Sales chiefs leap ahead in pay race

SALES AND marketing executives have overtaken their colleagues in the pay race. Their salaries now average pounds 26,610, pounds 1,235 a year more than those of counterparts in accounts, personnel and computing, a survey found.

Over the past year, marketing staff have received inflation-beating rises averaging 6.9 per cent, said the report by The Reward Group in association with the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

"The growing importance of marketing to business success is being translated into better pay for marketers," said Steve Cuthbert, the institute's director general. "Despite recent increases, marketing salaries in the UK are still below those in Europe and the US, and therefore further upward pressure is expected."

Senior sales and marketing managers typically receive a basic annual salary of pounds 40,000, compared to pounds 37,659 for those in accounts, pounds 37,400 in computing and pounds 35,875 in personnel.

Junior managers receive pounds 17,051, ahead of their equivalents in other departments.

The increase in status for sales and marketing employees is also reflected in the kind of company cars they drive.

Steve Flather, managing director of The Reward Group, said: "Companies report having given marketers across-the-board increases at the annual pay round of around 4.5 per cent, just 1 per cent above the national average.

"But it would appear that the task of recruiting key marketing personnel is pushing salary levels up throughout the year."

The report also found that the salary gap between men and women at director level has widened, with male marketing directors paid 17 per cent more.