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The differences between medical sales specialists and field 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 field 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 $48,460 average annual salary of a field sales representative.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a field sales representative are excellent time management, customer service, and powerpoint.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $48,460 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $23.30 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 228,254 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| 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 field sales representative is an employee who is employed by business-to-business (B2B) and wholesale organizations to visit leads and sell products or services to their customers in person. Field sales representatives must attract new customers and win new accounts so that they can maximize profitability within their territory. They travel around their assigned territory and visit their customers regularly to educate them on how their products can benefit them. Field sales representatives must also maintain records of all sales leads and monitor the organization's competitor, new products, and market conditions.
Medical sales specialists and field sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $48,460 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $26,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Medline | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Technology |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a field sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between medical sales specialists' and field sales representatives' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Field Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% |
| 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, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |