I hate everything to do with this company. I hate my boss, my counterpart, and my pod counterparts. I hate my products, my sales aid, and my computer. I dont hate my paycheck. Now is that anyway to go through life? I also hate going to meetings, rooming with somebody I dont know and having to smell their farts. Is there anything worse than showing up at a meeting 3 timezones away and walking into a room where someone is asleep that you havent met and having to sleep there? I have had roomies that were ok but it is unreasonable to ask us to sleep in the same room with someone we dont know. Roleplaying is also a ridiculous exercise. I can practice my "spill" without embarassing myself in front of everybody. As if you get the time to give these presentations ... ever. But I do like my paycheck. So what I do is enter calls, try to sell where I can, and give the corporate machine what they want. Cant they see this is what everyone does? My feeling is that they are beginning to see that this is what is going on. In the future, there will be only one rep in each geography. they will be measured by dollar volume. They will be responsible for all products. They wont be evaluated on "values and behaviours". I cant believe that I obsess over that stupid book. There will be real sales people and real sales managers. But this will take time to evolve. Maybe then I wont hate it all.
There is no more "sales" in this business. There is a lot of money at stake so we (they) will keep the charade going as long as possible. But it will come to an end
I retired from the company 3-1/2 years ago. I actually agonized before making this decision because I thought I was walking away from a job that, despite its inconveniences, had more upside. Reading many of the posts on this site (no talking about the chronic complainers) confirms I made a great decision to accept a nice pension and walk away.
OP I was sharing the pain of the RX industry. Some maybe different but some are the same. I work for another Big Pharma. Within my message you share some of my frustration example: filling in the boxes on computer, role playing, etc. We are told what to say, not able to think or sell. What happen to $ volume? A lot of us don't even know how much our territory sales dollars or margin dollars? Pharma is going back to sale dollars, one Rep and hiring real salespeople! We are laughed at in other Medical sales industries b/c we (some of us) lack business acumen to selling, thinking, and handling large dollar ($1 million) deals. Our industry has change and will continue to change. Are you prepare for the change? Do you have the selling skills to transfer to another medical industry/company i.e. GE Healthcare, Myriad, or IBM Health? To answer that question look at yourself in the mirror. If you want to slam me against the pavement...then do so. But, you all know that I am expressing the TRUTH! God Bless! Good Luck! Good night! Sincerely, Mid 40's White Female
Based on what you read on this company site, you'd think its problems are exclusive to the industry, but your comments are another indication they are industry-wide. I can't believe how narrow-minded posters are to pin the blame on their lack of job satisfaction on SA management, as if they were hand-picked idiots to run the company. It's the nature of pharma sales. You either play the game or get out. Quit bitching because, as the title says, the old days are gone and never coming back.
So true been in pharma just under 20 years and the poster is correct. We have so little control over pharma in general, even those with long standing relationships in offices struggle now. ITs a game.. and many at SA I talked to will play it to the end because of severance, the job market/economy etc. Many are working on a plan B but that too does not happen overnight.
The old days are gone! But if you are a salesperson then selling is what you WANT to do. Not Checking boxes, dropping samples, BS lunches,etc is this selling to you? If so then problem is professional idiots, robots, people just wanting a pay check and not achievement. This is the reason why Medical/Capital Device companies won't hiring Rx Rep b/c you can't function in a hard sales environment. Majority of Med Sales opening do not apply if you have Rx sales exp! In the past Rx sales was a golden oppty but now it's a glorify UPS job that you make a bonus on. Share this with me, when you closed a Doctor on your product....how do you know that a sales was made? Did you really impact the doctor business? Our RX business doesn't bring increase in business to their practice. Why do you think offices have rules of engagement for Pharma Reps. A lot of Offices are a "No See" signature only. Because we are viewed as a waste of time and bring zero value to their business. Except if their staff wants a free lunch or dinner. I made the move to Medical Sales it wasn't easy. Now I make an impact in the medical community by bringing in revenue to their office or hospitals. Sent from iPad Please excuse misspell words or grammar. Mid 40's Black Male
