How To Become A Technical Sales Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a technical sales specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.

Technical sales specialists are sales professionals that work exclusively with highly specialized technical products, such as electronics or computer products. Like any other sales professional, technical sales specialists need excellent interpersonal skills to maintain client relationships and onboard new clients. In addition to their sales experience, technical sales specialists usually have extensive knowledge of the product they are selling. They use their technical knowledge to explain to clients the benefits of their product and how to use it. Technical sales specialists also need to be proficient in sales software such as CRM. Often, they work within their sales department to use technical solutions to optimize sales procedures.

There are many different ways to become a technical sales specialist. Some have a bachelor's degree in computer science or business. Others have only a high school diploma. Some start off working in technology before switching to sales, while others have many years of sales experience.

No matter how they get to this position, technical sales specialists earn an average salary of $94,213 a year.

What general advice would you give to a technical sales specialist?

E. Duff Wrobbel Ph.D.

Chair, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Network, get an internship, do action research etc - anything to add practical experience to the classroom knowledge base.

ScoreTechnical Sales SpecialistUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $86,598

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.19%

Black or African American 3.87%

Hispanic or Latino 14.43%

Unknown 3.72%

White 72.56%

Gender

female 24.67%

male 75.33%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a technical sales specialist

Explore technical sales specialist education requirements

Most common technical sales specialist degrees

Bachelor's

68.8 %

Associate

14.8 %

Master's

8.1 %

Start to develop specific technical sales specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	14.28%
Technical Knowledge	11.27%
Cloud	6.80%
Product Sales	6.70%
Client Facing	6.49%

Complete relevant technical sales specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New technical sales specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a technical sales specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real technical sales specialist resumes.

Research technical sales specialist duties and responsibilities

Use of CRM software to work with potential leads.
Conduct budgeting and funding discussions with administrators to achieve ROI on purchases.
Develop pull-through strategies that effectively promote RibaPak through Gastroenterologists clinics and manage care organizations.
Educate nurses and technicians on products under FDA requirements.

Prepare your technical sales specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your technical sales specialist resume.

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