Jobs / Sales and marketing
Can agents do sales and marketing work?
Sell products and services, run campaigns, and research markets.
- US jobs
- 14,323,860 (9.2% of employment)
- Typical wage
- $51K a year (employment-weighted mean of occupation medians)
- Occupations
- 25 in O*NET 31.0
- Evidence
- 1 direct benchmark, 1 also relevant, 2 context only
The answer today
Some tasksNo change since 10 Oct 2025.
Rule: Agents complete 20% or more of the tasks (or projects) on a direct benchmark.
The evidence that sets this step
- CRMArena-Pro by Salesforce AI Research: 58.3% of tasks completed · gemini-2.5-pro (ReAct), 24 May 2025
Next step: Most tasks needs 60% or more of the tasks (or projects) on two direct benchmarks from independent institutions.
How much of the work is measured
3% of the work in this family is measured by direct benchmarks. Little of the work is measured (less than 20%). On 10 Oct 2025: 3%.
Work = the O*NET 31.0 work activities of the family's occupations, weighted by how important each task is and by US employment. A benchmark measures an activity when its tasks make the agent do it and its grading checks it. Method.
| Work activity (O*NET) | Share of the work | Direct benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Execute financial transactions | 7.4% | Not measured |
| Determine values or prices of goods or services | 5.8% | Measured |
| Advise others on products or services | 5.7% | Not measured |
| Respond to customer problems or inquiries | 4.8% | Measured |
| Maintain sales or financial records | 4.3% | Measured |
| Promote products, services, or programs | 4.1% | Not measured |
| Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists | 4.1% | Not measured |
| Prepare documentation for contracts, applications, or permits | 4.0% | Not measured |
| Explain technical details of products or services | 3.6% | Not measured |
| Arrange displays or decorations | 3.4% | Not measured |
Our reading
Agents complete some sales tasks on one direct benchmark. On CRMArena-Pro, the best agent answers 58.3% of single-turn sales, service, and quote requests inside a synthetic Salesforce org (Gemini 2.5 Pro, May 2025). Multi-turn scores, where a simulated customer holds back details, are lower: 30.0% on the same org. No newer results are published, and the org data is synthetic. No direct benchmark measures executing financial transactions, advising others on products, or promoting products and services. GDPval includes sales managers among its occupations, but it is a broad benchmark and does not set the step.
Evidence: CRMArena-Pro, GDPval by OpenAI and Salesforce AI Research. Written 24 Sep 2026.
Benchmarks for this work
Direct evidence
Work benchmarks mapped primary to this family. They set the step when they report how many tasks agents complete.
Also relevant
These benchmarks cover part of this family's work, or have no result yet. They do not set its step.
Context only
These benchmarks span many occupations, or they test how agents behave. They give context but do not set the step.
Functions: Business workflow automationEnterprise workflowsCRM operationsCustomer serviceProfessional deliverables
What we do not know
- Benchmarks measure tasks, not whole jobs. A job is a bundle of tasks, judgment, and relationships.
- Capability is not adoption. A task that agents can do in a benchmark may still be done by people at work.
- Most results come from single runs. Reliability over many runs is often unknown.
Occupations in this family
Sorted by US employment (BLS OEWS May 2025). O*NET sub-occupations share the employment figure of their SOC group. Work measured = the share of the occupation's O*NET work that direct benchmarks test.
How to cite
Credit the original work first: the benchmarks listed on this page, and their institutions.
Then, if you used this page:
Can Agents Work. "Can agents do sales and marketing work?." https://canagentswork.com/jobs/sales-marketing/ (accessed 2026-10-11). CC BY 4.0.@misc{caw-jobs-sales-marketing,
title = {{Can agents do sales and marketing work?}},
author = {{Can Agents Work}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://canagentswork.com/jobs/sales-marketing/}},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-11. CC BY 4.0}
}