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The differences between pharmaceutical sales specialists and inside sales representatives 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 specialist, becoming an inside sales representative takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a pharmaceutical sales specialist has an average salary of $73,003, which is higher than the $44,413 average annual salary of an inside sales representative.
The top three skills for a pharmaceutical sales specialist include patients, sales territory and diabetes. The most important skills for an inside sales representative are customer service, CRM, and outbound calls.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $73,003 | $44,413 |
| Hourly rate | $35.10 | $21.35 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 23,474 | 244,168 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 85% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A pharmaceutical sales specialist's primary duty is to reach out to pharmacies, medical facilities, and physicians to discuss the latest medical drugs in an effort to secure sales. Their responsibilities typically revolve around learning and understanding everything about the products that they are offering, traveling to different areas to deliver samples, and maintaining records of all transactions. Furthermore, as a pharmaceutical sales specialist, it is essential to create marketing materials and build positive relationships with clients to accomplish sales targets, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
An inside sales representative is responsible for selling services and products to clients, driving the company's revenues and increase sales profitability. Duties of an inside sales representative include developing strategic sales pitches, responding to customer's inquiries and requests, offering promotional products and discounts, researching potential clients, creating sales reports, and managing customer's possible complaints. An inside sales representative also provides strategic solutions to share with the sales team to improve their sales performance. Inside sales representatives must have excellent communication and negotiation skills to deal with customers' needs.
Pharmaceutical sales specialists and inside sales representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Representative | |
| Average salary | $73,003 | $44,413 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $112,000 | Between $28,000 And $69,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | Wyoming |
| Best paying company | AstraZeneca | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Technology |
There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical sales specialist and an inside sales representative in terms of educational background:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 85% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between pharmaceutical sales specialists' and inside sales representatives' demographics:
| Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist | Inside Sales Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.9% Female, 52.1% | Male, 54.7% Female, 45.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |