Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
Sell services to individuals or businesses. May describe options or resolve client problems.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Social Perceptiveness
- Persuasion
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
- Law and Government
What the work involves
- Answer customers' questions about services, prices, availability, or credit terms.
- Consult with clients after sales or contract signings to resolve problems and provide ongoing support.
- Contact prospective or existing customers to discuss how services can meet their needs.
- Create forms or agreements to complete sales.
- Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.
- Distribute promotional materials at meetings, conferences, or trade shows.
- Emphasize or recommend service features based on knowledge of customers' needs and vendor capabilities and limitations.
- Identify prospective customers using business directories, leads from clients, or information from conferences or trade shows.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (71.6% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (47.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (55.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 95% of occupations compared | 97% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 87% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 79% of occupations compared | 70% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 54% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 87% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 81% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 76% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 63% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 1.45%
- Contact with others most of the time: 1.73%
- Constant contact with others: 96.82%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 7.73%
- Important: 9.19%
- Very important: 16.12%
- Extremely important: 66.96%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 10.67%
- Very important: 19.27%
- Extremely important: 70.06%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 1.58%
- Limited freedom: 22.37%
- Some freedom: 41.32%
- A lot of freedom: 34.72%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 4.35%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.77%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 41.44%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 42.99%
- Every day: 1.45%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.97%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.75%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 31.12%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 48.41%
- Every day: 4.75%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.11%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.35%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.23%
- Every day: 6.31%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 12.08%
- Fairly serious: 34.88%
- Serious: 22.81%
- Very serious: 28.55%
- Extremely serious: 1.67%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 41-3091.00 · SOC 41-3091 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8