Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between pharmaceutical sales people 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 pharmaceutical sales person and a specialty sales representative. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales person has an average salary of $130,507, which is higher than the $67,605 average annual salary of a specialty sales representative.
The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales person include pharmaceutical products, sales territory and pharmaceutical sales. The most important skills for a specialty sales representative are patients, product knowledge, and territory management.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $130,507 | $67,605 |
| Hourly rate | $62.74 | $32.50 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 117,428 | 174,608 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 86% |
| 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.
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.
Pharmaceutical sales people and specialty sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $130,507 | $67,605 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $249,000 | Between $40,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | - |
| Highest paying state | - | - |
| Best paying company | - | - |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical sales person and a specialty sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 86% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between pharmaceutical sales people' and specialty sales representatives' demographics:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Person | Specialty Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8% | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% |
| 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, 13.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |