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Summary An
entrepreneurial attitude, people skills and communication = Success in
sales This field has stiff competition. The Internet may play a larger
role in medical sales' future.
While the average person may go to the doctor or dentist once a year,
the typical medical salesperson goes a few thousand times. Medical salespeople
earn their paychecks by visiting several healthcare offices a day to advocate
for and hopefully sell medical equipment or pharmaceutical products.
"I walk into dentists' offices and sell supplies ranging from anesthesia to masks
and gloves to the chairs patients sit on," says Carmine Augello, a salesperson for Benco Dental, a distributor that warehouses and
sells dental products for manufacturers. "You name it, I sell it," says Augello.
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Are
You a Natural Salesperson?
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| If
you're a health professional who wants to break into medical
sales, you may have more experience and better qualifications
than you realize. Many health professionals sell to tough
audiences everyday, from selling patients on the need
to take their medicine to selling an administrator on
the merits of purchasing better equipment. And frontline
health professionals often have superior communication
skills as well, which is one of the keys to success in
sales. Keep this in mind as you sell yourself for a job
in the field! |
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Since the competition is fierce, succeeding in medical sales requires an
entrepreneurial attitude and great people skills, say industry sources. In order to
generate business and keep clients, "you have to build relationships that extend
beyond the products," instructs Augello. "When it comes down to it, it's the
person and not the benefits that sell the product."
Wayne Morris, a sales representative for Novartis
Pharmaceuticals, says competition in the industry "keeps you on your toes."
Morris promotes Novartis's hypertension drugs with physicians in predominantly African
American and Hispanic communities, where high blood pressure is most prevalent. "I
believe my product is a quality product and I'm doing something worthwhile. It would be
tough to sell something you don't believe in," says Morris.
According to Morris, the key to success in medical sales is good communication skills.
"It's not about how smart you are," says Morris. "There are scientists who
can't do this job. You may have an MD or PhD but couldn't sell anything. It's really about
your personality and your ability to deal with people. That doesn't just mean doctors but
everyone from nurses to secretaries and janitors, too."
Some medical salespeople burn up the phone lines instead of pounding the pavement. Lou
Ferraro, vice president and general manager of the core medical division of Henry Schein, Inc., has worked in medical telesales
for 16 years. "When you work inside, you can serve a lot more customers because
you're driving a phone and not a car," Ferraro says. "When you're on the phone,
you're doing five times as many calls per day as you would in the field."
Henry Schein, which Ferraro calls a "supermarket of medical distribution,"
hires people with healthcare experience as well as those with sales backgrounds. Medical
sales is a good option for nurses, lab technicians and other health workers who want to
take a new career path, says Ferraro. And the company provides sales skill training for
such recruits.
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Distributors vs. Manufacturers:
Most people who are attracted to medical sales careers don't realize that working as a
salesperson for a distributor can be just as rewarding and profitable as working as a
sales representative for a manufacturer. "People need to think outside of the box.
The distribution end of the business is huge," says Lou Ferraro, vice president and
general manager of the core medical group for Henry
Schein, Inc. |
Ferraro predicts that the Internet will play a large role in the future of medical
sales. Many customers have already transitioned from face-to-face interactions with
salespeople to telesales, and ecommerce is the next logical step. "That's where we're
heading," says Ferraro.
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