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The differences between technical sales specialists and territory 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 technical sales specialist, becoming a territory representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a technical sales specialist has an average salary of $86,598, which is higher than the $39,761 average annual salary of a territory representative.
The top three skills for a technical sales specialist include customer service, technical knowledge and cloud. The most important skills for a territory representative are customer service, patients, and customer relationships.
| Technical Sales Specialist | Territory Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $86,598 | $39,761 |
| Hourly rate | $41.63 | $19.12 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 212,987 | 155,926 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| 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.
A territory representative is responsible for selling the company's goods and services within a designated area, negotiating offers with potential clients, and identifying business opportunities according to market trends and customer demands. Territory representatives analyze the sales performance and strategize techniques to reach sales targets by coordinating with the whole sales team. They must be highly knowledgeable of the products offered by the company to demonstrate features and functionalities and respond to the inquiries and concerns the customers may have.
Technical sales specialists and territory representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Sales Specialist | Territory Representative | |
| Average salary | $86,598 | $39,761 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $129,000 | Between $31,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | California | - |
| Best paying company | - | |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a technical sales specialist and a territory representative in terms of educational background:
| Technical Sales Specialist | Territory Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| 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 territory representatives' demographics:
| Technical Sales Specialist | Territory Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.3% Female, 24.7% | Male, 62.6% Female, 37.4% |
| 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, 14.1% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |