Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between pharmaceutical sales people and medical 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 pharmaceutical sales person and a medical representative. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales person has an average salary of $130,507, which is higher than the $36,309 average annual salary of a medical representative.
The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales person include pharmaceutical products, sales territory and pharmaceutical sales. The most important skills for a medical representative are patients, customer service, and first aid kits.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Medical Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $130,507 | $36,309 |
| Hourly rate | $62.74 | $17.46 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 117,428 | 176,481 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
A medical representative is responsible for selling medical equipment, medications, and other medical supplies by demonstrating benefits and features to patients and healthcare professionals. Medical representatives work closely with their company's marketing department to develop strategic procedures and promotional techniques to attract customers and generate revenues for the business. They respond to the customers' inquiries and concerns, take their orders, and process their payments. A medical representative also analyzes the current trends in the medical industry to identify business opportunities that would establish a market presence.
Pharmaceutical sales people and medical representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Medical Representative | |
| Average salary | $130,507 | $36,309 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $249,000 | Between $27,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Lansing, MI |
| Highest paying state | - | Michigan |
| Best paying company | - | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical sales person and a medical representative in terms of educational background:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Medical Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between pharmaceutical sales people' and medical representatives' demographics:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Medical Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8% | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% |
| 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, 14.2% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |