Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers where technical or scientific knowledge is required in such areas as biology, engineering, chemistry, and electronics, normally obtained from at least 2 years of postsecondary education.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Persuasion
- Active Listening
- Negotiation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Service Orientation
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Production and Processing
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms.
- Quote prices, credit terms, or other bid specifications.
- Emphasize product features, based on analyses of customers' needs and on technical knowledge of product capabilities and limitations.
- Negotiate prices or terms of sales or service agreements.
- Maintain customer records, using automated systems.
- Collaborate with colleagues to exchange information, such as selling strategies or marketing information.
- Prepare sales presentations or proposals to explain product specifications or applications.
- Provide customers with ongoing technical support.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (39.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (33%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (39.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 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 | High | Higher on contact with others than 66% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 65% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 64% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 56% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 86% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 83% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 73% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very 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: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 43.44%
- Constant contact with others: 56.56%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 12.15%
- Fairly important: 23.17%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 0.65%
- Extremely important: 64.04%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2014
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.8%
- Important: 9.92%
- Very important: 48.3%
- Extremely important: 39.97%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 1.55%
- Very little freedom: 8.95%
- Limited freedom: 11.39%
- Some freedom: 17.11%
- A lot of freedom: 60.99%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.87%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.05%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 49.25%
- Every day: 26.83%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.83%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.01%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 41.84%
- Every day: 14.1%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 9.87%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.98%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.5%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 44.83%
- Every day: 14.82%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 19.17%
- Fairly serious: 43.8%
- Serious: 15.86%
- Very serious: 10.26%
- Extremely serious: 10.91%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2014
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O*NET-SOC 41-4011.00 · SOC 41-4011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8