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 post-secondary education.
U.S. Workers
293,930
Median Salary
$100,070
10-Year Growth
+1.9%
Annual Openings
27,200
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
34 of 36 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Prepare and submit sales contracts for orders.
AI: Fully automatable - Preparing, populating, and submitting sales contracts for standard orders is a document-automation task that AI and workflow systems can fully handle.
Maintain customer records, using automated systems.
AI: Fully automatable - Maintaining customer records in automated systems is a core data-management task that AI and RPA can fully perform reliably.
Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms.
AI: Fully automatable - AI-driven assistants can answer routine customer questions about products, prices, availability and credit terms end-to-end, with escalation for complex or exceptional queries.
Emphasize product features based on analyses of customers' needs and on technical knowledge of product capabilities and limitations.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can analyze customer data, map needs to technical specifications, and generate tailored messaging that emphasizes relevant product features in many sales contexts.
Prepare sales presentations or proposals to explain product specifications or applications.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can autonomously generate tailored sales presentations and proposals from product data and customer profiles with minimal human input.
Complete expense reports, sales reports, or other paperwork.
AI: Fully automatable - Completing expense reports, sales reports, and routine paperwork is highly rule-based and can be fully automated by AI and workflow systems.
Verify that delivery schedules meet project deadlines.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can cross-check delivery schedules against project deadlines, detect conflicts, and notify stakeholders automatically given access to scheduling data.
Identify prospective customers using business directories, leads from existing clients, participation in organizations, or trade show or conference attendance.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can systematically identify and score prospective customers by scraping directories, CRM data, event attendee lists, and other lead sources.
Arrange for installation and testing of products or machinery.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can arrange and coordinate installation and testing by scheduling technicians, managing logistics, and enforcing testing checklists, covering the administrative orchestration end-to-end.
Inform customers of estimated delivery schedules, service contracts, warranties, or other information pertaining to purchased products.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can automatically inform customers about estimated delivery schedules, service contracts, and warranties and handle routine follow-up communications.
Verify customer credit ratings.
AI: Fully automatable - With integration to credit bureaus and financial data APIs, AI systems can fully automate retrieval and assessment of customer credit ratings and flag risks in 2025.
Study documentation or other information for new scientific or technical products.
AI: Fully automatable - AI systems can rapidly read, extract, summarize, and synthesize technical documentation, effectively performing the task of studying new scientific or technical products.
Attend sales or trade meetings or read related publications to obtain information about market conditions, business trends, environmental regulations, or industry developments.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can continuously monitor publications and meeting transcripts, detect market and regulatory trends, and synthesize actionable intelligence at scale.
Present information to customers about the energy efficiency or environmental impact of scientific or technical products.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can compile, tailor and present verified information about energy efficiency and environmental impacts via reports, chats, webinars or sales materials, fully automating that informational role when integrated with reliable data sources.
Inform customers about issues related to responsible use and disposal of products, such as waste reduction or product or byproduct recycling or disposal.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate and deliver guidance on responsible use, disposal and recycling (including localized regulations and facilities) through automated documentation, chatbots and workflows when connected to up‑to‑date regulatory and waste‑management data.
Negotiate prices or terms of sales or service agreements.
AI: Partial - AI can automate and support many negotiation tasks (pricing heuristics, counteroffers, scenario analysis) for routine deals, but complex negotiations relying on relationships, judgment, or bespoke terms still require humans.
Sell service contracts for technical or scientific products.
AI: Partial - AI can automate proposals, pricing models, and routine contract workflows for service contracts, but complex negotiations and relationship-driven sales usually need human involvement.
Quote prices, credit terms, or other bid specifications.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze customer data and tailor messaging to emphasize relevant features, yet deep technical nuance and trust-building in technical sales often need human expertise.
Contact new or existing customers to discuss how specific products or services can meet their needs.
AI: Partial - AI can automate outreach (emails, calls, scheduling) and initial qualification at scale, but building relationships and handling complex live negotiations remain human-led.
Compute customer's installation or production costs and estimate savings from new services, products, or equipment.
AI: Partial - AI can compute cost estimates and ROI from structured inputs and models, but site-specific variables and engineering judgment often require human validation.
Demonstrate the operation or use of technical or scientific products.
AI: Partial - AI can deliver virtual demos, AR/VR walkthroughs, and interactive guides for product operation, but in-person demonstrations of complex machinery often require human demonstrators or technicians.
Provide feedback to product design teams so that products can be tailored to clients' needs.
AI: Partial - AI can aggregate customer feedback and recommend design changes, but integrating nuanced client requirements and negotiating trade-offs generally benefits from human product teams.
Select or assist customers in selecting products based on customer needs, product specifications, and applicable regulations.
AI: Partial - AI can recommend products by matching needs, specs, and encoded regulations, but interpreting ambiguous requirements or regulatory edge cases typically needs a human expert.
Collaborate with colleagues to exchange information, such as selling strategies or marketing information.
AI: Partial - AI can collate, summarize, and distribute selling strategies and marketing information to colleagues, but cannot fully replicate the social judgment and trust-building of human collaboration.
Initiate sales campaigns to meet sales and production expectations.
AI: Partial - AI can design, target, and run large parts of sales campaigns (content, audience selection, automation and analytics) but typically requires human oversight and relationship management to fully execute high‑value technical campaigns.
Provide customers with ongoing technical support.
AI: Partial - AI can provide routine and remote technical support using diagnostics and knowledge bases, but complex, site-specific, or hardware interventions still require human technicians.
Advise customers on product usage to improve production.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze product and process data and offer usage recommendations to improve production, yet tailoring advice to unique operational contexts and earning client trust typically needs human oversight.
Obtain building blueprints or specifications for use by engineering departments in bid preparations.
AI: Partial - AI can locate, request, and parse publicly available blueprints or solicit them via automated communications and document processing, but obtaining controlled or proprietary drawings still usually requires human negotiation and permissions.
Verify accuracy of materials lists.
AI: Partial - AI can automatically cross‑check bills of materials against databases, CAD files and supplier data to flag discrepancies, but physical verification or judgment on ambiguous items often needs human input.
Appraise equipment to determine contract terms or trade-in values.
AI: Partial - AI can estimate equipment values from specifications, market data and photos, yet accurate appraisals for contract terms often require on‑site inspections and human valuation judgment.
Consult with engineers regarding technical problems with products.
AI: Partial - AI can synthesize product data, diagnostics, and potential fixes to support technical discussions, but direct collaborative engineering consultation and final technical decisions still rely on human engineers.
Sell technical and scientific products that are environmentally sound or designed for environmental remediation.
AI: Partial - AI can identify and market environmentally oriented technical products and automate much of the sales funnel, but closing complex technical sales and managing customer relationships usually still needs human involvement.
Stock or distribute resources, such as samples or promotional or educational materials.
AI: Partial - AI can manage inventory, track samples, and coordinate distribution logistics, but physically stocking or delivering materials requires humans or integrated robotics beyond standalone AI.
Research and convey information to customers about tax benefits or government rebates associated with energy-efficient scientific or technical products, such as solar panels.
AI: Partial - AI can research and summarize incentives and rebates but often lacks guaranteed real-time, jurisdiction-specific legal reliability and typically requires human verification.
Visit establishments to evaluate needs or to promote product or service sales.
AI: Not automatable - Physically visiting establishments to evaluate needs or promote sales requires in-person presence and relationship-building that AI cannot perform autonomously in general.
Visit establishments, such as pharmacies, to determine product sales.
AI: Not automatable - AI cannot physically visit establishments; while it can analyze remote sales data or imagery, the explicit task of visiting locations requires a human or a robotic physical agent beyond typical AI capabilities.