Sales professional vs outside sales

The differences between sales professionals and outside sales can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a sales professional and an outside sales. Additionally, an outside sales has an average salary of $77,292, which is higher than the $68,809 average annual salary of a sales professional.

The top three skills for a sales professional include product knowledge, POS and CRM. The most important skills for an outside sales are customer service, product knowledge, and ongoing support.

Sales professional vs outside sales overview

	Sales Professional	Outside Sales
Yearly salary	$68,809	$77,292
Hourly rate	$33.08	$37.16
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	347,888	333,400
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

What does a sales professional do?

A sales professional is an employee who is responsible for the management and assessment of the effectiveness of a company's sales representatives and sales team. By setting sales goals, sales professionals work with other departments to learn more about the company's products and services while developing strategies for acquiring new clients. They analyze the company's track sales and status reports and present them to the top management to continually keep improving. Employers may require their sales professionals to have a bachelor's degree with working experience.

What does an outside sales do?

An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals. An outside sales representative must have excellent communication and customer service skills, immediately resolving complaints and assisting on marketing promotions to gain sales prospects.

Sales professional vs outside sales salary

Sales professionals and outside sales have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sales Professional	Outside Sales
Average salary	$68,809	$77,292
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $110,000	Between $56,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Arlington, VA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	New Hampshire
Best paying company	Microsoft	Morgan Stanley
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between sales professional and outside sales education

There are a few differences between a sales professional and an outside sales in terms of educational background:

	Sales Professional	Outside Sales
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Sales professional vs outside sales demographics

Here are the differences between sales professionals' and outside sales' demographics:

	Sales Professional	Outside Sales
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 63.7% Female, 36.3%	Male, 78.3% Female, 21.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between sales professional and outside sales duties and responsibilities

Sales professional example responsibilities.

Track leads and manage accounts with SalesForce.
Record client information and sales using SalesForce.
Utilize Instagram and Facebook for marketing channel to promote diverse product lines.
Preform daily sales tasks as provide outstanding customer service and greetings, operate POS register system, merchandise transfers and re-merchandising.
Present PowerPoint presentations on how to be more effective with providing excellent customer service to customers
Prioritize account management, POS operations, customer service problem-solving and relationship building in fast-pace setting.

Outside sales example responsibilities.

Plan logistical outside sales route, planned/schedule sales calls with web-base CRM program, manage various sales cycles.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Perfect the craft of upselling customers.
Prepare material estimates/bids for houses, windows, doors, trusses, etc.
Increase existing customer base and generate new dealer and customer relationships within the HVAC equipment and sales.
Estimate, price, bid and follow up to all mechanical HVAC and plumbing plan and spec projects.

Sales professional vs outside sales skills

Common sales professional skills

Product Knowledge, 13%
POS, 10%
CRM, 8%
Work Ethic, 7%
Sales Presentations, 6%
Sales Techniques, 6%

Common outside sales skills

Customer Service, 30%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Ongoing Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
CRM, 4%
Flyers, 4%

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Sales Professional vs Outside Sales

Updated January 8, 2025

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