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What does a pharmaceutical sales representative do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
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.

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Pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real pharmaceutical sales representative resumes:

  • 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.
  • Provide corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to eliminate the recurrence of a deviation.
  • Call on endocrinology, rheumatology, gynecology, and primary care physicians as well as clinical care and hospital staff.
  • Generate high-volume sales of neuroscience products to psychiatrists and neurologists.
  • Educate veterinary professionals on the Novartis companion animal FDA approve product portfolio.
  • Generate a high level of physician requests for new rheumatology education programs.
  • Promote dermatology products to dermatologist through strategic/targete marketing efforts and high-impact relationship-building skills.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with dermatology offices as well as pharmaceutical manufacturer representatives.
  • Develop and successfully implement a web-base platform for corporate-wide marketing of Merck products.
  • Specialize in marketing products for upper and lower gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes and insomnia.

Pharmaceutical sales representative skills and personality traits

We calculated that 21% of Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives are proficient in Patients, Pharmaceutical Products, and Develop Strong Relationships. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Interpersonal skills, and Physical stamina.

We break down the percentage of Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 21%

    Engaged in dialogue about clinical evidence, approved indications, and product efficacy/safety profiles to support prescribing for appropriate patients.

  • Pharmaceutical Products, 8%

    Manage territory leading pharmaceutical products to cardiologists, endocrinologists and primary care physicians for the metro, north and central territory.

  • Develop Strong Relationships, 6%

    Manage and develop strong relationships with new accounts while maintaining existing accounts with physicians offices and sleep labs.

  • Territory Management, 5%

    Utilized a strategic and targeted approach for territory management while demonstrating supreme product knowledge and social skills resulting in consistent growth.

  • FDA, 4%

    Completed daily territory administrative duties and maintained sample inventory for company records and FDA reporting.

  • Business Plan, 4%

    Ensured optimum territory sales strategy execution by leveraging annual territory business plan, regional business plan, and call activity reports.

Most pharmaceutical sales representatives use their skills in "patients," "pharmaceutical products," and "develop strong relationships" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities here:

Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a pharmaceutical sales representative to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to listen to the customer’s needs and concerns before and after the sale." Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales representative resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "promoted lovenox in 5 hospital/retail $2 million territory for 500+ customers, selling 6 different fda indications. "

Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform pharmaceutical sales representative duties is interpersonal skills. Pharmaceutical sales representatives responsibilities require that "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be able to work well with many types of people." Pharmaceutical sales representatives also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintained excellent interpersonal relationships with customers who included medical professionals and purchasing agents. "

Physical stamina. This is an important skill for pharmaceutical sales representatives to perform their duties. For an example of how pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives are often on their feet for a long time and may carry heavy sample products." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a pharmaceutical sales representative: "completed both virtual and physical preceptorship in pain management".

Self-confidence. pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities often require "self-confidence." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives must be confident and persuasive when making sales presentations." This resume example shows what pharmaceutical sales representatives do with self-confidence on a typical day: "reinforce product confidence among prescribers and help with decisions that benefit patients. "

Most common pharmaceutical sales representative skills

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Compare different pharmaceutical sales representatives

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs. Representative

Representatives are lawmakers who represent the people in a specific district. They run for office to represent their districts in their hometown or their current place of living. Representatives are usually charismatic and good communicators. These characteristics are especially important during campaign and election periods. Representatives should be able to capture the hearts of the voters through their planned projects and advocacies. They are then elected by their constituents. Upon election, representatives author bills that will eventually be passed into law should it be approved by the majority of the congress. They also vote on the passage of bills authored by other representatives. They also participate in discussions and debates regarding different bills, issues, and laws. Representatives are expected to vote according to their conscience and in consideration of the voice of their constituents.

The annual salary of representatives is $32,548 lower than the average salary of pharmaceutical sales representatives.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both pharmaceutical sales representative and representative positions are skilled in patients, product knowledge, and standing orders.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between pharmaceutical sales representatives and representative. For instance, pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities require skills such as "pharmaceutical products," "develop strong relationships," "territory management," and "fda." Whereas a representative is skilled in "cleanliness," "customer issues," "customer service," and "data entry." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Representatives tend to make the most money working in the transportation industry, where they earn an average salary of $36,557. In contrast, pharmaceutical sales representatives make the biggest average salary, $82,541, in the pharmaceutical industry.representatives tend to reach similar levels of education than pharmaceutical sales representatives. In fact, representatives are 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs. Territory representative

A territory representative is responsible for selling the company's goods and services within a designated area, negotiating offers with potential clients, and identifying business opportunities according to market trends and customer demands. Territory representatives analyze the sales performance and strategize techniques to reach sales targets by coordinating with the whole sales team. They must be highly knowledgeable of the products offered by the company to demonstrate features and functionalities and respond to the inquiries and concerns the customers may have.

A career as a territory representative brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a pharmaceutical sales representative. In fact, territory representatives salary is $28,810 lower than the salary of pharmaceutical sales representatives per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both pharmaceutical sales representatives and territory representatives have skills such as "patients," "pharmaceutical products," and "territory management. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that pharmaceutical sales representative responsibilities requires skills like "develop strong relationships," "fda," "business plan," and "persistence." But a territory representative might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "customer relationships," "crm," and "territory development."

In general, territory representatives achieve similar levels of education than pharmaceutical sales representatives. They're 3.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs. Sales development representative

A sales development representative qualifies leads at the sales funnel's initial stages. Sales development representatives need to conduct research for prospective clients and qualify the leads before handing them to the sales team. They develop sales strategies to attract buyers or solicit potential customers. They need to build relationships with their customers to determine their needs and qualify the viability of interests to drive sales. Also, they collaborate with the sales executives making certain that corporate targets and goals are met.

An average sales development representative eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of pharmaceutical sales representatives. The difference in salaries amounts to sales development representatives earning a $17,067 lower average salary than pharmaceutical sales representatives.pharmaceutical sales representatives and sales development representatives both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "develop strong relationships," "persistence," and "product knowledge," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a pharmaceutical sales representative is likely to be skilled in "patients," "pharmaceutical products," "territory management," and "fda," while a typical sales development representative is skilled in "sdr," "lead generation," "customer service," and "account executives."

Sales development representatives earn the highest salary when working in the start-up industry, where they receive an average salary of $54,512. Comparatively, pharmaceutical sales representatives have the highest earning potential in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $82,541.When it comes to education, sales development representatives tend to earn similar degree levels compared to pharmaceutical sales representatives. In fact, they're 4.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Pharmaceutical sales representative vs. Field technical representative

Owning wide knowledge about an application, a field technical representative ensures that the customer knows how to use any application by providing technical support and solving issues if one arises. They also give advice on what application is best to use for a certain concern. They can also evaluate and give an honest review to further improve the application. They help companies install the application and apply every bit of enhancements incorporated in it to the best of their advantage.

Field technical representatives average a lower salary than the annual salary of pharmaceutical sales representatives. The difference is about $15,906 per year.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A pharmaceutical sales representative uses "patients," "pharmaceutical products," "develop strong relationships," and "territory management." Field technical representatives are more likely to have duties that require skills in "customer service," "technical support," "customer satisfaction," and "technical issues. "The technology industry tends to pay the highest salaries for field technical representatives, with average annual pay of $58,658. Comparatively, the highest pharmaceutical sales representative annual salary comes from the pharmaceutical industry.field technical representatives reach similar levels of education compared to pharmaceutical sales representatives, in general. The difference is that they're 2.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of pharmaceutical sales representative

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.

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