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What does a Sales Specialist do?

Updated June 25, 2024
7 min read
Quoted Experts
Philip Bailey,
Eric Gjerdevig
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.

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Sales specialist responsibilities

The responsibilities of a sales specialist are multifaceted and integral to their role. They include creating and implementing strategic plans to achieve sales objectives, maintaining strong customer relationships, and providing exceptional consultative selling and product detailing. Sales specialists also utilize sales techniques and telemarketing methods to communicate updated information, handle customer complaints, and recommend products that match customer needs. They are often selected as top sales representatives for consistently exceeding performance and sales quotas. As Eric Gjerdevig, Lecturer in Marketing and Director for the Center for Professional Selling and Sales Technology at North Dakota State University, notes, "it's our human-to-human skills that will become rarer and more valuable over the coming years." This includes asking questions, listening, storytelling, and being empathetic.

Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales specialist resumes:

  • 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.
  • Serve orders to customers at windows, counters and tables.
  • Serve to sell Bose products through the effective delivery of specific customer focuse engagement.
  • Operate an online ordering and inventory system to ensure timely delivery of MRO parts.
  • Coach, mentor, and develop store staff on how to effectively engage and sell to Bose customers.
  • Validate and update SFDC opportunities data.
  • Verify incoming purchase order accuracy against SFDC opportunities.
  • Apply expertise and sound judgment in handling competing pharmaceutical distributors.
  • Acknowledge by senior management for dedication, professionalism and logistics excellence.
  • Specialize in lead generation for new clients while utilizing the electronic system Salesforce.com.

Sales specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 10% of Sales Specialists are proficient in Building Relationships, Customer Complaints, and Customer Orders. They’re also known for soft skills such as Physical stamina, Self-confidence, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Sales Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Building Relationships, 10%

    Maximize sales by regularly connecting with established clients and building relationships with prospective customers.

  • Customer Complaints, 9%

    Handled customer complaints with home installations through on-site project inspections with contractors and through computer generated customer complaint systems.

  • Customer Orders, 9%

    Accepted individual customer orders and special orders for delivery, completing all required paperwork accurately and completely.

  • Product Knowledge, 6%

    Provided exemplary consultative selling, and product detailing, using product knowledge and pharmaceutical background experience.

  • Patients, 6%

    Acted as educator and spokesperson displaying exceptional professional ability to establish strong relationships with medical health professionals and their patients.

  • Sales Process, 5%

    Worked closely with manufacturer's sponsor to identify new business opportunities and routinely participated in the sales process and product services.

"building relationships," "customer complaints," and "customer orders" are among the most common skills that sales specialists use at work. You can find even more sales specialist responsibilities below, including:

Physical stamina. One of the key soft skills for a sales specialist to have is physical stamina. You can see how this relates to what sales specialists do because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives are often on their feet for a long time and may carry heavy sample products." Additionally, a sales specialist resume shows how sales specialists use physical stamina: "worked with physical therapist to ensure patients were properly fitted for their power and manual wheelchairs. "

Self-confidence. Many sales specialist duties rely on self-confidence. "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be confident and persuasive when making sales presentations," so a sales specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways sales specialist responsibilities rely on self-confidence: "handle any/all customer complaints with a smile and confidence, using all available resources to achieve a positive resolution. "

Customer-service skills. sales specialists are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to sales specialist responsibilities, because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to listen to the customer’s needs and concerns before and after the sale." A sales specialist resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "prepare price quotes for customers and use consultative sales techniques to identify customer requirements and expectations and recommend specific products. "

Interpersonal skills. A big part of what sales specialists do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to sales specialist responsibilities because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to work well with many types of people." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales specialist tasks: "enhanced and managed dealer and customer relations using interpersonal skills to increase business share and profitability. "

See the full list of sales specialist skills

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Compare different sales specialists

Sales specialist vs. Inside sales associate

An inside sales associate is responsible for selling the company's goods and services through remote communication. Inside sales associates make calls to potential customers, demonstrate the products' features, take orders, process payments, and inform the customers of the delivery details. They strategize the most effective sales pitches to attract the customers on purchasing more services that would generate revenues and increase the company's profitability and brand image. An inside sales associate also supports the marketing team in developing marketing campaigns and promotional offers depending on customer demands and requests.

If we compare the average sales specialist annual salary with that of an inside sales associate, we find that inside sales associates typically earn a $12,317 lower salary than sales specialists make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both sales specialist and inside sales associate positions are skilled in customer complaints, customer orders, and product knowledge.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sales specialist responsibilities require skills like "building relationships," "patients," "customer service," and "aided design." Meanwhile a typical inside sales associate has skills in areas such as "inside sales," "strong customer service," "data entry," and "phone calls." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

On average, inside sales associates reach similar levels of education than sales specialists. Inside sales associates are 1.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Sales specialist vs. Sales person

A salesperson is in charge of ensuring that the products, goods, or services of the company get sold to customers. They are trained to market the products well, understand what the customer needs, and find the product that best fits the customer's needs. As such, the salesperson should be familiar with all of the company's products and should be able to explain the features of each. They should know how to approach customers and to close out sales. Salespersons are expected to have good communication, interpersonal, and persuasion skills.

Sales person positions earn lower pay than sales specialist roles. They earn a $10,994 lower salary than sales specialists per year.A few skills overlap for sales specialists and sales people. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "customer complaints," "customer orders," and "product knowledge. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real sales specialist resumes. While sales specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "building relationships," "patients," "crm," and "aided design," sales people use skills like "basic math," "phone calls," "cleanliness," and "math."

Sales people earn similar levels of education than sales specialists in general. They're 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Sales Specialists in the next 3-5 years?

Philip BaileyPhilip Bailey LinkedIn Profile

Assistant Professor of Business; Director of the MBA Program, Carson-Newman a Christian University

The full integration of AI, even in small marketing firms, is very likely. As the capabilities of AI continue to evolve, marketers will exploit the opportunities to connect with their customers and maximize the delivery of the highly customized content at the moment the customer needs the information. This trend will allow for more advertising while decreasing customer resistance to the advertisements.

Sales specialist vs. Sales professional

A sales professional is an employee who is responsible for the management and assessment of the effectiveness of a company's sales representatives and sales team. By setting sales goals, sales professionals work with other departments to learn more about the company's products and services while developing strategies for acquiring new clients. They analyze the company's track sales and status reports and present them to the top management to continually keep improving. Employers may require their sales professionals to have a bachelor's degree with working experience.

An average sales professional eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of sales specialists. The difference in salaries amounts to sales professionals earning a $15,805 higher average salary than sales specialists.By looking over several sales specialists and sales professionals resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "building relationships," "customer complaints," and "product knowledge." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from sales specialist resumes include skills like "customer orders," "aided design," "plumbing," and "powerpoint," whereas a sales professional is more likely to list skills in "real estate," "lead generation," "retail sales," and "basic math. "

When it comes to education, sales professionals tend to earn similar degree levels compared to sales specialists. In fact, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Sales specialist vs. Sales support associate

A sales support associate is an individual who is responsible for assisting sales staff and help customers. To provide this assistance, sales support associates use customer communication methods such as telephones or email to process customer orders and ensure that they are accurate. They work closely with distributors to make sure that products are available for their customers. Sales support associates may function as either part-time or full time, but companies may require excellent communication skills.

Sales support associates typically earn lower pay than sales specialists. On average, sales support associates earn a $18,550 lower salary per year.While their salaries may vary, sales specialists and sales support associates both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "customer complaints," "customer orders," and "product knowledge. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between sales specialists and sales support associates, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a sales specialist might have more use for skills like "building relationships," "patients," "crm," and "aided design." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of sales support associates require skills like "back room," "math," "sales support," and "strong computer. "

The average resume of sales support associates showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to sales specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.

Types of sales specialist

Updated June 25, 2024

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.