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The differences between specialty 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 specialty sales representative and a medical representative. Additionally, a specialty sales representative has an average salary of $67,605, which is higher than the $36,309 average annual salary of a medical representative.
The top three skills for a specialty sales representative include patients, product knowledge and territory management. The most important skills for a medical representative are patients, customer service, and first aid kits.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Medical Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $67,605 | $36,309 |
| Hourly rate | $32.50 | $17.46 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 174,608 | 176,481 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
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.
Specialty sales representatives and medical representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Specialty Sales Representative | Medical Representative | |
| Average salary | $67,605 | $36,309 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $113,000 | Between $27,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Lansing, MI |
| Highest paying state | - | Michigan |
| Best paying company | - | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | - | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a specialty sales representative and a medical representative in terms of educational background:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Medical Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between specialty sales representatives' and medical representatives' demographics:
| Specialty Sales Representative | Medical Representative | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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% |