Pharmaceutical sales person vs outside sales

The differences between pharmaceutical sales people and outside sales 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 outside sales takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales person has an average salary of $130,507, which is higher than the $77,292 average annual salary of an outside sales.

The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales person include pharmaceutical products, sales territory and pharmaceutical sales. The most important skills for an outside sales are customer service, product knowledge, and ongoing support.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs outside sales overview

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Outside Sales
Yearly salary	$130,507	$77,292
Hourly rate	$62.74	$37.16
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	117,428	333,400
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
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 outside sales do?

An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals. An outside sales representative must have excellent communication and customer service skills, immediately resolving complaints and assisting on marketing promotions to gain sales prospects.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs outside sales salary

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Outside Sales
Average salary	$130,507	$77,292
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $249,000	Between $56,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	-	Arlington, VA
Highest paying state	-	New Hampshire
Best paying company	-	Morgan Stanley
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between pharmaceutical sales person and outside sales education

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Outside Sales
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Pharmaceutical sales person vs outside sales demographics

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Person	Outside Sales
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8%	Male, 78.3% Female, 21.7%
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, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between pharmaceutical sales person and outside sales 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

Outside sales example responsibilities.

Plan logistical outside sales route, planned/schedule sales calls with web-base CRM program, manage various sales cycles.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Perfect the craft of upselling customers.
Prepare material estimates/bids for houses, windows, doors, trusses, etc.
Increase existing customer base and generate new dealer and customer relationships within the HVAC equipment and sales.
Estimate, price, bid and follow up to all mechanical HVAC and plumbing plan and spec projects.

Pharmaceutical sales person vs outside sales 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 outside sales skills

Customer Service, 30%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Ongoing Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
CRM, 4%
Flyers, 4%

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Pharmaceutical Sales Person
Pharmaceutical Sales Person vs Outside Sales

Updated January 8, 2025

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