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Sales & business development · Leading & Selling

Sales representative: what the job actually is

Selling products from a wholesaler or supplier to other businesses, and keeping those customers coming back.

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Sales representative: quick facts

Sales representative salary in Ontario: the median pay is $31.25 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$31.25 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$19.23 to $57.69 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
97,550
Usually needs
Usually a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 64101. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Selling goods or services, usually to other businesses such as shops, restaurants and manufacturers, rather than to the public. You visit, phone or email customers, take orders and look after the account.
  • Job Bank's group is sales and account representatives in wholesale trade, non-technical. Selling technical products, such as machinery or software, is a different group.
  • Job Bank says the occupation is not regulated in Ontario, so no licence is compulsory. It says completion of secondary school is required, that a university degree or college programme may be required, and that experience in sales or in an occupation related to the product is usually required.
  • Job Bank says voluntary certification is available through the Canadian Professional Sales Association, and that import and export roles may need fluency in a foreign language or experience abroad.
  • Job Bank shows a higher share self-employed than the average job. Ask any employer how pay works, because the figures here are Job Bank's wages for the group and do not tell you how a particular firm pays.
  • Job Bank's Ontario outlook says employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions, while several positions will open up from retirements. Read the rating on this page.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 7:45 — Check the orders overnight and the day's route or call list. A customer wants a price for next week.
  2. 8:30 — First visit. You walk the shelves with the owner and see what is low.
  3. 9:30 — Take an order, show a new product and hear that a competitor is cheaper.
  4. 11:00 — Second customer is not ready to buy. You leave samples and book another visit.
  5. 12:30 — Lunch in the car, and a call about a delivery that has gone to the wrong address.
  6. 13:30 — Call a customer whose order was short. You apologise, find out why and fix it.
  7. 15:00 — Third visit. A long chat, a short order.
  8. 16:30 — Enter the day's orders and notes, and update your pipeline.
  9. 17:30 — Prepare tomorrow's calls and a quote for a bigger customer.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You enjoy talking to people, remembering what matters to them and building a relationship over years.
  • You can hear no without taking it personally, and try again.
  • You are organised enough to track many customers, quotes and follow-ups.
  • You like variety, travel in a territory or time out of the office, and some independence.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want pay that can depend on results. Ask what share of your pay depends on sales, because the group figure on this page does not tell you.
  • You dislike rejection. Most calls and visits do not lead to an order.
  • You do not like driving or being on the road. Many reps cover a territory and spend a lot of time travelling.
  • You want certainty about your future. Job Bank says employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions in this group.
  • You do not like pressure to hit targets that are set by someone else.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school, and consider a college or university programme

    Job Bank says completion of secondary school is required and that a university degree or college programme may be required. Business, marketing and sales programmes are listed on ontariocolleges.ca and ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca.

  2. Get sales or related experience

    Job Bank says experience in sales or in an occupation related to the product or service is usually required. A retail, customer service or inside sales job is a common first step, and you can show results there.

  3. Know the voluntary certification

    Job Bank says voluntary certification is available through the Canadian Professional Sales Association. It is optional, not a licence, so ask employers whether they value it.

  4. Move into larger accounts

    Job Bank says supervisory or senior-level positions require additional experience. A rep who keeps customers and grows them gets bigger accounts or a territory of their own.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Sales and account representatives, wholesale trade, non-technical (NOC 64101), requirements · ontariocolleges.ca — program search

The money

Sales representative salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$19.23
Low (hourly)
$31.25
Median (hourly)
$57.69
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 64101. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Sales representative wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

97,550
people work in this job in Ontario
34%
are women (48% across all jobs)
21%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Sales and account representatives - wholesale trade (non-technical) job prospects in Ontario (NOC 64101). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take business, marketing and communications courses, and join a fundraiser or school business where you have to ask people for money or orders.
  • Get a part-time job in a shop or customer service, and watch how the best salesperson talks to people.
  • Practise a one-minute pitch for something you know well, to a friend, and ask what they would still want to know.
  • Ask an adult you know who works in sales whether you can ask them three questions.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Ask ten people for a small yes and track what happens

About 90 minutes
  1. Choose something small that you are allowed to ask for, such as a sponsor's donation to a school fundraiser, a raffle ticket sale for a club, or a sign-up for a school event. Check with whoever runs it first.
  2. Write a thirty-second pitch and practise it out loud. Decide in advance what you will say if someone says no.
  3. Ask ten people. Keep a tally: yes, no, maybe, and the reason they gave.
  4. Write down how you felt after the third no, and what you changed.

What it tells you. If you kept going after the rejections, learned from the reasons and enjoyed the few yeses, sales work is made of that. If every no stung and you dreaded the next ask, a job built on asking all day will be hard, and a role with less selling may fit you better.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “How are you paid, and how much of it depends on what you sell?”
  2. “What does a normal week look like, and how much is driving or travelling?”
  3. “How do you keep a customer after the first order?”
  4. “How did you learn to handle rejection?”
  5. “What do you sell, and how did you learn the product?”
  6. “How is your job changing as more ordering moves online?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, in a way. Job Bank shows a higher share self-employed in this group than in the average job. Some reps become independent agents or start a wholesale or distribution business. It means finding suppliers and customers yourself, with no steady pay until the orders arrive.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a sales representative make in Ontario?

The median pay for a sales representative in Ontario is $31.25 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $19.23 to $57.69 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a sales representative in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a sales representative in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school, and consider a college or university programme; Get sales or related experience; Know the voluntary certification.

How many people work as a sales representative in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 97,550 people working in this job in Ontario. 34% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.