Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between sales people and sales clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales person has an average salary of $42,010, which is higher than the $25,739 average annual salary of a sales clerk.
The top three skills for a sales person include basic math, phone calls and POS. The most important skills for a sales clerk are customer service, stock shelves, and sales floor.
| Sales Person | Sales Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $42,010 | $25,739 |
| Hourly rate | $20.20 | $12.37 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 378,132 | 372,651 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| 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 sales clerk is responsible for assisting customers in purchasing products, responding to customer inquiries, and providing product recommendations. Sales clerks require excellent customer service and communication skills to offer the best services to the customers and maintain good customer feedback for the business. They also check inventories, request supplies as needed, and organize product displays on the appropriate shelves. A sales clerk must have strong verbal communication skills to manage customer concerns and excellent time-management skills to perform tasks within the fast-paced work environment.
Sales people and sales clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Person | Sales Clerk | |
| Average salary | $42,010 | $25,739 |
| Salary range | Between $14,000 And $121,000 | Between $16,000 And $39,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oceanside, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | Douglas Elliman | Hawaii Pacific Health |
| Best paying industry | - | Energy |
There are a few differences between a sales person and a sales clerk in terms of educational background:
| Sales Person | Sales Clerk | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 34% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between sales people' and sales clerks' demographics:
| Sales Person | Sales Clerk | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 35.3% Female, 64.7% |
| 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, 10.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% Asian, 6.8% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |