One of the medical specialties I worked in during my medical sales years was pediatrics. This specialty involves a fair number of over the counter (OTC) non-prescription products in addition to the usual prescription drugs. Some companies deal only with OTC products in this specialty including those with baby formulas. This may be a feasible entry route to a first medical sales position for newcomers in the industry since the specialty is so OTC intensive.
OTC products are generally very sample intensive so medical sales representatives working in this particular area will be expected to deal with huge supplies of free samples for the clinics on a daily basis. One thing to be forewarned especially for pediatrics is that because of the nature of the samples in canned formats for baby formulas, there could be some moderate lifting required. Medical sales representatives routinely carry cases of canned baby formulas around for the pediatric clinics.
Cough and cold syrups as well as skin creams are also common products in pediatrics. Since many kids can’t swallow tablets, pharmaceutical companies develop many pediatric drugs in syrup formats. This often results in free samples in small bottle formats which of course will be heavier to carry around for the medical rep than samples in pill forms.
The field itself is a good one to work in because I have found in my experience with pediatricians, they are generally a nice group of physicians to deal with. They are usually more relaxed than other certain types of doctors. Perhaps this is because pediatricians have to deal with kids all day so a certain playful personality is probably required for this specialty. This works well with medical sales representatives who call on this group.
Like other medical specialty sales territories, pediatric territories will likely be larger than the average family medicine territory in terms of geography since there are fewer pediatricians per community compared to family doctors. Family physicians seeing a lot of kids will probably also be included in the target group. Because of larger geographic territories, medical sales reps working in pediatrics will likely have to travel more compared to the average rep working only with family physicians.
Overall, pediatrics is a good specialty to work in for many medical sales representatives. It is also a possible entry point for those who are hoping to get a medical sales position for the first time.
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