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The differences between medical sales specialists and senior sales specialists 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 senior sales specialist. Additionally, a senior sales specialist has an average salary of $74,361, which is higher than the $69,959 average annual salary of a medical sales specialist.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a senior sales specialist are customer service, sales training, and customer satisfaction.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $74,361 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $35.75 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 109,882 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| 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 senior sales specialist oversees and provides solutions to improve a company's sales operations. It is their responsibility to conduct market research and analysis, establish budgets and guidelines, generate leads, and develop sales strategies and sales forecasts. They also liaise and build positive relationships with vendors and suppliers, set sales targets, and resolve customer issues and complaints. Moreover, being a senior sales specialist, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior sales specialists while implementing and promoting the company's policies and regulations.
Medical sales specialists and senior sales specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $74,361 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $50,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Medline | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a senior sales specialist in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between medical sales specialists' and senior sales specialists' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Senior Sales Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% |
| 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, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |