Life after pharma

Yes I think that anyone would agree that it's entirely her fault that a 40-something year old coworker stares at her. I sent her a link to your brilliant post, and as a result she ordered two sets of burqas online.

Your wisdom and insights to the real world are much appreciated, friend. Thank you!

 

So what ifI star eat her breasts.

Oh so when she flaunted tem for the district manager, regional manager, Area Director, doctors or male PA's it was okay but not now for her co-workers.

GTFO

 

Is it really any wonder why our sales stink when we have people like this working at the company. Someone needs to retake a basic English class.

 

Please don't assume these are GSK people...........many posts have very poor ghetto language and poor English / spelling. These trollers have very boring lives, and few friends.These sites are the only outlet they have and many are pharmaceutical wannabees.

 

Pharma wannabes have little or no knowledge of sites like these. The posters almost certainly work here, or at least used to. Why would they click on a thread called 'life after pharma'?

Since the industry's heyday is long past, not many people from outside the industry are trying to break into pharma anymore. There are extremely few posted openings, and NO pharma cattle calls like there were 10-15 years ago.

Face it, you're looking at current or former GSK people here. T'aint pretty, is it?

 

Naw sir, not entirely right on that one...........trolls have their own little kinky network.

 

Forget about the money and material possessions! What about the stress and anger that this job causes? Is it worth it when you are pissed all the time and take it out on your family? Is it worth it to take years off of your life? Stress kills and GSK causes it. They only care about money so the old "Feel Better, Do Better,..." BS is a joke. GSK doesn't even care about their own employees health - otherwise they wouldn't be driving people to stressful and anxiety situations. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT MONEY!!!!!

 

I am on an iPad and it auto tries to auto correct.

I should have proof read before hitting 'submit reply'.

You got the idea though.

 

Don't apppologize too thea bored troal fore spelin cuassin that bee all he got to camplane bout. Loooooooosar

 

Just double dip

 

1) Its a corporation. Stockholder smiles is all we're after. Go and work for a not-for-profit if you're upset that making money is our top concern
2) Anyone in pharma sales that thinks that it is a stressful job is in for a major surprise in 2016. Try supporting your family for 50% pay cut, and hoping and praying that a contract stays intact for another year. Thats the life of someone that works for a CSO. Guess what? Compared to many ex-pharma reps, the CSO reps and managers have it 'made in the shade'.

 

There is life after pharma. If you are so upset and even take it out on your family, please go before you do something rash.....if you can't take the pressure and man-up, please stop complaining.....but you may be a constant whiner....or maybe from the gimme generation !

 

I dont understand this talk of stress and pressure. Are we full or mostly commission? No.

Do we have 6 to 8 month sales cycles? No.

Do we have to identify potential clients and beat our heads against the wall to get a meeting with a client? No, many docs are either by appointment or "for signature only". But in my area, almost three quarters will at least speak with us.

Do we have to wait weeks for a purchase order to be cut in order to be paid? No.

Do we sit in the same office with our boss every day, day in day out? No. We see them at most 16 times a year. When we do see them, many times they cut out by 3pm "to do paperwork" or to "catch a conference call".

Is the company depending on us to close sales in order to stay solvent? No. We haven't had a decent launch in 5 years, yet we're all still here.

Do we pay for our own car, gas, or office expenses? No.

Does our company expect us to go it alone out there? No. We've spent…I mean, we've OVER-spent on advertising, journal ads, all types of tactics to get the GSK name and our meds in front of docs, pharmacists, etc etc. In addition we have an army of colleagues calling on the same damn docs that we call on.

This whining about sims, and tests, and field rides and what-not is nothing compared to whats out in the real world.

Why do you think that so many hiring managers and headhunters make it clear that ex-pharma reps and managers are not preferred? We are spoiled.

"Stress? What do y'all know about stress?" -paraphrased line from Sargeant Barnes, Act 9, Scene 12 of Platoon.

 

What a load of bull.

If you've worked in the pharma industry for 6 years you have seen 50% of the reps eliminated. Name another industry where that's happened>

GSK alone has had 3 during that time. You don't think that is stressful?

Then you add in the stress that knowing this industry will likely be dramtically reduced from here.

Then you have the HR targeting via Patient First. We all wonder who is the next guy/girl to get 3 non proficients?

The even harder stress is how do you avoid being that guy? Nobody knows because there is no transparency to how we're evaluated.

So then the tests and sim stress ramps up because you are trying to find a way to do well in order to avoid being the next target.

Then you add in the Endless KPI's, ride alongs, and getting boxes trip. Most are ready to jump off a bridge!!

Your remarks are so off base its insane. I've been in sales for over 20 years and I've never endured stress like this.

YOu can take your comments and stuff it.

 

What a maroon! We had a 50% layoff because every other company had a layoff. Don't you read Pharm Exec, Pharma Voice or the other trade mags?

The reason that we ramped up 15 years ago was because everyone else ramped up during the great reach and frequency wars of 1999-2006. It's all right there in the journal archives.

We can still lose another 50% of us out here, and do just fine. I mean, can you imagine the HORROR of not having someone come right behind you 3 days later to squeeze in another 20 second Tanzeum "presentation"?

Do your homework. In another 2 to 3 years you're going to have 23 years of detail rep on your resume. Unless you have a second job, or some really good contacts (read: former GSK managers) at Publicis Touchpoint, PDI, or InVentiv, you're in a heap of trouble.

If you think that the detail rep life of 2014 is stressful, you are not going to like your future job. Like 4 or 5 people that I worked with 17 years ago, once we get downsized, you may be forced to open up a one man pharmaceutical sales trainer agency, and live the full commission life.

 

You are spot on. The pharma companies all follow each other. When one or two start to ramp up, the others think they need to match share of voice and ramp up as well. For the past several years, the theme has been expense reductions. We are likely to follow the same track. We all know that our sales force, like many others, is way too large.

With all that said, my guess is that we do some downsizing, but not enough and not in the right places.

 

Just wait for the other shoe to drop. Government. You know, the guys that pay for 30,40, 60-90 percent of the bills....this ObamaCare stuff hasn't kicked in full gear and there'll be more coming down the pike...PHARMA , our lobby boys in D.C. have put up a good fight but now they must feel like the Tobacco Lobby, no Congressman or Senator wants to be seen with them (they will however still cash any checks)

 

This is a great post. And if you are robot, this is 100% true.

There are some that want to complain about the job just to complain. I think we know which posters are these types.

There are some that know that this company is doing things wrong, and it is driving us into a wall. There are some that have been caught in the "long line" nets that the company has used to weed out what they see as "not proficient" employees. They see the unnecessary and over-the-top fear mongering that the company employs. They know that they can't say anything to their managers/management because the koolaid is refreshing to them...