Inside Sales Representative Vs Customer Service Representative

The differences between inside sales representatives and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an inside sales representative, becoming a customer service representative takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an inside sales representative has an average salary of $44,413, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.

The top three skills for an inside sales representative include customer service, CRM and outbound calls. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.

Inside sales representative vs customer service representative overview

	Inside Sales Representative	Customer Service Representative
Yearly Salary	$44,413	$32,260
Hourly rate	$21.35	$15.51
Growth Rate	4%	-4%
Number Of Jobs	244,168	209,515
Job Satisfaction	-	4
Most Common Degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	High School Diploma, 33%
Average Age	47	40
Years Of Experience	4	12

What does an Inside Sales Representative do?

An inside sales representative is responsible for selling services and products to clients, driving the company's revenues and increase sales profitability. Duties of an inside sales representative include developing strategic sales pitches, responding to customer's inquiries and requests, offering promotional products and discounts, researching potential clients, creating sales reports, and managing customer's possible complaints. An inside sales representative also provides strategic solutions to share with the sales team to improve their sales performance. Inside sales representatives must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to deal with customers' needs.

What does a customer service representative do?

Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.

Inside sales representative vs customer service representative salary

Inside sales representatives and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Inside Sales Representative	Customer Service Representative
Average Salary	$44,413	$32,260
Salary Range	Between $28,000 And $69,000	Between $25,000 And $41,000
Highest Paying City	Seattle, WA	Des Moines, WA
Highest Paying State	Wyoming	Washington
Best Paying Company	Berkshire Hathaway	Oracle
Best Paying Industry	Technology	Insurance

Differences between inside sales representative and customer service representative education

There are a few differences between an inside sales representative and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:

	Inside Sales Representative	Customer Service Representative
Most Common Degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	High School Diploma, 33%
Most Common Major	Business	Business
Most Common College	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	-

Inside sales representative vs customer service representative demographics

Here are the differences between inside sales representatives' and customer service representatives' demographics:

	Inside Sales Representative	Customer Service Representative
Average Age	47	40
Gender Ratio	Male, 54.7% Female, 45.3%	Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
Race Ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	7%

Differences between inside sales representative and customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Inside Sales Representative Example Responsibilities.

Coordinate commercial sales and manage projects with HVAC contractors for Georgia district.
Accomplish tasks in a timely manner.Skills UsedComputer, math, reading wiring schematics.
Generate leads through the use of Linkedin, firm websites and legal magazines.
Manage and develop a nationwide territory through cold calling utilizing LinkedIn?, DiscoverOrg.
Manage help desk support for company ERP system as well as employee hardware and software issues.
Manage a team of 15-25 ISE's through effective sales coaching, call monitoring and creating sales spiff programs.

Customer Service Representative Example Responsibilities.

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Maintain cleanliness and safety and assist patients as necessary.
Operate POS system and maintain exceptional and consistent customer service.
Exercise proofreading and basic math skills to maintain quality control over documents process
Work in customer service department entering information into customer relationship management (CRM).
Develop highly empathetic client relationships and earn reputation for exceeding good customer service rep goals.

Inside sales representative vs customer service representative skills

Common Inside Sales Representative Skills

Customer Service, 22%
CRM, 6%
Outbound Calls, 5%
Product Knowledge, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
Sales Process, 3%

Common Customer Service Representative Skills

Cleanliness, 10%
POS, 7%
Data Entry, 6%
Sales Floor, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Home Health, 5%

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Inside Sales Representative
Inside Sales Representative vs Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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