Sales people still cashing in
Article Date: Jul 18 2008The basic pay and bonuses of sales people are still rising, keeping them significantly better off than their colleagues in marketing, finance and HR. The average basic salary for a middle manager in sales is just over £37,000, some 8.5 per cent higher than the national average for that level, according to a study from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
At junior manager level the difference is more marked, with the average basic salary 10.4 cent higher than the national average at £30,783. At head of function level the difference narrows to just 1.5 per cent above the average at £53,821.
The difference between sales people and their colleagues in other disciplines widens when you take bonuses and commissions into account. These are worth an average £6,250 annually, with sales directors typically receiving £20,000.
David Thorp, head of research at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, comments, ‘With the end of the “nice” decade and a rapidly deteriorating economic climate, sales professionals will have to prove they are worth the salaries they command more than ever before.’
Sales representatives in London are no longer the highest paid. They earn an average of £25,804, 11 per cent higher than the national mean, but have been beaten into third place by their counterparts in the South East (earning £26,445) and Scotland (£26,042).
Worse off are sales representatives in the North East and South West, who are paid around 13 per cent below the national average, with those from Northern Ireland earning 25 per cent less than the national average on £17,890.
