Sales
Sales careers provide a huge variety of options at all levels, from entry level roles such as working in a call centre to very senior roles managing large teams of staff. Typical job titles might include Sales Executive, Sales Consultant, Sales Representative, Business Development Executive, Account Executive, Client Acquisition Executive, Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, Territory Manger, Sales Director, Business Development Director and many more. Jobs in Sales are available at all levels, from entry level roles such as working as part of a team in a call centre to very senior roles as Business Development Director responsible for managing large teams of Business Development staff.
Sales and Business Development Executives are employed by many businesses across the public and private sectors to increase the demand for, and sales of the company’s products or services. Within the Life Sciences sector business development executives which typically be selling medical, pharmaceutical, biotech and research supplies and services.
The role of a Sales Executive will usually be fast paced, target driven, pressurised and varied. Typical responsibilities for a Sales Executive might include identifying potential new clients and business opportunities, building relationships with clients and ensuring that their needs are understood and negotiating with them to ensure that the deal is closed by offering them solutions. Business Development Executives will also usually need to maintain a database of clients and prospects using a CRM such as Salesforce, create and maintain business development plans which will include forecasting annual targets and identifying new opportunities for sales campaigns.
Skills & Qualifications/Experience required for a career in Sales
Most Sales roles in the Life Sciences sector will require a degree in a Life Science or related subject. However, academic qualifications are often less important than personality, attitude and abilities. Typical attributes required include:-
- The ability and desire to sell
- Resilience, tenacity and the ability to cope with rejection
- Persuasive and
- Goal-oriented with a high degree of self-motivation and ambition
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills; the ability to call, interact, influence and persuade potential customers
- Able to multitask, prioritise and manage time efficiently
- Ability to work independently or as an active member of a team
- Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel) and CRM/Salesforce experience preferred
Career progression
Sales roles are target driven in most cases and promotion is usually based on results, meaning that rapid progress and early promotion is common for high performers. A typical career path could be from Sales Executive to Sales Team Leader through Sales Manager and on to Sales Director. Salaries, commission and other performance related bonuses mean that Sales/Business Development careers can be very lucrative.
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Greater London is usually considered as a separate region, although it too is obviously located in the South East, bordering Kent, West Sussex, Surrey and East Sussex.
Major towns and cities in the South East of the UK include Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester, Crawley, Reading, Milton Keynes, Horsham, Farnham and Worthing. The South East of the UK is an economic hub and is second only to London in terms of its economy thanks in part to the location of Gatwick Airport in West Sussex and numerous Channel ports on the Kent coast.
Many global companies have their UK Headquarters in the South East of the UK, including a concentration of technology companies along the “M4 corridor” and numerous technology, clinical research, pharmaceutical, biotech, life science and engineering companies are located in the various counties comprising the South East of the UK.
The 'golden triangle' is the world-leading life sciences cluster of London, Oxford, Cambridge and England's greater south east.
This region is a hotbed of innovation, home to:
Four of the world's top 10 universities
Five our of seven of the UK's academic health science centres
Leading medical research institutes including hte Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the national Cell Therapy Catapult, focusing on stem cell research and industrialisation.
The golden triangle is being boosted further by a wave of significant new investment, including:
The Francis Crick Institute - bringing together 1,500 scientist under one roof
Imperial West - co0locating researchers and businesses on 25 acres.
UCL East - a cross-discipline enterprise and innovation centre focused on health and biological technologies on the site of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The Institute of Cancer Research - creating the world's second largest cancer research campus in south London.
AstraZeneca's Global R&D Centre - bringing together 2,000 employees in Cambridge.
South-East England is a great place to further your career in life sciences. If you are a looking for pharmaceutical jobs in the South East, scientific careers in the South East or want to discuss cell therapy, gene therapy, ATMP, medical device, technology, biotech or pharmaceutical job opportunities inthe South East, give our Next Phase team a call. The London area is continuing to expand as a centre for jobs in science, process development, technology, software development, project management, informatics, quality, reg affairs and supply chain.
At Next Phase we help people find new jobs in life sciences across the UK, Europe and USA. This page lists some of the job opportunities in London, and if you give us a call we can also talk to you about other scientific jobs, pharmaceutical career opportunities and the latest updates in cell and gene therapy and ATMP development in the area.
