How Does a Nurse Transition into Pharma Sales? Medical Device Sales? Lab Sales? Here’s a Job Search Strategy for You
Nurses have a few natural advantages when it comes to breaking into medical sales. They have the solid science background, and they have on-the-job technical experience with the products that medical sales reps sell. (That’s a lot. If you were the customer, wouldn’t you rather buy a product from someone who’s used it? It wouldn’t be your entire reason, but it would be a definite point in favor.)
The weak spot for the nurse who wants to transition into a medical sales career then, would be the “sales” part. But, where there’s a will, there’s a way. A nurse who has good communication and interpersonal skills and is willing to work for it has an excellent opportunity to transition into an exciting, rewarding new career in any area of medical sales, like medical device, biotech, laboratory, research products, imaging, hospital equipment, surgical supplies, clinical diagnostics, or pharmaceutical sales.
Here’s a career-transition strategy:
- Set up some informational interviews with medical sales reps or managers who work in the areas you’re interested in. Keep it simple, maybe take them out for a coffee or lunch (no more than a 15-30 minute meeting, please), and ask your questions. If they can’t meet with you but offer to answer your questions by email, then by all means ask them. Research before you ask so you don’t waste valuable time, and be sure to send them a thank you note.
- Bridge your sales gap by reading books on sales to increase your knowledge of the sales process. Think “sales techniques,” “sales strategies,” or things like that. I personally love SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham. Or take a sales course. If you want to go all out, you could consider an MBA degree (education is always helpful), but it’s not essential.
- Set up a professional profile on LinkedIn. You can learn a tremendous amount by joining sales groups and checking out their discussions, and most people are very willing to answer questions and help you out. And an attractive, professional profile is your first step to gaining the attention of medical sales recruiters or hiring managers.
- Find a medical sales rep or two who will let you ride along with them for a day. Job shadowing will (1) give you hands-on experience of what the job is like, (2) arm you with critical keywords for your resume, and (3) impress hiring managers with your willingness to invest the extra time and effort before you even get the job.
- Polish your resume and interview skills. Research how to write a good resume for sales jobs. Sales job interviews are tough, so practice, practice, practice. You have to be smooth, confident, and able to answer objections (just like in a sales call).
- Create a 30/60/90-day sales plan for your interview. A 30/60/90-day sales plan is just an outline for what you will do in your first 3 months on the job–broken up into your first 30 days (like training and introductions), your first 60 days (like more field time), and the first 90 days (starting to pull in new business). I can’t emphasize enough how well this works. It helps the hiring manager to see you in the job, and lets him know that you do understand how to be successful in this new career area. That takes away a lot of the risk (in his mind) from hiring you.
- Consider personalized career coaching. Everyone’s situation is different, and what one candidate really needs to work on is not the same as the next one. A good career coach will quickly see the best way for you to market yourself as a medical sales job candidate, find the most efficient way for you to fix your weak spots, help you practice the best answers to interview questions, tweak your resume for maximum effect, and give you a map for the process.
I can’t guarantee you that doing these things will land you a medical sales job, but I will guarantee you that they will make the most of what you have to offer, and give you your best possible opportunity to transition into medical sales by setting you up as a very attractive candidate who stands out from the competition. Best of luck to you.
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
Get top medical sales candidates at PHC Consulting
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