Sales representative vs broker

The differences between sales representatives and brokers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, which is higher than the $56,591 average annual salary of a sales representative.

The top three skills for a sales representative include sales process, product knowledge and customer service. The most important skills for a broker are brokerage, financial services, and insurance products.

Sales representative vs broker overview

	Sales Representative	Broker
Yearly salary	$56,591	$124,861
Hourly rate	$27.21	$60.03
Growth rate	4%	5%
Number of jobs	205,456	2,770
Job satisfaction	4.33	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	47	49
Years of experience	4	-

What does a sales representative do?

Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.

What does a broker do?

Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.

Sales representative vs broker salary

Sales representatives and brokers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sales Representative	Broker
Average salary	$56,591	$124,861
Salary range	Between $33,000 And $94,000	Between $68,000 And $227,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	New York
Best paying company	Google	Child Guidance & Family Solutions
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Insurance

Differences between sales representative and broker education

There are a few differences between a sales representative and a broker in terms of educational background:

	Sales Representative	Broker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	University of Southern California

Sales representative vs broker demographics

Here are the differences between sales representatives' and brokers' demographics:

	Sales Representative	Broker
Average age	47	49
Gender ratio	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	6%	13%

Differences between sales representative and broker duties and responsibilities

Sales representative example responsibilities.

Manage prospective leads and existing accounts through a CRM platform to accurately forecast revenue and develop long-term business partnerships.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Search for procurement contracts, attend trade shows, design flyers, postcards, etc.
Utilize POS sales software to maintain monetary sales information produce reports for organizational review.
Develop and maintain business relationships with businesses and policyholders using establish methods such as customer relationship management CRM.
Handle administrative and sales duties as Jr.

Broker example responsibilities.

Manage, lease and sell office condominiums on site.
Retail trader, fix income securities; manage client account activity; properly allocate client funds to appropriate investment options
Manage indexes, options, foreign equities, and short-selling positions that are compatible with clients' long-term investment goals.
Expand and maintain professional relationships with trading accounts including banks, hedge funds and portfolio managers.
Specialize in finding undervalue and/or overbought commodities by using fundamental and technical analysis that exist throughout the markets.
Install the oracle client for windows.

Sales representative vs broker skills

Common sales representative skills

Sales Process, 9%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Customer Service, 7%
CRM, 6%
Business Development, 6%
Sales REP, 5%

Common broker skills

Brokerage, 17%
Financial Services, 9%
Insurance Products, 7%
Risk Management, 6%
Client Relationships, 6%
Real Estate Transactions, 5%

Sales Representative vs. similar jobs

Sales Representative related careers

Sales Representative related jobs

Sales Representative jobs by location

Zippia Careers
Sales Industry
Sales Representative
Sales Representative vs Broker

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse sales jobs