What is a telesales representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

Telesales representatives are also known as telemarketers, call-center representatives, or telephone sales representatives. Telesales representatives are responsible for contacting businesses and private individuals to generate sales or donations by reading from a prewritten script. Their duties include calling prospective customers, focusing on customer needs to close sales, and recording customer information and purchases. They promote and sell company products by telephone.

Also, they respond to incoming phone calls. As a telesales representative, you'll present product features to customers and determine the likelihood of customers buying them. You'll update customer databases, place orders, and close sales.

The primary educational requirement for this role is a high school diploma or its equivalent. Having certifications are an added advantage. Applicants must possess communication, interpersonal, creative thinking, listening, computer, and problem-solving skills. Telesales representatives earn an average salary of $59,509 yearly or $28.61 per hour. It ranges between $44,000 and $79,000.

ScoreTelesales RepresentativeUS Average
Salary
5.1

Avg. Salary $65,894

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level
5.9

Growth Rate -4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity
9.8
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 6.43%

Black or African American 14.38%

Hispanic or Latino 18.00%

Unknown 5.41%

White 55.06%

Gender

female 53.90%

male 46.10%

Age - 39
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39
Stress Level
5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level
6.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance
6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Telesales Representative career paths

Key steps to become a telesales representative

  1. Explore telesales representative education requirements

    Most common telesales representative degrees

    Bachelor's

    41.1 %

    High School Diploma

    24.5 %

    Associate

    19.3 %
  2. Start to develop specific telesales representative skills

    Skills
    ascdesc
    Percentages
    ascdesc
    Customer Service17.21%
    Inbound Calls9.48%
    Lead Generation8.02%
    Closes Sales6.71%
    Customer Interaction6.71%
  3. Complete relevant telesales representative training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New telesales representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a telesales representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real telesales representative resumes.
  4. Research telesales representative duties and responsibilities

    • Contact medicare eligible recipients to sell medicare advantage plans through in-home meetings, community seminars and direct telesales.
    • Exceed expectations in cross-selling and upselling on all inbound and outbound calls.
    • Solicit cross-selling and upselling opportunities to new prospects and current customers.
    • Upgrade current customers who have Comcast services through outbound telephone solicitation.
  5. Prepare your telesales representative resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your telesales representative resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a telesales representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose From 10+ Customizable Telesales Representative Resume templates

    Build a professional Telesales Representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Telesales Representative resume.
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    Telesales Representative Resume
  6. Apply for telesales representative jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a telesales representative job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How Did You Land Your First Telesales Representative Job

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Average telesales representative salary

The average Telesales Representative salary in the United States is $65,894 per year or $32 per hour. Telesales representative salaries range between $46,000 and $93,000 per year.

Average Telesales Representative Salary
$65,894 Yearly
$31.68 hourly

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How do telesales representatives rate their job?

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Telesales Representative reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2022
Pros

Getting to know the people and the you work.with

Cons

Being required to answer a minimum number of calls a day. This pushes the idea that the caller is a number and as such, it is more difficult to personalize the call the the person calling in


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020
Pros

Communicating and helping my clients.


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A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020
Pros

i enjoy the interaction with people, listen the customer in order to convert him/her into your friend, detect and help customer with his/her needs.

Cons

People without vision, dreams and selfishness.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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