This sales representative job description is ready to copy into your ATS, edit and post. It covers territory, pipeline and CRM duties in concrete terms, with blanks for your product, quota and pay. After the template you'll find what the job looks like day to day, U.S. pay data from O*NET, and the first-round questions that separate closers from good talkers.
Sales representative job description template
What a sales representative does
A sales rep's week splits between finding new buyers and keeping current ones ordering. Mornings often go to outbound calls and emails, afternoons to account visits or video calls, and the gaps to quotes, follow-ups and CRM updates. O*NET's task list for this work reads like a field guide to the job: answer questions about products, prices and credit terms, recommend products that match a customer's needs, quote prices and delivery dates, prepare order forms and contracts, and keep supporting the customer after the sale.
Reps work with a sales manager who sets territory and targets, with customer service and operations who ship and fix orders, and often with marketing, which supplies leads and samples. Outside reps spend much of their time on the road. Inside reps do the same work by phone and video, usually with more accounts and shorter cycles.
At a small company, a rep may cover a huge territory, write their own prospect lists and handle collections calls. At a large distributor or manufacturer, territories are tighter, tools and leads are provided, and the rep is judged on attainment against a carefully set quota, with less room to shape the product line.
Skills and qualifications
Degree requirements vary. O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone Four, noting that most jobs at that level require a four-year bachelor's degree "but some do not," and survey respondents reported requirements ranging from a high school diploma to some college to a bachelor's degree. For most product sales roles, a candidate's record against quota tells you more than the transcript.
Salary
O*NET's closest occupation is Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products (41-4012.00), and its sample job titles include Sales Representative, Outside Sales Representative and Inside Salesperson. That group covers reps who sell goods for wholesalers and manufacturers. It's a broad match, and reps who sell services or software fall under other codes, such as the one we use on our account executive job description.
Based on 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data shown on O*NET, the U.S. median is $72,080 a year ($34.65 an hour). The 10th percentile is $39,090 and the 90th percentile is $137,550. Treat these figures as a benchmark and spell out your own base and on-target earnings. In California, the median for the group is $76,490. Post a pay range in the listing too: a growing number of states and cities require it, and reps skip ads that hide the base.
Interview questions for sales representative candidates
- "Walk me through your territory last year: quota, attainment and where the revenue came from." Strong reps know their numbers cold and can split them into new versus existing accounts without hedging.
- "A long-time account just cut its order in half. What do you do this week?" Look for a fast call or visit, real questions about why (a new supplier, a slow season, a service problem), and a plan to win back volume.
- "You have 30 accounts and time to visit 12 this month. How do you choose?" Good answers rank by revenue, growth potential and risk, not by who's friendliest.
- "Sell me on meeting with you, as if I'm a buyer who's never heard of us." Listen for a reason to meet that's about the buyer, plus a clear ask for a specific time.
- "Tell me about an account you won from a competitor." The best answers name how they got in, what the buyer cared about and what it took to keep the account.
For the full set, including role-plays, a pipeline math question and a 1 to 4 scoring rubric, see our sales interview questions. To keep every interviewer scoring the same skills, pair them with our interview scorecard template.
Writing tips for this role
- Say inside or outside in the title. Candidates filter hard on travel. "Outside Sales Representative" and "Inside Sales Representative" are both common search terms, and the plain "Sales Representative" title still pulls the most volume.
- Put the money in the first screen. Base range, on-target earnings, commission cap and payout timing. Experienced reps will read every word of a comp section and skip a post without one.
- Describe the territory and the book. "120 active accounts across Ohio and Indiana, about 60% of revenue from reorders" lets a rep picture the job. "Exciting growth opportunity" doesn't.
- Drop the industry-years filter if you train well. Requiring five years in your exact niche shrinks the pool to people your competitors already pay. Ask for proof of hitting targets instead.
- Be honest about leads. If reps source most of their own pipeline, say so. It saves a month of churn with hires who expected inbound.
Screening sales representative candidates with AI
Sales applicants often interview well in a friendly chat, which is exactly why a consistent first round helps. NTRVSTA runs that round as a live AI interview, either with a video avatar or audio only, that candidates can take at any hour, including reps who are still working a territory during the day. It asks behavioral questions in STAR format, follows up when an answer is vague, and adjusts difficulty to how each candidate is doing. You can customize the questions per role, so your own objection-handling scenario and territory questions are part of the interview, and AI resume scoring ranks every application against your job description first.
Hiring managers get a score breakdown that covers communication and English proficiency, plus video snippets of key moments, before they spend time on mock calls. Before you rely on any automated score, read how AI interviews are scored.
Questions
Should a sales representative job post include the quota?
Yes, at least as a range. Strong reps judge a job by whether the number is reachable, so share the annual or quarterly quota, the share of the team that hit it last year, and how many leads marketing provides. Hiding it mostly filters out the experienced reps you want.
What's the difference between a sales representative and an account executive?
Many companies use the titles for the same job. When they differ, a sales representative usually sells products to a territory or a book of existing customers with shorter sales cycles, while an account executive runs longer, multi-meeting deals that end in a negotiated contract. Use the title your market searches for, and describe the deal size and cycle length so nobody guesses.
How should I describe commission in a sales rep job description?
Give the base salary range, the on-target earnings at 100% of quota, and whether commission is capped. Add how often it pays out, such as monthly or quarterly. Reps compare plans closely, and a vague 'uncapped commission' line tells them very little.
Hiring several reps this quarter? Book a 20-minute demo to see an adaptive first-round interview, or try a sample interview as a candidate would. You'll find more templates in our job description library.
