Day In The Life Of A Medical Device Sales Rep: 14 Things Only A Rep Understands

The team at Medical Sales Authority has put together a list of fourteen ways medical device sales reps spend their days. All industry reps will be able to relate to this list regardless of their company or product. Some of these activities bring dread and resentment. Others are the best part of the job. Read on to learn about the day in the life of a medical device sales rep.

Day In The Life Of A Medical Device Sales Rep

1. Updating Funnel In Salesforce

Sales is all about spending time in the CRM. This includes updating customer information, putting together quotes, and keeping your sales funnel up to date. The Salesforce CRM is how businesses make decisions. There are dashboard after dashboard available to pull data and see how reps and products are performing in the market.

2. Putting Together Quotes

Sometimes it feels like this is all I do. I send quotes. I get customer feedback. I update the quote. I send it to the customer. I get additional feedback. Then I update it again. The quote goes to materials management. Then additional formatting changes are required. Putting together quotes is a significant part of many medical device sales job. It is time consuming no doubt. The positive thing is doing quotes indicates that you have an interested customer.

3. Windshield Time

You have to get use to driving if you want to make it medical device sales. Some reps will travel much more than others. But in general, everyone spends a lot of time behind the wheel. The key is finding a way to make this time productive. Find a way to enjoy it. Enjoy the view. Listen to informative podcasts and audiobooks. Catch up on phone calls. If you use this time strategically it is really not that bad.

4. Nights In A Hotel

There is a reason people use the phrase life of traveling salesman. Sales folks have always traveled. Even back in the day of door to door sales. It is part of the job. How else do you get face to face with customers over a large geography? Keeping travel fun is all about the mindset. Some reps burn out and start to hate it. You have to focus on the positive aspects of business travel. It is nice to get out of the office, it is fun to see new places, and you get to earn travel points. Find something to look forward to on each trip. Even if it is something small. Whether it is a new brewery or restaurant this can help you reframe all the nights away from home.

5. Waiting For Customers

A day in the life of a medical device sales rep includes a lot of time waiting for customers to be available. This can be painful. In part because it is unpredictable. You can’t always open your computer to do emails. The customer may just be coming out, or they may be another thirty minutes. This is time to swipe away on your phone. But find a way to do it productively. Catch up on emails or read educational news article. I have my go to apps when I find myself waiting for a customer.

6. Covering Surgical Cases

Covering surgical cases is what the job is all about for some medical device sales reps. They are at the hospital bright and early and stay until the last case is completed. This can be a grind, but some folks love it. This is the reality of surgical sales.

7. Following Up

A sales rep gets good at finding a million different ways to follow up with a customer. Sales is all about persistence. A few quick touches over a period of time can make all the difference. It is how you stay close to customers and understand what is going on in the market. A rep has to break through the awkwardness and find creative ways to just check in.

8. Prospecting

Most reps learn early on how to effectively prospect. Entry level outsides sales jobs are all about cold calling and finding leads. This skill is developed only through sheer repetition. Most reps prefer to eventually move to a role in which this isn’t required day in and day out. But it will always be part of any sales job. Over time asking to meet with someone who does not want to see you gets almost normal.

9. Customer Service

Reps get stuck handling a lot of customer service type of requests. This could be a product issue, shipment issue, billing issue, etc. People prefer to call their local rep rather than a general customer service number. It is an easy way to support customers, even if it can get annoying sometimes.

10. Phone Call After Phone Call

Sales reps get familiar with spending hours on the phone. Also, you will get comfortable being on the phone in every possible type of environment. You may be having lunch, at a hotel, or on the side of the road. If it is an important call you will jump in and take it.

11. Finding A Clever Way To Ask For The Business

I was looking at adding a home security system to my house. After the initial call with the sales rep, I received a call almost everyday the following week. The voicemails and email messages kept asking if there was anything he could do to “earn my business”. I knew where he was coming from. Still, I found this cheesy. Over the years I found more effective ways to ask customers for the business. You have to do this in a style that fits your personality. You do not want to sound like some sales training 101 video script.

12. Studying The Competition

Sales reps always have to pay attention to what is going in the market. Are you seeing the competitive rep at a certain facility more than usual? Are you hearing customers talk about a new product? A good reps ask questions and stays close to market trends.

13. Talking To Other Reps

Being an outside sales rep is a weird job. Not everyone understand it. The people that understand it best are the other reps at your company. Sometimes you need to complain and rant about a new process or a difficult customer. Or maybe you need a pep talk from a colleague to lift your spirits during a challenging stretch. I have always enjoyed my time catching up with other reps in the geography.

Related: Medical Device Sales Lifestyle

14. Catching Up On Emails At The Airport

Some reps spend multiple days a week at the airport. This can be wasted time or productive time. Following the advice of productivity guru David Allen, I always have a list of a few things to accomplish while waiting at the airport. This may be a couple of phone calls or a long email I need to draft up. This makes a mid day flight not feel like a time sink.