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The differences between sales support representatives and field sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a sales support representative and a field sales representative. Additionally, a field sales representative has an average salary of $48,460, which is higher than the $38,310 average annual salary of a sales support representative.
The top three skills for a sales support representative include sales support, phone calls and POS. The most important skills for a field sales representative are excellent time management, customer service, and powerpoint.
| Sales Support Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $38,310 | $48,460 |
| Hourly rate | $18.42 | $23.30 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 319,292 | 228,254 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A sales support representative is responsible for assisting the complex operations of sales departments, performing administrative duties under the supervision of a direct manager. Sales support representatives' tasks include acknowledging and encoding customers' orders in the system, processing payments, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, writing sales reports, and updating the customer of the shipment details. They also support the sales representatives on selling goods and services to potential customers by creating marketing materials and communicating with customers over the phone and e-mail to generate revenues and increase profits.
A field sales representative is an employee who is employed by business-to-business (B2B) and wholesale organizations to visit leads and sell products or services to their customers in person. Field sales representatives must attract new customers and win new accounts so that they can maximize profitability within their territory. They travel around their assigned territory and visit their customers regularly to educate them on how their products can benefit them. Field sales representatives must also maintain records of all sales leads and monitor the organization's competitor, new products, and market conditions.
Sales support representatives and field sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Support Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $38,310 | $48,460 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $48,000 | Between $26,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | NetApp | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a sales support representative and a field sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Sales Support Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between sales support representatives' and field sales representatives' demographics:
| Sales Support Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 39.9% Female, 60.1% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |