Summary Report for:
41-3011.00 - Advertising Sales Agents
Sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or the Internet. Includes individuals who obtain leases for outdoor advertising sites or persuade retailers to use sales promotion display items.
Sample of reported job titles:
Advertising Account Executive, Advertising Sales Representative, Account Executive, Account Manager, Advertising Account Representative, Sales Representative, Marketing Consultant, Advertising Representative, Directory Advertising Sales Representative, Advertising Consultant
Tasks | Tools & Technology | Knowledge | Skills | Abilities | Work Activities | Work Context | Job Zone | Education | Interests | Work Styles | Work Values | Related Occupations | Wages & Employment | Additional Information
Tasks
- Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts.
- Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.
- Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.
- Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.
- Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts.
- Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs, and to protect and increase existing advertising.
- Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork, and provide samples.
- Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval.
- Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.
- Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium being used.
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Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Desktop computers |
| Notebook computers — Laptop computers |
| Personal computers |
| Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers — Personal digital assistants PDA |
| Special purpose telephones — Multi-line telephone systems |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Data base user interface and query software — FileMaker Pro software; Microsoft Access; Oracle software |
| Desktop publishing software — QuarkXPress |
| Electronic mail software — Email software; Microsoft Outlook |
| Office suite software — Microsoft Office software |
| Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel |
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Knowledge
| Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems. |
| Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. |
| English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar. |
| Communications and Media — Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media. |
| Clerical — Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology. |
| Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming. |
| Mathematics — Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. |
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Skills
| Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. |
| Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior. |
| Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
| Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people. |
| Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences. |
| Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others. |
| Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions. |
| Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems. |
| Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents. |
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Abilities
| Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. |
| Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. |
| Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. |
| Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
| Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. |
| Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). |
| Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. |
| Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). |
| Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). |
| Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). |
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Work Activities
| Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions. |
| Communicating with Persons Outside Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. |
| Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
| Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. |
| Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
| Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| Interacting With Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. |
| Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
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Work Context
| Contact With Others — How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? |
| Telephone — How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? |
| Electronic Mail — How often do you use electronic mail in this job? |
| Face-to-Face Discussions — How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? |
| Time Pressure — How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? |
| Deal With External Customers — How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? |
| Frequency of Decision Making — How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? |
| Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company? |
| In an Enclosed Vehicle or Equipment — How often does this job require working in a closed vehicle or equipment (e.g., car)? |
| Structured versus Unstructured Work — To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? |
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Job Zone
| Title |
Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed |
| Education |
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. |
| Related Experience |
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job. |
| Job Training |
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations. |
| Job Zone Examples |
These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include food service managers, electricians, agricultural technicians, legal secretaries, interviewers, and insurance sales agents. |
| SVP Range |
(6.0 to < 7.0) |
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Education
Percentage of Respondents |
Education Level Required |
41   |
Bachelor's degree |
| 28 |
Associate's degree |
| 17 |
Some college, no degree |
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Interests
Interest code: ECA
| Enterprising — Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business. |
| Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow. |
| Artistic — Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules. |
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Work Styles
| Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. |
| Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. |
| Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. |
| Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. |
| Independence — Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. |
| Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical. |
| Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations. |
| Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. |
| Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. |
| Self Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. |
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Work Values
| Relationships — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service. |
| Independence — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
| Working Conditions — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions. |
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Related Occupations
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Wages & Employment Trends
National
| Median wages (2011) |
$21.76 hourly, $45,250 annual |
| Employment (2010) |
160,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2010-2020) |
Average (10% to 19%)
|
| Projected job openings (2010-2020) |
69,900 |
| Top industries (2010) |
|
State & National
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 wage data
and 2010-2020 employment projections
.
"Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2010-2020). "Projected job openings" represent openings due to growth and replacement.
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Sources of Additional Information
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.
- Advertising Sales Agents
. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition.
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Bright Outlook
Green