Questions to Ask in a Medical Sales Interview
For candidates interviewing for a medical device or pharmaceutical sales job: questions to ask the hiring manager, the recruiter and the rep you ride with for a day. The list opens with five to ask whoever you meet, then follows the order the decision usually takes: the product and its competitors, the territory and its call points, what the days involve, quota and pay, and training and the team. Each question has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like, or on who is best placed to give it.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Ask first
Which products would I carry, and where does each one stand against its main competitor?
Why ask it
A useful answer names the rival and says plainly where this line wins and where it loses, whether on clinical data, price or contract position. Being told there is no real competition is not an answer. Put the same question to the rep on the ride-along and compare the two.
Why is this territory open, and where is the rep who had it now?
Why ask it
Promoted, moved to a bigger territory, gone to a competitor or let go: each one starts you somewhere different. If the last rep now sells against you nearby, ask which relationships went with them. If the seat has sat empty or the territory is newly drawn, find out who has been looking after the accounts in the meantime.
How many reps in the region finished at or above plan last year?
Why ask it
If most did, the quotas are within reach and the plan pays. If only a few did, the earnings figure in the posting describes a small group. Where the last rep in this territory finished is the natural follow-up.
What does training look like before I am in front of a customer on my own?
Why ask it
Listen for three parts: study of the product and the anatomy or disease area, time at a training site, and weeks in the field beside an experienced rep. Ask how long each lasts and whether there is a test at the end. If the plan is a few days of online modules and a product bag, you would be learning in front of customers.
What does a normal week look like for a rep in this territory, including the driving?
Why ask it
The manager's version tells you what is expected. For the lived one, ask the rep on the ride-along, in the car, where nobody is rushing the answer: when the day starts, how far apart the accounts are and when the paperwork gets done.
Product
Which product in the bag carries most of the number, and is it gaining or losing share?
Why ask it
A bag often has one product that makes the quota and several that fill it out. If the main one is slipping or coming off a contract, you would be defending a number, which is a harder first year than growing one. Two years of trend is enough to tell which it is.
Is this job with the manufacturer, or with a distributor that carries several companies' lines?
Why ask it
Both arrangements exist in device sales, and they are different jobs. With a distributor you may carry several makers' products, and some reps are independent contractors and not employees, so ask who pays for benefits, expenses and training. The recruiter should be able to say which this is before the first interview.
Is a launch, a new indication or a next-generation version expected in my first year or two?
Why ask it
A launch can make a territory, and a delayed one can leave you selling the old model against a competitor's new one. Listen for dates and for what the timing depends on, such as an approval still to come. An exciting pipeline with no dates attached is not something to plan a first year around.
When a customer stays with the competitor, what reason do they give?
Why ask it
This is the objection you would hear every week, so get it from the manager before you hear it from a surgeon or a prescriber. The best answers are specific and come with what reps say in reply. Blaming the customers for not understanding the product means you can expect little help with the objection.
Is the product priced above or below the competitor, and who can approve a discount?
Why ask it
Carrying the premium product and carrying the cheaper one are different conversations with a purchasing department. Find out how far a rep can move on price alone, how long an approval above that takes, and whether a discounted sale pays the same commission.
Which contracts, formularies or purchasing agreements decide whether an account can buy from us at all?
Why ask it
In many accounts the sale is settled by a contract or a formulary position long before a rep walks in. How that works differs by company, product and health system, so ask which accounts here are open, which are committed to you and which are committed elsewhere. A list full of accounts that cannot buy is a different job from the one in the posting.
What clinical evidence do reps lean on most, and where is it thin?
Why ask it
You would be asked for data by people who read it for a living, so it helps to hear now where a competitor has the better study. Ask as well what reps are and are not permitted to say about the product. That is set by the company and its regulator, so let them explain their own rules.
Have there been backorders, supply problems or recalls on this line in the last couple of years?
Why ask it
A rep with nothing to deliver spends the quarter apologizing, and under many plans pay follows what ships. A calm account of what happened and what changed since is a good sign. A claim that it has never happened is worth checking with the rep in the field.
Territory
What are the boundaries of the territory, and which accounts in it are buying from us now?
Why ask it
Ask for the account list or a map, not a description. What you are after is how much of the number is existing business to keep and how much is accounts still to win, because those are two different jobs. A territory where nobody can say which accounts are active has not been watched closely.
Where did this territory rank against the others in the region last year?
Why ask it
A bottom-ranked territory can be a real opening or a place where good reps keep failing, and the ranking alone does not say which. The follow-up is why it sits where it does: the rep, the accounts, a lost contract or the way the lines were drawn.
Who are the call points for this product: surgeons, physicians, nurses, purchasing, office staff?
Why ask it
The answer tells you whose time you would be asking for and where you would be standing when you ask. Operating room and procedure lab roles put you beside clinicians at work, while office-based roles often mean getting past a front desk for a few minutes with a prescriber. Find out which of those people the strongest reps spend the most time with.
Who signs off on a purchase, and how long does that take once a clinician has said yes?
Why ask it
A surgeon wanting a product and a hospital buying it can be months apart, with a committee and a purchasing department in between. Have the manager describe the last new account from first conversation to first order. However long that story runs is about how long your first sale would take.
How do reps get access to the hospitals and offices in this territory?
Why ask it
Each facility sets its own terms: a registration system, a badge, required training, appointments only, or no reps at all. Ask which accounts here are easy to get into and which are closed, and who pays for any registration. Closed accounts on the list ought to show up as a lower quota, so check whether they do.
Which three accounts matter most to the number, and how secure is each one?
Why ask it
Territories are often carried by a handful of customers, sometimes one surgeon or one practice. The follow-up is what happens to the quota if that customer retires, moves or switches. A quick, worked-out answer means the risk has been thought about, and a pause means you are the first to raise it.
Would I share this territory with a counterpart, a clinical specialist or an associate rep, and how is credit divided?
Why ask it
Pharmaceutical reps often work the same offices as a partner, and device reps may work beside a clinical specialist or hand cases to an associate. Find out who else calls on your accounts, who sets the plan for each one and whether a shared sale pays both of you in full. It is reasonable to ask to meet that person before you accept, since you would see more of them than of the manager.
Is the territory due to be split, expanded or realigned, and when did the lines last move?
Why ask it
Realignment can take accounts away after you have built them. Ask how often it has happened and whether the quota moved with the accounts. An answer of 'we look at it every year' deserves one more question about what changed the last time.
The days
How much of the job is covering cases, and what does the rep do in the room?
Why ask it
In many device roles the rep is present during procedures to support the team on the product, and that can fill most of the week. What a rep may do in the room is set by the company and by each facility, so have them describe it. If cases take up the whole calendar, ask when the selling happens.
How early do cases start, and how much notice is there when one is added?
Why ask it
Early starts and next-day additions shape everything outside work, from childcare to sleep. The rep's account is the one to trust here, so have them take you through last week one day at a time.
Is there on-call coverage for nights, weekends and holidays, and how is it shared out?
Why ask it
Trauma and emergency lines can mean a phone that rings at any hour. Find out how the rotation works, how often the call really comes and whether call time is paid separately or treated as part of the job, since employers differ. A team that shares it fairly can describe the schedule without stopping to think.
Who covers my cases and accounts when I am on vacation or out sick?
Why ask it
A named colleague or an associate rep means time off is real. If the answer is that reps tend to stay reachable, it is not, and that is better heard before you accept. On the ride-along, ask when the rep last took a full week away.
How many nights away from home does this territory take in a typical month?
Why ask it
Geography decides this more than the job title: a city territory may need none, and one spread over a wide rural area may need a few every week. Count the driving too, since four hours a day behind the wheel is travel even when you sleep at home. Training weeks and national meetings come on top.
How much inventory would I be responsible for, and where is it kept?
Why ask it
Device reps often handle instrument trays, implants or loaner sets, which can mean early deliveries, late pickups and stock stored at home. Ask who moves it, who counts it and what happens when the count is off. If the role carries drug samples instead, ask how those are signed for and stored here.
How much of the week goes to call logging, reports and expenses?
Why ask it
Every field job has some. What matters is whether it is an hour on Friday or an hour every night after dinner. The rep can tell you which of it the manager actually reads.
What do you wish you had known before you took this job?
Why ask it
This one is for the rep, late in the ride-along, once the day has loosened up. It tends to bring out what the formal interviews leave unsaid, such as how long a full commission check took to arrive or what the hours cost at home. Keep what you hear to yourself when you next see the manager.
Quota and pay
What is the quota for this territory, and how was that figure arrived at?
Why ask it
Put two figures side by side: what the territory sold last year and what it is being asked for this year. A big jump with no new product, contract or account behind it needs an explanation, and so does a number that turns out to be the regional target split evenly among the reps.
Is my number measured on my own sales, or on something like market share or prescriptions in the territory?
Why ask it
In some roles, pharmaceutical ones especially, the number comes from prescription or market share data that arrives weeks later, not from orders a rep can see. Ask which report it comes from, how often you would see it and how a rep disputes a figure that looks wrong. Visits or call counts are sometimes scored as well, so find out how much they weigh.
How is pay divided between base salary and commission, and what did a rep in the middle of the team earn last year?
Why ask it
The mix runs from mostly salary with a bonus to commission only, and it differs between companies and between device and pharmaceutical roles. The middle rep's earnings are the useful figure; the top rep's are the ones that get quoted. When nobody will name a middle number, a range is a fair thing to ask for.
Is commission paid from the first dollar, or only on growth above last year's baseline?
Why ask it
Two plans with the same rate can pay very differently. On a growth plan, a mature territory can mean working hard to keep business that earns you little. Have them run last year's territory results through this year's plan and show you the check.
What has to happen before commission is paid: the order, the shipment, the case or the customer's payment?
Why ask it
The trigger decides how long you wait and who else can hold up your check. A plan that pays only when the invoice is settled ties your income to a hospital's accounts department. The figure to leave with is the usual gap between a sale and the money.
Is there a guarantee or a draw while I build the territory, and how long does it last?
Why ask it
The two words get mixed up in conversation. A guarantee is normally income you keep, while a draw can be an advance to be earned back, so ask which this is and what the first check after it ends has looked like for other new reps. Whatever the answer, have it written into the offer.
Is the quota reduced while I ramp up, and when am I measured against the full number?
Why ask it
Sales cycles in this field can be long, so a full quota in month four may be out of reach whatever you do. Ask how long recent hires took to reach plan and whether the ramp schedule was built from that. Then check that the pay guarantee, if there is one, covers the same months.
Is there a ceiling on what a rep can earn, and what happened after the last very big year on this team?
Why ask it
A cap is one answer. A split territory or a much higher quota the following year is another, and it never appears in the plan. One real example tells you more than the policy as written.
Is there a company car or a car allowance, and which expenses are reimbursed?
Why ask it
A field job runs through your car, your phone and sometimes your own credit card. Go through mileage, fuel, tolls, parking, facility registration fees and travel, and ask how long repayment takes. Spending on customers is limited by company policy and local rules, so ask what applies here before you assume anything.
Can I read the compensation plan, and any non-compete agreement, before I accept?
Why ask it
This is a recruiter question for when an offer is close. The plan document governs your pay whatever was said across the table, and a non-compete may limit which products and accounts you could sell to after you leave. What such an agreement can restrict depends on where you live, so read the actual text and get your own advice if it worries you.
Training and team
How do new reps without a clinical background learn the anatomy, the procedure or the disease area?
Why ask it
Ask for a person, not a program: someone who came from outside healthcare, and what their first six months were like. If you are a clinician moving into sales, turn it around and ask how they teach selling. Either way, expect to hear about a lot of evenings spent studying.
Who decides a new rep is ready to cover a case or run a call alone, and what do they check?
Why ask it
Sign-off by a trainer or manager who has watched you work is the reassuring answer. Leaving it to when you feel comfortable sounds kind but can mean nobody checks. The ride-along rep will remember their own first solo day, so ask how it went.
Who do I call when a surgeon or prescriber asks something clinical that I cannot answer?
Why ask it
There should be a name: a clinical specialist, a medical affairs contact or a senior rep. Questions that go beyond the approved material generally have to be passed along, and the company will have a rule for how, so ask what it is.
How often would you ride with me in the first six months, and what happens on those days?
Why ask it
Riding along often and talking through each call afterwards is coaching. Appearing mainly at the end of a weak quarter is inspection. The current reps can tell you which kind this manager does.
If I brought a 30-60-90 day plan for this territory, what would you want in the first 30 days?
Why ask it
Candidates in medical sales are often asked for a plan like this, and some bring one unasked. The manager's answer lets you fix yours before the final round: whether the first month is meant for training and a product test, or for meeting every account on the list. If sales are expected in month one, set that beside what you were told about ramp.
What happens when a new rep is behind at the six-month mark?
Why ask it
Hope to hear about more field time, a fresh look at the account plan and an honest view of the territory. If a performance plan is the first thing mentioned, new hires are being managed by the calendar.
How many reps have left this team in the last two years, and where did they go?
Why ask it
Some turnover is normal in sales, so look at the pattern. Reps promoted or moved to bigger territories reads well; several leaving for the same competitor, or leaving the industry, does not. An agency recruiter can often say how many times this same seat has been filled.
How long have you managed this region, and what did you sell before that?
Why ask it
Someone who carried this product in these accounts can coach from experience and make introductions. One who arrived last quarter may be good but cannot yet say how the region behaves. Their own boss's tenure matters too, because a change above often brings a change of plan.
What do your top reps do in a week that the middle of the team does not?
Why ask it
A specific reply hands you a working method: where the best reps spend their hours, how early they arrive, which staff they know by name. Hearing only that they work harder gives you nothing to copy. Ten minutes with one of them, if the manager will arrange it, is worth asking for.
If I start as an associate rep, what is the path to my own territory, and how long has it taken others?
Why ask it
Some device companies start newcomers in a support role, covering cases for a senior rep on a salary. Ask how many associates were promoted in the last two years, how long each waited and what became of the ones who were not. Skip this one if the role is a full territory from day one.
Will I spend a day in the field with a rep before a decision is made?
Why ask it
A ride-along is a familiar step in medical sales hiring, and it is as much your look at the job as their look at you. If one is not offered, ask the recruiter for it, ideally with a rep whose territory resembles the open one. A refusal is something to weigh.
Is there any reason you would not move me forward for this territory?
Why ask it
In a sales interview this doubles as the close, and many managers notice whether a candidate asks for it. Answer the concern once, briefly, with an example. Then ask what the next step is and when it will happen.
How to ask across the recruiter, the manager and the ride-along
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Sort the questions by who can answer them
A medical sales process usually puts you in front of three people. The recruiter knows the pay structure, the stages and why the seat is open. The hiring manager knows the product's position, the territory, the quota and how new reps are trained. The rep on the ride-along knows what the days are really like. Product, Territory and the training questions are mostly for the manager, The days belongs to the rep, and the written details under Quota and pay go through the recruiter once an offer is near. The five under Ask first are worth putting to all three.
Know whether it is a device or a pharmaceutical role
The two jobs share a name and little else. Device roles often involve case coverage, inventory and on-call hours, and pay tends to lean on commission. Pharmaceutical roles more often mean office calls, limited time with prescribers and a salary with a bonus. Neither description holds for every company, so drop the questions that plainly do not fit the role in front of you and ask about the rest.
Read up on the product line first
Look at the company's product pages, the main competitors and any recent news of a launch or a recall before you walk in. Then your first question can start from what you found: 'I saw the new version was cleared last year. How has it changed the conversation in accounts that use the competitor?' That shows preparation and gets a better answer than asking what the company sells.
Pick five and decide what would worry you
You will not get through the whole list in one sitting. The five under Ask first are a fair default, one for each part of the job; swap in whichever you most need answered, and write beside each the reply that would make you hesitate. In the room, a confident manager is easy to agree with, and a note made the night before is harder to talk yourself out of.
On the ride-along
Treat it as an interview in both directions
The rep is likely to be asked afterwards what they thought of you, so the day counts. It is also your one chance to see the territory, the accounts and the hours without a filter. Arrive early, dress as the rep tells you to, and bring your questions in your head, not on a sheet.
Ask in the car, watch in the account
The drive between calls is where a rep talks freely. Inside a hospital or an office, stay quiet, follow the rep's lead and the facility's rules, and expect to wait outside for some calls or cases. Watch how staff greet the rep, how long they wait, who they speak to and who waves them through. Anything you see or hear about a patient stays in the building.
Ask about last week, not about the job in general
'What are the hours like?' gets a summary. 'What time did you start on Tuesday, and when were you home?' gets the truth. The same goes for on-call nights, cases added at short notice and how long the first full commission check took to arrive.
Keep the rep's confidence
If a rep tells you something candid about the plan, the manager or the territory, use it to shape what you ask the manager, without saying where it came from. Repeating it costs the rep, and the manager will wonder what you would repeat to a customer.
Reading the answers
Numbers beat adjectives
'A strong territory' and 'great earning potential' tell you nothing. What the territory sold last year, what it is being asked for this year, how many reps finished at plan and what the middle rep earned are the answers that count. Someone who gives figures readily is usually describing something real.
Set the three accounts side by side
Ask the recruiter, the manager and the rep the same two or three questions: why the seat is open, how long new reps take to reach plan, what the hours are. Small differences are normal. Where the stories part widely, the rep's version is the closest to what you would live with.
Leave room for what depends on the employer
Pay plans, on-call arrangements, expense rules, access to facilities and what a rep may say about a product all differ by company and by place. An answer that held at your last employer, or that a friend in the industry gave you, may not hold here. Ask how it works in this company and this territory, and get anything that affects your pay in writing.
Mistakes to avoid
Opening with pay in front of the manager
Commission matters and a sales manager expects you to care about it. Leading with it, before a single question about the product or the accounts, suggests you have not thought about how the money is earned. Ask about the territory and the quota first, since the pay questions follow naturally from those.
Skipping the hours because the job sounds exciting
Case coverage, early starts and on-call weekends are the parts of a device job that are hardest to judge from outside, so ask about them plainly. Raising them is not a sign of low commitment. Framed as wanting to plan properly for the job, it reads as someone who intends to stay.
Taking the top rep's income as the offer
Recruiters and postings tend to quote what the best year looked like. A first year is more likely to sit near the middle of the team, and during the ramp it may sit below that. Base your decision on the middle figure and the guarantee, and treat anything above them as upside.
Leaving without asking for the next step
The interview is partly a test of whether you can close. Ending with thanks and a handshake, and no question about their doubts or what happens next, can count against an otherwise good candidate for a sales job.