What does a Sales Representative do?
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.
Sales representative responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales representative resumes:
- Manage prospective leads and existing accounts through a CRM platform to accurately forecast revenue and develop long-term business partnerships.
- Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
- Search for procurement contracts, attend trade shows, design flyers, postcards, etc.
- Utilize POS sales software to maintain monetary sales information produce reports for organizational review.
- Develop and maintain business relationships with businesses and policyholders using establish methods such as customer relationship management CRM.
- Handle administrative and sales duties as Jr.
- Present advanced infrastructure, software, cloud, and virtualization solutions.
- Used resources to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve technical issues.
- Create webpages using Html and CSS and Java code or SQL code.
- Facilitate training of new hires with the sprint sales process and systems training.
- Stay up to date with the ingredients in the major pet food brands.
- Motivate the team to work on their leadership towards general and technical product development.
- Enhance marketing by creating flyers, industry specific line cards, and promotional campaigns.
- Research and implement video, twitter, and other marketing methods to attract a greater audience.
- Develop new business focuse on the SMB market for solutions in virtualization, network management and communications.
Sales representative skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Sales Representatives are proficient in Sales Process, Product Knowledge, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Sales Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sales Process, 9%
Present solution programs to potential customers through detailed sales process by gathering relevant evidence through extensive fact finding meeting/tour of facility.
- Product Knowledge, 9%
Developed profitable relationships with current and prospective customers, and provided exceptional customer support through attentiveness and extensive product knowledge.
- Customer Service, 7%
Provided detailed customer service to existing policyholders by developing relationships with customers in order to better meet their needs.
- CRM, 6%
Consulted businesses to improve customer acquisition and retention through effective social media marketing and utilizing the Signpost automated CRM.
- Business Development, 6%
Formulated new and innovative short and long-term business development strategies that generated increased levels of customer satisfaction, gross revenue/sales ranking.
- Sales REP, 5%
Created easily manageable client information database in Microsoft Excel to improve organization and contact information availability for company sales representative utilization.
Common skills that a sales representative uses to do their job include "sales process," "product knowledge," and "customer service." You can find details on the most important sales representative responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a sales representative to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what sales representatives do because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to listen to the customer’s needs and concerns before and after the sale." Additionally, a sales representative resume shows how sales representatives use customer-service skills: "performed direct sales and delivery functions and provided assistance with accounting and promotional activities for assigned customer base. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform sales representative duties is interpersonal skills. Sales representatives responsibilities require that "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to work well with many types of people." Sales representatives also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "developed excellent interpersonal skills while introducing contractors to a new product line. "
Physical stamina. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sales representatives is physical stamina. This skill is critical to many everyday sales representative duties, as "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives are often on their feet for a long time and may carry heavy sample products." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "conduct a minimum of 10 sales presentations per week by physical visits to customer locations. "
Self-confidence. A big part of what sales representatives do relies on "self-confidence." You can see how essential it is to sales representative responsibilities because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be confident and persuasive when making sales presentations." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales representative tasks: "developed new customer relationships and grew sales by demonstrating product benefits to gain customer confidence and sales commitments. "
The three companies that hire the most sales representatives are:
- NFIB3,497 sales representatives jobs
- Oracle3,103 sales representatives jobs
- Champion Window1,020 sales representatives jobs
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Compare different sales representatives
Sales representative vs. Consultant and sales representative
A consultant and sales representative's role is to perform research and analysis to devise strategies for reaching sales targets and optimal services. Aside from providing consultations and business plans, they may also represent the company by reaching out to clients through calls and correspondence. They may offer products and services to secure sales, answer inquiries, and even arrange appointments to discuss and negotiate deals. Furthermore, as a consultant and sales representative, it is essential to build positive relationships with clients in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between sales representatives and consultant and sales representative. For instance, sales representative responsibilities require skills such as "sales rep," "work ethic," "develop strong relationships," and "mobile phones." Whereas a consultant and sales representative is skilled in "strong presentation," "lead generation," "energy efficiency," and "sales revenue." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Consultants and sales representative earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $234,866. On the other hand, sales representatives are paid more in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $74,623.On average, consultants and sales representative reach similar levels of education than sales representatives. Consultants and sales representative are 3.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Sales representative vs. Sales development representative
A sales development representative qualifies leads at the sales funnel's initial stages. Sales development representatives need to conduct research for prospective clients and qualify the leads before handing them to the sales team. They develop sales strategies to attract buyers or solicit potential customers. They need to build relationships with their customers to determine their needs and qualify the viability of interests to drive sales. Also, they collaborate with the sales executives making certain that corporate targets and goals are met.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, sales representative responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "crm," "sales rep," "customer relations," and "work ethic." Meanwhile, a sales development representative has duties that require skills in areas such as "sdr," "lead generation," "account executives," and "linkedin." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Sales development representatives earn a lower average salary than sales representatives. But sales development representatives earn the highest pay in the start-up industry, with an average salary of $54,512. Additionally, sales representatives earn the highest salaries in the pharmaceutical with average pay of $74,623 annually.In general, sales development representatives achieve similar levels of education than sales representatives. They're 0.4% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Sales Representatives in the next 3-5 years?
Kim Chatani
Assistant Professor, Concordia University Irvine
Sales representative vs. Marketing/sales representative
The job of marketing/sales representatives is to pitch a company's products and services to potential customers. They work to drive brand awareness through face-to-face consumer interaction. They are often considered as a liaison between sellers and buyers, providing information about products and services. They promote human relationships through marketing collateral distribution and communication. Other responsibilities include planning and implementing marketing campaigns, maintaining good relationships with vendors and venues, and promoting business expansion opportunities. This role requires a bachelor's degree in business administration, communications and marketing experience, excellent communication skills, and time management skills.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a sales representative is likely to be skilled in "crm," "work ethic," "develop strong relationships," and "mobile phones," while a typical marketing/sales representative is skilled in "twitter," "facebook," "market research," and "social media management."
Marketing/sales representatives earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $83,700. Comparatively, sales representatives have the highest earning potential in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $74,623.When it comes to education, marketing/sales representatives tend to earn similar degree levels compared to sales representatives. In fact, they're 1.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Sales representative vs. Territory sales representative
A territory sales representative is responsible for selling goods and services, assisting customers with their inquiries and concerns, and monitoring the assigned area's sales reports. Territory sales representatives coordinate with the rest of the sales team to develop effective marketing strategies and promotional techniques to increase revenues and profitability. Territory sales representatives research current market trends to identify business opportunities to meet consumer demands and widen their services. A territory sales representative must have excellent knowledge of the sales disciplines and principles, managing the market approach to ensure customer satisfaction.
Types of sales representative
Updated January 8, 2025
