Pharmaceutical sales representative vs medical representative

The differences between pharmaceutical sales representatives 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 representative and a medical representative. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales representative has an average salary of $68,571, which is higher than the $36,309 average annual salary of a medical representative.

The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales representative include patients, pharmaceutical products and develop strong relationships. The most important skills for a medical representative are patients, customer service, and first aid kits.

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs medical representative overview

	Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	Medical Representative
Yearly salary	$68,571	$36,309
Hourly rate	$32.97	$17.46
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	102,935	176,481
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 85%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does a pharmaceutical sales representative do?

The job of pharmaceutical sales representatives is to inform and educate doctors about a company's medical and pharmaceutical products. They serve as the link between a company and healthcare professionals to hit sales targets. They have varied responsibilities, including assessing clients' needs and presenting suitable products, delivering product samples, and working sales teams to develop and implement brand strategies. This role's qualifications include relevant work experience, excellent communication, sales, negotiation skills, and a bachelor's degree in a relevant field.

What does a medical representative do?

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 representative vs medical representative salary

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	Medical Representative
Average salary	$68,571	$36,309
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $110,000	Between $27,000 And $48,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Lansing, MI
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Michigan
Best paying company	Eli Lilly and Company	Capgemini
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Pharmaceutical

Differences between pharmaceutical sales representative and medical representative education

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	Medical Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 85%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs medical representative demographics

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

	Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	Medical Representative
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 41.0% Female, 59.0%	Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.3% 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%

Differences between pharmaceutical sales representative and medical representative duties and responsibilities

Pharmaceutical sales representative example responsibilities.

Manage and establish relationships within specialty urology and neurology markets to drive new and existing therapies.
Demonstrate strong teamwork skills by partnering with Novartis counterparts and other pharmaceutical consultants to achieve company and individual goals.
Manage Santa Rosa/San Francisco territories, marketing and selling respiratory, urology, cardiology to pharmacies and primary care physicians.
Retail sales division promoting drugs in gastroenterology, endocrinology, pain management and infectious disease.
Call on and maintain relationships with primary care physicians, cardiologists, nephrologists, internists, gastroenterologists, and endocrinologists.
Call on primary care physicians, cardiologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, and vascular surgeons.

Medical representative example responsibilities.

Achieve market share growth in the psychiatry, cardiovascular, and neurology markets.
Lead the nation in new product introduction of ZAC, an anti hypertension medication.
Manage the sale of pharmaceuticals to treat hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, depression, women's health and pain/neurological disorders.
Manage specialty sales of psychiatry and other products across Mid-Michigan health-care systems.
Manage products in gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, rheumatology, and OB-GYN categories.
Achieve sales growth objectives by incorporating product/technical knowledge, teamwork, customer and multi-product focus, innovation and creativity.

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs medical representative skills

Common pharmaceutical sales representative skills

Patients, 21%
Pharmaceutical Products, 8%
Develop Strong Relationships, 6%
Territory Management, 5%
FDA, 4%
Business Plan, 4%

Common medical representative skills

Patients, 17%
Customer Service, 13%
First Aid Kits, 9%
Incident Investigations, 9%
CPR, 6%
Medical Terminology, 6%

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Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative vs Medical Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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