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Pharmaceutical sales representative skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Hank Boyd,
Dr. Daryl Green
Pharmaceutical sales representative example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical pharmaceutical sales representative skills. We ranked the top skills for pharmaceutical sales representatives based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 21.1% of pharmaceutical sales representative resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a pharmaceutical sales representative needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 pharmaceutical sales representative skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use patients:
  • Engaged in dialogue about clinical evidence, approved indications, and product efficacy/safety profiles to support prescribing for appropriate patients.
  • Orchestrated Medical Education Programs for physicians, and established screening programs for patients, positively impacting product line awareness.

2. Pharmaceutical Products

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use pharmaceutical products:
  • Manage territory leading pharmaceutical products to cardiologists, endocrinologists and primary care physicians for the metro, north and central territory.
  • Promoted and marketed a variety of pharmaceutical products throughout Maryland via personal persuasion, evidence-based advocacy, and relationship-based selling techniques.

3. Develop Strong Relationships

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use develop strong relationships:
  • Manage and develop strong relationships with new accounts while maintaining existing accounts with physicians offices and sleep labs.
  • Educate and develop strong relationships with hcps and their staff consistently.

4. Territory Management

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use territory management:
  • Utilized a strategic and targeted approach for territory management while demonstrating supreme product knowledge and social skills resulting in consistent growth.
  • Implemented aggressive territory management strategies selling three promoted products with accountability for boosting sales, securing speakers and educating medical professionals.

5. FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services that regulates the production and sale of food, pharmaceutical products, medical equipment, and other consumer goods, as well as veterinary medicine. The FDA is now in charge of overseeing the manufacture of products like vaccines, allergy treatments, and beauty products.

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use fda:
  • Completed daily territory administrative duties and maintained sample inventory for company records and FDA reporting.
  • Educated veterinary professionals on the Novartis companion animal FDA approved product portfolio.

6. Business Plan

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use business plan:
  • Ensured optimum territory sales strategy execution by leveraging annual territory business plan, regional business plan, and call activity reports.
  • Executed territory business plans to identify key decision-makers to help influence the benefits of the products to other medical professionals.

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7. Persistence

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use persistence:
  • Recognized leader within the team for customer planning and selling as well as resilience and persistence.
  • Awarded by management with the Persistence and Passion Regional Award first year in the field.

8. Persuasion

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use persuasion:
  • Increased sales by direct education, needs assessment, and persuasion skills with psychiatrists, neurologist, and family practitioners.
  • Demonstrated success in Persuasion, Influence and Negotiation with healthcare practitioners, and proved ability to apply technical/scientific knowledge.

9. Work Ethic

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use work ethic:
  • Achieved the 2008 Living the Mission Award for team work and personal work ethic.
  • Maintained a high level of work ethic, accountability, and winning attitude.

10. Market Share Growth

Market share growth is defined as the continuous growth of a company's product or service in a specific market. When a company's market share is growing it indicates that the company is growing its revenue faster than its competitors. Market share is a percentage of the market that is controlled by a company's products and services. For example, Apple phone sales make up 41% of the overall smartphone market in the US. It means that Apple's market share in the US is 41%.

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use market share growth:
  • Increase market share with specifically assigned products by providing detailed information to physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners.
  • Worked directly with physicians' offices to effectively sustain and increase market share growth of respiratory medications in my territory.

11. Product Knowledge

Product knowledge is the skill of having better information and knowledge about the product you are selling. Product knowledge is essential for the employees of the companies so they can communicate and inform the customers about the product. Having great product knowledge is essential for a better sales pitch and to give the customer a better and complete idea of the product that will influence him to buy the product eventually.

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use product knowledge:
  • Nurtured customer loyalty by proactively addressing customer needs and providing timely education on new products; recognized for excellent product knowledge.
  • Utilize effective selling skills and product knowledge to influence targeted health care professionals in Dermatology to prescribe company pharmaceutical promoted products.

12. Neurology

Neurology is one of the branches of medical science that deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and other disorders in the nervous system of a person. This system plays an important role in keeping the brain functional and coordinated very well. The main areas of neurology include the central, autonomic, and peripheral nervous system.

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use neurology:
  • Managed and established relationships within specialty urology and neurology markets to drive new and existing therapies.
  • Performed in-service presentations to different hospital departments including Cardiology, Neurology, Psychiatry and the pharmacy.

13. Sales Performance

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use sales performance:
  • Maintained sales performance ranking within top 25% nationwide for entire portfolio by maximizing planning and gathering vital competitive intelligence.
  • Delivered consistent sales performance while systematically dismantling competitive strongholds and building key relationships with leadership in physician's offices.

14. Medical Sales

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use medical sales:
  • Completed a rigorous professional medical sales training course.
  • Close for the business and hold providers accountable to meet and exceed medical sales goals in the Cincinnati/Dayton Ohio territory.

15. Cardiology

Cardiology refers to the medical scientific field which researches and treats various issues, developments, diseases, and other afflictions within or related to the human heart and, by extension, some of the circulatory systems within the body, too. Some of the afflictions of the heart include the following: cardiac arrest, hypertension, and various forms of cardiomyopathy. This branch of medicine deals with everything from diagnosis to treatment, whether by way of medical procedures or drug or physical therapy, to post-procedure and further check-ups.

Here's how pharmaceutical sales representatives use cardiology:
  • Managed Santa Rosa/San Francisco territories, marketing and selling respiratory, urology, cardiology to pharmacies and primary care physicians.
  • Presented significant medical information in the cardiology field to physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
top-skills

What skills help Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What pharmaceutical sales representative skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Hank BoydHank Boyd LinkedIn profile

Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement & Clinical Professor of Marketing, University of Maryland - College Park

With the looming prospects of AI, soft skills will reign supreme in sales. While at
first blush it might seem counterintuitive in that product knowledge used to be cardinal
skill, today's salesforce relies heavily on networking. Numerous academic papers lend
credence to this idea. Great people skills often trump wonkish knowledge about the
product line.
As we wade further into the 21st Century, environmental scanning (or better yet
the innate ability to read prospects) will remain pivotal. Exceptional salespeople
instinctively scan a prospective client's office noticing all the trappings. They are trying to find something they can comment upon, by doing so they can establish common
ground. Once a connection is forged, salespeople move out of the box of being pesky
interlopers into becoming valued associates.

Lastly, if you decide to embark on a career in sales never forget the tried-and-
true axiom of ABC - always be closing. This phrase means having the gumption to ask

for the business. While sales recruits might have congenial and bubbly personalities, if
they cannot look the prospect in the eye and ask for the business, they ought to find
another profession.

What technical skills for a pharmaceutical sales representative stand out to employers?

Dr. Daryl GreenDr. Daryl Green LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor of Business, Oklahoma Baptist University

According to a 2013 Gallup poll, more than one-third of business leaders doubt that higher education institutions in the U.S. are graduating students who meet their particular businesses' needs. In fact, the study showed that there is a disconnection between what business leaders need and what higher education is producing. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight competencies associated with career readiness. These skills include career management, communication, critical thinking, cultural intelligence, digital literacy, leadership, professionalism, and teamwork. Sadly, most students are not aware of employers' expectations of career readiness competencies.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about pharmaceutical sales representative

List of pharmaceutical sales representative skills to add to your resume

Pharmaceutical sales representative skills

The most important skills for a pharmaceutical sales representative resume and required skills for a pharmaceutical sales representative to have include:

  • Patients
  • Pharmaceutical Products
  • Develop Strong Relationships
  • Territory Management
  • FDA
  • Business Plan
  • Persistence
  • Persuasion
  • Work Ethic
  • Market Share Growth
  • Product Knowledge
  • Neurology
  • Sales Performance
  • Medical Sales
  • Cardiology
  • Disease State
  • Call Planning
  • Diabetes
  • Internal Medicine
  • Pharmaceutical Industry
  • Sales Territory
  • Psychiatry
  • Sales Presentations
  • Gastroenterology
  • Dermatology
  • Pediatrics
  • Endocrinology
  • Pain Management
  • Family Practice
  • Sales Results
  • Sales Growth
  • Sales Strategies
  • Medical Professionals
  • CNS
  • Educational Programs
  • GI
  • Gross Profit
  • Hypertension
  • Pharmacists
  • Product Launch
  • Product Portfolio
  • OBGYN
  • Sales Quota
  • Product Line
  • Clinical Data
  • Pulmonologists
  • Q4
  • Antibiotics
  • Rheumatologists

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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