I had a question from one of my YouTube videos this week from someone who is interested in getting into medical sales and wanted to know if she should invest the time and money into a NAMSR (National Association of Medical Sales Representatives) training program. They (and many others you can find online) offer medical sales training for various areas for fees that can range anywhere from $300-$1000, depending on your professional level and area of interest. You can then put that training certification on your resume, and (in theory) get a jump over other candidates. So, she wanted to know if I thought a medical or pharmaceutical sales training program would be valuable for her.

On one hand, I think that all training is valuable, and many people do it. I’ve had a candidate who invested $5000 of her own money for training. I personally don’t think anyone needs to invest that much, though. You do need to invest a lot of time and energy—read a lot ( sales books, on motivation and technique), listen, ride along, work with some folks who have had that experience. But– is the training valuable? Yes. Does it show initiative? Yes. Does it show commitment? Yes. I like all those things.

On the other side, it doesn’t really differentiate you from another candidate if, when you get on the phone or get to the interview, you’re not as strong as the other candidate. So, you might want to think about doing those things that will make you stronger than the other candidate when you interview. Polish your interview skills. Practice phone interviews. Have a 30/60/90-day sales plan.

I do provide custom consulting services as a medical sales recruiter, so that you can see what YOU need to shore up in your own situation to make the cut. Just this week, I helped someone who wants to be promoted to Regional Sales Manager within his company. He contacted me and purchased a little of my time this week for me to help him look at his resume and his 30-60-90 day sales plan and also to talk to him about how to handle certain interview questions. So, you might want to think about investing some time and money in that way, because an hour with someone like myself who can talk you through the interview process, who can role play with you, might be more beneficial than that training sticker is.

Because, when the rubber meets the road on the first phone interview with the recruiter, and the first phone interview with the company, if you don’t do well with those two things… it doesn’t really matter how well-trained you are in any area of medical sales , laboratory sales , biotech sales , medical device sales , or pharmaceutical sales .

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap , a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.