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Sales specialist vs product specialist

The differences between sales specialists and product specialists 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 specialist, becoming a product specialist takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product specialist has an average salary of $85,932, 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 a product specialist are customer service, product knowledge, and sales floor.

Sales specialist vs product specialist overview

Sales SpecialistProduct Specialist
Yearly salary$53,004$85,932
Hourly rate$25.48$41.31
Growth rate4%19%
Number of jobs324,069103,863
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age4737
Years of experience46

What does a sales specialist do?

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.

What does a product specialist do?

A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.

Sales specialist vs product specialist salary

Sales specialists and product specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Sales SpecialistProduct Specialist
Average salary$53,004$85,932
Salary rangeBetween $30,000 And $91,000Between $56,000 And $130,000
Highest paying CityBoston, MASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsCalifornia
Best paying companyVMwareByteDance
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between sales specialist and product specialist education

There are a few differences between a sales specialist and a product specialist in terms of educational background:

Sales SpecialistProduct Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeSUNY College of Technology at AlfredUniversity of Georgia

Sales specialist vs product specialist demographics

Here are the differences between sales specialists' and product specialists' demographics:

Sales SpecialistProduct Specialist
Average age4737
Gender ratioMale, 55.1% Female, 44.9%Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2%
Race ratioBlack 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, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage6%10%

Differences between sales specialist and product specialist duties and responsibilities

Sales specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage a Salesforce database comprise of customer information, leads and potential sales opportunities.
  • Manage Pardot (marketing database), and Zuora (online billing and payment gateway).
  • Manage territory retail accounts, category management, install POS, sell of manufacturer programs and implementation of sales programs.
  • Manage planning parameters in ERP via the item master (lead times, min/max, safety stock, pay terms).
  • Master delivering technical product information to doctors on training and teaching proper injection technique to achieve optimal results for patients.
  • Lead on sales order reporting for Americas.
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Product specialist example responsibilities.

  • Create and manage RFP responses for potential customers and develop product quotes base on customer requirements.
  • Manage projects and priorities list of ongoing engineering plans base on ROI and business needs, and relay to operations regularly.
  • Perform weekly review and update of lead list against opportunities manage in Salesforce.com.
  • Manage telephone relationships with senior management of client companies to troubleshoot and develop product.
  • Participate in CAPA activities as required.
  • Develop generic UI's that includes re-branding & re-skinning of product.
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Sales specialist vs product specialist skills

Common sales specialist skills
  • Building Relationships, 10%
  • Customer Complaints, 9%
  • Customer Orders, 9%
  • Product Knowledge, 6%
  • Patients, 6%
  • Sales Process, 5%
Common product specialist skills
  • Customer Service, 19%
  • Product Knowledge, 7%
  • Sales Floor, 7%
  • Patients, 6%
  • Excellent Interpersonal, 4%
  • Windows, 3%