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The differences between sales specialists and senior sales 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 senior sales specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior sales specialist has an average salary of $74,361, 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 senior sales specialist are customer service, sales training, and customer satisfaction.
| Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $53,004 | $74,361 |
| Hourly rate | $25.48 | $35.75 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 324,069 | 109,882 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
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.
A senior sales specialist oversees and provides solutions to improve a company's sales operations. It is their responsibility to conduct market research and analysis, establish budgets and guidelines, generate leads, and develop sales strategies and sales forecasts. They also liaise and build positive relationships with vendors and suppliers, set sales targets, and resolve customer issues and complaints. Moreover, being a senior sales specialist, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior sales specialists while implementing and promoting the company's policies and regulations.
Sales specialists and senior sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $53,004 | $74,361 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $91,000 | Between $50,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | California |
| Best paying company | VMware | VMware |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a sales specialist and a senior sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| 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 senior sales specialists' demographics:
| Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.1% Female, 44.9% | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% |
| 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, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |