Therapist changing from clinician to sales rep

Hello, I have been researching the medical device & pharmaceutical industries over the past 2-3 months as I am looking to change my career path. I see quite a bit of negativity regarding both device & pharma but I believe that can be found in any profession. I am a currently employed Physical Therapist Assistant. I believe that I have hit the ceiling financially in this career(50k-60k)avg. middle TN region. I want to make a change to put my family & myself into a better position. I have a B.S. Exercise Science with 1yr personal training/fitness consulting experience, & an A.A.S. Physical therapist assistant degree with 5 yrs. experience in the therapy field. I do not have prior B2B sales experience. FWIW, I have sold myself to my patients while providing patient edu. & demonstrated various therapy products to patients over the past 5 yrs. I am looking into medical device, medical disposables, & pharma sales. Just not sure which of those industries may be interested in an individual with my background. Definitely prefer to have job stability as I have a family. If anyone has advice or knows a PT or PTA who have converted from a clinical role to a sales role I would be interested to know the road they may have taken. Also, I've been 1099 for past 4 1/2 yrs so mostly anything that has insurance, benefits, vacation or a substantially higher income for a 1099 sales rep position would be of interest.

 

I'll be honest with you regarding device. You have no sales experience. You have little to no chance of landing a job with a good device job. Device companies are not interested in training you how to sell. I speak from a lot of experience in this area. I don't mean to be a jerk, but I am telling you the culture.

If I were you, I would take an entry level b2b sales job like selling copiers. Do it for a year, then apply for device jobs in the area where you have experience: Physical therapy devices. Then you will speak with authority and knowledge when speaking to potential customers.

 

I apologize. I realize that I have posted in the wrong category. Will a moderator plz move my original post/ thread to the job seekers category? thx

 

Ok, thank you for your reply. I respect your str8 fwd honest answer.

 

I'd look at clinical specialist type jobs that sell/demonstrate/educate things physical therapists and assistants use. DME companies need sales reps to sell bariatic beds, wheel chairs, scooters, easy lift chairs, hoyer lifts, etc. Sell continuous passive motion devices - JIM Medical, Dynasplint. Sell braces for Breg, DonJoy. Also you can sell physical therapy services - google physical therapy sales for job ideas - there's a national chain in my area that's always looking for outside sales reps to generate referrals to their clinics You could also sell gym equipment like treadmills, weights, circuit training, etc. Do physical therapists use special software programs? These types of jobs could be a stepping stone to medical device sales and use your current skill set. You can get into pharmaceutical sales if you're persistent even without sales experience - the key is to network with reps in your area - build a relationship - ask for an informational interview - ask to do a ride along and/or preceptorship - ask the reps to forward your resume to their district manager - rinse and repeat. Just a few ideas to get you thinking.

 

I am the device guy that posted above. Do yourself a serious favor and avoid pharma altogether. Your time is better spent selling a service (as suggested above) or copiers/payroll/uniforms or some other entry level stepping stone sales job to get into selling a good device.

You will get stuck in pharma with a difficult path to get out.The increase in salary will keep you there, but pharma is a sad existence. Very few people like the day to day of a drug rep.

 

In response to posts #5 and #6, thank you as well.

As far as pharma goes, I have recently received contact info from a rep wanting me to do compound cream sales. I have not heavily pursued this option for fear of heading down a dead-end road. The increase in pay would be nice, as I am obviously looking to increase my income, but I absolutely do not want to get stuck as you mentioned. I could be wrong but pharma appears to be more cut throat as well.

To answer your question about software, ... yes, I currently use a system called HomeCare HomeBase w/ my home health job. It's a garbage system. Not user friendly. Have also used a Meditech system while I was in school & another system @ a SNF several yrs ago.

I have & will continue to look into the clinical specialist jobs. I wasn't sure if a DME company would hire someone with no sales experience but I feel my knowledge & use of many DME items would hopefully hold some value.


Off topic question, how much paperwork/ computer documentation is involved in the sales side of things? .....in my area, it is getting worse every week it seems in regards to patient payor sources wanting more & more. Currently working about 30 hrs a week while trying to document on computer when working with patient, but then spending another 10-12 hrs working on computer @ home (which I do not get paid for).

 

This response is a couple of years late but I wanted to post this to future physical therapist thinking about switching to medical sales. I am proof that it can be done. I was a physical therapist for 3 years at an outpatient clinic and made the move to selling DME equipment. It is a very hard transition to make because I found that sales people like the ones above believe that their is no correlation between PT and sales. I honestly found switching to sales to be really easy. My knowledge base was so much higher than all of my other coworkers that were coming from a sales background. You obviously have to have the personality for sales. But if you're already a physical therapist you can most likely talk to people and hold a conversation. The medical professionals you are selling to want a sales person that knows what their talking about not someone that's just coming from sales that has no idea how the device or equipment can help the patient. I found the hardest part to be just getting the job. Once I got the job it was easy. Keep pushing to make the transition it can be done, but like the above posters stated it is probably easier to get a job selling DME or a job that has to deal directly with physical therapy products.

 

Wow, this is awesome... thanks for sharing. I have been a PT for 8 years and I am looking for a change. I realize much more now that one of my best traits is my personality and ability to communicate with people/build relationships. It has become much more clear to me that I should start heading down the road of sales/liaison type work. I realize you made an anonymous post but I would love to hear more about your journey and some of what you are doing now after your life as a PT.

Please email me if you ever see this and wish to connect.
collinspt22 at gmail dot com

 

I, too, am 8 years PT and looking to transition to something more lucrative. I love being a PT because I love people. I can hold a conversation about nothing forever. I can also be very convincing. I do know my personality will be very appropriate for the sales sector, but not sure where to start. Love this thread. Thanks everyone for contributing. I am going to continue looking into this until I feel comfortable pulling the trigger! Anyone with further info or suggestions: angielala87@yahoo.com

 

Absolutely true!! Pharma is run like the military (the reason they like former military people) because they want people who will message a specific way and follow orders. They do not want independent thinkers and if your DM decides he/she doesn't like you, you are gone. The money is great but the culture is very stressful.

 

I’m so glad I saw this post! I’m a PTA with 19 years experience. I too am looking to make a change because I’ve reached the ceiling of salary. A company could hire a new grad PT for what I get paid. I’m gonna take the advice and look into DME sales. I would love to hear back from the person who wrote original post to see if they were successful in making the transition and anyone else who has made the career change. Feel free to email hitch1128@hotmail.com