# 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.

- **SOC code:** 41-4011.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-4011-00
- **Also known as:** Inside Sales Representative, Marketing Representative, Sales Representative, Abrasives Sales Representative, Agricultural Sales Representative, Aircraft Equipment and Parts Sales Representative, Aircraft Sales Representative, Animal Feed Products Sales Representative
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Negotiate prices or terms of sales or service agreements.
- Prepare and submit sales contracts for orders.
- Visit establishments to evaluate needs or to promote product or service sales.
- Sell service contracts for technical or scientific products.
- Maintain customer records, using automated systems.
- Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms.
- Quote prices, credit terms, or other bid specifications.
- Contact new or existing customers to discuss how specific products or services can meet their needs.
- Emphasize product features, based on analyses of customers' needs and on technical knowledge of product capabilities and limitations.
- Compute customer's installation or production costs and estimate savings from new services, products, or equipment.
- Demonstrate the operation or use of technical or scientific products.
- Provide feedback to product design teams so that products can be tailored to clients' needs.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Sales and Marketing _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Persuasion _(transferable_skill)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Negotiation _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Speech Recognition _(ability)_
- Speech Clarity _(ability)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Negotiation _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Salesforce software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Amazon Web Services AWS software _(hot technology)_
- Apache Hadoop _(hot technology)_
- Google Analytics _(hot technology)_
- Google Workspace software _(hot technology)_
- HubSpot software _(hot technology)_
- IBM SPSS Statistics _(hot technology)_
- Intuit QuickBooks _(hot technology)_
- Linux _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 83rd percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 70th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 80th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 91st percentile (High) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 37th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 1.9% growth (About average); 27.2k annual openings; 303.2k → 308.9k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $100,070; 293,930 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 43% automation, 51% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms. _(28.6% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Prepare sales presentations or proposals to explain product specifications or applications. _(5.8% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Study documentation or other information for new scientific or technical products. _(5.5% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Contact new or existing customers to discuss how specific products or services can meet their needs. _(3.7% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Select or assist customers in selecting products based on customer needs, product specifications, and applicable regulations. _(2.0% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Advise customers on product usage to improve production. _(0.7% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Maintain customer records, using automated systems. _(0.6% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Attend sales or trade meetings or read related publications to obtain information about market conditions, business trends, environmental regulations, or industry developments. _(0.6% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms.
- Help me prepare sales presentations or proposals to explain product specifications or applications.
- Help me study documentation or other information for new scientific or technical products.
- Help me contact new or existing customers to discuss how specific products or services can meet their needs.
- Help me select or assist customers in selecting products based on customer needs, product specifications, and applicable regulations.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-41-4011-00_