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The differences between medical sales specialists and business 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 sales specialist, becoming a business sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a medical sales specialist has an average salary of $69,959, which is higher than the $58,288 average annual salary of a business sales representative.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a business sales representative are business sales, customer accounts, and customer service.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Business Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $58,288 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $28.02 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 226,438 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A medical sales specialist is an individual who advertises, markets, and distributes a specific pharmaceutical product or medical equipment to medical establishments. Medical sales specialists must manage a network of independent representatives and maintain relationships with their clients to attain territory-specific sales goals. They develop marketing strategies and business sales plans to identify key growth areas and deliver short and long-term corporate objectives. Medical sales specialists should also conduct analyses on product and market trends to achieve and exceed sales goals.
A business sales representative's role is to develop strategies in identifying leads and opportunities to secure sales. Their responsibilities revolve around reaching out to clients to offer products and services, discussing the pricing and specifications of products, processing payments, and gathering necessary client information. They may also arrange appointments with clients to negotiate and sign contracts. Furthermore, as a business sales representative, it is essential to produce progress reports and presentations, handle issues and complaints, maintain records of all transactions, and regularly update databases.
Medical sales specialists and business sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Business Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $58,288 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $31,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Bothell, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Medline | Amazon |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | - |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a business sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Business Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between medical sales specialists' and business sales representatives' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Business Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |