Occupations · Sales
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products
Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses or groups of individuals. Work requires substantial knowledge of items sold.
O*NET 30.3 Database (USDOL/ETA) · occupation code 41-4012.00
What it pays
A single “average salary” hides the spread. This is the whole distribution — the gap between the bottom and top bar is usually the number that matters.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 · national, cross-industry · annual wage
These are national figures, identical for every reader. The report recuts them for your metro area and ranks it among all of them.
Get yours →Pay over time
Median up 52% between 2003 and 2024, before inflation. The band shows the 10th to 90th percentile.
BLS OEWS, one release per year. Before May 2011 only national estimates were published, so geography detail starts there.
Where the jobs are
| Metro area | Median wage | Employed |
|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $78,060 | 66,660 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $70,900 | 57,620 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | $69,080 | 42,390 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $60,150 | 32,970 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $63,630 | 28,610 |
BLS OEWS May 2024, metropolitan estimates · the 5 areas with the most people in this occupation
Your metro area, and where it ranks
LockedAll metropolitan areas BLS publishes for this occupation, with your own city's median and its rank among them.
Open in your report →Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent · BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
What people in this job actually do
Ordered by how important the work is rated.
- Negotiate with retail merchants to improve product exposure, such as shelf positioning and advertising.
- Check stock levels and reorder merchandise as necessary.
- Plan, assemble, and stock product displays in retail stores, or make recommendations to retailers regarding product displays, promotional programs, and advertising.
- 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.
- Negotiate details of contracts and payments.
- 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.
O*NET 30.3 task ratings, importance scale
Skills that matter most
Importance, rated 1 to 5.
O*NET 30.3 skills, importance scale
Software and tools
A dot marks what O*NET flags as in demand.
O*NET 30.3 software skills · hot-technology flag
What your tools are worth
Occupation-based, not posting-based: how much employment, pay and projected growth sit behind each tool. It is not a count of job ads.
| Tool | Value | Spread across occupations |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Visual Basic | 84 | 70 → 96 occupations since 2015 |
| UNIX | 83 | 52 → 89 occupations since 2015 |
| Tableau | 82 | 27 → 73 occupations since 2015 |
What your tools are worth
LockedThe same score for every tool in this occupation, plus the ones you ticked and the ones you did not.
Open in your report →What this work is actually like
Conditions rated against the average across all occupations — only what makes this job different is listed.
O*NET 30.3 Job Zones
Working conditions that stand out
O*NET 30.3 work context, frequency scale · observed 2020-08
How people actually get in
Share of workers by the education they hold.
O*NET 30.2 education, training and experience · observed 2020-08
What kind of person the work suits
Occupational interest profile, rated 1 to 7.
O*NET 30.2 occupational interests (RIASEC)
What you take with you
Skills rated for how well they transfer into other occupations.
O*NET 30.3 transferable skills, importance scale
Knowledge the work draws on
Abilities it leans on
O*NET 30.3 abilities and knowledge, importance scale
How this job is advertised
The same work is posted under many titles — this is what to search for.
O*NET 30.3 job titles reported for this occupation
Get this as a personal report
The same sourced evidence, recut for the closest published view of your city, state or industry, as a dated PDF.
Free page vs. the $29 report
The page above is a public national reference, identical for every reader — and we deliberately give away a lot of it. The report does three things this page cannot: it answers the question you type in your own words, using only figures that appear in the report with their sources; it ranks your city among all 445 metros instead of the twelve shown here; and it places your level on the employer pay ladder. Choose $49 for the wider comparison of industries, places and next moves, $99 to add named employers and the international purchasing-power index.
What changed since 2015
Comparing O*NET release 20.1 (2015-10-01) with 30.3 (2026-05-01). Signs, not colour alone, carry the meaning. 14 entries that were only relabelled between releases are left out.
Now listed 82
No longer listed 15
Diff across the O*NET releases held here in full since October 2015, following occupations through merges and retirements. O*NET re-surveys occupations on a rolling cycle, so “no change” can also mean “not re-surveyed”.
Related jobs
O*NET 30.3 related occupations
Also called
O*NET 30.3 alternative titles
The same work in Europe
| ESCO occupation | ISCO | Match |
|---|---|---|
| commercial sales representative | 3322.1 | broader |
| technical sales representative in the textile machinery industry | 2433.6.7 | broader |
| technical sales representative in mining and construction machinery | 2433.6.5 | broader |
| technical sales representative in agricultural machinery and equipment | 2433.6.1 | broader |
| technical sales representative in chemical products | 2433.6.2 | broader |
| technical sales representative in machinery and industrial equipment | 2433.6.4 | broader |
| technical sales representative in office machinery and equipment | 2433.6.6 | broader |
| technical sales representative | 2433.6 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in machine tools | 3324.4.21 | broader |
| technical sales representative in electronic and telecommunications equipment | 2434.4 | broader |
| client relations manager | 2431.6 | broader |
| wholesale merchant | 3324.4 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in agricultural raw materials, seeds and animal feeds | 3324.4.2 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in beverages | 3324.4.3 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in china and other glassware | 3324.4.5 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in clothing and footwear | 3324.4.6 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in coffee, tea, cocoa and spices | 3324.4.7 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in dairy products and edible oils | 3324.4.9 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in fish, crustaceans and molluscs | 3324.4.12 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in flowers and plants | 3324.4.13 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in fruit and vegetables | 3324.4.14 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in furniture, carpets and lighting equipment | 3324.4.15 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in hides, skins and leather products | 3324.4.17 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in household goods | 3324.4.18 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in live animals | 3324.4.19 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in meat and meat products | 3324.4.22 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in office furniture | 3324.4.25 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in office machinery and equipment | 3324.4.26 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in perfume and cosmetics | 3324.4.27 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in sugar, chocolate and sugar confectionery | 3324.4.29 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in textiles and textile semi-finished and raw materials | 3324.4.31 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in tobacco products | 3324.4.32 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in waste and scrap | 3324.4.33 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in watches and jewellery | 3324.4.34 | broader |
| wholesale merchant in wood and construction materials | 3324.4.35 | broader |
Official ESCO ↔ O*NET crosswalk (ESCO Secretariat with USDOL/ETA)
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