Medical representative vs sales development representative

The differences between medical representatives and sales development 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 a sales development representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a sales development representative has an average salary of $51,504, 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 a sales development representative are SDR, lead generation, and customer service.

Medical representative vs sales development representative overview

	Medical Representative	Sales Development Representative
Yearly salary	$36,309	$51,504
Hourly rate	$17.46	$24.76
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	176,481	199,588
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	4

What does a medical representative do?

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.

What does a sales development representative do?

A sales development representative qualifies leads at the sales funnel's initial stages. Sales development representatives need to conduct research for prospective clients and qualify the leads before handing them to the sales team. They develop sales strategies to attract buyers or solicit potential customers. They need to build relationships with their customers to determine their needs and qualify the viability of interests to drive sales. Also, they collaborate with the sales executives making certain that corporate targets and goals are met.

Medical representative vs sales development representative salary

Medical representatives and sales development representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Representative	Sales Development Representative
Average salary	$36,309	$51,504
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $48,000	Between $34,000 And $77,000
Highest paying City	Lansing, MI	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Michigan	Alaska
Best paying company	Capgemini	PitchBook Data
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Start-up

Differences between medical representative and sales development representative education

There are a few differences between a medical representative and a sales development representative in terms of educational background:

	Medical Representative	Sales Development Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Medical representative vs sales development representative demographics

Here are the differences between medical representatives' and sales development representatives' demographics:

	Medical Representative	Sales Development Representative
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8%	Male, 63.1% Female, 36.9%
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, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between medical representative and sales development representative duties and responsibilities

Medical representative example responsibilities.

Achieve market share growth in the psychiatry, cardiovascular, and neurology markets.
Lead the nation in new product introduction of ZAC, an anti hypertension medication.
Manage the sale of pharmaceuticals to treat hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, depression, women's health and pain/neurological disorders.
Manage specialty sales of psychiatry and other products across Mid-Michigan health-care systems.
Manage products in gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, rheumatology, and OB-GYN categories.
Achieve sales growth objectives by incorporating product/technical knowledge, teamwork, customer and multi-product focus, innovation and creativity.

Sales development representative example responsibilities.

Manage organization website and Facebook page; writing articles for websites and newsletters.
Develop social media strategies for Facebook, LinkedIn, and emerging social networks, generating leads.
Manage individual sales activities by developing highly effective, communications focuse relationship with multiple sales channels.
supply chain management and procurement software (SaaS).
Handle customer service inquiries, returns, and RMA exchanges.
Develop a strong knowledge of SaaS sales techniques and lead management/generation.

Medical representative vs sales development representative skills

Common medical representative skills

Patients, 17%
Customer Service, 13%
First Aid Kits, 9%
Incident Investigations, 9%
CPR, 6%
Medical Terminology, 6%

Common sales development representative skills

SDR, 11%
Lead Generation, 6%
Customer Service, 6%
Account Executives, 5%
Linkedin, 5%
Outbound Calls, 4%

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Medical Representative
Medical Representative vs Sales Development Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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