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The differences between medical sales specialists and 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 a 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 $53,004 average annual salary of a sales specialist.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a sales specialist are building relationships, customer complaints, and customer orders.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $53,004 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $25.48 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 324,069 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| 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 sales specialist is responsible for offering the best goods and services to customers in order to boost the company's sales. Sales specialists also promote strategies and solutions to contribute to the company's growth and profitability. A sales specialist must have extensive knowledge of the current market trends and the best sales skills to perform marketing tasks. Sales specialists should have excellent communication and customer service skills to assist existing and potential clients with their inquiries and concerns.
Medical sales specialists and sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $53,004 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $30,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Medline | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | - |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| 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 sales specialists' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 55.1% Female, 44.9% |
| 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, 5.1% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |