As you move through your career, you gather new professional interests, priorities and strengths. Sometimes those shifts can begin to lead you in a different direction. You may find yourself outgrowing your current position, or even discover that your current place of employment isn't the right fit for you anymore.
No matter how long you have been with your current employer, looking for a new job in medical sales can be a long, complicated process. After you have assessed your priorities, finding a new employer who meets those needs is the first step on your journey into the next chapter of your professional life.
Some of the most important things to look for as you begin your search for a new medical sales job include the following:
Healthy Company Culture
A healthy company culture has many facets, and each of them reflect the employer's commitment to investing in their workforce. Your new employer should take pride in helping their sales reps grow professionally, and should be able to provide specifics about how current employees take advantage of those tools for growth.
Another quality of an employer who invests in their workforce is trust. You should look for a workplace in which you have enough autonomy that you feel you are running your own business. An employer who trusts you is interested in your results, offering support and guidance rather than micromanaging your every action.
Competitive Compensation
When you are ready to make a change, make sure that change is going to be a profitable one. The best companies to work for in medical sales all have very competitive compensation packages.
While this obviously provides you with comfort and security, competitive compensation packages speak directly to the value an employer places on the efforts of its sales team. As a sales rep, you put an incredible amount of work into developing relationships with clients, staying current with industry trends, and becoming intimately familiar with your product line. These are just a few of the ingredients that go into the sales you make, and your commission should reflect that work.
Strong Product Lines
Nearly all of the best places to work in medical sales, including Medtronic and Stryker, offer a strong product line. When you are passionate and confident about the quality of product you are selling, clients can tell. Further, strong products lead to stronger professional relationships with clients. When your products begin to play a valuable role in your clients' professions, so too do you. More than a salesperson, you become an industry expert; a consultant.
Additionally, inquire into each prospective company's dedication to research and development. A company that boasts a strong product line at the time of your hire will surely ensure great sales in the short-term. Medical sales is an ever-changing industry, however, and a company who fails to stay on the cutting edge when it comes to technology and research will undoubtedly cause its salesforce to struggle. Ensure your future employers all have a firm dedication to updating their products and innovating to stay ahead of the competition.
Size
Medium-sized companies are likely to offer a healthy work-life balance, which is a crucial element of any new job for most hard-working sales reps. In fact, 48 percent of medical sales reps reported medium-sized companies as their ideal size. As you embark on your search for a new employer, you should be clear about your preferences as well, as this can help narrow your options quite a bit.
As you build the list of qualities you are looking for in a new employer, you may be overwhelmed with the prospect of finding a perfect fit, but you shouldn't let that discourage you. Armed with a strong sense of your own priorities, you turn a huge sea of murky possibilities into a focused pool of good options.
Weigh in, sales reps! What are the qualities you look for in a new employer?