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The differences between service managers and sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a service manager, becoming a sales manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a service manager has an average salary of $74,009, which is higher than the $73,952 average annual salary of a sales manager.
The top three skills for a service manager include POS, performance reviews and cash handling. The most important skills for a sales manager are product knowledge, customer satisfaction, and sales performance.
| Service Manager | Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $74,009 | $73,952 |
| Hourly rate | $35.58 | $35.55 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 341,785 | 119,066 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 8 |
Service managers are employees who oversee the departments related to providing services to customers. They ensure that service delivery agreements are met by employees in the department. Service managers meet with stakeholders to set service delivery metrics and department goals. They then create strategies to reach these metrics and goals. They are responsible for cascading such goals and metrics to their employees and ensuring that the employees understand what they need to do. Service managers should have a deep understanding and appreciation of the company and its business so that they can create strategies that are in line with the company's identity. They should also be familiar with the customer profiles of the company. Service managers are also responsible for creating department reports and sharing these with stakeholders.
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
Service managers and sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Service Manager | Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $74,009 | $73,952 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $116,000 | Between $42,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | New York | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Latham & Watkins | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between a service manager and a sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Service Manager | Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between service managers' and sales managers' demographics:
| Service Manager | Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 71.1% Female, 28.9% | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 6.3% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | 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 | 10% | 7% |