What Does a Medical Sales Representative Do?

In this section, we compare the average medical sales representative annual salary with that of a pharmaceutical sales specialist. Typically, pharmaceutical sales specialists earn a $1,076 lower salary than medical sales representatives earn annually.

Even though medical sales representatives and pharmaceutical sales specialists have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require patients, medical sales, and sales territory in the day-to-day roles.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A medical sales representative responsibility is more likely to require skills like "customer service," "ventilation," "sales quota," and "durable medical equipment." Whereas a pharmaceutical sales specialist requires skills like "clinical evidence," "diabetes," "business plan," and "sales strategies." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Pharmaceutical sales specialists receive the highest salaries in the pharmaceutical industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $126,357. But medical sales representatives are paid more in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $82,458.

On average, pharmaceutical sales specialists reach similar levels of education than medical sales representatives. Pharmaceutical sales specialists are 2.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Next up, we have the territory representative profession to look over. This career brings along a lower average salary when compared to a medical sales representative annual salary. In fact, territory representatives salary difference is $34,318 lower than the salary of medical sales representatives per year.

A similarity between the two careers of medical sales representatives and territory representatives are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "patients," "medical sales," and "customer service. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, medical sales representative responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "ventilation," "durable medical equipment," "medical products," and "medical devices." Meanwhile, a territory representative might be skilled in areas such as "customer relationships," "crm," "food handling," and "food safety." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

On the topic of education, territory representatives earn similar levels of education than medical sales representatives. In general, they're 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is sales development representative. On an average scale, these workers bring in lower salaries than medical sales representatives. In fact, they make a $22,575 lower salary per year.

By looking over several medical sales representatives and sales development representatives resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "customer service," "product knowledge," and "sales growth." But beyond that the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a medical sales representative is likely to be skilled in "patients," "medical sales," "sales territory," and "ventilation," while a typical sales development representative is skilled in "sdr," "lead generation," "account executives," and "linkedin."

Additionally, sales development representatives earn a higher salary in the start-up industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $54,512. Additionally, medical sales representatives earn an average salary of $82,458 in the pharmaceutical industry.

Sales development representatives typically study at similar levels compared with medical sales representatives. For example, they're 3.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns lower pay than medical sales representatives. On average, sales representative interns earn a difference of $39,523 lower per year.

While both medical sales representatives and sales representative interns complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer service, product knowledge, and sales reps, the two careers also vary in other skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a medical sales representative might have more use for skills like "patients," "medical sales," "sales territory," and "ventilation." Meanwhile, some sales representative interns might include skills like "kids," "powerpoint," "sales process," and "outbound calls" on their resume.

In general, sales representative interns reach similar levels of education when compared to medical sales representatives resumes. Sales representative interns are 1.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.