How much should I negotiate for a base salary in a medical device field as a sales rep?
The answer is; as much as you can get. This is a really hard question to answer because there is such a range between companies and what type of device it is you are selling. Typically if the device is a consumable device or something that a rep would sell higher volumes of the base salary is going to be much lower with a greater variable component because they want to incent you to be out there driving business. If it is a higher ticket item like say an MRI machine which most likely has longer sales cycles, and whereas each rep may only sell a few “units” per year, then your base will be higher with a smaller upside potential on the variable component of the overall compensation package. Like most risk / reward situations the more there is at risk the higher the opportunity for reward, so if you are confident in your sales ability, I wouldn’t worry so much about negotiating a high base salary but ask for higher commission percentage on the amount of revenue you bring to the company.
