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The differences between sales support specialists and customer service 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 support specialist, becoming a customer service specialist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a sales support specialist has an average salary of $50,782, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a sales support specialist include customer service, sales support and powerpoint. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Sales Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $50,782 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $24.41 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | 4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 238,995 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 47 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A sales support specialist is primarily responsible for performing clerical tasks to support a sales team. Typically, they gather sales leads and data, produce progress reports and presentations, maintain records of all transactions, and liaise with different accounting personnel. A sales support specialist may respond to calls and inquiries, resolving customers' complaints and concerns promptly and professionally. Furthermore, one may arrange meetings and appointments with clients, develop sales strategies for profit growth, and process orders, all while ensuring customer satisfaction.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Sales support specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $50,782 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $82,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Finance |
There are a few differences between a sales support specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Sales Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | - |
Here are the differences between sales support specialists' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Sales Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.1% Female, 63.9% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |