Medical Sales Interview Preparation Guide

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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.

Firstly, you need to decide what sort of position you are pursuing. If you are going for a theatre role, then get yourself into theatre. Observe a procedure and see how the theatre team interact. Absorb the atmosphere and gauge how as a sales representative would fit in and work effectively.
You can arrange this by utilising existing contacts - perhaps you currently sell to Consultants who could introduce you to Surgeons, or you may already sell to Surgeons, just not whilst in theatre. Alternatively, speak to the secretary within a surgical unit at your nearest hospital and find out when a rep is next due that you could speak to.
If you have decided that medical disposables is for you, speak to a Practice Nurse the next time you are in a practice. Ask him/her what makes a good wound care rep, say, and what do they look for in certain products.
You will find that you learn a great deal about the market by asking a few simple questions, and this will both help you to secure interviews, and to impress at interview.

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.

Our background is in orthopedics, and that is certainly one of the most lucrative areas. In fact, any sales role that involves implantable devices and selling directly to the surgeon customer will be an area where you can make (that means earn) a lot of money. This includes spinal implants, orthopedic implants for reconstruction of hips and knees, arthroscopic products, cardiovascular implants, craniomaxillofacial (CMF) products, trauma products (plates and screws), and small joint implants are at the top of the list. Medical equipment sales jobs (i.e. robotics, imaging and diagnostic equipment) can also be very lucrative, as the cost of the equipment and the associated commissions tend to be high. Your selling cycle, however, will also be longer.

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)

Each position requires a different set of skills and education. What we find most important, however, is the candidate's sales abilities. An employer will measure your future success against your past successes. Because of this, it is important to bullet your achievements on your resume to draw their attention to those accomplishments. Hiring managers want detailed information up front about your sales rankings, quota attainment, awards and percentage of market share growth. Make these numbers available on your resume.

Sales experience is almost always preferred, especially business-to-business sales (B2B) where you were selling business services or products to businesses. I recommend that you get some sales experience before applying for a medical device position. You can still land a job, if you know how to sell yourself into the position.

Obviously, income levels vary according to the type of position, travel requirements, and difficulty of the work involved. Most companies offer a competitive base salary with potential to make additional amounts in bonus or commission. Typical entry level salaries are in the 50K range with added commission potential. Overall packages typically are around 100 K on up.

In order to be allowed into a hospital, you will have to be credentialed with that hospital. The credentialing process commonly involves providing copies of immunization records (and having the appropriate immunizations completed), having a background check completed, showing proof of product and general liability insurance, and documenting specialized training, usually in OR protocol, blood-borne pathogens and HIPPA. The two most common companies that provide credentialing services include REPtrax and VendorClear. However, there are no universal guidelines for credentialing (which is a concern for the industry as a whole). One hospital might have one set of requirements and use one vendor credentialing company, while another hospital just 10 miles away might have another set of credentialing requirements and use another company. This can make it confusing (and expensive) to have the opportunity to do your job.

There are two kinds of educational backgrounds that are preferred in medical sales. The first is a business administration background with an emphasis in sales. The second is a science background (in biology, kinesiology, pre-med, etc.). You will need both of these skills to be successful in the medical sales industry.