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The differences between medical representatives and outside sales representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a medical representative, becoming an outside sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an outside sales representative has an average salary of $60,443, which is higher than the $36,309 average annual salary of a medical representative.
The top three skills for a medical representative include patients, customer service and first aid kits. The most important skills for an outside sales representative are customer service, work ethic, and sales process.
| Medical Representative | Outside Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $36,309 | $60,443 |
| Hourly rate | $17.46 | $29.06 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 176,481 | 218,034 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A medical representative is responsible for selling medical equipment, medications, and other medical supplies by demonstrating benefits and features to patients and healthcare professionals. Medical representatives work closely with their company's marketing department to develop strategic procedures and promotional techniques to attract customers and generate revenues for the business. They respond to the customers' inquiries and concerns, take their orders, and process their payments. A medical representative also analyzes the current trends in the medical industry to identify business opportunities that would establish a market presence.
An Outside Sales Representative specializes in customer service and relations, focusing on reaching sales targets through selling and networking with clients. Among the duties revolve around reaching out to customers through calls, email, or even arranging appointments, monitoring and keeping an organized record of sales, communicating with managers or supervisors, adhering to the company's policies and regulations, and keeping extensive knowledge about the brand and the trends. Besides building rapport with customers, it is also essential for an Outside Sales Representative to be proactive and create strategies to help meet the sales target.
Medical representatives and outside sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Representative | Outside Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $36,309 | $60,443 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $48,000 | Between $41,000 And $87,000 |
| Highest paying City | Lansing, MI | Minneapolis, MN |
| Highest paying state | Michigan | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Capgemini | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a medical representative and an outside sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Medical Representative | Outside Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between medical representatives' and outside sales representatives' demographics:
| Medical Representative | Outside Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% | Male, 71.5% Female, 28.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |