Life after pharma

There are positions that are similar to pharma, company car, descent pay, expense account,etc.

In fact you still call on doctors and they want to see you.

 

Not many of us our getting into device. In fact, I have had device recruiters blow me off saying "too many years in pharma." Yes, you can work for Hospice or Home Health, but the pay cut will be quite a bit and you will NOT get a car. I went that route and am very happy I did. I get treated like a grown up and there is minimal busy work. Do not get me wrong, I have double the admin work that I had at AZ but it is necessary. AZ was the King of needless people and paperwork. OMG!

 

Too many years in pharma...that fits a lot of reps...nice easy job, good pay, car, next thing you know you got more accrued vacation time than you know what to do with and 6,7..10 years later this has become a career: getting signatures, lunches and you figured out the system of whatever reach/frequency, call plan attainment they want..recruiters have it figured out also..nothing wrong with that but not a great story to sell their client on putting a 10 year veteran rep up for an interview.

 

Pharma is easy externally, but dealing w pharma management is what makes this job very difficult. All the micro management and foolishness is too much. Add the instability and you have a terrible situation.

 

Who said device?

There are other positions that aren't device, similar salary, company car, you call on offices where evrybody knows your name and their always glad you came.

 

Do what I do, double dip!

Doesn't have to be two pharma jobs. I am working in dental sales and pharma at the same time. In dental you are on your own, no ride alongs unless you choose (we call them co-travels on this side), use your own car, etc. If you want your manager to co-travel they do it to get business and help you close sales, not to check up on you and justify their job. Also, you have mfg reps who call on you and they buy you lunch or will take you to dinner because, like us in pharma, they want you to push their product to the end user.

I make my pharma calls in the morning, some in the afternoon, I space them out. In between I see dental customers and this way there is no crossover, etc. No doctors accidentally slipping, when i go see them with my pharma manger since I'm not in the same offices with both managers., etc.

The best part is that I drive a free AZ vehicle and the dental company pays me a car allowance for it, crazy! In addition the dental also pays a small salary for now and expenses. Eventually I will be a 1099 employee and it won't matter. I submit expenses for both companies on the same thing like parking and small things.

This is THE BEST thing ever!

 

Until the Dental company calls AZ to see if you still work there - unless they don't care.

 

How is seeing your manager less than 20 days a year 'micromanaging'? If you think this is bad, you will crap brix when (IF?) you get a real sales job after we pare down.

Monthly sales forecasting meetings, details about sales cycle of big ticket items, reviewing strategies to get that purchase order, blah blah.

Just you wait. IF YOU'RE LUCKY, you will see real micromanagement soon enough.

 

If it's a true real opportunity, you wouldn't have to be so cryptic about Amway or Herbalife.

Give the details or STFu

 

LMAO @ you.

I didn't even list AZ on my resume since I had only been here about 6 monypths before I started with the dental company. I just used the company before AZ.

Trust me I've been doing this for several years and not going to be caught.

 

Sounds great to me; do what is best for you. These companies certainly do not care about the people they employ.

 

"Sometimes you want to go where eveyone knows your name and everyone is glad you came." NORM!!! Cheers y'all.

 

No wonder you are a miserable poster on CafePharma. With your attitude, offices must just love you. Actually I'm thinking your sales suck and you can't figure out why.

 

I retired in 2009. I had numerous positions within Stuart, Zeneca and AZ. I had better than 30 years with these companies. I saw a lot of changes. At one time Pharma rep made a difference with their customers, were respected and welcomed. Years ago you didn't "fake calls" if you did and got caught you got fired. If you did your job and didn't do anything really stupid you could have a career until retirement. Years ago the job was a lot of fun and you felt good about yourself when you got home.

I believe it was Glaxo who first started bringing lunches into offices. Think about this. Instead of a professional in the eyes of the office you became a caterer. How can you talk about disease states and drugs when you catered in a few pizzas. Your credibility was shot. Once this happened and docs didn't see value in reps access became limited. Companies throughout the industry did some really stupid things and CIA were put in place. All this hurt our reputation and professionalism. However, management at all pharma companies believed in "reach and frequency." If we had x amount of sales with Y amount of calls think what we can achieve with 10% more calls. This was the mantra. If cascaded down to DM's and they demanded more calls. Ok you're a rep and the boss wants 8 calls a day and you made four today....you give him four faked calls. Now it became "easy" to fake calls. Everyone did it and if you didn't you got canned anyway. Everyone knows the vast majority of calls are lies and fakes but no one does anything about it. (The emperor certainly has no clothes.) Today, the pharmaceutical sales rep has very little impact on sales. Many reasons account for this that I won't get into. The fact is...the rep has little control over sales. There have been major cutbacks in this industry. Only a fool would believe more aren't coming. As drugs come off patent and companies don't have other drugs to replace them they will cut sales forces to maintain profits. CSO's will be the norm.

If you've been around a bit it will be very difficult to get another job paying what pharma gave you. If you only look to pharma jobs frankly you're an idiot. Time to think outside the industry. Can you sell? If you can look to real estate, stocks or other commission based sales. You will work your ass off, you won't get the benefits of pharma but if you're good you will make a boatload of money. I talk to many of my friends still in pharma. Many don't want to believe they could lose their jobs tomorrow. I feel sorry for them. Everyone needs to have a plan what they will do when that day comes. The smart ones are getting out.

Finally, I want to say it was at one time a great career. It was the best sales job you could get. As an industry we ruined it and that is so sad. I wish all good luck.

 

Great post. I too am retired from AZ and would agree with much of what you have to say. Much of the demise of the industry is due to Pharma's own actions, or in some cases lack of corrective actions.

George Merck expressed a simple principle in 1950. It would seem Pharma and Merck itself got away from that principle.

"We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear."

 

Some specifics please on the non device non pharma jobs. Sick and tired of the micromanaging and figuring out where to go that my five thousand other counterparts aren't going. Need a change and some concrete and real information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Ex Pharma DM here...Get a license to sell health and life insurance and go to work for UH, Aetna, Humana or Cigna. Reps there make easy 6 figures. You have to work hard, but very rewarding. I moved up quick and I am at the VP level. Only look here because I used to work for AZ a few years ago and I like to hear the BS that still goes on. Get out!

 

I was not going to post it to anyone who posted rudely or sarcastically but I appreciate that you were polite and you seem sincere.

The hidden gem is Dental. On the dental side you can be one of three types of reps

1. Is a dealer or distribution rep. This type has low supervision and your call pint is the doctors office. Supervision is at a minimum and if you do have a co-travel (ride along) with your boss it is to get business and they help you succeeded not tear you down. You usually have a monthly meeting with your branch and management is decentralized. Once you establish customers they want to see you and call you because they are ordering from you since they need what you have. They get all there sulpplies and equipment from you. There is still competition but once you win over an office they are pretty loyal. Different from pharma you use your own computer, phone, car and get reimbursed while you are a rookie until you become 1099 (2-3 years). You will have a lower base salary than pharma at first but the QOL trade off is worth it while you build your business. After a few years you can make 6- figures. In this role you kill what you eat, especially after you are 1099. Even though you get paid 1099 you get a draw for a salary and they usually still provide benefits including 401k or other retirement.

2. The next rep is a manufacturer's rep. This type of rep is most like pharma. You work directly for the company and try to influence dealer reps to push your product over the competition. The structure is very much like pharma where the managerrideswith you monthly, you have similar goals but you work for a big company like 3M and get all those perks. Keep your base salary and have a bonus. Again the doctors want to see and talk to you for samples and education.

3. The last is an independent manufacturing rep. In this role you represent smaller manufactures and represent different lines. These are smaller companies that can't afford to have a sales force so they pay you to represent them. You will usually represent 3-4 non-competing lines. You work for yourself, do your own benefits, IRA, everything. You are in business for yourself. This role still influences the dealer reps but you aren't a corporate person and are usually around a while you just drop or pick up new lines.

Want to know more a list of these companies are underthe dental boards. Less activity over there but you can at least find companies to start applying to.

Hope this helps

 

So you sell the benefits to corporations?

 

Wow, great information