Telephone salespersons: pay and what the work involves

Occupation 7113 · Sales and customer service occupations

Telephone salespersons

Telephone salespersons obtain, receive, process and record telephone orders for goods and services.

How people enter it

Academic qualifications may be required. Training is typically received on-the-job, supplemented by short courses in practical skills. NVQs/SVQs in Sales at levels 2 and 3 and apprenticeships are available.

What the work involves

learns about the product(s)/service(s) to be sold
telephones potential customers, explains purpose of call, discusses their requirements and advises on the goods/services being offered
quotes prices, credit terms and delivery conditions and records details of orders agreed
receives orders for goods/services by telephone and records relevant details
arranges despatch of goods and services, information and/or brochures to customers
maintains record of sales statistics, customers contacted and changes to customer details

Also called

Inbound sales adviser · Sales adviser (telephone sales) · Telesales executive · Telesales operative

What it pays

Measure	Hours	Basis	Period	Value	Source
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	15,700.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	16,200.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	17,400.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	—	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020) Not published: Estimate is less than 500
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	1,200.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	17,700.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	None	2026-03	500.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Region	Measure	Hours	Value	Period
East	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	2,300.00	2026-03
East Midlands	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	withheld	2026-03
London	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,000.00	2026-03
North East	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,600.00	2026-03
North West	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,900.00	2026-03
Northern Ireland	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	withheld	2026-03
Scotland	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,200.00	2026-03
South East	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	3,700.00	2026-03
South West	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	2,400.00	2026-03
Wales	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	500.00	2026-03
West Midlands	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,200.00	2026-03
Yorkshire and The Humber	7113 : Telephone salespersons	None	1,400.00	2026-03

Common questions

Does pay for telephone salespersons vary by region?

ONS publishes regional pay for this occupation where the survey sample supports it — 10 of 12 cells on this page. The rest are withheld by ONS, and are shown as withheld with the reason, rather than left out.

Where do these pay figures come from?

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, published by the Office for National Statistics. Figures are shown exactly as ONS publishes them — we do not adjust, model or fill them in, and every number on this page carries the series and period it came from.

Classified alongside this

Pharmacy and optical dispensing assistants · Retail cashiers and check-out operators · Sales and retail assistants · Vehicle and parts salespersons and advisers