Pharmaceutical representative vs inside sales associate

The differences between pharmaceutical representatives and inside sales associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a pharmaceutical representative, becoming an inside sales associate takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a pharmaceutical representative has an average salary of $66,166, which is higher than the $40,687 average annual salary of an inside sales associate.

The top three skills for a pharmaceutical representative include pharmaceutical products, territory management and medical professionals. The most important skills for an inside sales associate are inside sales, sales associates, and strong customer service.

Pharmaceutical representative vs inside sales associate overview

	Pharmaceutical Representative	Inside Sales Associate
Yearly salary	$66,166	$40,687
Hourly rate	$31.81	$19.56
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	51,956	320,863
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	4

Pharmaceutical representative vs inside sales associate salary

Pharmaceutical representatives and inside sales associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Pharmaceutical Representative	Inside Sales Associate
Average salary	$66,166	$40,687
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $103,000	Between $30,000 And $54,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	MSCI
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between pharmaceutical representative and inside sales associate education

There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical representative and an inside sales associate in terms of educational background:

	Pharmaceutical Representative	Inside Sales Associate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Pharmaceutical representative vs inside sales associate demographics

Here are the differences between pharmaceutical representatives' and inside sales associates' demographics:

	Pharmaceutical Representative	Inside Sales Associate
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 44.3% Female, 55.7%	Male, 57.3% Female, 42.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between pharmaceutical representative and inside sales associate duties and responsibilities

Pharmaceutical representative example responsibilities.

Manage and promote cardiovascular and respiratory products to local cardiologist, endocrinologists & allergists.
Manage Santa Rosa/San Francisco territories, marketing and selling respiratory, urology, cardiology to pharmacies and primary care physicians.
Collaborate with institution, cardiology, and diabetes specialists to increase penetration and productivity in hospital and endocrinology.
Complete extensive training in disease states such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, allergy, neurology and pain management.
Promote pharmaceuticals in the anti-microbial, neurology and gastroenterology markets.
Conduct discussions for a new drug for the treatment of hypertension.

Inside sales associate example responsibilities.

Manage individual sales activities by developing highly effective, communications focuse relationship with multiple sales channels.
Provide awareness to customers of the benefits of moving to a cloud platform for intra/customer facing web applications.
Develop a standardize, customize CRM system to track sales and marketing ROI that link into operational and financial ERP systems.
Calculate roofing amounts/square footage etc.
Maintain cleanliness and organization of stockroom shelves.
Conduct effective outbound telemarketing calls to potential and existing clients.

Pharmaceutical representative vs inside sales associate skills

Common pharmaceutical representative skills

Pharmaceutical Products, 17%
Territory Management, 13%
Medical Professionals, 7%
Market Share Growth, 6%
Neurology, 5%
Sales Growth, 5%

Common inside sales associate skills

Inside Sales, 13%
Sales Associates, 7%
Strong Customer Service, 6%
Sales Process, 5%
Customer Satisfaction, 5%
Sales Floor, 5%

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Pharmaceutical Representative
Pharmaceutical Representative vs Inside Sales Associate

Updated January 8, 2025

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