Most drug representatives work for pharmaceutical companies
Drug representatives, also known as pharmaceutical sales representatives, are salespeople charged with finding and maintaining customers for a medical drug. This is done not just by pitching the drug directly to patients, but by touting it to those in a position to prescribe or sell it, such as physicians and pharmacies. Drug representatives, who are mostly employed by pharmaceutical companies, make on average $58,513 per year, according to Salary.com.
Find Medical Professionals
Drug representatives are often assigned a specific territory in which they sell their products, such as a city or a region of the country. In order to maximize their effectiveness, most drug representatives seek out the medical professionals in the area most likely to be potential customers, such as the top physicians in a particular branch of medicine or the physicians who write the most prescriptions for a similar drug.
Research Drug
In order to effectively pitch their company's product, drug representatives must know as much as they can about it. To better prepare themselves, many drug representatives will compile all the existing research on the drug, including studies, reports, and articles in the media.
Provide Information About Drug
Drug representatives widely distribute information, especially positive information, about their product. Like most marketing, this is designed to make potential customers aware of the drugs existence and to create demand for it. Information can be distributed through informational packets, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, and even traditional advertising methods.
Design and Implement Promotions
Many drug representatives will develop and implement promotions for their products. These promotions can take the form of traditional marketing, as outlined above, or they can be more industry specific. For example, the pharmaceutical industry has long used the giving of gifts to physicians as a standard promotion. Although, an industry trade association, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, has recently tightened up voluntary regulations about what gifts can be given and drug reps can still attempt to ply physicians with free meals, reports the Boston Globe. Many will also provide physicians with free samples of the drug.
Talk To Doctors
One of the most important parts of a drug representative's job is to talk with doctors. According to StateUniversity, drug representatives are often given only a few minutes of a doctor's time, during which they must succinctly outline the benefits of the drug and reasons why it should be prescribed. For over-the-counter drugs that do not require a prescription, drug representatives will often talk with pharmacists or sales staff at pharmacies.
Keep Abreast of Industry Developments
In order to successfully sell their products, drug representatives must keep abreast of develops in their industry and the field of medicine in which their drug is used, so as to more accurately anticipate customer needs and questions. This is is done by reading relevant periodicals, such as medical journals and trade publications.
Take Orders
After they've made a successful sale, drug representatives must take orders for the drug, recording how much the client wishes to purchase and then routing the order to their company's sales support staff.
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