Preparing For a Pharmaceutical Sales Interview
My first question is: Why would you want to? The industry’s going downhill fast for pharmaceutical sales reps. With many block-buster products losing patent privileges, weak future product pipelines, slow market growth, tremendous litigation issues, an ever-increasing regulatory environment, and continued formulary tightening by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies are being battered and forced into mergers, buyouts, and massive layoffs in order to stay afloat. Other areas of medical sales (laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, medical device sales, biotech sales, imaging sales, pathology sales–just about any other area of healthcare sales) are more stable, less tied to the economy, more respected, and more appealing if you really like the sales process. But, if you’re set on taking your chances in pharmaceutical sales, here’s what to do to have a successful pharmaceutical sales job interview:
1. Research the company. There is no substitute for doing your homework. Know what the company does, what its current issues are, and what the future plans include, especially in this unstable time for the pharmaceutical industry. Your job is to find out what you can do for them. Your research gives you material to talk about during the interview and a way to custom-fit your answers to their specific questions.
2. Build a brag book. Basically it’s a collection of awards, sales rankings, successful projects, letters from happy customers or managers, and so on, organized and put together in a binder so that it’s easily accessed. When you present it during the interview, it showcases your presentation skills as well as your accomplishments.
3. Create a 30/60/90-day plan. This kind of plan is a written demonstration of what you will do for the company in your first 3 months on the job–how you will get your training, how you will transition into being a contributing member of the sales team, and so on. This kind of plan will definitely get the attention of the hiring manager, and set you apart from the fierce competition in pharmaceutical sales.
4. Research interviewing tips and typical interview questions. Dress appropriately and watch your language. Remember that it’s a conversation, and have questions of your own to ask. Know how to close the interview and ask for the job. Think of your interview as a sales call, and act accordingly.
5. Consider custom coaching from the Medical Sales Recruiter. Most people need no more than an hour. Ask the questions you need in a private, one-on-one conversation to improve your personal situation. I’ve been a medical sales recruiter for over 10 years now, and I was in the medical sales area before that as a sales rep, regional manager, and national accounts manager. I can go over your resume with you, critique your answers to interview questions and prepare you for the interview, give you insider tips on the industry, help you get into medical sales if you’re new to it, teach you how to negotiate and recognize a fair offer, build your personal brand, or even decide between job offers. Career coaching works.
Peggy McKee is the owner and chief recruiter for PHC Consulting, a recruiting firm providing top sales talent, sales management, marketing and service / support personnel to some of the most prominent high growth companies in the medical and laboratory products industry for over 10 years!
Our client companies provide capital equipment and reagents for the clinical laboratories or research laboratories, equipment and consumables that aid the physician/clinician in diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic information, software that provides the workflow improvements that have unending positive impact on the patient, physician and the laboratory professional and a number of service offerings in the medical arena (for example: laboratory service, imaging etc).
Our expertise is in providing: Sales, Sales Management, Marketing, Technical Service, and Support Professionals.
We provide top talent (usually the top 10% of sales force rankings) and reduce turnover (through exceptional client knowledge and candidate screening) this in combination with our reputation for smoothly facilitating the hiring process makes us the search firm of choice in this arena.
For more information, see our website at http://www.phcconsulting.com/
Find information on career coaching at http://www.phcconsulting.com/customized-consulting-services.htm
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