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Tips and Career Guide to Pharmaceutical Sales & Marketing:

About this book

The pharmaceutical and biotech industries are an ever-growing part of the U.S. and world economy. As a vital segment of the business, sales and marketing positions are highly sought after, in part because of the high salaries associated with these positions -- not to mention the legendary perks of the pharma sales rep (think company car and lavish lunches).

This Vault guide will give you an inside look at careers in sales and marketing in the pharmaceuticals industry. The guide provides a detailed breakdown of different positions in the sales and marketing function, as well as the hiring requirements for each position.

Read an excerpt from the Vault Career Guide to Pharmaceutical Sales & Marketing

Most companies consider sales and marketing to be one function, but with two basic areas of activity. Within the sales function, you can typically find three career tracks: field sales, sales management, and managed markets. A fourth track, sales training, is closely associated with sales and is distinct from the broader training and development function, which is usually associated with human resource departments. Sales training groups bridge the sales and marketing function: in some companies, they are considered part of marketing support, and hence part of the marketing function.

Within the marketing function are two main areas of activity: marketing management and marketing support. Marketing management is responsible for introducing products and managing product life cycles. Marketing support is an umbrella-like term that incorporates several distinct groups, some of which are quite large, but all of which serve essentially the same purpose: to provide support services for marketing managers. Depending on the size of the company, the distinction between the two areas may be either blurred or non-existent. Typical marketing support groups include training and development, advertising and promotion, market analysis, customer call center, e-business, and commercialization and strategic planning.

Fully integrated Big Biotech companies have their own sales and marketing infrastructure and essentially the same job classifications with the same responsibilities. Unlike some of their Big Pharma cousins, biotech sales reps are specialty reps, who market products to specific and highly defined patient groups, for example, promoting specialty injectable protein products to specialist physicians (oncologists) treating a narrowly defined condition. This focus contrasts sharply with those Big Pharma reps promoting small-molecule drugs to non-specialist physicians (primary care doctors, internists) providing general medical care to the mass market.

This is a good time to think about embarking on a career in biopharmaceutical sales and marketing, since more biotech-based drugs are moving through the development pipeline. In addition, roles like business development require a foundation in sales (as well as experience in several other functions). Once hired, many companies encourage valued employees to gain such experience, and incorporate lateral moves in annual career development plans.

Field sales

A position in field sales is the entry-level job in the sales function. The main purpose of the field sales force is to promote the company's products to customers, typically solo or small-practice groups of physicians, within an assigned territory. Reps are carefully selected, trained rigorously, and equipped with detailed product information. They should know their products inside out and work hard to understand the medical science on which those products are based. Within field sales are two areas, territory sales and specialty sales.

The entry-level field sales positions are pharmaceutical sales representative and territory sales representative. The next rung is medical specialist or hospital specialist. Specialty sales representatives are the most experienced, often with several years of direct sales under their belt. This job exists in both Big Biotech and Big Pharma companies.

The responsibilities of a pharmaceutical sales rep are well-defined across the industry and fall into three distinct areas of activity. Selling is the main responsibility, and requires reps to sell the company's products within the assigned territory, make product presentations, arrange educational meetings for physicians, and co-promote products (when the company has made co-marketing deals with another company).

Administrative responsibilities require reps to manage the selling process (i.e., prioritize their physician and pharmacy customer lists, take notes on call outcomes, prepare reports to district manager), attend company meetings, manage time effectively by working out optimal sales call schedules, work out territory logistics with team members, maintain expense logs, arrange for catering for lunchtime seminars with medical specialists, organize promotional materials and drug samples, and maintain the company car.

Professional development responsibilities require reps to learn features, benefits, and basic medical science of assigned products; learn about competing products, and their advantages/disadvantages relative to own product; attend professional development training sessions; complete required online training programs; and master selling process and continually refine selling skills.

Generally speaking, cash compensation comprises salary plus bonuses. Base salaries range from $45,000 to $65,000 and bonuses range from 2-16%, based on both individual and team performance. So cash compensation for entry-level sales reps ranges from $42K to $79K.

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