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The differences between sales specialists and account executives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an account executive has an average salary of $69,618, which is higher than the $53,004 average annual salary of a sales specialist.
The top three skills for a sales specialist include building relationships, customer complaints and customer orders. The most important skills for an account executive are customer service, CRM, and healthcare.
| Sales Specialist | Account Executive | |
| Yearly salary | $53,004 | $69,618 |
| Hourly rate | $25.48 | $33.47 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 324,069 | 205,561 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
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.
An account executive is responsible for supporting existing clients, closing client deals, and developing sales strategies to increase the company's sales and satisfaction. An account executive must be competitive enough to keep up with the constant changes in the sales industry, including the high demands of digital marketing, a different approach to product advertising, effective negotiation, and presentation skills. An account executive also requires excellent communication skills for the successful acquisition of client accounts and immediately resolve possible complaints as they arise.
Sales specialists and account executives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Specialist | Account Executive | |
| Average salary | $53,004 | $69,618 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $91,000 | Between $44,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Portland, OR |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Oregon |
| Best paying company | VMware | Hitachi Vantara |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a sales specialist and an account executive in terms of educational background:
| Sales Specialist | Account Executive | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between sales specialists' and account executives' demographics:
| Sales Specialist | Account Executive | |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.1% Female, 44.9% | Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 5.6% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 5% |