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The differences between specialty sales representatives and 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 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 $56,591 average annual salary of a sales representative.
The top three skills for a specialty sales representative include patients, product knowledge and territory management. The most important skills for a sales representative are sales process, product knowledge, and customer service.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $67,605 | $56,591 |
| Hourly rate | $32.50 | $27.21 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 174,608 | 205,456 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.33 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| 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.
Sales representatives primarily sell the company's products and services to businesses or organizations. They should be adept at closing out sales, negotiating, and providing customer service. They should be knowledgeable about the products or services of the manufacturer or producer they represent. They must also have strong analytical skills that would help them in coming up with cost-benefit analysis in assessing the current roster of clients and even prospective ones. Sales representatives should also be able to maintain good working relationships with all involved stakeholders, especially clients.
Specialty sales representatives and sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $67,605 | $56,591 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $113,000 | Between $33,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a specialty sales representative and a sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| 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 sales representatives' demographics:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% | Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9% |
| 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% |