Medical Sales Recruiter - Tips & Quips

Here’s a recap of the our most popular blog posts of 2007, based on comments, e-mails, and phone calls:

1. Business plans for medical sales:  This was a multi-part workshop on how showing up at your interview with a 30-day business plan, a 60-day business plan, and a 90-day business plan would put you way ahead of the competition.  The most basic way to explain the business plan is that it is a list of what you want to accomplish during your first few months and exactly what steps you need to take to get there.  I got more requests than I could count for a sample business plan, but all of these posts have samples or links to samples that will give you all the information you need. 
2. Laboratory Sales vs. Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Sales:  Even though the required skill sets are the same for all medical sales jobs, there are differences in environment, work load, and job stability.
3. Pharmaceutical Sales vs. Medical Device Sales:  This one printed very informative excerpts from NonSterile that explained the differences between pharma sales and medical device sales, but proved to be a little controversial.  Here’s a link to a great interview with a medical device salesperson. 
4. Read all about it…how to be a great salesperson:  There are some fantastic books about how to sell and be successful at sales.  Educating yourself and sharpening your skills is key.  My favorites continue to be Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling and Harvey MacKay’s books.
5. As you go through life (and your job)…write it down!:  This one was about a great post on Blue Sky Resumes about keeping track of your career accomplishments and successes in writing so that when you need them for your resume (and chances are, you will), you’ll have an accurate, detailed record.  You’ll even be able to pick and choose which accomplishments to highlight that will benefit you the most for each particular job.
6. What have you done for me lately?:  This one was also about keeping a record of your accomplishments…problems and how you solved them, that sort of thing (Bulls Eye Resumes calls it a “Kudos Folder“)…but with the additional fabulous idea of contacting people who are familiar with your work and asking for a quick e-mail about your work with them.  Those e-mails become an informal reference letter, a memory jogger, and a confidence booster.  Anita Bruzzese posted a nice comment.  This Kudos File idea is also recommended by Kim Issacs at ResumePower, which was tapped as a great idea in a post on reference letters at JibberJobber. 

I sincerely hope that all my posts are helpful to you in your search for a job in medical sales. 

Happy 2008!