Building a career in medical device sales

518460000000. That is the size of the global Medical Device market. 518.46 billion USD. The Medical Device market is projected to grow to USD 314.96 billion by 2032, in the US alone. This is almost double the current figure (197.83 billion USD) – and this is why you should think about a medical device sales career. 

Increasing life expectancy and a growing aging population (projected population over 65 years of age: 82 million by 2050 vs 2022’s 58 million) means there is and will continue to be a growing demand for procedures and treatments aimed at the older population, including orthopaedic and ophthalmic procedures.

As new technologies and treatment options are introduced, the Medical Device industry will contribute to the continued increase in life expectancy and a further focus on remote patient monitoring & home care will gain importance. This includes self-medication or self-administration of treatments as well as doctors being able to fully manage their patients without the need for constant physical check ups, monitoring the results of an orthodontic aligner treatment, enabling home dialysis or supporting patients through rehabilitation processes after a knee replacement surgery.

As new technologies are launched, we will continue to see the approach taken by clinicians towards certain diseases completely changing, not only through new treatment options, but also through less invasive surgeries and more focused treatments. Think about AI-powered cameras to ensure radiation therapy is directed only to the cancerous tissue vs healthy surrounding tissue, not causing further damage through treatment.

We have established the amazing growth prospects in the industry. So what do we do with this information? Obviously, we build a career in Medical Devices! Let’s take a deeper look at SALES.

Territory Manager. Sales Representative. Product Specialist. Clinical Application Specialist. Clinical Consultant. Area Sales Manager. Regional Business Director. Regional Sales Manager. Capital Sales Specialist.

Definitely a mouthful.

What does this all mean?

Starting your career in Medical Device Sales can be a daunting process, and it really depends on your background and your experience.

What does “entry-level” mean? It should mean that you are applying for a position that requires little to no training or prior experience in the desired field. However – and this is a big objection – this often isn’t the case. Before we get into some examples taken from real job descriptions, let’s take a detour to address an important question: are degrees necessary for a medical device career?

If you had wanted to break into this industry some years ago, there would be no need for a degree. A senior leader in one of the biggest manufacturing companies in the industry once told me that when he joined eighteen years ago he was able to get a break and build his career without a degree and with no commercial experience at all – he saw the job, applied, and eighteen years later, BAM, he was National Sales Manager. If he decided to leave the company now, they would no longer hire him back because he lacks a degree. Does the degree have to be relevant? No. It is about having a degree as a basic excluding factor, which demonstrates several skills: commitment to a multi-year process, diligence in attending lectures and completing exams, ability to learn, but most importantly, a growth mindset.

The funny thing is, many of the people who would be excluding your application for lacking a degree, don’t actually have a degree themselves. Fair? Maybe not. But it’s reality.

So, if you’re a young person thinking about what to do when you grow up, my biggest advice is: go to university and get a degree in something you are passionate about.

In my experience, the actual area of study is secondary. If you are sure you want to get into Medical Devices, why not study Biomedical Engineering, Nursing or take a more Biopharmaceutical direction? Degrees such as Business Administration, Economics and Marketing could all be highly sought after, as they give you a good base for the business side of things.

Another positive aspect of pursuing a relevant degree is that there are several programs through which you can be placed in a Medical Device company to complete your thesis, gain experience through an industry placement, or join a graduate program after completing your degree.

If you don’t have a degree, don’t fret! Focus on getting as much relevant experience as possible. Some examples?

• Get clinical experience in the therapy area you are interested in
• Volunteer as an EMT
• Get a sales job (yes, any sales job, maybe even in Medical Device recruitment)
• Follow companies on LinkedIn and subscribe to industry newsletters
• Attend conferences and congresses

In brief: immerse yourself in the industry. A creative way I have seen a candidate do this was to reach out to a Sales Representative in their network and ask to shadow them in their day-to-day, enabling the candidate to see firsthand what the job entails.

If you have a Biomedical Engineering degree, you could gain field experience through working in the service department as a Field Service Engineer, visiting clinical spaces to intervene, fix, troubleshoot and sometimes train clinical staff on the usage of Medical Devices such as CT Scanners, Surgical Robots or diagnostic equipment.

In my experience as a recruiter, companies will initially seek someone who has specific experience in the therapy area of interest and preferably some experience in a client-facing or commercial role. Hiring someone from the clinical field (nurse, radiology technician, etc.) is very common, as there is an inherent understanding of the inner workings of the hospital or clinic environment they will be going to sell into as a Clinical Specialist or a Sales Associate.

On the other hand, there are university placements, theses or internships available in collaboration with or at Medical Device companies, which often result in permanent employment in a business area of choice and need.

What are the job titles to look out for when exploring entry-level medtech sales positions?

• Sales Associate 
• Sales Assistant
• Clinical Consultant 
• Clinical Application Specialist 

In order to understand what is required, let’s consider some excerpts of real job descriptions.

This is an associate position – the assumption is that you have some basic experience in sales (not necessarily in the medical sector), but the most important experience is the third point: healthcare experience. So this is an entry level position into the industry, but it is expected that this is not your first job.

Here we can see, again, that some experience is required. This is a job I would strongly advise you to apply for if you have some commercial experience, which does not need to be in the right therapy area – but as mentioned above: try to gain some relevant experience through internships, graduate programs, or similar roles in other industries.

If you hit about 75% of the requirements, go for it! Apply, reach out to HR or the hiring manager, express your interest and cross your fingers. Show your passion and drive, show you’ve done research and know what is expected of you, show that this is where you want to build your career.

However, be realistic, if the role is asking for you to travel 75% of the time, make sure you know what this means – it is a highly rewarding role, but also requires exceptional time-management and self-motivation.

Congratulations! You made it. Are you driving around the country as a Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedics, supporting knee replacement surgeries? Do you sell AI solutions to radiology departments, helping to diagnose stroke faster and enabling tempestive intervention as a Territory Manager? Or maybe you’re selling dental aligners remotely from your living room?

Did you just come out of an industry conference, discovering the biggest breakthroughs in the industry?

A Medical Device Sales career can mean many things. Field-based roles include: Territory Manager, Sales Representative, Area Sales Manager, Sales Consultant, Account Manager.

Depending on the company and therapy area, these job titles are somewhat interchangeable.

General characteristics:

• You are assigned a territory or a region which will be your responsibility to cover, usually travelling 60-80% of the time. In Switzerland, this usually means covering several Cantons, West or East Switzerland, etc. Ticino often lacks a dedicated representative, being covered by the French or German speaking representatives, or even from northern Italy. Sometimes these can be national or international roles, especially if it is a company just entering its commercial stage.
• You are responsible for building relationships with all relevant clinicians in your assigned territory, becoming an integral part of the industry. More than staying up to date with the innovations, you are actively involved in introducing new technologies and therapies to clinicians.
• You train clinical staff on the correct use of your products, advising and often even planning surgeries or gathering CT images with doctors, nurses or radiologists. This duty is sometimes performed mostly by a Clinical Specialist or Clinical Consultant, and the specific split of sales and clinical support responsibilities varies significantly between companies.
• You receive a fixed salary plus a significant variable salary in the form of commissions or bonuses based on your performance or success in selling your products or services throughout the year.

As mentioned above Clinical Specialists, Clinical Application Specialists, Clinical Sales Representatives, and related job titles may have significant sales responsibilities, but are often focused on clinical support, training and increasing the procedural usage of the Medical Devices they are representing.

For companies in Surgical Robotics, for instance, there will usually be a Capital Sales Representative selling the high-value device and a Clinical Application Specialist who will be present during most surgeries and might sell instruments or digital services with the clear goal of maximising how many surgeries are performed using the robot vs traditional methods.

Sales Representatives may also be fully remote, working as an Inside Sales Representative or Remote Sales Consultant. This was somewhat forced during the pandemic, when salespeople were not allowed to visit hospitals, and has been adopted by many companies as a mainstay. Inside Sales Reps usually sell specific parts of the portfolio such as high-volume products, digital solutions such as surgical planning software, or focus on rebuilding relationships with lapsed clients. Inside Sales can also be a very good route into Medical Device Sales, as it sometimes requires less clinical experience than a field-based role where the representative is physically in a hospital or clinic setting.

In my experience as a recruiter, there is always a large need for MedTech Sales Reps as people are promoted or go into other business areas, but most importantly, there are many opportunities linked to the introduction of new technologies and therapies.

Digital Healthcare is a massive development area for the industry. This ranges from the previously mentioned surgical planning software, to remote monitoring solutions where patients are connected and observed completely remotely by their doctor through sensors or scanners which provide data and track treatment progress, or software used logistically to optimize the administration and distribution of medicines. Diagnostically, digital solutions can have massive implications through the acceleration of diagnosis and thereby faster treatment, or equally provide surgeons with specific patient insights during surgical procedures. This is often linked to surgical robots, which are seen almost as data collectors at the service of a larger digital structure which comprises or feeds the value proposition of the company product portfolio. This is a constantly evolving and very effervescent area, sparking neologistic acronyms such as SAMD (Software as a Medical Device).

We explored digital healthcare in detail earlier this year, highlighting different aspects of the digital transformation the healthcare industry is currently experiencing.

Alright, so you’ve navigated through being a Territory Manager for a while now… what’s next? Presumably management, but it does not have to be. While it is not something I should say, you do not have to be the best salesperson in the world to be a great manager. At the same time, you will never become a people manager unless you are at least a great salesperson.

The timelines can vary significantly, some companies have very structured growth paths, starting at Associate level, going to Territory Manager, Senior Territory Manager, Area Sales Manager or Regional Sales Manager, Country Manager, Head of Sales, VP Sales, Chief Sales Officer. Some companies will offer internal training and leadership development programs to help you along the path.

Generally, after three or four successful years smashing targets, you may be lined up to pick up a managerial role. What will your managers be looking for in order to decide if you should be offered the opportunity to lead a team?

• Sales. Depending on the value of the products and expected volume, you will have a target to achieve. Your best bet is to smash that target consistently, and ensure steady, demonstrable growth of key target accounts.
• KOL management. You are a fantastic relationship builder, you are a respected voice and you are able to harness your network of Key Opinion Leaders to influence the market and establish your presence.
• Leadership Skills. This is essential and can have varied meanings. Mainly, it means that you show qualities of collaboration and integrity, letting your colleagues shine and highlight their successes, you are able to take the reins and make complex strategic decisions in unfamiliar or difficult circumstances, you relish in responsibility but are able to step off the gas when it is required.

Above all, you must demonstrate an interest in managing people and leading a team, and a clear understanding of what this entails.

Once you have been given responsibility over a team, you might be an Area (or Regional) Sales Manager. Here you must show the strategic acuity to maximise the results in your assigned region, leading and coaching the Sales Representatives to success over several years. You will still be on the field, but you should also act as a sparring partner for your reps and reinforce the company presence at important client meetings. The most important metric when considering your continued growth towards national or international responsibilities is growth, both in relation to revenue and professional development.

Revenue and a consistent increase in sales or market share will be essential, but as you grow you must also be able to improve your team as sales professionals and as people, potentially developing the next Regional Sales Manager after you get promoted to a higher leadership role (which depending on the size of the company and the country could be National Sales Manager, Head of Sales or even VP Sales).

In some instances, you may pick up other business functions or product areas as you move up the ladder, often marketing, resulting in job titles like Head of Sales and Marketing. As you reach these heights, it becomes increasingly important to have a broad understanding of the impact of each function and imprint a cohesive strategic direction through sometimes several layers of people managers responsible for totally different products or activities.

Beyond the skills we discussed earlier this year, there are several specific skills you should hone and requirements to consider in order to be successful in medtech sales.

If you are field-based, you will be travelling and visiting clients almost every day. This is a fundamental part of the job. You will usually have a company car to drive to the clients in your region, as well as travelling to industry events and conferences several times a year.

Working in the medical industry means that the ultimate beneficiary of your products is the patient. Your presence may be required late in the evening or on the weekend, all on short notice, because there has been an emergency or an urgent case that needs to be addressed imminently.

Beyond the required flexibility and involvement, it is deeply essential to have impeccable communication skills and the ability to gauge when to step on the gas and when to pull back. This is also achieved through an empathy and familiarity with the local mentality and purchasing behaviours. Selling in Switzerland may be very different to selling in the United States.

Empathy should not only be employed to glean buying signals from prospects, but also be employed in relation to the patient.

The best Reps I have met had an emphatic and contagious passion for the distribution and accessibility of the benefits provided by the products they are taking to market.

Everyone knows you’re also in it for the money, but patient wellbeing must always be the first priority.

Different strokes for different folks. Some companies will be looking for you to be an absolute hunter: you go for the jugular and follow the ABCs (Always Be Closing) constantly, for your favourite movie is Wolf of Wall Street and so on… others will instead be looking for a more consultative approach and put less pressure on the clients. This can vary significantly on where the company is from (US vs Europe, for example) or what area you are selling into. If you are introducing a new technology you may have to have a much more scientific approach and consider tens of different stakeholders for each sales process. On the other hand, if you are selling sutures or dental implants, you will be fighting tooth and nail against other determined sales reps, rubbing elbows and forcing your way through. You need to learn to be adaptable and on how to gauge your audience. 

An essential skill everyone will be looking for is a growth mindset. You are always working on improving yourself and your skillset.

Of course, some companies will also require specific certifications (also depending on which country you are in), as there may be legal requirements for you to be allowed to sell a certain product into a clinical specialty, or it may give you a massive boost to be successful if you have a strong clinical understanding of the therapy area you are involved in.

1. Live and breathe your industry: you must become an integral part of the industry. You must attend trade shows and conferences, you must speak to as many clinicians as possible to understand how they work.
2. Find yourself a clinical mentor. Befriend a surgeon, a nurse, an anesthetist, a clinic director: somebody you can learn from and see how they work in their space.
3. Get champions: you need buy-in from certain people in the institution to take your product offering and push it forward internally, even when you are not around.
4. Understand what your clients truly value. Do not come in and just “sell this pen” listing all the amazing features you are bringing to the table. Instead, listen and explore, understand what your clients truly want and truly need. Learn where their pain lies and sell against this pain. Sell solutions, not a checklist of perceived benefits.
5. Always go the extra mile. If your client is calling you about an urgent procedure and wants you there to support, GO. If you want to succeed and become the best rep out there, you must be willing to work late or on a Saturday. You need to be dependable and present, and this goes back to becoming an integral part of the industry. You don’t just show up to hit your target, you are there to support and make a difference in the lives of the clinical staff and ultimately the patients.

Artificial Intelligence is often considered a source of worry for future employment. Earlier we talked about AI in relation to recruitment, but many of the points made are quite relevant. AI can significantly reduce administrative time by automating certain tasks and helping you with things such as analysing data or with outreach (like drafting messages and emails), synthesizing large amounts of information or feeding you inbound leads.

However, sales is an area which will not be completely thrown on its head by AI. Maybe in a future where AI is completely indistinguishable from humans, there might be, but there is no alternative to being present and in front of your client. I already mentioned remote sales above, and it is not a diametrically different discussion, it is an activity which is helpful and gives another layer to the sales efforts, but you still need to be in the hospital with the clinicians and the patients.

One aspect which could be significantly altered or improved is lead generation and market analysis through AI and automation – funding alerts, new technologies being introduced, FDA approvals, hospitals expanding their departments.

At the same time, products which require less explanations, are high-volume or might be less high-tech, thereby lowering the need for physical presence – these may be purchased completely remotely through online portals, remote sales representatives, or perhaps even AI.

As discussed in the McKinsey’s Medtech Pulse report, MedTech companies invested over $42 billion in R&D in 2022 alone. This is across the board, but many of these investments were in digital healthcare, AI, robotics and the like. It is a trend which is set to continue, and will continue to accelerate. Just like sales reps will continue to be necessary, so will surgeons, nurses and radiologists: AI and robotics will continue to permeate our lives and expand the frontiers of what we are able to do or at what speed and precision, but the personal touch, the creativity and the control over the devices by clinicians will continue to be a focus.

Recently, there have been remote surgeries performed using surgical robots across continents, but at the end of the day, there is a surgeon controlling the robot.

The robot is more of an instrument than being a clinical actor. The goal is not to replace the doctors, but rather give them tools to focus on the most essential parts of their job: treating their patients.

Concretely, MedTech sales (just like being a doctor) is a great place to be to future-proof your career, and to paraphrase Stanley Kubrick: learn to stop worrying and love AI. Embrace the change and harness the power for your success.