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Job outlook for sales support associates in the United States
Sales support associate job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected sales support associate job growth rate is 4% from 2018-2028.
About 63,300 new jobs for sales support associates are projected over the next decade.
Sales support associate salaries have increased 9% for sales support associates in the last 5 years.
There are over 342,761 sales support associates currently employed in the United States.
There are 447,642 active sales support associate job openings in the US.
The average sales support associate salary is $34,454.
Are sales support associate jobs in demand?
Sales support associate job and salary trends over time
Sales support associate jobs over time
Sales support associate job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 342,761 | 0.10% |
| 2020 | 347,933 | 0.10% |
| 2019 | 372,700 | 0.11% |
| 2018 | 373,583 | 0.11% |
| 2017 | 372,101 | 0.11% |
Average sales support associate salary over time
Sales support associate salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $34,454 | $16.56 | +3.6% |
| 2025 | $33,266 | $15.99 | +2.4% |
| 2024 | $32,478 | $15.61 | +2.7% |
| 2023 | $31,623 | $15.20 | --0.3% |
| 2022 | $31,717 | $15.25 | +2.5% |
Sales support associate jobs by state
Most common states for sales support associates
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 1,512 | 113% |
| 2 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 1,169 | 88% |
| 3 | Delaware | 961,939 | 849 | 88% |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 5,897 | 86% |
| 5 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 6,696 | 74% |
| 6 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 2,666 | 74% |
| 7 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 4,423 | 72% |
| 8 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 2,254 | 72% |
| 9 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 4,295 | 71% |
| 10 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 3,464 | 71% |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 8,898 | 69% |
| 12 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 4,608 | 69% |
| 13 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 3,838 | 69% |
| 14 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 736 | 69% |
| 15 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 7,069 | 68% |
| 16 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 6,942 | 68% |
| 17 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 3,388 | 67% |
| 18 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 8,392 | 66% |
| 19 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 7,663 | 66% |
| 20 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 6,598 | 66% |
Most common cities for sales support associates
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paramus | 7 | 26% | $37,866 |
| 2 | Valley Stream | 4 | 11% | $41,240 |
| 3 | Braintree Town | 3 | 8% | $44,324 |
| 4 | Schaumburg | 5 | 7% | $37,813 |
| 5 | Santa Clara | 5 | 4% | $40,898 |
| 6 | Costa Mesa | 4 | 4% | $39,818 |
| 7 | Rancho Cucamonga | 5 | 3% | $39,897 |
| 8 | Torrance | 4 | 3% | $40,061 |
| 9 | Yonkers | 5 | 2% | $40,974 |
| 10 | Atlanta | 6 | 1% | $34,657 |
| 11 | Raleigh | 5 | 1% | $35,739 |
| 12 | Boston | 4 | 1% | $44,186 |
| 13 | Orlando | 4 | 1% | $34,325 |
| 14 | Charlotte | 4 | 0% | $35,386 |
| 15 | Houston | 4 | 0% | $42,362 |
| 16 | New York | 4 | 0% | $41,247 |
| 17 | San Jose | 4 | 0% | $40,879 |
| 18 | Chicago | 3 | 0% | $37,878 |
Sales Support Associate job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of sales support associate experts
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Southern Mississippi
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
University of Maryland - College Park
North Dakota State University
University of Akron
University of Akron
Florida State University
University of Mount Union
Landmark College
Franklin and Marshall College
California State University Channel Islands
San Diego Mesa College
What Sales Support Associate skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Kathleen Kelly: Maximizing your salary potential requires research, flexibility, and being your best advocate.
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Kevin Buckley: The biggest factor in earning potential is performance - salespeople get paid based on their ability to hit and exceed quotas through revenue generation. With a sales career, you have a lot of control over earnings. My advice is to be metrics-driven and have a plan to intentionally grow your sales skills through training, mentors, and personal development. Build a reputation for consistent over-achievement. It's also important to do research and understand typical compensation benchmarks. Some may offer higher base pay, while others offer more earnings leverage through aggressive commission/bonus structures.
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.
ChairSouthern Illinois University Edwardsville
Communication And Media Studies
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.: Network, get an internship, do action research etc - anything to add practical experience to the classroom knowledge base.
What Sales Support Associate skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.: All things social media are important, and so writing skills still matter.
What will help Sales Support Associates increase their earning potential?
E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.: With this major, probably the best salaries are from sales jobs, which many people shy away from because they think only of hustling used cars, but sales can be very good work.
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Derrek Schartz: Be agile and able to adapt. Sales has changed more of the last 20 years than over the previous 100. It's not your father's sales career. Over the last several decades the role of sales in most organizations has changed dramatically.
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Hank Boyd: Demonstrated proficiency in sales represents a feather in your cap. For many
CEOs, they started their illustrious career in sales. Nowadays, it is a common
launchpad for scores of successful business executives in consumer package goods.
Why is this so? Savvy companies know that it is paramount that new hires
quickly learn who the real target consumers are. Spending time on the front lines will
enhance your later contributions to the firm. For example, after obtaining my MBA from
Berkeley, I had the good fortune to land a sales position at Merck. I served as a Hospital
Representative specializing in broad spectrum antibiotics. My territory consisted of
Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto VA Medical Center, and the Santa Clara
Valley Medical Center.
After 18 months of working diligently in territory, I was offered a promotion to
work inside at Merck's headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey. Once I truly knew the
needs and concerns of my clients - general surgeons, urologists, gastroenterologists,
urologists, and infectious disease specialists - Merck was confident I could craft
relevant literature pieces and design compelling ad campaigns to reach target
physicians.
Mastery of general sales is a highly coveted asset. Once you conquer a given
product domain, the artform of sales is entirely transferrable. Case in point, it is not
unusual for you to begin in pharmaceuticals and then effortlessly segue into medical
equipment sales after a couple of years.
Eric Gjerdevig
Lecturer in Marketing, Director for the Center for Professional Selling and Sales TechnologyNorth Dakota State University
Marketing
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Eric Gjerdevig: First, remember that what you get out of your first job is so much more than compensation. A great manager mentoring you is priceless: it will pay you back dividends for the rest of your career. That said, in sales our compensation is typically tied to our performance. That means we need to put yourself out there, pay attention to the actions of the most successful salesperson in the company, learn everything you can, and manage your time well.
What Sales Support Associate skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Eric Gjerdevig: I might be a contrarian with this answer. I think as technology advances very quickly with AI it's our human-to-human skills that will become rarer and more valuable over the coming years. It might sound silly but things such as asking questions, listening, storytelling, and being empathetic can function like superpowers and I think they will even more in the coming years.
What will help Sales Support Associates increase their earning potential?
Eric Gjerdevig: Learning doesn't stop when you graduate. How jobs are done will continue to evolve more quickly with advancing technology. To excel you need to continue to learn, develop new skills, and be adaptive.
Director Dave Payne M.S.
Associate Professor of Practice / SalesUniversity of Akron
Specialized Sales, Merchandising And Marketing Operations
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Director Dave Payne M.S.: Planning, practice, and skills are the keys to a successful career launch. Practice and coaching feedback will build competence, which builds confidence and sales performance success.
Frederik Beuk
Associate Professor of MarketingUniversity of Akron
Specialized Sales, Merchandising And Marketing Operations
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Frederik Beuk: The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.
What will help Sales Support Associates increase their earning potential?
Frederik Beuk: Digital Literacy and AI are obviously on everybody's mind. The benefit for early career professionals is that these are skills they can use to differentiate themselves from more established professionals. Embrace these tools. At the same time, being an authentic storyteller that helps buyers envision the potential of your solutions can be an extremely powerful skill.
C. Darren Brooks Ph.D.
Assistant Department Chair and Executive Director, Center for Human Resource ManagementFlorida State University
Department of Management and the Center for Human Resource Management
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Sales Support Associate job market given the pandemic?
C. Darren Brooks Ph.D.: The positive is that many companies are recruiting and hiring. The most noticeable trend is the is the impact of remote work and more specifically, how this has changed the nature in which many companies are interviewing, onboarding of new employees, and employee mobility. In terms of interviewing, interacting with potential employers via web-enable platforms requires job applicants to be attuned to details such as lighting, sound volume, environmental distractions that are not common with in-person interviews. Additionally, many employment events such as job fairs are virtual resulting in a much different experience for both the applicant and the employer. Getting comfortable with communicating in a clear and cogent way remotely is a key skill to develop. In fact, our Career Center at Florida State offers job search and interviewing sessions to help students and alumni develop better virtual interviewing skills.
Onboarding is another area that has seen a change as a result of the pandemic. While onboarding new employees through online programs what is a more recent change is the lack of physical support during the onboarding process. We know that onboarding is a critical period for employees as they are getting to know the company, job expectations, culture, how work is done, etc. Managing the onboarding process in a remote environment requires more deliberate action on the part of HR, supervisors, and the employee. In other words, we cannot rely on an employee walking down the hall to ask questions about an assignment or who to contact to obtain essential job information. Planned, regularly schedule interactions during the first few months to ensure expectations are understood, that the employee feels a part of the organization, and job-related questions can be addressed can help to alleviate feelings of uncertainty, frustration, stress, and alienation.
Lastly, we have noticed employment mobility decreasing over the past four to five years. In fact, data on migration and geographic mobility monitored by the U.S. Census found that as recently as 2018 only 9.8 percent of adults reported relocating which is down 10.2 percent from 1985[1]. Based on my research and consulting work, there are numerous reasons for this trend. First, individuals are making family-based choices not to move based on family considerations such as being nearby to assist with an aging parent or having a desire to stay close to family. Second, work and family balance have emerged as a key factor when deciding to relocate for work. More specifically, the decision to relocate for a job is no longer driven solely by financial reasons. Stability in the home and the need to accommodate the needs of other family members is equally important, such as dual income earning households or the illness of an elderly parent. Consequently, this complicates the decision-making process of whether to move. Lastly, communication and networking technology have enabled work to be performed without necessitating physical presence at a particular location. Given the psychological and financial costs of relocating and the fact that many jobs are being performed remotely, individuals are more likely to make decisions not to relocate and disrupt their personal lives because of their ability to connect to work via technology.
This is not to say that people are unwilling to relocate for work. However, it does mean that, as a result of more organizations moving work remotely, employers may have more challenges in relocating talent in the foreseeable future. In some instances, it may require employers increase salaries or enhance benefits in order to attract employees to move. Another option is for employers to establish offices in secondary cities outside the home office location. This option may afford an employee the opportunity to be closer to their preferred geography. For example, an individual living in Birmingham, AL may not be willing to relocate to Chicago due to factors such as the higher cost of living, family considerations or the weather but would be willing to move to Atlanta, GA or Charlotte, NC. Having a secondary office in one of these cities may be an acceptable alternative. Lastly, being flexible to hybrid location alternatives. While this is generally applied to certain types of jobs, allowing an employee to work remotely two or three weeks out of the month at home, then one-week in the company office may offer an opportunity to balance the needs of both the employer and the employee.
[1] Agovino, T. (2020). Americans aren't moving: The decline in worker mobility presents a challenge for employers in a tight labor market. Retrieved on December 11, 2020, SHRM
Michael Grossman Ph.D.
Professor, Political Studies and International StudiesUniversity of Mount Union
Department of Political Science and International Studies
What will help Sales Support Associates increase their earning potential?
Michael Grossman Ph.D.: It's all about practical knowledge. Employers are less interested in your major or the classes you take. They want to see that you can do the work they need you to do. So internships are important. Also employers want to see you can be trained and can think critically, write well, and speak well. So in this regard more liberal arts focused curriculum is important.
What's a day at work look like for a Sales Support Associate?
Daniel Miller Ph.D.: One of the biggest things to understand is that there likely won't be a typical "day at work" post-Covid. That is, organizations will be all over the place with their organizations and structures following the pandemic. While some will likely seek to go back to their pre-Covid organizational and work models, many (maybe most?) will continue to incorporate elements of the structural changes imposed in response to Covid.
This means, in particular, the graduates are likely to encounter at least some positions in which remote working is a constitutive feature of their jobs. This will bring both costs and benefits to grads, and will provide both challenges and opportunities. Graduates will have to have familiarity with the technologies necessary for remote work, collaboration, and communication. Some will have the opportunity to work remotely full-time, or most of the time, which brings with it flexibility but also requires excellent individual time-management skills. The flexibility that comes with remote is also accompanied by the risk of "work creep," which we're all already familiar with from our mobile devices. The breakdown or softening of the boundaries of the traditional 9-5 workday brings with it the risk of increased after-hours and weekend video meetings, increases already-existing expectations that employees will check and respond to work-related emails in off hours, etc.
Many companies will likely also realize (or have already) that they can cut costs by shifting their employees to remote work options, which will be popular with many employees, for the reasons already noted, as well as others. However, I think one significant downside to this is that some costs traditionally incurred by businesses and other organizations will be passed on to employees. Employees will be increasingly responsible for providing adequate internet service, technical hardware, and suitable workspaces, which would traditionally have been provided by employers. I don't think most employers are going to suitably increase wages or otherwise subsidize these new costs passed on to employees (and will use the economic downturn associated with Covid as a reason not to), and many likely will not maintain IT departments or related resources to serve employees. Adding to all of these costs is the fact that, since the passage of the Republican tax bill in 2017, employees cannot deduct non-reimbursed business expenses on their personal taxes. Finally, shifts to increased remote work will continue to exacerbate and extend inequalities have come into stark relief during the Covid crisis, disproportionately affecting women, parents will children, and communities of color negatively.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Sales Support Associates?
Cynthia Krom: Professional certifications matter. If your profession has a certification, you need to have that certification to be competitive in this new world. So, a public accountant needs to have a CPA, and a corporate accountant needs to have their CMA. A fraud examiner needs their CFE. Find out what is available in your profession and take whatever courses or exams are needed to be at the top of your game, because everyone else will.
We don't really know what will be happening with professional licenses with remote work. A psychotherapist may be licensed in New York, but remotely treating a client in New Mexico. Technically, they probably need a license in New Mexico. But who will control that? Will it just be the professional responsibility of the therapist to only practice where licensed? Will their malpractice insurance only cover them if the client is where they are licensed? What about a physician operating on someone a thousand miles away using robotics?
In terms of courses not related to professional certification or licensure, technology is where it is at. First and foremost, polish your Zoom skills. Zoom is now your face-to-face workplace and you need to be a pro. YouTube has great videos about lighting for Zoom, even with reflective eyeglasses. Perhaps your IT department is able to help with connectivity issues and learning remote technologies. And, as we have all recently seen, you need to learn how to turn off filters that make you look like a kitten! For nearly every field, you have to know Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) or similar programs. You need to know how to work collaboratively on projects through things like Google Drive. If you are not fluent in the basics, you are showing up for a horse race with a little pony.
Ekin Pehlivan Ph.D.
Associate Professor of MarketingCalifornia State University Channel Islands
Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics
What's a good job out of college for Sales Support Associates?
Ekin Pehlivan Ph.D.: I think a description of a "good" job opportunity is dependent on so many factors, almost all subjective. What I recommend my students usually, is that they try different things before graduation and find something that makes them feel a purpose other than (and in addition to) making ends meet. For this reason we started a program on our campus where students are hired to help non-profits and small businesses in our area of service. In this program, students get to gain and practice skills that can help them succeed in a corporate or freelance capacity. The students get to experiment without fear of losing a job and find what they would like their entry level positions to look like. While doing this they also help organizations and individuals who have the need but not the resources to get the services from professionals.
Meegan Feori Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorSan Diego Mesa College
Department is Business Department
What general advice would you give to a Sales Support Associate?
Meegan Feori Ph.D.: Consider your career in terms of what you are willing to do right now to support yourself and be self-sufficient. During the last recession, I was underemployed, working as a part-time pool lifeguard and making funnel cakes at a local amusement park. Not ideal, but with my funds running low, it was necessary. A third part-time position I had, updating apparel tech packs, did pave my way to a full-time job in the fashion industry. So hustle and be flexible. Also, take time to consider what you can do to create opportunities for yourself. This could include an internship, volunteering, taking a warehouse position at a fashion brand, or completing a class that interests you. The best advice I was ever given was to keep pursuing your goals and accept that what you will be doing in ten years will be better than you ever imagined. The advice came true for me, and I think it will be true for you as well.