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The differences between specialty sales representatives and field 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 specialty sales representative, becoming a field sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a specialty sales representative has an average salary of $67,605, which is higher than the $48,460 average annual salary of a field sales representative.
The top three skills for a specialty sales representative include patients, product knowledge and territory management. The most important skills for a field sales representative are excellent time management, customer service, and powerpoint.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $67,605 | $48,460 |
| Hourly rate | $32.50 | $23.30 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 174,608 | 228,254 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
Specialty sales representatives are responsible for selling products and services using firm arguments to possible clients. Also, they perform a cost-benefit study of present and prospective clients. These representatives support positive business relationships to guarantee future sales. Their main role is to give complete and correct solutions to clients to enhance top-line revenue progress, profitability, and investment levels. Their duties include reaching out to customer leads through telemarketing as well as maximize customer satisfaction by efficiently providing resolutions to their issues and complaints.
A field sales representative is an employee who is employed by business-to-business (B2B) and wholesale organizations to visit leads and sell products or services to their customers in person. Field sales representatives must attract new customers and win new accounts so that they can maximize profitability within their territory. They travel around their assigned territory and visit their customers regularly to educate them on how their products can benefit them. Field sales representatives must also maintain records of all sales leads and monitor the organization's competitor, new products, and market conditions.
Specialty sales representatives and field sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $67,605 | $48,460 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $113,000 | Between $26,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | VMware |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a specialty sales representative and a field sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between specialty sales representatives' and field sales representatives' demographics:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |