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The differences between medical sales specialists and inside sales specialists 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 an inside sales specialist takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a medical sales specialist has an average salary of $69,959, which is higher than the $50,944 average annual salary of an inside sales specialist.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for an inside sales specialist are customer service, CRM, and sales process.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $50,944 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $24.49 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 251,423 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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.
An inside sales specialist is primarily responsible for securing sales by reaching out to clients to sell products and services. They may communicate with customers through calls and correspondence or personally recommend products in a retail store setting. Moreover, they are also responsible for responding to inquiries or concerns, identifying the customers' needs, devising strategies to find sales opportunities, and discussing products to customers. An inside sales specialist is often required to meet sales goals and report to managers should there be any issues or problems.
Medical sales specialists and inside sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $50,944 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $34,000 And $75,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Medline | Keller Williams Greater Seattle |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Real Estate |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and an inside sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 inside sales specialists' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0% |
| 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, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |