How Does a Nurse Transition into Pharmaceutical Sales? Clinical Device Sales? Pathology Sales? Here’s a Job Search Strategy for You

Nurses have a few natural advantages when it comes to breaking into clinical sales.  They have the solid science background, and they have on-the-job technical experience with the products that clinical revenue 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 clinical sales career then, would be the “revenue” part.  But, where there’s a will, there’s a way.  A nurse who has nice communication and interpersonal skills and is ready to work for it has an excellent territory to transition into an exciting, rewarding new career in any area of laboratory sales, like clinical device, biotech, medical, research products, imaging, hospital equipment, surgical supplies, medical diagnostics, or pharma 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 queries.  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 nice 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,” “revenue strategies,” or things like that.  I personally love SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham.   Or take a sales course.  If you wanna 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 clinical revenue recruiters or hiring managers.
• Discover a pharma sales rep or two who will let you ride along with Them for a day.  Career opportunity shadowing will (1) give you hands-on experience of what the job is like, (2) arm you with critical keywords for your CV, 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 wonderful resume for sales jobs.  Revenue job interviews are tough, so practice, practice, practice.  You’ve 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 position–broken up into your first 30 days (like training and introductions), your first 60 days (like more field time), and the first Ninety 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 fine career coach will quickly see the best way for you to market yourself as a clinical sales job candidate, discover the most efficient way for you to fix your weak spots, help you practice the best answers to interview queries, 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 pharma sales position, but I will guarantee you that they will make the most of what you’ve to offer, and give you your best possible opportunity to transition into pharmaceutical sales by setting you up as a very attractive candidate who stands out from the competition.  Best of luck to you.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized clinical and pharmaceutical sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

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How Does a Nurse Transition into Pharma Sales? Medical Device Sales? Lab Sales? Here’s a Job Search Strategy for You