售前工资有多高？没有对比，就没有动力

As presales professionals, we often find ourselves wondering: Is our role truly important to the company? And if so, how important? In modern enterprises, every department and position is a link in the chain of creating business value—often indispensable. It's difficult to rank one as more important than another, and frankly, making such comparisons can feel politically incorrect. But as working professionals, we all want to feel that our work matters. It's a key source of personal fulfillment, professional pride, and a sense of achievement.

So, is the presales role truly critical to a company?

Just because company leadership says presales is important, does that make it so? Of course not. I remember when I worked in presales at a globally renowned company. Our sales and business general manager would always tell our presales team that we were the "crown jewels" of the organization. But in reality, at that company, presales didn't fare better than other technical roles in terms of compensation, training, or promotion opportunities—if anything, we fared worse. People aren't blind. Presales work is demanding, stressful, and requires constant travel that keeps you away from family. Without commensurate rewards, who would willingly stay in such a role long-term? Presales professionals aren't fresh graduates—they're seasoned veterans who've navigated the corporate trenches for years. They see right through management's empty praise. So who actually believes the boss's flattery? As a result, senior presales people either jumped ship or transferred to other positions.

Words don't matter—salary tells the truth. So to gauge whether presales (or any role) is truly valued at a company, the first thing to look at is how compensation compares across roles for people with similar skills and experience. After all, cold hard cash doesn't lie, right?

Let's start with presales.

• The average monthly salary for presales is 14.8k RMB, with bonuses typically ranging from 10% to 30% of annual salary.

• In the Beijing area specifically, the average monthly salary is 23.5k RMB.

• Looking at long-term trends, presales compensation has been steadily rising over the past decade—until this year, 2023, which has seen a downward trend.

• By experience level, fresh graduates can expect an average of 13.1k RMB per month, while those with 10+ years of experience earn an average of 23.9k RMB.

Now let's compare that with sales and after-sales data.

After-sales professionals earn an average of 7.6k RMB per month, while sales—the role everyone envies—averages 11.1k RMB. Of course, sales roles come with substantial bonuses, though we don't have that data here. According to one statistic, only 43% of salespeople at large companies actually hit their quotas.

Based on the salary data from this website, presales income clearly exceeds both after-sales and sales. Even factoring in bonuses, presales may not out-earn top-performing sales reps, but they earn nearly 100% more than after-sales—and the gap widens with tenure. For example, at 10+ years of experience, presales professionals earn three times what after-sales professionals make. This shows that presales offers the fastest personal value appreciation with age and experience.

So, does this data surprise you? It aligns pretty well with my own understanding of industry compensation. In my 20+ year career, my income has been at or above the level of frontline sales managers at the same company for most of that time. Given the work intensity and stress relative to pay, I've been quite satisfied with my earnings. The generous salary has provided me with a solid standard of living—just one year after graduating, I was able to buy a two-bedroom apartment in Beijing entirely with my own savings. Well, not outright—just the down payment—but I was still pretty proud of that!

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