Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between sales representatives and sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a sales representative, becoming a sales manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a sales manager has an average salary of $73,952, 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 sales manager are product knowledge, customer satisfaction, and sales performance.
| Sales Representative | Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $56,591 | $73,952 |
| Hourly rate | $27.21 | $35.55 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 205,456 | 119,066 |
| Job satisfaction | 4.33 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 47 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 8 |
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.
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
Sales representatives and sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Representative | Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $56,591 | $73,952 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $94,000 | Between $42,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Capgemini | |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | - |
There are a few differences between a sales representative and a sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Sales Representative | Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between sales representatives' and sales managers' demographics:
| Sales Representative | Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% |
| 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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |