Pharmaceutical sales experience for Marketing success

While many prospective Pharmaceutical Marketers are looking to skip Pharmaceutical Sales as part of their career path, it is a critical step. Here are some reasons why;

1. Once you are in Marketing, you need to understand your target market's needs and prescribing behavior inside-out. Sure, market research will give you some insight into this, but market research cannot replace the first-hand insights you get from interacting with your target market as a pharmaceutical sales rep.

2. When you're in Marketing, it is vital that you have credibility with your sales force. As a marketer, you must 'sell' your plan to the sales reps, since they are the ones who will then go out and implement your plan with their physicians. Without sales experience, there is a risk that the reps' faith in you will be less than ideal. The reps may feel that if you have never sold to a physician, how can you help them to sell to their physician customers? Poor sales force implementation = poor sales results for your brand.

3. If you are planning on climbing that corporate ladder, one of your final career goals is to become a Director or VP of a Sales & Marketing team. Notice how the two words 'Sales' and 'Marketing' go together? It would be quite a stumbling block to move into this kind of role without at least some sales experience. To get into this level, you typically need sales management experience, which you will only get if you get experience as a rep first.