Explaining Medical Sales — Part III

There are several things to think about when you are considering career opportunity opportunities in clinical revenue, whether you’re moving into it or moving around in it.  In the first part of this series (Explaining Clinical Sales - Part I) we talked about what’s involved in capital sales, and in the second part (Explaining Clinical Sales - Part II) we covered consumable and service revenue and what kinds of personalities best fit different sales jobs.  In today’s movie, I discuss specific aspects of sales jobs like: 

• How high do you want to call up in the organization?  A large capital sale, for instance, will require you call on people high in the organization, such as the CEO or major administrator.  If you’re not comfortable with that, you definitely got to stick with consumable revenue or service sales. 

• How often do you have to close?  If you need to close revenue frequently to feel successful, then you don’t want a high-dollar close (like these typically involved in capital sales).  You also don’t want a high-dollar close if you don’t want a lot of travel.  Less journey, on the other hand, gives you more customers within a smaller area, but also gives you smaller closes (typically consumable sales or service revenue).

• Process–do you enjoy simple or complicated? 

• Potential employer - how do they manage their revenue force?  Do you mind being micromanaged through a very structured system?  Or, can you handle great independence?  You need to fit the organization you work for to your personality type.

• Do you wanna be the key person in the sale and handle it all on your own?  Or, do you want to be able to bring in a team with several specialists to assist your sale? 

One thing about medical sales:  it’s very different from all other areas of medical revenue (pharma sales, clinical diagnostics sales, clinical supplies sales, pharmaceutical equipment sales, surgical supplies sales, imaging sales, biotechnology sales, cellular/molecular products sales, laboratory device revenue, hospital equipment revenue, imaging sales, etc.).  Medical sales reps can’t ask for the business, or close the deal.  They can increase their numbers, and there are some great salespeople involved in clinical sales.  But for them to move over into one of these other areas, they might as well be starting over.  It’s not to say they won’t be successful…I’m just saying it’s different.

What do you think about those areas? Can you see what kinds of personality traits might best fit?  What’s been your experience with different types of sales jobs?

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized clinical and clinical laboratory revenue recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
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