Just like Girl Scout cookies come in many different flavors, sales jobs are incredibly varied.
While one role might be perfect for your personality and career goals, another might make you miserable or require skills you don’t have.
Rather than learning from direct experience which type of sales job you love—and which ones you’re ill-suited for—use this comprehensive guide. You’ll learn what each position encompasses and how to tell whether it’s right for you.
What to Look for in a Sales Job
Before you can analyze a sales job, you need to know what to look for. Take the following five points into consideration.
1. Industry and Career Path
Are you interested in working for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies? Chances are, you’ll need to start as a business development rep and work your way to an account executive position. On the other hand, if you go into manufacturing sales, you’ll probably be responsible for handling deals from start to finish.
This is to say: The industry you work in will determine the type of sales roles open to you, and vice versa. Before you commit to a certain career path or industry, make sure the positions and focus are compatible with your goals and preferences.
2. Long-Term Job Outlook
Certain jobs, like BDRs, are steadily growing more popular. Others, like outside sales, are on the decline. Before you commit to a career path, make sure your role will still be necessary in 10 years.
3. Type of Compensation
How do you like to make money? Sales compensation ranges from zero-commission (retail salespeople, for example) to pure commission (your salary is completely determined by performance). The former offers a greater sense of security, but the latter can be incredibly profitable—assuming you’re good at your job.
4. Type of Leads
If you prefer working inbound leads, a role that asks you to proactively find your opportunities won’t be the best fit.
5. Personality
You’ll be miserable if you dislike the main activities of your role. For instance, someone who loves to get to know their customers and help them achieve their goals over an extended period would likely be best in account management.
Common Sales Job Types
1. Sales Development Rep (SDR)
SDRs (also commonly called business development reps, or BDRs) are responsible for the first part of the sales process: researching, prospecting, and qualifying leads.
Depending on the organization, that may mean identifying and reaching out to potential good fits, answering requests for more information, following up with prospects who downloaded content, prospecting on LinkedIn and other social networks, and more.
Once an SDR has determined the lead is qualified, they pass the opportunity to a sales rep, who is responsible for presenting or demoing the product, resolving the buyer’s objections, and creating a proposal.
Unlike a closing sales rep, SDRs don’t carry a traditional quota. They’re typically measured on their activity, like number of calls made and/or emails sent. The Bridge Group found average SDR compensation (base plus commission) is $72,100.
This position is a great entry point to sales. Not only is there a clear promotion path, you don’t need much experience.
2. Account Executive (AE)
The vast majority of candidates are ready to be promoted after approximately six to 18 months in a sales development role. As an AE, they’ve got a brand-new set of responsibilities: running demos or giving presentations; identifying, surfacing, and addressing potential buying obstacles; crafting personalized value propositions; getting the commitment to purchase; and negotiating the actual terms.
AEs are held to quotas. RingDNA says average OTE (on-target earnings) is $118,000.
Being an AE is a natural next step once you’ve gotten some selling experience under your belt. People with strong interpersonal skills thrive as AEs, since the lion’s share of their day is spent in meetings, on the phone, sending emails, and/or engaging prospects on social media.
3. Outside Salesperson
Thanks to the rise of email, social media, and web-conferencing tools—not to mention, a growing desire to talk to salespeople virtually and on the phone rather than in-person—outside sales roles are becoming increasingly less common.
An outside salesperson spends most of their time “in the field,” or visiting potential customers at their offices.
Because you’re largely working by yourself or with a few other team members, a field sales job can be isolating. On the other hand, you’ll likely have a flexible schedule.
The average national salary for this role is around $48,097, according to Glassdoor.
Employers usually look to more experienced salespeople for outside sales roles, since you’ll normally be meeting buyers on your own. It’s also harder to learn selling fundamentals when you’re operating solo or in a small team.
As a result, an outside sales role might not be the optimal choice when you’re new to sales.
4. Account Manager
Account managers enter the picture once the initial purchase is complete. Unlike a salesperson, whose accounts are constantly changing, an account manager’s portfolio is relatively stable.
You’ll work with each customer to understand their needs, create a long-term strategy, and help them realize the greatest possible ROI from your product. An account manager also serves as the client’s primary point-of-contact at the company. When they have non-support questions, they’ll go to you.
The main metrics you’ll be measured by? Retention and satisfaction rates. But account managers also look for upsell and cross-sell opportunities. At some organizations (usually smaller ones), they’ll handle this conversation with the customer directly. At larger companies, it’s more common for a salesperson to take over once an opportunity to expand the account comes up. The average national salary is $61,000, according to PayScale.
If you’re passionate about building lasting relationships and being an internal advocate for your customers, you’ll do well as an account manager.
5. Regional Sales Manager
Sales managers and regional sales managers lead teams of SDRs, reps, and, sometimes, account managers. You’ll set individual quotas and team goals, analyze data, coordinate sales trainings and call reviews, and manage sales territories.
You also might be involved in the recruiting, hiring, and firing of employees. And, depending on your organization’s hierarchy, you might need to represent your team in executive and company-wide meetings.
According to Salary.com, you can expect a median annual salary to be $111,070—ranging between $94,000 and $130,000.
You’ll need at least three years of sales experience, including some managerial experience. You might have held an account executive position or overseen a few SDRs, and you should be familiar with managing a small budget and analyzing team performance.
6. Sales Engineer
These professionals are also known as “pre-sales support,” “systems engineer,” or “field consultant.” Sales engineers combine the technical expertise of engineers with the business acumen and selling skills of a traditional rep.
That’s a powerful—and rare—combination, so demand for them is relatively high.
As a sales engineer, you’ll answer in-depth product questions; work with prospects to determine their technical needs; communicate those needs to your sales, engineering and/or product teams; help salespeople give demos; and craft the technical components of proposals and contracts.
Because sales engineering calls for more tech savvy than a traditional selling role, the median pay is relatively high: $97,650, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This position is ideal if you’re excited to flex both your technical knowledge and people skills. It requires fantastic active listening, presentation, and communication skills, as you’ll be spending a great deal of time in front of customers.
7. Director of Sales
A director of sales works with sales managers to determine sales objectives, forecast and develop sales quotas, maintain sales volume, and remain a crucial part of the hiring process.
In this position, you’ll maintain a more strategic role than that of a sales manager. You’ll likely report to the VP of Sales, and communicate executive directives to the rest of the sales organization.
You’ll probably be held responsible for the performance of your department. And your bonus will be awarded when your sales organization meets or exceeds goals.
Glassdoor sets the national average base pay at $109,477, ranging between $67,000 at the low end and $165,000 at the high end.
Are you a sales manager who’s ready for more responsibility and leadership potential? This might be the role for you.
8. VP of Sales
A vice president of sales should contribute to the overall growth and strategy of the sales organization—and the company as a whole.
You should identify strategic hiring opportunities that will strengthen your team, and aid in recruiting top talent. You’ll also be in charge of team strategy, like deciding which markets your organization will expand to—and you should be able to sell the tactics your team will need to get there.
At the end of the day, your goal is to help your sales organization—and the company—scale.
Because this role requires 10 or more years of experience and a proven track record of success, VPs also boast a bigger salary. Glassdoor reports the average base pay as $152,114, ranging all the way up to $224,000 and six-digits of additional compensation available.
Good luck finding your perfect job in sales. It’s a career that offers unlimited earning potential, great fulfillment, and autonomy. Get started today.
This article was originally published on HubSpot. It has been republished here with permission.