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The differences between senior sales representatives and senior sales 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 senior sales representative, becoming a senior sales specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior sales representative has an average salary of $82,550, which is higher than the $74,361 average annual salary of a senior sales specialist.
The top three skills for a senior sales representative include customer satisfaction, product knowledge and sales consultants. The most important skills for a senior sales specialist are customer service, sales training, and customer satisfaction.
| Senior Sales Representative | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $82,550 | $74,361 |
| Hourly rate | $39.69 | $35.75 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 210,521 | 109,882 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A senior sales representative's role is to oversee operations that mainly revolve around engaging with clients to pursue sales targets. Their responsibilities also include devising strategies that would help colleagues to attain quotas and discover new opportunities and trends that would be of help in building a more substantial client base. There are also instances where they must reach out to clients, building rapport to secure sales. Furthermore, as a senior sales representative, they have to lead fellow skilled professionals as they reach their common goals.
A senior sales specialist oversees and provides solutions to improve a company's sales operations. It is their responsibility to conduct market research and analysis, establish budgets and guidelines, generate leads, and develop sales strategies and sales forecasts. They also liaise and build positive relationships with vendors and suppliers, set sales targets, and resolve customer issues and complaints. Moreover, being a senior sales specialist, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior sales specialists while implementing and promoting the company's policies and regulations.
Senior sales representatives and senior sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Sales Representative | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $82,550 | $74,361 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $145,000 | Between $50,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | California |
| Best paying company | VMware | |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a senior sales representative and a senior sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Sales Representative | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior sales representatives' and senior sales specialists' demographics:
| Senior Sales Representative | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 63.1% Female, 36.9% | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |