Overview of Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs

Prescription Drugs

Pharmaceutical sales processes can be divided into several different areas. The most important sector of prescription drugs will be where most of the action will be. This is by far where most sales representatives work with the main base of target customers, ie the doctors. Depending on the type of drugs promoted, sales forces target family doctors and / or medical specialists as their major customers.

Some giant pharmaceutical companies like Glaxo and Merck have a large number of promoted products that require different divisions of the sales force within each firm. There may be separate divisions that promote products are completely different for the groups of the same or different customers. Sometimes the different divisions may have the same products but have different target groups of customers to focus on. Each pharmaceutical representative might be the promotion of an average of three different main drugs with some secondary products as well.

New drugs usually have only a certain number of years before their patents run out. Drugs that have been successful in the market will probably attract generic competitors over time. Therefore, the sales force usually spend most of their efforts on new drugs in hopes of generating sales as possible before you run out of patent protection. Once the cheaper generic versions appear on the market, sales forces usually move their focus to other newer medications that still have patent protection. It is usually too difficult to compete against low-cost generic products to branded companies tend to promote only those products that do not have generic competition.

There are also small businesses that focus on niche specialty drugs. The sales forces of these companies, you probably focus more on specific medical specialties such as target customers, rather than general practitioners. Remember that the number of family physicians are more numerous than any single group of medical specialties by far as large companies that promote the general practitioners will need large sales forces. Conversely, companies that promote specific niches only doctors can get away with much smaller sales force due to the lower number of target customers. An example might be a cancer drug or cancer, which usually will never be prescribed by a GP anyway. Sales positions in these companies tend to be a bit special 'more difficult to obtain for candidates who are new to the industry experts in the medical representatives are usually preferred. Selling to specialists is often regarded as an advanced level of pharmaceutical sales more suited to those who have been in the business for a while '. However, there have been exceptions, especially with companies that promote products for skin dermatology.

Over-the-counter

Many companies have over-the-counter (OTC) products such as cough and cold medications that are non-prescription drugs are another major area. Large companies that have both prescription and OTC products may have different sales forces for each sector. Some companies may be closely OTC fire. In general, the positions of the lines for OTC sale can be a little 'easier to achieve than sales of prescription for new candidates. This is because in most cases, the OTC products are less technical than prescription drugs and are considered a lower level of sale pharmaceutical.

Sales forces that sell only OTC products will probably be inviting family physicians only instead of specialists such as target customers. There may be more calls to retail pharmacists too since these health professionals are often consulted by patients with regard to product selections (for example, customers who ask a pharmacist to recommend a brand of cough syrup ).

In all likelihood, the salaries for OTC sales reps will be lower than that of their counterparts rep prescription drug since in general the-counter products are cheaper than prescription drugs. There have been cases in which new pharmaceutical representatives got their start in sales and then switch to OTC prescription sale after several years of industry experience. So the OTC sales would be a new option for candidates, as a possible point of entry in the industry.

Generic pharmaceutical products

The generic drug companies are a different kettle of fish altogether. Since usually the market for products equivalent to brand name drugs that are already successful and well known, the sales force with generic companies generally do not call the doctors at all. Instead, focus on pharmacies, both retail and hospital. Price alone is usually the leading factor in sales. This sector is a very different kind of pharmaceutical sales job and is actually quite independent as regards the type of work that sales representatives of branded companies do.

In fact, some brand or company ethics are sometimes referred to, to feel so much animosity towards generic drugs that work experience with generic drug manufacturers could actually end up being a negative point in the curriculum of a candidate. So if your goal is still in the direction of the branded pharmaceutical companies where physicians are the target customers, you would do well to steer clear of generic companies unless you're willing to spend an entire career pharmaceutical sales of generic drugs ....