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The differences between sales people and real estate agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a real estate agent has an average salary of $91,788, which is higher than the $42,010 average annual salary of a sales person.
The top three skills for a sales person include basic math, phone calls and POS. The most important skills for a real estate agent are customer service, real estate license, and excellent interpersonal.
| Sales Person | Real Estate Agent | |
| Yearly salary | $42,010 | $91,788 |
| Hourly rate | $20.20 | $44.13 |
| Growth rate | - | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 378,132 | 41,399 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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.
A real estate agent helps owners in the selling or renting of houses, land, offices, buildings, or any piece of property. They should be knowledgeable in the area they work in, which local properties are in the market, and the competitive prices for various properties. It is their responsibility to either market or sells in the best possible and reasonable price and conditions. Negotiating is a vital skill for real estate agents as they act as the middleman for buyers and sellers. Most agents bill the client with a percentage of the final sale price as the fee, but some would get a fixed commission for every sale.
Sales people and real estate agents have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Person | Real Estate Agent | |
| Average salary | $42,010 | $91,788 |
| Salary range | Between $14,000 And $121,000 | Between $66,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oceanside, NY | Long Beach, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | West Virginia |
| Best paying company | Douglas Elliman | Santa Clara Valley Water District |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a sales person and a real estate agent in terms of educational background:
| Sales Person | Real Estate Agent | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between sales people' and real estate agents' demographics:
| Sales Person | Real Estate Agent | |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 43.4% Female, 56.6% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 70.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 13% |