Do you find pharmaceuticals interesting? Is making a sale exciting to you? If you want to combine your great sales skills with your excellent knowledge of pharmaceuticals and medicine, a career in pharmaceutical sales could be perfect for you.

Are you interested in a career in pharmaceutical sales? Explore the science and research graduate opportunities accepting applications now.

What does a pharmaceutical sales representative do?

As a pharmaceutical sales representative, you go to people working in healthcare and provide them with new solutions to medical problems. This could be a new drug or medicine available or equipment that will make their jobs easier and improve the treatment that patients receive. Here are the tasks that you have as a pharmaceutical sales representative:

Meet with representatives from the companies that make drugs, medicines and medical equipment to discuss the products that they have, who they’re intended for and the commercial specifics of the products. If you’re working for a pharmaceutical company, this could be your colleagues in a different department.
Meet with medical professionals to discuss the products that you represent and inform them as to why they would benefit from purchasing the products.
Answer any questions that medical professionals have after purchasing the products.
Build relationships with medical professionals, other pharmaceutical sales representatives and pharmaceutical companies at conventions and events.
Keep a record of the sales you’ve made and go back to existing customers if a similar product or advancement becomes available.

Pharmaceutical sales career path

As a pharmaceutical sales representative, you’re exposed to many career options. If you enjoy the medical side of the role, you could retrain and become a medical professional. If you prefer the sales side, you could move into commercial sales. Here is the standard career path for pharmaceutical sales:

Entry-level

You begin your career in pharmaceutical sales as a sales representative. In an entry-level position, you have a degree of onboarding where you learn the basics of the job, how to sell effectively and how to do the administrative aspect of the work. Your main role at this point is setting up meetings, discussing the products with representatives from the company who sells it and selling the products to medical professionals. This role has the potential for upwards movement in terms of increased responsibility, a wider geographic location that you represent and more difficult sales for products.

Career progression

You could progress to a regional manager. This means you’re responsible for sales in the entire area of the country. You may manage some of your colleagues working in the area. This includes training new colleagues and providing them with advice and answering any questions that they have.

Future career

Once you’ve demonstrated your ability and worked in the industry for years, you can become a national sales manager. As the national sales manager, you’re responsible for organising the sales throughout the country. You are a senior member of the organisation so have a great deal of responsibility. Since there are many sales representatives and few national sales managers in comparison, reaching this level in a company can be difficult and require you to prove your ability.

Pharmaceutical sales salaries

As a pharmaceutical sales representative, you’re able to work your way up through a company, increasing your responsibility and salary. Here are the salary levels that you could earn as a pharmaceutical sales representative:

In an entry-level pharmaceutical sales position, you earn between £25,000 and £30,000 per year
When you reach a mid-level pharmaceutical sales position, you earn between £30,000 and £50,000 per year
As a regional manager in pharmaceutical sales, you earn up to £85,000 per year

Qualifications and training

To join the pharmaceutical sales career path, you need the right education and experience. Having this experience is a good way to get your application noticed. Here are the qualifications and training that you need to succeed in pharmaceutical sales:

Education

Many pharmaceutical sales representatives have undergraduate degrees. Relevant degrees include pharmacy, biology and biomedical science. These degrees teach you the relevant background information that you need for the job because understanding how drugs, medicines and medical equipment works means you can discuss it eloquently and effectively with medical professionals.

Another option is an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships teach you how to work as a pharmaceutical sales representative by working in the role. You’re taught by experts working in the field and gain the relevant background information and skills that you need to do the job. Some apprenticeships include a degree option where you work in the job whilst completing a degree course. You can explore the apprenticeships accepting applications with the government’s apprenticeship search tool.

Work experience

If you’re following a degree programme, having some work experience is a good way to get your application to stand out. You can get work experience by completing an internship with a pharmaceutical company. In an internship, you learn about the environment you’ll be working in, you begin acquiring the skills that you need for the job and find out the responsibilities that you have as a pharmaceutical sales representative. You can look into internship options by exploring the science and research internships and the sales and commercial internships accepting applications right now.

Pharmaceutical sales skills

Combining your experience with your skills helps your application get noticed by a hiring manager. One way of doing this is having examples of when you’ve acquired or used your skills in your education or at work. Here are the skills you need to work in pharmaceutical sales:

Hard skills

Sales ability. You should be a skilled salesperson to work as a pharmaceutical sales representative. The medical equipment and drugs that you sell are usually very expensive and are a big commitment for medical professionals. This means being persuasive, being able to recall information about the products that you’re selling and being charismatic.
Medical knowledge. Being able to discuss medical information is a necessary skill in pharmaceutical sales. This is so you can demonstrate how the drug or medical equipment works using examples from other types of equipment and medicines.

Soft skills

Relationship-building. You should be able to build relationships with the medical professionals that you sell your products to. This is because having a positive, friendly relationship means you are more likely to persuade the clients to buy the products.
Communication. Being a great communicator is important for pharmaceutical sales representatives. You should communicate effectively and eloquently with colleagues and clients. If you want to brush up on your communication skills, you can complete this Bright Network Academy module on adapting your communication style.

Pros and cons of pharmaceutical sales

As with any job, there are positives and negatives of working in pharmaceutical sales. Understanding the good and bad means you can decide if this job is right for you, including whether it fits with your non-career-related goals. Here are the pros and cons of being in pharmaceutical sales:

Pros

The role can involve a lot of travel as you speak to medical professionals from many different areas. This can make the work varied and exciting.
You can earn a lot of money when working in pharmaceutical sales via commission-based earnings.

Cons

The travel required for the job can impact your ability to maintain a good work-life balance because you may be away from home for some time.
The work is quite competitive which can mean losing out on sales to other representatives.
Because this is a sales position, you often have a target to achieve every financial quarter. Failing to meet targets might mean you lose out on commission or your progression is hindered.
Your job performance could depend on factors outside of your control. This could include how well the drugs work and how cost-effective they are.

Pharmaceutical sales work-life balance

Maintaining a good work-life balance can be difficult when working in pharmaceutical sales. This is because of the travel requirements which can keep you away from home. This can increase your stress levels so making sure you have positive coping mechanisms before you begin working can make your working life more successful and enjoyable.

Pharmaceutical Sales