Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior sales specialists and senior sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a senior sales specialist, becoming a senior sales manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a senior sales manager has an average salary of $140,662, which is higher than the $74,361 average annual salary of a senior sales specialist.
The top three skills for a senior sales specialist include customer service, sales training and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a senior sales manager are customer satisfaction, sales process, and customer service.
| Senior Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $74,361 | $140,662 |
| Hourly rate | $35.75 | $67.63 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 109,882 | 115,070 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 47 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 8 |
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 managers take the lead in handling sales operations in the organization. They supervise the activities performed by the junior sales management team. It is their responsibility to maximize the potential of the sales team, establish sales plans, and justify these plans to superior management. They aim to expand the customer base of the company and its strong presence in the market. The skills these managers should have include leadership, organization, communication, and the ability to recruit talented sales agents.
Senior sales specialists and senior sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $74,361 | $140,662 |
| Salary range | Between $50,000 And $108,000 | Between $95,000 And $206,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Maine |
| Best paying company | VMware | Leprino Foods |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Professional |
There are a few differences between a senior sales specialist and a senior sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Senior Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between senior sales specialists' and senior sales managers' demographics:
| Senior Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% | Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6% |
| 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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |