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What is a sales operations specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Frederik Beuk,
Joseph Hancock
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A sales operations specialist coordinates sales activities in an organization. They are the ones responsible for ensuring that sales operations are efficient and effective. Your duties include gathering sales data for companies, creating forecasts about upcoming sales data, and making contracts that fulfill both company and customer needs.

Some examples of typical responsibilities you'll face as a sales operations specialist are auditing and executing contracts, documentation in SalesForce to support the creation of permanent client profiles in PeopleSoft, and managing and maintaining SalesForce to implement and adjust as needed per sales team requirements.

You must have good negotiation, communication, analytical, and strong leadership skills. Other important skills are CRM, sales process, customer service, and product knowledge. Sales operation specialists earn $40.41 per hour and $84,057 annually. The most commonly required educational degree is a bachelor's degree. You might also decide to get a Certified Sales Professional certification.

What general advice would you give to a sales operations specialist?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.
ScoreSales Operations SpecialistUS Average
Salary
6.0

Avg. Salary $76,900

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.1

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
3.8
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.09%

Black or African American 3.79%

Hispanic or Latino 13.93%

Unknown 3.71%

White 73.25%

Gender

female 48.53%

male 51.47%

Age - 48
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48
Stress level
7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance
4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Sales operations specialist career paths

Key steps to become a sales operations specialist

  1. Explore sales operations specialist education requirements

    Most common sales operations specialist degrees

    Bachelor's

    65.2 %

    Associate

    13.8 %

    High School Diploma

    10.0 %
  2. Start to develop specific sales operations specialist skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Sales Operations11.50%
    CRM10.88%
    Customer Service9.80%
    Salesforce9.35%
    Product Knowledge3.70%
  3. Complete relevant sales operations specialist training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sales operations specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sales operations specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sales operations specialist resumes.
  4. Research sales operations specialist duties and responsibilities

    • Manage and maintain SalesForce to implement and adjust as needed per sales team requirements.
    • Master delivering technical product information to doctors on training and teaching proper injection technique to achieve optimal results for patients.
    • Audit and execute contracts, banking documentation, in SalesForce to support creation of permanent client profile in PeopleSoft.
    • Project management of CRM migration and implementation activities as required.
  5. Get sales operations specialist experience

    Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a sales operations specialist. The most common roles before becoming a sales operations specialist include sales associate, customer service representative team lead and cashier.
  6. Prepare your sales operations specialist resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sales operations specialist resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sales operations specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable sales operations specialist resume templates

    Build a professional sales operations specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sales operations specialist resume.
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  7. Apply for sales operations specialist jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a sales operations specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first sales operations specialist job

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Average sales operations specialist salary

The average sales operations specialist salary in the United States is $76,900 per year or $37 per hour. Sales operations specialist salaries range between $50,000 and $116,000 per year.

Average sales operations specialist salary
$76,900 Yearly
$36.97 hourly

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How do sales operations specialists rate their job?

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Sales operations specialist reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2020
Pros

Pay was consistent and you pick your own rate based on the commission you choose to bring in. Spending so much time together created a bond between the team where uplifting one another on bad days became part of the job. I guess it depends on your particular work environment but the bonds created kept us going.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020
Pros

Communicating and helping my clients.

Cons

The travel was extensive. Sometimes. It took more than month to close a deaĺ.


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A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020
Pros

Being an important COG into the system. The dynamic work flow ensures that you are always well vested into the multiple projects you will assist in facilitating resources too.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.