Where a technical sales representative can go next

Table 1 · Within reach

• after-sales service technician 69% covered · difficulty 33.4
• advertising sales agent 66% covered · difficulty 41.6
• commercial sales representative 62% covered · difficulty 51.7

Table 2 · A bigger jump

Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.

• ICT account manager 44% covered · difficulty 58.2
• sales account manager 41% covered · difficulty 60.2

Table 3 · What the job itself asks for

A technical sales representative needs 28 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.

• demonstrate motivation for sales management skills
• keep records on sales information skills
• implement customer follow-up communication, collaboration and creativity
• contact customers communication, collaboration and creativity
• keep records of customer interaction information skills
• record customers' personal data information skills
• supervise sales activities management skills
• respond to customers' inquiries communication, collaboration and creativity
• sales promotion techniques business, administration and law
• use customer relationship management software working with computers

Table 4 · Jobs that lead here

The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a technical sales representative does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.

• commercial sales representative 78% covered · difficulty 31
• technical sales representative in machinery and industrial equipment 78% covered · difficulty 32
• technical sales representative in agricultural machinery and equipment 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in chemical products 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in electronic and telecommunications equipment 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in hardware, plumbing and heating equipment 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in mining and construction machinery 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in office machinery and equipment 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• technical sales representative in the textile machinery industry 75% covered · difficulty 35.5
• sales account manager 27% covered · difficulty 78.7

Look up another occupation

Technical sales representative is filed under Professionals, ISCO major group 2. The full index lists all ten groups.

How these figures were compiled

Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a technical sales representative’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.