Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products
Marketing, Sales and ServiceO*NET 41-4012.00United States
Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses or groups of individuals. Work requires substantial knowledge of items sold.
- Median annual earnings
- $71,458
- Projected change
- +3.5%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 1.3M jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
48% of the workforce
Growing to 1.34M by 2035
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The work
What sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, product uses, and credit terms.
- Recommend products to customers, based on customers' needs and interests.
- Estimate or quote prices, credit or contract terms, warranties, and delivery dates.
- Consult with clients after sales or contract signings to resolve problems and to provide ongoing support.
- Prepare sales contracts and order forms.
- Provide customers with product samples and catalogs.
- Monitor market conditions, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales.
- Perform administrative duties, such as preparing sales budgets and reports, keeping sales records, and filing expense account reports.
- Contact regular and prospective customers to demonstrate products, explain product features, and solicit orders.
- Identify prospective customers by using business directories, following leads from existing clients, participating in organizations and clubs, and attending trade shows and conferences.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $38,082
- 25th percentile
- $49,664
- 50th percentile
- $71,458
- 75th percentile
- $99,909
- 90th percentile
- $141,067
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $71,458 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+3.5%average or slower
20251,299,706 jobs
2035 projected1,344,714 jobs
45,008 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 48%
- Bachelor's degree
- 33.9%
- Some college
- 14.2%
- Associate degree
- 4%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Sales Representatives37,629 postings
- 02Account Executives25,419 postings
- 03Account Managers21,656 postings
- 04Enterprise Account Executives7,015 postings
- 05Key Account Managers5,350 postings
- 06Retail Sales Representatives5,064 postings
- 07Sales Executives5,025 postings
- 08Sales Account Managers3,792 postings
- 09Account Representatives3,389 postings
- 10Sales Account Executives3,132 postings
- 11Territory Account Managers2,797 postings
- 12Strategic Account Executives2,738 postings
- 13Technical Account Managers2,720 postings
- 14In Home Sales Representatives2,547 postings
- 15Roofing Sales Representatives2,542 postings
- 16Market Account Executives2,496 postings
- 17National Accounts Managers2,379 postings
- 18Counter Sales Representatives2,124 postings
- 19Commercial Account Executives1,872 postings
- 20Client Experience Representatives1,865 postings
Top employers
- 01Merck & Co.2,620 postings
- 02GPAC2,326 postings
- 03Cintas2,300 postings
- 04Insurance Office Of America1,829 postings
- 05Rubrik1,702 postings
- 06Stryker1,651 postings
- 07Honeywell International1,649 postings
- 08T-Mobile US1,626 postings
- 09Spectrum1,580 postings
- 10Amazon1,548 postings
- 11Wolters Kluwer1,402 postings
- 12Shi International Ltd1,353 postings
- 13AT&T1,264 postings
- 14Lumen Technologies1,253 postings
- 15UKG1,234 postings
- 16Salesforce1,192 postings
- 17Vector Marketing1,184 postings
- 18Fujifilm1,179 postings
- 19Lundbeck1,171 postings
- 20Comcast1,160 postings
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