Medical Sales

A medical device is an instrument, apparatus, implant, in vitriol reagent, or similar or related article that is used to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease or other conditions, and does not achieve its purposes through chemical action within or on the body.

Medical device/product sales involves selling a tangible medical product into either hospitals, the Community, or both. The products, depending on their nature, are sold to Consultants, Surgeons, Nurses (including Specialist Nurses), and clinical staff such as Anaesthetists and ODAs. Medical sales roles are highly desirable.

There are essentially three different categories of medical products.

► Capital equipment

► Medical disposables

► Medical devices

Pharmaceutical sales representative are sales people employed by pharmaceutical companies to persuade doctors to prescribe their drugs to patients. Drug companies in the United States spend ~$5 billion annually sending representatives to doctors, to provide product information, answer questions on product use, and deliver product samples.

This category covers areas such as wound care and continence care. The products are used once and then disposed of. They are often oriented towards nursing staff and frequently are sold into both hospitals and the community.

Examples of products in this category are orthopedic implants and specialist cardiac devices such as pacemakers. They are often sold into theater by a representative during a surgical procedure. The representative will stand by the side of the surgeon, fully scrubbed up, answering technical queries and ensuring that the product is being utilized properly. Essentially the representative becomes a vital member of the clinical theater team.

This embraces those technical pieces of equipment that are of a high capital value, often with a plug on that a hospital will not be purchasing every other day. Examples include patient monitors and incubators.

Yes, if you want full territory performance accountability, autonomy, a business focused working environment, high bonus earning potential, career progression opportunities within an expanding market sector, a sales job that will allow you to establish exceptionally strong customer relationships, and a role in which you can see immediately whether or not you have been successful in your sales call.

Although healthcare sales is potentially highly rewarding both in terms of job satisfaction and financial benefits, you must ensure that it is going to give you what you want before making the plunge.

One consideration to make is whether financially you are in a position to initially take a potential drop in basic salary. If you are currently a Hospital Specialist on a basic salary of £40 or more, you must realize that it is going to be almost impossible to avoid taking a drop.

Best thing to do is to talk to members of the customer base that you will potentially be selling to. Therefore, if your ambition is to sell theatre devices, then talk to a Surgeon. If you are more inclined to target the disposable market, then speak to a Nurse.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) is defined as "educational activities that serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession" (source: ACCME and AMA)

ACCME is the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and is the organization that sets the standards for the accreditation of all providers of CME activities.

The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional and public health issues.

Charitable grants are given to tax-exempt organizations for activities, events, and programs related to cardiac and chronic pain disease states, conditions, and treatment for which St. Jude Medical products are used.

► Charitable grants include:

► Fundraisers

► Patient/Public education and awareness

► Patient Assistance Product Donations (PAPD)

► Fellowships

► Professional Educational Attendance for Health Care Professional-in-training

► Organizations sponsoring cardiac- and chronic pain-related conferences,

► congresses, and other programs that offer continuing education credits

► Hospitals for cardiac- and chronic pain-related grand rounds travel and honoraria expenses

This is a common question with an easy answer . . . NO.

As you will see in our summary of Training Programs, we believe that specialized training programs that involve your investment (of both time and money) are very beneficial to your medical sales job search. These programs (which include Medical Sales College, Arrhythmia Technologies Institute and PrepMD) have consistently demonstrated results and have proven track records. When you are able to speak the lingo of the hiring manager and can demonstrate your commitment to being a successful sales rep, that carries a lot of weight with hiring managers. Short programs that don't require very much time or effort are, in our opinion, a waste of money.

► Passionate about sales

► Hungry for success and achievement

► Financially motivated

► Professional demeanor

► Has a strong work ethic and is willing to EARN their income

► Competitive

► Able to establish rapport (people buy from people they like)

► Not easily intimidated

► Not scared of rejection (you'll hear "No" many, many times before you'll hear "Yes")

► Prepared (they know their product, they know their target market and they have a plan)