Image via WikipediaFirst of all, you have to prepare. At the bare minimum, you better have the basics covered before you ever set foot into the interview. Polish your resume. Pharmaceutical sales is just that, a SALES job. Highlight your past experience. Noone cares that part of your daily routine is pre-call planning, seeking out new opportunities, and closing new business. These are all expected! Instead, what awards have you won? Have you ever been in the President's Club? Have you earned trips, and are you in the top 10% of the sales people in your company? Brag about your rankings in the company, and be ready to verbalize how you achieved your success.
Number two, you better have a "brag book." It's one thing to fluff up your resume, but you need documentation to support your claims. Buy a 3-ring binder. Create tabs for each section you plan to cover. These can include past field ride reports, awards, certificates of sales training, past emails from bosses, and referral letters. The content isn't even as important as just making sure you bring something with you to prove your past success.
For the actual interview, you need to structure your answers very carefully and practice answering questions with a partner before your important day. Most pharmaceutical companies want you to structure your response first by setting up the situation with a specific example. Then, speak about the actions you took to achieve a certain result. Lastly, speak confidently about the results that YOU achieved based on your actions. Remember, you are selling yourself; do NOT fall short on this, and rest assured it is completely acceptable to brag about your achievements.
It is critical for you to set yourself apart from the competition. All sales people are good with people. All sales people can develop relationships. All sales people network, work hard, follow up, and close. Do not rely on these attributes to get you the job. Every single person before and after you will have stated the same things.
At the end of the interview, close like it's your last chance to get a job before you starve. Identify any objections if there are any. Address those objections and make sure the interviewer is confident about your clarification before moving on. Otherwise, you don't get the job. Get their recommendation to move on to the next step in the process. If they are the final decision maker, ask them to give you the job if you have addressed all of their objections and they have told you that you have done well. Undoubtedly you will get a response similar to, "well, you have done a good job, but I still have other people to visit and then we have to discuss all of the candidates before making a decision." Do NOT stop here. Reiterate that they agreed you have the skills and qualifications to meet the job. Let them know you are ready to take on the roll, and you are excited about the position. Ask them to make you the offer today, and you are willing to accept. Believe me, it will feel awkward to some of you to do this, but you are competing in a fierce market. If you can't ask for the job, how can they expect you to excel in the marketplace?
There are many more details to consider when interviewing for a sales position in the medical industry. Just be professional, be on time, be confident, and ask for the job. Think of what you will say to succinctly answer questions prior to the interview, and illustrate truly unique examples that set you apart from the competition. Practice makes perfect, and if you focus on these basics, you have a significantly increased chance of landing your next job. Happy hunting, and good luck!
