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The differences between medical sales specialists and medical representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a medical sales specialist and a medical representative. Additionally, a medical sales specialist has an average salary of $69,959, which is higher than the $36,309 average annual salary of a medical representative.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a medical representative are patients, customer service, and first aid kits.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Medical Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $36,309 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $17.46 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 176,481 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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 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.
Medical sales specialists and medical representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Medical Representative | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $36,309 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $27,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Lansing, MI |
| Highest paying state | California | Michigan |
| Best paying company | Medline | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a medical representative in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Medical Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between medical sales specialists' and medical representatives' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Medical Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% |
| 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, 14.2% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |