How To Become A Selling Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a selling specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

To meet sales goals, some companies hire selling specialists to help them develop new sales strategies and modify existing ones. Thus, if you have an outstanding experience with sales and strategy development, a career as a selling specialist may be the right one for you.

As a selling specialist, your duties will revolve around identifying the sales goals of a company, conducting market research and analysis, and coming up with strategies to optimize sales based on your research. Furthermore, you may be expected to create sales forecasts, train employees on new sales tactics, and allocate resources to meet sales targets.

Having a degree in a business-related field is a great advantage for this job, but it is not a requirement for all employers. Often, skills in sales, strategy, and marketing are more important than educational background. The same goes for work experience, especially if it is in the same industry or line of business that you want to enter.

ScoreSelling SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,530

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

7.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.55%

Asian 7.20%

Black or African American 11.76%

Hispanic or Latino 19.52%

Unknown 5.13%

White 55.85%

Gender

female 70.01%

male 29.99%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.5

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.5

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a selling specialist

Explore selling specialist education requirements

Most common selling specialist degrees

Bachelor's

59.4 %

Associate

18.5 %

High School Diploma

12.6 %

Start to develop specific selling specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Product Knowledge	32.08%
Visual Standards	15.09%
Customer Service	9.84%
Store Management	7.59%
Sales Floor	6.31%

Complete relevant selling specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New selling specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a selling specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real selling specialist resumes.

Research selling specialist duties and responsibilities

Master delivering technical product information to doctors on training and teaching proper injection technique to achieve optimal results for patients.
Mentore and develop new associates by providing leadership thus distinguish as a model for emulation.
Master delivering technical product information to doctors on training and teaching proper injection technique to achieve optimal results for patients.
Experience in packing, collating, and processing orders for international and domestic shipments.

Prepare your selling specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your selling specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a selling specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable selling specialist resume templates

Build a professional selling specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your selling specialist resume.