Pharmaceutical sales person vs inside sales representative

The differences between pharmaceutical sales people and inside sales representatives 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 sales person, becoming an inside sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales person has an average salary of $130,507, which is higher than the $44,413 average annual salary of an inside sales representative.

The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales person include pharmaceutical products, sales territory and pharmaceutical sales. The most important skills for an inside sales representative are customer service, CRM, and outbound calls.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs inside sales representative overview

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Inside Sales Representative
Yearly salary	$130,507	$44,413
Hourly rate	$62.74	$21.35
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	117,428	244,168
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	4

What does a pharmaceutical sales person do?

Pharmaceutical salespersons must have a wide range of skills, such as proven work in pharmaceutical or medical sales, familiarity with the latest medical issues, and knowledge of programs like MS Office. Paid at $92K per year, those who seek this career will be required to educate physicians on new pharmaceutical developments and connect providers with new knowledge, drugs, and treatments for cutting-edge patient care.

What does an inside sales representative do?

An inside sales representative is responsible for selling services and products to clients, driving the company's revenues and increase sales profitability. Duties of an inside sales representative include developing strategic sales pitches, responding to customer's inquiries and requests, offering promotional products and discounts, researching potential clients, creating sales reports, and managing customer's possible complaints. An inside sales representative also provides strategic solutions to share with the sales team to improve their sales performance. Inside sales representatives must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to deal with customers' needs.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs inside sales representative salary

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Inside Sales Representative
Average salary	$130,507	$44,413
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $249,000	Between $28,000 And $69,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Wyoming
Best paying company	-	Berkshire Hathaway
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between pharmaceutical sales person and inside sales representative education

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Inside Sales Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Pharmaceutical sales person vs inside sales representative demographics

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Inside Sales Representative
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8%	Male, 54.7% Female, 45.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% 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 sales person and inside sales representative duties and responsibilities

Pharmaceutical sales person example responsibilities.

Manage Santa Rosa/San Francisco territories, marketing and selling respiratory, urology, cardiology to pharmacies and primary care physicians.
Present, negotiate, and close hospital contracts for antibiotics.
Maintain inventory of samples on a monthly basis for reporting to FDA.
Collaborate with NP's and RN's in charge of Coumadin clinics to ensure proper patient use of Coumadin.
Collaborate with hospital formulary committees to introduce new products.
Integrate formulary knowledge and assistance program information for exceptional customer experience

Inside sales representative example responsibilities.

Coordinate commercial sales and manage projects with HVAC contractors for Georgia district.
Accomplish tasks in a timely manner.Skills UsedComputer, math, reading wiring schematics.
Generate leads through the use of Linkedin, firm websites and legal magazines.
Manage and develop a nationwide territory through cold calling utilizing LinkedIn?, DiscoverOrg.
Manage help desk support for company ERP system as well as employee hardware and software issues.
Manage a team of 15-25 ISE's through effective sales coaching, call monitoring and creating sales spiff programs.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs inside sales representative skills

Common pharmaceutical sales person skills

Pharmaceutical Products, 18%
Sales Territory, 15%
Pharmaceutical Sales, 9%
Sales Growth, 8%
Medical Sales, 8%
Healthcare Professionals, 6%

Common inside sales representative skills

Customer Service, 22%
CRM, 6%
Outbound Calls, 5%
Product Knowledge, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
Sales Process, 3%

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Pharmaceutical Sales Person
Pharmaceutical Sales Person vs Inside Sales Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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