Occupation
Outside sales representative
Outside sales representatives sell face to face, travelling a territory to meet buyers at their own premises. They demonstrate products, negotiate terms within limits their employer sets, and keep long-running accounts alive between orders.
Also known as: Field sales representative · Territory sales representative · Field account executive
Occupation content
Part of Retail, sales and customer experience
What the work involves
- Plan a route and book appointments across a territory
- Visit customer sites to present products and samples
- Negotiate terms and quantities within an agreed authority
- Write up call reports and update account records after visits
- Resolve delivery and quality issues raised by accounts
- Attend trade shows and supplier training on new product lines
How people commonly enter
- Direct entry with employer product and territory training
- Certificate or college diploma in business or sales
- Bachelor's degree for technical, scientific, or industrial products
- Progression from an inside sales or customer-service role
Typical training: Varies by employer or jurisdiction
Licensing: Not typically licensed
Typical work context
Involves travel · Client sites · Works independently · Public facing · Varied work
Related interests
Enterprising (leading) · Social (helping)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Customer-service judgment
- Numerical reasoning
- Situational judgment
- Planning and scheduling exercises
- Verbal reasoning
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Retail, sales and customer experience.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook: Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives · United States
Link checked
- O*NET OnLine — Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products (41-4012.00) · International
Link checked
- Canada Job Bank — Career planning and occupation search · Canada
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Retail, sales and customer experience in Canada, not a figure for Outside sales representative. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Retail, sales and customer experience family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Retail, sales and customer experience: education pathways
Some roles in Retail, sales and customer experience may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Retail, sales and customer experience: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Outside sales representative”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)