An Open Letter to Accentia

[Anonymous]

I believe there is still hope for TEAMM to become a functional part of Accentia. The list of actions will not be easy to execute but at this point there is no choice.

1) Do away with the TEAMM name and call the company Accentia.

2) Bring in a senior management team that has experience building companies, raising capital, evaluating in-license opportunities and rewarding commercial success. The RTP area is filled with executives that have built small companies. While many of the executives will have ties to Glaxo, many of these people have spent a large amount of their careers building small companies. Look at a company like Salix, this company has evolved to be relatively successful. Until Accentia brings in its own management, TEAMM will always play the role of the red-headed stepchild.

3) At the same time there will need to be a very careful evaluation of the sales organization. At this point the sales team has become filled with people with a high degree of animosity toward TEAMM and its management. With the right management maybe some of these people can be turned around, but you'll need to make some hard decisions about which reps stay and which go.

4) Build a planning and budgeting infrastructure that will allow sales and marketing to grow. Develop a plan & budget and stick with it. The Finance group needs to ensure that there is money to pay for rep expenses, sales force bonuses, key suppliers and to reward exceptional performance. Right now budgeting is very lose and vendors have to fight for payment (many reps also feel that they need to fight for payment). Many suppliers are refusing to do business with us because we don't pay. Not being able to pay seems like a breakdown in budgeting.

5) This company will never be successful if it continues to point fingers. Small companies rely on everyone doing their job. Big pharma has 3-4 people doing the same job, if one person doesn't get it done the other 3 can back them up. Small pharma doesn't have this luxury. When everyone is looking to see what the other guy is doing wrong it's counter-productive to a small company's ability to grow.

6) Be patient with MD Turbo. Building a brand in this business takes time and an ongoing commitment. Everybody wants everything immediately. Sales reps want MC coverage, management want sales. This all takes time and a committed marketing effort. MC coverage does not create market demand, it removes barriers to prescribing. MC coverage is important but it won't happen overnight and neither will sales.

I feel certain this list will evoke someone to write a ridiculous response, I only hope that those that can impact change will take it seriously.

[Anonymous]

I agree....I would go at this 110% if we could get a commitment that was preceeded by action. THAT MEANS DO SOMETHING FOR THE REPS BEFORE YOU REQUEST THE REPS DO MORE FOR YOU. This company, and the very high upper level management have not shown that they could lead a starving fat kid from the stove to the dinner table even after the food is cooked. I am amazed by the lack of leadership skills that most of these so called "senior management" individuals possess.

I understand the necessity for tight lips.....I understand the reasoning for not giving the sales force the "behind the scenes" information.....I understand why we get the same song and dance every voicemail. All that being said, no one...I mean no one... in this company should expect a sales rep to all of a sudden get committed to this ship, without an incentive. Bonuses have been late for years! Do you realize that this group has not paid a bonus on time in over 6 quarters? If we went out and sold 10,000 MDTurbo's today, when do you think you are going to get paid?.... Next October? So for the next year I will again work for this measly salary? C'mon...get real. Remember, "once we go public, all of our financial troubles will no longer be an issue?" Surely the management of a company pushing hydrocodone would know that tougher days were still ahead. Surely they knew there would be financial hardships when trying to launch a product that has actual expenses.....not like a generic drug that costs peanuts to register and manufacter.

Here are the nuts and bolts: This company has not rewarded any representative in this company for hard work - in a timely manner. This company has not delivered on any promises - yet. Other than employees getting a paycheck..thats it. People can get paychecks anywhere.... The only reason this company still has an employee is because the hassle for finding a new company is a pain in the rear end.

As far as us going under Accentia and new management coming in and everthing is going to be rosey and.....

Forget about it. This company had a chance to salvage the positions for their employees...and they blew it. Congrats....SOME of you boys in the home office are the definition of incompetant.

Boys and girls.....bet your kids college fund on this:

When this is all said and done: the people making the decisions are going to be paid...whether you have a job or not. How likely do you REALLY think they are to have your best interests at heart? I think the answer to that question is obvious.

[Anonymous]

I would really like to congratulate the person that posted the "Open Letter to Accentia." It is nice to see someone share their feelings in a positive manner without bashing individuals or using uneducated language.

I too beleive in many of the things you stated in your post. There are a lot of things wrong with this organization but there are also a lot of outstanding individuals who have devoted a lot of time and energy into this company. They are hanging on hoping that it works out. It's absolutely insane to ask any thing more of the sales representatives. They have literally been stretched to the max. But I believe if they put some measures in place to assure on time expense reimbursement or even corporate credit cards, along with a bonus plan that allows us to make big bonuses like we used to and then deliver with on time payments we would change our attitudes.

At the end of the day people want to be treated right. They want to know their job is secure and they want to be justly rewarded. If Accentia could do that with whatever senior management they so choose then we could have an outstanding organiztion. One that all of us would be proud to work for. It's time for a change in our culture. A change in the way we do our business.

[Anonymous]

I have two things to add:

#1) Get a better managed care team organized. The two people currently just aren't getting the job done, and why would they?! They've never been trained and are left to their own devices. We need someone with a network of contacts in the managed care realm leading and training the pack and 5 more people working on those accounts.

#2) To those reps you feel cannot be "turned around", please offer them a severance package. It's not their fault they've turned bitter and angry and can't reverse back to "happy go lucky". It's Teamm's fault and the upper management that made them that way. We've been in the trenches and front lines for this company. We've been the face of Teamm since the beginning and have been fed lies and crap for far too long. The people who were severed previously only received 1 additional paycheck. That's crummy and a slap in the face for the hard work and effort we've given you long past when you deserved it.

[Anonymous]

As I see it, for anything possitive to take affect, it is absolutely necessary for current senior sales management to be purged. There are very talented and committed individuals at TEAMM. However, GC and DB have got to go. They offer nothing. In fact their presence actually has a very negative affect on the sales force and its morale. Not to mention the fact that the results they've posted are pretty pathetic.

Marty should be severed and allowed to pursue his passion for real estate. (Doesn't he spend most of his time doing this anyway?) I also agree with the above poster that the so called managed care dept. needs to be replaced with outside people who possess established relationships and actual training. Isn't Marty's background prior to TEAMM in managed care? Not positive about that but if it is, then that is really laughable.

This is just my two cents worth but senior management's performance has been completely unacceptable. No one in the sales force (except for necessary ass kissing sake) would stand behind any of those in senior sales management. They clearly have no ability to lead, motivate or inspire confidence. MB and GC will be taken care of (think Golden Parachute). But wouldn't it be worth it in order to have hope and maybe again at some point to be able to take pride in our job and be proud of the company? This is clearly not the case as things stand today. WE NEED A CHANGE NOW!

[Anonymous]

I hope Accentia listens, all the suggestions dispensed on this thread have merit. When will Frank make his move? When will Accentia put a new management team into place? A team committed to turning this thing around. Everyday that nothing changes is another day lost. It's getting old just waiting for the necessary changes to take place.

Frank, you are running a publicly traded company, you have to do something because doing nothing isn't getting us anywhere. There is a management team out there that has the necessary experience to build this company. You need to bring-in a real pharma player, a person that has a reputation for building small businesses.

Make the changes and let's get on with it. Frank find an experienced pharma leader; stop screwing around with the existing team. How many times, and in how many ways are they going to show you they don't want Accentia running TEAMM. Maybe you'll let them try another Management Buy-Out or maybe you should give them another chance to do an Exaeris deal. In most "real" companies this wouldn't be tolerated.

PS: Please change the TEAMM name immediately, it's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Bite me-Blow me-Suck me off - You poor dorks are in fairy land.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I admit I haven't been keeping up but isn't there usually a winner on these reality TV shows?