THE future is looking good for sales and marketing professionals, it is claimed.

They received higher pay increases last year than people in other professions and expect to receive even higher increases in the year ahead.

A review shows that sales and marketing staff received pay increases of four per cent last year compared to an average of 3.4 per cent across all levels and types of jobs.

Sales and marketing directors received the highest increases - around five per cent - and junior staff the lowest, 3.5 per cent.

And sales and marketing staff are forecasting pay increases of five per cent for the year ahead.

The annual survey also reveals that sales people are generally more highly rewarded than marketing people.

The exception is at director level, where marketing directors receive an average basic pay of £46,000 per annum whilst sales directors receive £40,000.

Researchers also found that promotion prospects are improving with 30 per cent of those asked rating them as good compared with 24 per cent two years ago.

Job security is either good or excellent, according to 54 per cent of respondents.

And 61 per cent claim to be achieving high levels of job satisfaction.

The top motivator for sales and marketing professions was more money (16 per cent) followed by increased responsibility (12 per cent) and better leadership (10 per cent).

Worst aspects of the job are listed as "company politics, management incompetence and work pressure."

Freedom from interference was, by far, the most popular aspect of a career in sales and marketing.

Mr Steve Cuthbert, Director General of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: "Demand for qualified marketing and sales professionals will continue to grow as more and more companies understand that truly customer-focused organisations are more likely to achieve long-term success as measured by bottom-line profit."

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