Usually, when someone hears the term “sales assistant”, they immediately think of the salesperson who roams the floor of a department store, providing assistance to potential customers in anticipation of closing a sale. While this is certainly one aspect of sales assistant jobs, the truth is that jobs such as this involve much more. In fact, sales assistant jobs are now well-respected and in most cases, these jobs provide stability and good earning potential.
Because there remains some confusion over responsibilities, benefits, career opportunities, and other aspects of sales assistant jobs, we decided to provide facts that paint a clearer vision. Understanding the details of sales assistant jobs could be the very thing that draws a person to this type of career, perhaps a career option that might have otherwise been overlooked.
Duties for Sales Assistant Jobs
For starters, it is important to understand the types of industries and sectors where sales assistant jobs are found. Yes, working sales in a department or retail store would still be a viable option but there are far more advanced possibilities. Some of the more popular categories for sales assistant jobs include pharmaceutical sales, cosmetics sales, medical device sales, distance learning sales, agricultural sales, and wholesale sales although many others exist.
Because there are so many different categories for sales assistant sales, actual duties would be unique. For this reason, someone interested in working as a sales assistant should start by determining the industry or sector of interest, followed by conducting research to gain key information not only about duties, but also education, training, career opportunities, and salary. However, for the sake of example, the information provided is based on duties shared amongst most sales assistant jobs.
Regardless of the type of sales involved, the primary duty of a sales assistant is to work directly with clients interested in buying a product or service being sold by the company worked for. In addition to working to secure new clients through sales, this type of assistant would also work hard to retain existing customers. This might be achieved by offering discounts, promotions, or other special deals.
Along with making new sales and keeping current customers, the sales assistant would handle customer complaints, as well as find an acceptable and fair solution. For some sales assistant jobs, this part of the business can be taxing so the best candidate would be someone with a lot of patience and professionalism, a person with excellent oral and written communication skills, and someone capable of taking an unbiased view of the issue.
In some instances, a sales assistant would be responsible for setting up demonstrations or making presentations, again to both existing and potential customers. This person would be a key player in decision-making scenarios, create and present customer proposals, maintain client records, and follow up on order status while keeping customers notified of change. The bottom line is that the greatest amount of success for sales assistant jobs comes from building a solid and trusting relationship between assistant and customer.
Education and Training Requirements
The level and type of education and/or training to work sales assistant jobs would again depend on the industry and sector although most have much the same requirements. Because this job entails garnering revenue by securing and retaining business with individuals and companies, there is a certain skill set that would prove most successful.
From an educational standpoint, most companies only require a high school degree although GPA would be a determining factor on being offered a job. However, having a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with studies being in sales and marketing, business, or general management would make for a stronger candidate. Of course, taking education a step further, for the person with a master’s degree, again from an accredited college or university with the same areas of studies would make the strongest candidate.
While not mandatory, many people who are serious about working as a sales assistant choosing to become certified. Today, there are some excellent sales and marketing training programs designed specifically to accommodate and support sales assistant jobs so this would be seen as a bonus. Regarding certification or licensing, this would not be required for jobs of this type.
Ideal Candidate
It takes a certain type of person to have a successful career in sales assistant jobs. For this reason, there are specific qualities and traits that make one person a better candidate over another. Some of these that work best for sales assistant jobs include:
- Outstanding oral and written communication skills
- Strong negotiation skills
- Analytically minded for marketing products and/or services
- Creative mind to recommend or develop strategies for successful marketing campaigns
- Team player yet someone capable of working independently while showing respect for supervisory and management positions
- Ability to maintain precise records for activities such as generating leads, follow up, promises made, customer requests, and closing sales
Average Salary
Again, providing specific income information for sales assistant jobs would be impossible due to each job being comprised of so many different dynamics but we did conduct research to provide information on average salary several of the more popular sales assistant positions.
- Marketing Assistant – $57,000
- Assistant Store Manager – $26,000
- Assistant Manager of Collections – $22,000
- Retail Sales Assistant – $29,000
- Assistant Sales and Service Representative – $44,000
- Assistant Pharmacy Technician – $31,000
In addition to the examples provided above, most sales assistant jobs pave the way to more advanced career opportunities and therefore, higher salary. Some examples of these include:
- Retail Supervisor – $35,000
- Sales Management – $79,000
- Territory Manager – $82,000
