Pursuing Medical Sales

10/1/2004 - Star Tribune - Jobs
Reprinted with permission.

High salaries, excellent, benefits and expanding job opportunities are the key reasons people pursue a career in medical sales. To succeed, experts say, today's representatives must have both people and technical skills to quickly build rapport with physicians and to understand complex medical terminology.

Diverse Opportunities
Medical sales professionals also often report that the most rewarding part of their jobs is the opportunity to help patients enjoy a better quality of life. This diverse industry includes increasing opportunities to sell prescription drugs, over-the-counter consumer products, medical/surgical supplies and medical devices at medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, medical/surgical supply companies, medical information companies, distribution companies and original equipment manufacturers.

Healthcare Industry Growing Rapidly
Not only is the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry on a rapid growth trajectory, so is the medical device industry, particularly in the Twin Cities. Minnesota's biomedical device industry is also growing rapidly, and the biosciences are of increasing importance nationally. In the Feb. 21, 2003 book "The Unabated Growth of the Medical Services Industry -- 2002 and Beyond," Frost and Sullivan report the medical devices industry is expected to grow at a rate of 9 percent per year in the coming years.

Need To Differentiate
"Seven of the top ten 50 Best Performing Companies listed in 'Business Week's' 2003 report were from the healthcare marketplace. The combination of aging populations, increased life expectancies and advances in medical technology (including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, surgical techniques) means continued strength in this market sector for the foreseeable future," according to Debbie Stewart, medical sales program manager, the Center for Sales Innovation, the College of St. Catherine. "Those seeking opportunities in the highly competitive healthcare sector will need to differentiate themselves from the pack. This is particularly true in healthcare sales, where physicians and other care providers are knowledgeable but increasingly difficult to meet with."

Ability To Build Rapport
So, what do you need to pursue a career in medical sales? Sales leadership and technical skills were identified as essential to success in healthcare sales by senior executives from industry-leading companies, who helped St. Catherine's develop the medical sales program. "Examples of sales leadership skills include the ability to build rapport with physicians and understand their decision-making process. Pharmaceutical representatives need to be highly prepared for customer calls because they may only have 60 seconds to present their product to physicians and communicate the benefits to patients," said Stewart.

Broad Range Of Knowledge
Technical skills specific to success in healthcare sales include a broad range of knowledge - from understanding medical terminology to healthcare reimbursement. "Medical sales representatives must have the ability to learn, access and apply large amounts of complex technical information, such as diagnoses, treatments, disease states and clinical research," said Stewart. "To fully understand the healthcare industry, a future sales rep needs to know the basics about formularies, managed care, buying groups, and other market influences. It's important that the person has an orientation to science."

Barbara K. Mednick is a Twin Cities marketing communications consultant and freelance writer.