Community Sentiment
Do you agree?
Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Sales Managers?
Task-level automation exposure for Sales Managers: 17 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
45%
weighted task index
17 of 17 tasks scored
Median Salary
$148,270 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Very High
637,080 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.5%
employment change
47,300 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$60,740 – $217,640
Highest medians
New York $217,640
Massachusetts $191,200
Virginia $191,130
Colorado $180,850
Washington $174,000
Lowest medians
Guam $60,740
Puerto Rico $78,960
West Virginia $94,830
Alaska $98,860
Virgin Islands $107,740
State figures come from the 11-2022 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 45%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 69%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 0/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
17 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 23%
4 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 38%
6 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 40%
7 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Coach staff on sales tactics.
- New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert
Establish and monitor staff's sales goals.
Constituent Tasks
#14 · Core · 30% automatable
Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
interpersonal — Employee supervision is accountability-bearing human work
Supervise employees.
#1 · Core · 45% automatable
Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
interpersonal — Complaint resolution needs authority and rapport
Resolve customer complaints or problems.
#2 · Core · 45% automatable
Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
interpersonal — Survey design aided; administration needs human respondents
Conduct opinion surveys or needs assessments.
#13 · Core · 65% automatable
Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs, and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.
decision support — Technical advice needs product-specific human judgment
Advise customers on technical or procedural issues.
#5 · Core · 76% automatable
Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
data analysis — Interprets financial reports; human owns conclusions
Analyze financial records or reports to determine state of operations.
#11 · Core · 45% automatable
Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
decision support — Performance review aided; accountability and context human
Evaluate employee performance. Manage human resources activities.
#3 · Core · 30% automatable
Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
interpersonal — Directing sales and service is human leadership and persuasion
Direct sales, marketing, or customer service activities.
#4 · Core · 50% automatable
Determine price schedules and discount rates.
decision support — AI models pricing; human sets monetary policy
Determine pricing or monetary policies.
#9 · Core · 51% automatable
Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures.
data analysis — Budget drafting from assumptions; human validates assumptions
Approve expenditures. Prepare operational budgets.
#7 · Core · 45% automatable
Confer or consult with department heads to plan advertising services and to secure information on equipment and customer specifications.
interpersonal — Coordinating work through live human interaction
Confer with organizational members to accomplish work activities.
#12 · Core · 28% automatable
Visit franchised dealers to stimulate interest in establishment or expansion of leasing programs.
interpersonal — Interpersonal business relationships are inherently human
Establish interpersonal business relationships to facilitate work activities.
#10 · Core · 30% automatable
Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.
interpersonal — External representation requires human presence and authority
Represent the organization in external relations.
#8 · Core · 62% automatable
Advise dealers and distributors on policies and operating procedures to ensure functional effectiveness of business.
decision support — Drafts advice; accountability and context owned by human
Advise others on business or operational matters.
#6 · Core · 30% automatable
Direct, coordinate, and review sales and service accounting and record-keeping, as well as receiving and shipping.
interpersonal — Directing sales and service is human leadership and persuasion
Direct sales, marketing, or customer service activities.
#15 · Core · 30% automatable
Direct clerical staff to keep records of export correspondence, bid requests, and credit collections, and to maintain current information on tariffs, licenses, and restrictions.
interpersonal — Employee supervision is accountability-bearing human work
Supervise employees.
#17 · Supplemental · 65% automatable
Assess marketing potential of new and existing store locations, considering statistics and expenditures.
decision support — Potential assessment aided by research, human decides
Evaluate potential of products, technologies, or resources.
#16 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Direct foreign sales and service outlets of an organization.
interpersonal — Directing sales and service is human leadership and persuasion
Direct sales, marketing, or customer service activities.
Embed this calculator on your site ↓
Bloggers & authors: Embed this interactive calculator directly in your articles or comparison guides. It loads dynamically via a responsive iframe (auto-resizing to prevent double scrollbars) and provides a direct, high-value tool for your audience.
<div class="giniloh-calculator-embed" data-calculator="sales-managers"></div>
<script src="https://giniloh.com/embed.js" async></script> Method
How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
See the full method →Related Article
Best AI Proof Jobs in a Changing Market
Worried robots are coming for your paycheck? You’re not alone—but the real story is far more hopeful. This guide cuts through the scare headlines to reveal exactly where smart, sustainable career opportunities exist right now. We’ve curated a list of true ai proof jobs—roles in healthcare, skilled trades, and cybersecurity that not only survive automation but thrive because of human judgment and empathy. You’ll get specific, money-making data on projected growth (the BLS says wind turbine technicians, for instance, will grow 44% by 2032), real salary ranges from active job listings, and a simple self-assessment quiz to identify your own most resilient path. Plus, we name companies hiring today and the niche job boards they use. Stop worrying and start planning—your secure career is closer than you think.
Read Article ->