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The differences between sales managers and territory sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a sales manager and a territory sales manager. Additionally, a territory sales manager has an average salary of $74,356, which is higher than the $73,952 average annual salary of a sales manager.
The top three skills for a sales manager include product knowledge, customer satisfaction and sales performance. The most important skills for a territory sales manager are territory sales, customer service, and healthcare.
| Sales Manager | Territory Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $73,952 | $74,356 |
| Hourly rate | $35.55 | $35.75 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 119,066 | 119,934 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
A territory sales manager is an individual who supervises the daily sales operations of sales representatives that are assigned to a particular location. Territory sales managers are required to meet sales targets to gain an increase in revenues and must maintain excellent customer relationships. They attend trade shows to promote the products and services of the company at the same time, conduct surveys to better understand the needs of their customers. As they are engaged in sales, territory sales managers must possess a bachelor's degree in business administration or management.
Sales managers and territory sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Manager | Territory Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $73,952 | $74,356 |
| Salary range | Between $42,000 And $129,000 | Between $48,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Capgemini | Palo Alto Networks |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a sales manager and a territory sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Sales Manager | Territory Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between sales managers' and territory sales managers' demographics:
| Sales Manager | Territory Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% | Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |