate/team leads salary difference is $22,767 higher than the salary of sales lead/sales associates per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Sales lead/sales associates and associate/team leads both include similar skills like "pos," "customer service," and "bank deposits" on their resumes.

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that sales lead/sales associate responsibilities requires skills like "cash control," "cash handling," "front end," and "stock merchandise." But an associate/team lead might use skills, such as, "excellent interpersonal," "basic math," "quality standards," and "math."

    In general, associate/team leads study at similar levels of education than sales lead/sales associates. They're 3.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Retail Sales Lead Compares

    Retail sales leads are responsible for the recruitment and training of new sales team members, assisting the management in selling products, and creating sales reports. Some duties and responsibilities of a retail sales lead include customer services such as answering inquiries and complaints, providing assistance and product information, suggesting items and opinions. Such experiences are an advantage for them to be promoted if they perform their tasks effectively and efficiently.

    The third profession we take a look at is retail sales lead. On an average scale, these workers bring in higher salaries than sales lead/sales associates. In fact, they make a $8,827 higher salary per year.

    By looking over several sales lead/sales associates and retail sales leads resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "pos," "cash control," and "customer service." But beyond that the careers look very different.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from sales lead/sales associates resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "front end," "stock merchandise," "pet," and "boats." But a retail sales lead might have skills like "math," "basic math," "punctuality," and "strong work ethic."

    Interestingly enough, retail sales leads earn the most pay in the professional industry, where they command an average salary of $41,099. As mentioned previously, sales lead/sales associates highest annual salary comes from the retail industry with an average salary of $30,271.

    When it comes to education, retail sales leads tend to earn similar education levels than sales lead/sales associates. In fact, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Lead Sales Representative

    A lead sales representative is responsible for selling goods and services to existing and potential customers through electronic communications and area visits. Lead sales representatives should be highly-knowledgeable of the products that the company offers to discuss and demonstrate the features to the client accurately. They take orders, process orders, and ensure the correct distribution details according to the customers' specifications. A lead sales representative also monitors the team's sales performance and strategize opportunities to maximize selling techniques and increase profitability.

    The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than sales lead/sales associates. On average, lead sales representatives earn a difference of $22,125 higher per year.

    While both sales lead/sales associates and lead sales representatives complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like pos, customer service, and bank deposits, the two careers also vary in other skills.

    Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a sales lead/sales associate might have more use for skills like "cash control," "sales transactions," "cash handling," and "front end." Meanwhile, some lead sales representatives might include skills like "cleanliness," "medicare," "outbound calls," and "sales process" on their resume.

    Lead sales representatives reach similar levels of education when compared to sales lead/sales associates. The difference is that they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.