Medical Sales Rep

You might know the name Keith Ferrazzi from his best seller “Never Eat Alone.”

He is a networking and business relationship guru who now devotes all of his time to writing, speaking, and teaching the subject.

His latest blog post gives interview tips. I definitely believe they apply in the Medical Sales Arena!

1) Make them like you
2) Find a reason to care about the person
3) Show them your passion
4) Tell them stories

For full elaboration and to see more of Keith’s good content, check out the article here.

I found a post by Will Herman titled, “Forecasting Sales In 2009.” Will is a former tech company CEO, but knows what he is talking about.

I highly recommend reading this post to any medical sales rep forecasting for 2009. Here is the link.

I am curious to know how all the medical reps or prospective medical reps are getting by in this economy?

Is your hospital purchasing affected? Any downsizing?

Any good news?

Take it to the comments.

Many of you visit this site looking for ways to get into medical sales. You may not have a mentor, friend, or family member who can guide you. That is the entire reason I wrote an e-book here.

Inside you will find a concise guide on how to break into the business and make six figures within two years. While monetary reasons alone are enough to want to break into the industry the job security is great as well. This is not to say you will not change positions, but once you break into the industry there will always be a job for you.

The ideal reader would be someone fresh out of college or someone looking to change professions. In other words, someone who knows little about the industry.

This is not a get-rich-quick book. It is for people looking for a rewarding career with monetary benefits that will allow them greater freedom. The cost of the book will pay for itself many times over and you can always visit this site to get my take on the industry.

Below, you will find the table of contents from the book to give you a better idea about what I cover. Once you make your payment, I will normally send you an email that evening or the next day with a thank you not and the file for the e-book. If you have any questions, you can always email me: editor (at) medical-sales-rep (dot) com

Enjoy!

I.    Industry Overview
II.    Skills For Life
III.    Recommended Path
IV.    How To Get Noticed
V.    Resume Tips
VI.    The Art Of The Interview
VII.    On The Job: Setting Yourself Up For Success

This site is truly meant to be a repository for my thoughts on the world of medical sales. I don’t always have time to post, but I encourage everyone to look through old posts. This site has quite a bit of content.

The easiest way to find other content would be to click through the categories section in the far right hand column. There is also a recent posts section for my latest additions.

My next post will be on book recommendations for medical sales reps, so stay tuned.

I was listening to some old podcasts today and I found a podcast by Jeb Blount, the person behind SalesGravy.com.

The podcast was about how someone should become an expert in their field as a key to wild success. He outlines five steps:

1) Take 30 mins a day to read a book. Jeb states that the average CEO reads 20 books per year and that this is a reason for being where they are.

2) Take advantage of free training. If your company offers free training at any time, you should jump on it.

3) Stay current. Subscribe to industry trade journals and contribute to them occasionally.

4) Turn off the radio. During the sales day, don’t listen to talk radio as you travel between sales calls. Listen to inspirational and informational podcasts, audiobooks, and seminars.

5) Take advantage of the free content available on the internet. Simply Googling “medical sales” or “sales” leads to a variety of great content.

I thought these were decent enough to mention. I encourage people to listen to sales podcasts available thought iTunes while they are on the treadmill or working out as I do. There is always some time to sharpen the saw.

People ask me all the time, which medical reps make the most money? In my opinion, you can make quite a bit of money in all of the different fields: ortho, spine, trauma, etc.

I do see one segment that stands out: cardio. Time and time again, I see cardio reps making 500k+ to START! To me, this is where the money is for medical sales reps.

But, tell me what you think in our forums.

This post assumes that you have the requisite experience and accomplishments to work for a medical device company as a sales rep.

You might find yourself at a crossroads in your career sometime in the future when you are presented with two opportunities: “Do I work for the big company or do I go to work for the startup?”

Let me help with the cost/benefit analysis:

Big Company

Pros:

• Strong R&D
• Well known brand name
• Know how to do business with proven systems in place
• Some companies still offer pensions (ex: JNJ after five years with the company)
• Normally have strong benefit programs

Cons:

• They normally do not pay top dollar
• If the organization is too large there is the ability to get lost in the sauce without strong leadership
  • Dealing with large bureaucracies without strong systems can be painful

•  Benefit programs do not offer stock options (normally)

Startup

Pros:

• Fast moving environment (this could be a con for some)
• They normally pay higher rates than settled companies
• Normally offer stock options which means you could cash in if the company goes public

Cons:

• Startups are normally based on one product or service leading to higher than normal risk
• R&D may not be very strong
• Customer service systems may be at the experimental level

Feel free to disagree with me or offer more suggestions in our comment section or forums.

My recommendation is for someone starting out to try their hardest to get into a respected large company, associate yourself with excellence, and you can lean on that experience all the way into the future. Once you have that foundation, then go looking for the money and you will most likely find it with startups.

Cheers!

I have made a post about company cars before where I recommended what to drive if you don’t get a company car. I find myself curious what everyone is driving? I have seen the lots of Impala’s recently, as well as the Dodge Charger and Buick Rendezvous.

Feel free to drop a comment off and let everyone know how good (or bad) they have it.

The competition for medical sales positions is as fierce as ever. More and more people are flocking to the industry to make large amounts of money and build a skillset they can use for life. All of the competition can lead to cheating and the medical sales industry is no different than the NFL (Spygate) in this regard.

Most reps will flat out deny embellishing or telling untruths on their resume. If they are caught, so be it, they’ll just move on. There is nearly no punishment for trying. Many reps will embellish numbers by fabricating Excel spreadsheets or saying they won awards that they did not.

I generally frown upon cheating, but it is the job of the hiring manager to do their due diligence properly. They should be able to spot red flags  and if they do not, then they need to be replaced by someone who does. They are the first line of defense for the company. Frankly, some do a good job and some do not.
I would like to say that cheating doesn’t exist and no one ever lies on their resume, but I don’t see that day coming anytime soon.

As sales reps you must learn how to conquer objection with truth, not lies. Your self respect and the respect of others who work with you are at risk. I wouldn’t take that gamble.