What Keeps a Medical Sales Hiring Manager Up at Night?

Medical Industry Hiring Managers are looking for a sales rep that can hit the ground running in their territories as quickly as possible. Their pain point is that they have been covering the open territory on top of managing their other reps and conducting all their managerial duties.  They are looking to hire a rep that will be up and running in their territory with as little hand holding as possible.  This is the reason so many positions require “3-5 years’ experience.” 

You have the burden of proof that you are the right candidate even over someone with experience.  This is why it is important to highlight examples from your current position/profession that clearly demonstrate that you learn quickly, you are independent, and that you require little hand holding.  (And also provide references who will reiterate this quality.)  In a PR agency, you have to become immersed in a client’s industry overnight, otherwise you cannot promote them effectively.  I explained this to my hiring manager and presented specific examples during my interview process.  What do you do in your current role that can translate into sales?

You must quantify and demonstrate your success in your current role/industry.  From my example in public relations, our success was not judged by sales dollars, but by what our media stories were worth in advertising dollars.  When I walked a recruiter or hiring manager through my resume with only PR experience, I explained that advertising dollars were the metric, and then showed them how that metric exceeded my clients’ and agency’s expectations.  No matter what your current profession is, identify a way to quantify the success you’ve had in your current industry to demonstrate you are goal oriented and a performer.  Sales organizations judge success by sales performance rankings, and sales managers want to be the top sales managers in the country!  Not only do they get bragging rights, but there are extra financial incentives for top performing managers.  That means they need top performing reps in their region.  How are you going to show them you would be a top performing rep?

Below are additional qualities a hiring manager is looking for in a rep:

• Are you a proven professional? They don’t want to have to worry about you in the field.
• Do you have strong communication skills? You will reflect on them both internally and externally.
• Are you self-motivated? Managers don’t want to babysit reps.  They expect them to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing in the field.  They expect you to turn in a report or an expense report by the due date.  They need to trust you.
• Are you someone who can multi-task and handle several requests at the same time, both internally and externally?
• Can you prioritize your workload as pressing matters arise? For example, if there is a situation with your product in one of your major accounts, you should be in that account handling it, immediately – not doing discovery work in a smaller account, etc.
• They want a team player that all of the reps in their region like and get along with!
• They want a can-do attitude. There is a time for complaining, but present it in a constructive way.
• Without direct medical sales experience, how will you show them you have all of these skills? The SKILLS ASSESSMENT SHEET!