There’s nothing easy about being a pharmaceutical sales rep. These employees must possess sales skills. They must sell to multiple audiences, including doctors, who have limited time. And they have to stay current on the strict regulations for how they sell and how their product can be used. Finding and retaining the right person for this job requires using proven sales assessment tools.

What are the Necessary Skills for Pharmaceutical Sales?

Traditionally, the industry relied on sales reps to visit physician offices and discuss the latest developments and study results. They also handed out free samples. Too often, reps were touting stats the doctors had already seen.

Following the pandemic and a period of closer scrutiny over pharmaceutical companies' influence on physician prescription practices, the process changed.

Does the Industry Need a New Kind of Pharmaceutical Sales Rep?

It remains challenging to recruit a top-​selling pharmaceutical sales rep. When it’s time to hire, managers must look for candidates who excel in specific areas. As managers seek to hire reps, they should focus on what the target audience, health care providers, is responding to.

The latest research shows that physicians want to access “medical science liaisons” more than traditional reps. This shift indicates that a rep needs to maintain a high level of detailed scientific and medical knowledge.

And when they do connect with prospect, specific qualities matter. One industry expert notes,

“Attributes such as critical thinking, learning agility and adaptability appear to be better aligned with the needs of modern pharma organizations. They don’t need sales aces so much as they do consultants, strategic thinkers able to tackle access, cost and efficiency challenges.”

Digital Mastery

Physicians are constantly online, reviewing medical journals and searching for solutions to help their patients. This is where the B2B buying process begins for many of them.

To be noticed, pharmaceutical sales reps must be expert producers of digital content. These days, that means using AI efficiently. The TeamTrait sales acumen test, part of the platform's psychometric assessment, scores candidates on their ability to leverage AI in sales. Specifically, reps must know when to balance AI-​generated information with emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills.

Creative Thinking

The typical pharmaceutical sales rep focuses on how to convince their client, the physician, to increase the prescriptions they write for a specific medication. Physicians want solutions that can help their patients feel better. Bridging this gap, requires creative thinking.

Assessments can score a candidate’s level of creativity when it comes to structured thinking. While selling pharmaceutical products requires following regulations, creative individuals may come up with unique ways to attract the attention of busy physicians. From there, they can begin to build a trust-​based relationship.

How to Make The Right Hire

In addition to using sales assessment tools, managers should adjust other aspects of their hiring process to find the right candidate. These changes include:

• Updating the Job Description
• Personalizing the Interview Questions

Recruit Reps with Updated Job Descriptions

Given the changed role of pharmaceutical sales reps, managers should update job descriptions to accurately reflect the desired qualities. They can expect to receive many applications from candidates who are interested in these typically high paying jobs.

Before spending time on interviews, managers should require candidates to take a psychometric assessment. With a sales assessment tool like TeamTrait, managers can quickly determine which candidates excel at critical thinking and adaptability.

Personalized Interview Questions

With good sales assessment tools, managers can identify top candidates. The TeamTrait platform goes a step further and suggest personalized questions to use in interviews. For example, hiring managers may be guided to engage the candidate in a conversation about thinking on their feet.

This aspect of the sales profession is growing more important. Savvy prospects use AI tools to obtain publicly available information. But a prospect may have questions about how a specific new drug will benefit their patients who have other medical conditions.

Despite hours of research to maintain their industry knowledge, reps may not know as much as the physician. Too often, reps are bringing “stale detail” to meetings. In over half of meetings with pharmaceutical sales reps, doctors say they’ve already seen the materials.

The rep who can answer a range of questions will gain credibility, and eventually, more sales. Our research shows that over 40% of buyers want to do business with a sales professional who brings them something they haven't seen before.

Example interview question:

Describe a situation where you deviated from the tried-​and-​true process and it didn’t end well. What did you learn from the situation?

What to look for in the answer:

The best reps will quickly pivot. They’ll understand that the doctor wants information on what the pharmaceutical company can offer in terms of “patient education and support resources.” Why? Because this information will save the doctors time, a precious commodity for them.

Example question:

“Describe the most successful conquest you’ve had, when a physician switched to prescribing your product.”

What to look for in the answer:

The answer should show unique qualities the candidate brings to the job, including creativity, drive, grit, and determination.

Summary

The pharmaceutical sales rep job is in transition. To find the stars in the new selling environment, hiring managers must look for strong soft skills and the ability to learn and creatively use detailed medical and scientific knowledge. Sales assessment tools can help managers hire the right people for these roles.