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The differences between medical sales specialists and specialty sales 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 specialty sales representative. Additionally, a medical sales specialist has an average salary of $69,959, which is higher than the $67,605 average annual salary of a specialty sales representative.
The top three skills for a medical sales specialist include patients, medical devices and medical sales. The most important skills for a specialty sales representative are patients, product knowledge, and territory management.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $69,959 | $67,605 |
| Hourly rate | $33.63 | $32.50 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 76,398 | 174,608 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 86% |
| 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.
Specialty sales representatives are responsible for selling products and services using firm arguments to possible clients. Also, they perform a cost-benefit study of present and prospective clients. These representatives support positive business relationships to guarantee future sales. Their main role is to give complete and correct solutions to clients to enhance top-line revenue progress, profitability, and investment levels. Their duties include reaching out to customer leads through telemarketing as well as maximize customer satisfaction by efficiently providing resolutions to their issues and complaints.
Medical sales specialists and specialty sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Sales Specialist | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $69,959 | $67,605 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $102,000 | Between $40,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | California | - |
| Best paying company | Medline | - |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | - |
There are a few differences between a medical sales specialist and a specialty sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 86% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between medical sales specialists' and specialty sales representatives' demographics:
| Medical Sales Specialist | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.8% Female, 49.2% | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% |
| 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, 73.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |