Explaining Clinical Revenue — Part III

There are several things to think about when you are considering job opportunities in medical sales, whether you’re moving into it or moving around in it.  In the first part of this series (Explaining Clinical Sales - Part I) we talked about what’s involved in capital revenue, and in the second part (Explaining Medical Revenue - Part II) we covered consumable and service revenue and what kinds of personalities best fit different sales jobs.  In today’s video, I discuss specific aspects of sales positions like: 

• How high do you want to call up in the organization?  A large capital sale, for instance, will require you call on people high in the organization, such as the CEO or top administrator.  If you’re not comfortable with that, you definitely need to stick with consumable sales or service revenue. 

• How often do you need to close?  If you need to close sales frequently to feel successful, then you don’t want a high-dollar close (like those typically involved in capital sales).  You also don’t want a high-dollar close if you don’t want a lot of voyage.  Less journey, on the other hand, gives you more customers within a smaller area, but also gives you smaller closes (typically consumable revenue or service revenue).

• Process–do you enjoy simple or complicated? 

• Potential employer - how do they manage their sales force?  Do you mind being micromanaged through a very structured system?  Or, can you handle great independence?  You got to fit the organization you work for to your personality type.

• Do you wanna be the key person in the sale and handle it all on your own?  Or, do you wanna be able to bring in a team with several specialists to assist your sale? 

One thing about medical sales:  it’s very different from all other areas of medical sales (pharma revenue, clinical diagnostics revenue, pharmaceutical supplies revenue, clinical equipment sales, surgical supplies sales, imaging revenue, biotechnology sales, cellular/molecular products revenue, clinical laboratory device sales, hospital equipment revenue, imaging revenue, etc.).  Clinical sales reps can’t ask for the business, or close the deal.  They can increase their numbers, and there are some great salespeople involved in medical revenue.  But for Them to move over into one of those other areas, they might as well be starting over.  It’s not to say they won’t be successful…I’m just saying it’s different.

What do you think about these areas? Can you see what kinds of personality traits might best fit?  What’s been your experience with different types of sales positions?

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