Benchmarking Study: Pay Premiums for Specialty Pharmaceutical Sales
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February 19, 2025
RevenueShift recently conducted a custom benchmarking study of pharmaceutical sales forces that call on specialty healthcare professionals (HCPs). We collected data from 30 organizations’ sales and sales operations executives. Our survey focused on organizational structure, headcount, sales compensation, quotas and incentive design. We uncovered some insightful findings.
One question asked respondents about the relative pay of specialty representatives in a given specialty compared to all other specialty representatives at the company. Overall, there seems to be limited differentiation.
New York and San Francisco saw the highest geographic pay premiums, with more than half of respondents adding some premium to base pay for those markets. The average premium in those markets was 107%, with Los Angeles following close behind at 105%. The most common premium for those markets was 106%–110%, with only a few companies exceeding 110%. Companies use geographic premiums less for sales than for other roles.
Caps are common across the sample, with 40% of companies using them. For organizations that employ caps, the most common one is 2x, while some companies use 2.5x or even 3x.
Average annual quotas vary widely
Across the sample, about 35% of sellers were below 90% quota achievement, while 65% were at 90% or better. This implies about a 50/50 mix of sellers hitting their targets. The distribution is similar to last year’s data.
The numbers between the two years are very similar, with the 4% increase in sellers hitting 110%–124% being the biggest difference. It appears that most companies look to establish quotas that roughly half their sellers will exceed.
This study turned up some expected results and some less-than-expected results. To learn more, please contact us. We’re happy to dig into the data behind any pharmaceutical sales question. We look to partner with our clients to create pragmatic, analytics-led solutions that meet challenges at their foundation.
