Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical sales specialists and inside sales specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a technical sales specialist, becoming an inside sales specialist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a technical sales specialist has an average salary of $86,598, which is higher than the $50,944 average annual salary of an inside sales specialist.
The top three skills for a technical sales specialist include customer service, technical knowledge and cloud. The most important skills for an inside sales specialist are customer service, CRM, and sales process.
| Technical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $86,598 | $50,944 |
| Hourly rate | $41.63 | $24.49 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 212,987 | 251,423 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A technical sales specialist is in charge of devising strategies to develop technical solutions for optimizing sales procedures. Their responsibilities revolve around identifying market and client needs, assessing existing programs and projects to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and recommending improvements as needed. A technical sales specialist may also interact with walk-in clients, or reach out to them through calls and correspondence, to demonstrate and offer products and services. Furthermore, as a technical sales specialist, it is essential to produce progress reports and maintain records of transactions, all while prioritizing to meet sales targets.
An inside sales specialist is primarily responsible for securing sales by reaching out to clients to sell products and services. They may communicate with customers through calls and correspondence or personally recommend products in a retail store setting. Moreover, they are also responsible for responding to inquiries or concerns, identifying the customers' needs, devising strategies to find sales opportunities, and discussing products to customers. An inside sales specialist is often required to meet sales goals and report to managers should there be any issues or problems.
Technical sales specialists and inside sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $86,598 | $50,944 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $129,000 | Between $34,000 And $75,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Keller Williams Greater Seattle | |
| Best paying industry | - | Real Estate |
There are a few differences between a technical sales specialist and an inside sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Technical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between technical sales specialists' and inside sales specialists' demographics:
| Technical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.3% Female, 24.7% | Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |