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The differences between sales people and sales specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales specialist has an average salary of $53,004, 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 sales specialist are building relationships, customer complaints, and customer orders.
| Sales Person | Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $42,010 | $53,004 |
| Hourly rate | $20.20 | $25.48 |
| Growth rate | - | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 378,132 | 324,069 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
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 specialist is responsible for offering the best goods and services to customers in order to boost the company's sales. Sales specialists also promote strategies and solutions to contribute to the company's growth and profitability. A sales specialist must have extensive knowledge of the current market trends and the best sales skills to perform marketing tasks. Sales specialists should have excellent communication and customer service skills to assist existing and potential clients with their inquiries and concerns.
Sales people and sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Person | Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $42,010 | $53,004 |
| Salary range | Between $14,000 And $121,000 | Between $30,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oceanside, NY | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Douglas Elliman | VMware |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a sales person and a sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Sales Person | Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between sales people' and sales specialists' demographics:
| Sales Person | Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 41 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 55.1% Female, 44.9% |
| 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, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |