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The differences between senior sales specialists and territory sales representatives 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 territory sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior sales specialist has an average salary of $74,361, which is higher than the $34,431 average annual salary of a territory sales representative.
The top three skills for a senior sales specialist include customer service, sales training and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a territory sales representative are customer service, CRM, and product knowledge.
| Senior Sales Specialist | Territory Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $74,361 | $34,431 |
| Hourly rate | $35.75 | $16.55 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 109,882 | 219,928 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
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.
A territory sales representative is responsible for selling goods and services, assisting customers with their inquiries and concerns, and monitoring the assigned area's sales reports. Territory sales representatives coordinate with the rest of the sales team to develop effective marketing strategies and promotional techniques to increase revenues and profitability. Territory sales representatives research current market trends to identify business opportunities to meet consumer demands and widen their services. A territory sales representative must have excellent knowledge of the sales disciplines and principles, managing the market approach to ensure customer satisfaction.
Senior sales specialists and territory sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Sales Specialist | Territory Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $74,361 | $34,431 |
| Salary range | Between $50,000 And $108,000 | Between $15,000 And $78,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | VMware | IBM |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | - |
There are a few differences between a senior sales specialist and a territory sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Senior Sales Specialist | Territory Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior sales specialists' and territory sales representatives' demographics:
| Senior Sales Specialist | Territory Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% | Male, 69.1% Female, 30.9% |
| 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, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |