Overlay reps

This job has officially become a joke.

Reach, frequency, super frequency x3!!

 

Face it. You are now apart of big pharma without the big pharma pay check and benefits. I have been interviewing and Shire is grossly underpaid for "specialty reps". Shire is also micromanaged more than most specialty reps.

 

the micro managing or lack of any quality of field management just depends on where you are. some rd's understand others are nothing more than loyal to the ones above them and do absolutely nothing for or even care about their team. I use "their Team" very loosely. who are the good ones and who are the bad ones?

 

Some don't even realize that without their team they would be nothing. Alienating the people who determine if you are a success or failure is not wise.

 

I am new with Shire and am a "overlay". I have always had a partner and think that you people are just big babies. Did you call on A/B and C targets before? Did you have the same bonus dollars and rewards before? Did your territory or goals change?? Then what are you complaining about? You are making the same amount of calls on the same targets. You are not asked to share your bonus. Get over yourself.

 

How about you get over YOURself. One thing that made Shire great was single rep territories. We would pride ourselves on not being like big pharma and those ridiculus PODs. And guess what? Our customers loved it too. But the fools running the show now know nothing else. Its yhe beginning of the end.

 

I agree. I used to take pride in telling my customers, family and friends that we did things differently at Shire. We used a common sense approach that our customers appreciated and
Provided reps greater accountability for results.

Put yourself in the shoes of the doc -
Would you want 2 reps calling on you for an
8 year old Med?

 

The only reason you are complaining is now you are forced to be accountable. News flash. Its not changing. So embrace the new culture or do us all a favor and leave. KK, PS and FO have come from successful companies. You are an silly to think that you know more than these people whom have ran numerous sales forces previously.

I hate to break it to you but the overlay/pod system works very well for Pharma. The high Frequency model is something that has been proven to work. Customers don't care one way or another. This is a model they are used to and has proven to be very successful for reps that are team players. After a few weeks here its clear Shire lacks team players. I see a bunch of old, bitter and spoiled reps who have spent their entire careers working for one Pharmaceutical company. Most are afraid of change and growth and would rather sit in the corner crying instead of doing something about it. If you are not a team player or don't like the direction the company is going than time to move on. Maybe you can transfer into a regular core territory.

 

Add one more fool to the three amigos. Let me guess, you're another braindead B+L reject recruited because you either have no family that can get in the way of field time or you lack any capacity to think for yourself. The successful companies these "leaders" came from were sold ( as was the plan). Come to think of it, all three were run out of Novartis after being found liable for a multimillion dollar discrimination lawsuit.

There's at least one thing I know better than the three of them --- It's called ethics! Look it up you lemming before you run off the dock.

 

If it works so well then why is the industry pulling away from it? If you have always been in a team selling approach then you have ZERO idea as to what it's like to be responsible for your own territory. Maybe it's YOU that needs to be held accountable as you've always had a partner to help you make your numbers. Old Shire reps afraid of change and growth?? You're a joke-why don't you go research the company and see where Shire was 10 years ago and see the growth that these old reps are responsible for. From what I've seen of the new big pharma overlay reps we are all in trouble. Lazy and just here to get their check and go home. Don't worry though in the big pharma model there are always layoffs so it will happen at some point I'm sure because this is such a great model. Shire reps will adjust because you're right-this is the way it is under the current leadership but we all know that too changes every couple of years.

 

These idiots are not here to build, grow or sustain anything. They have a plan and its all about greed and dishonesty. Fuck them. I'd sooner spit at them than trust anything that comes from them.

 

From what I can tell expansion reps are the ones that should be complaining. Many inherited lackluster, mean spirited reps who never called on any target beyond their A's and B's previously. Now they have to go and grow C targets that have lower volume, share, disease awareness and other challenges and they are starting to squirm. If you are such a great sales person solo than why are you complaining about your solo targets? Maybe because of your experience with launching the product Shire had faith in your ability to GROW these targets better than your expansion rep could? "Why doesn't my overlay have as many "C" targets as me?" whaaaaaaaa. Call plan is not the same as COMP TARGETS. They are ALL BOTH OF YOUR TARGETS, Dope! You are paid on your ENTIRE targets regardless of who you chose to call on. You had all of these same targets last year so absolutely nothing has changed other than now you have someone else making additional calls to help you.

In most cases your expansion rep was handed A, B and C targets that have a DECLINING share and/or market. You do know that declining/flat market and/or share is how these expansion territories were selected don't you? I really hope all old shire reps are not as clueless and have some understanding of their actual territories. Who cries "I don't need help" when their territory is actually declining or flat market share? Old Shire sure hired winners. You needed KK.

 

Put yourself in the shoes of the company. You have a territory with a declining or flat market share. You have what you consider to be a good rep but they can only reach 20% of the physicians regularly. Would you leave it as is and watch it continue to decline or would you add more muscle? 8 years is still considered new in the pharmaceutical world. Big pharma has successfully sold drugs that were 10-20+ years old with this overlay system. It works. It's been proven. It works even better for products that have a heavy generic market. Look beyond what the physician says and look more at what his market share is saying. If he has a market share of less than the national average or his market share is declining, do they really value your product?

Synthroid, Abilify, Nexium, Humira, Crestor, Lipitor, Cymbalta, Advair, Copaxone, Enbrel, Viagra, Lyrica, etc. Are all drugs sold under a POD or team selling system. These just happen to be the most prescribed drugs in the US. Coincidence?

 

None of those drugs listed above are for pediatric patients with a warning about abuse, dependence and growth suppression. Using a frequency model for pediatric physicians puts Shire in a precarious position.

 

This is an interesting statement. Excluding the unnecessary rants. Is it true? That seems unlikely.

 

It's not true. These new overlay reps think they know it all. The overlays were put in areas where a rep was laid off 2 years ago. That is it. I agree that we should have never downsized but they should have just restructured to solo territories. If all you've ever known is "POD" selling then you have no idea how effective solo territories can be.

 

Advair is sold to pediatics and as a steroid has the same growth suppression warnings. Is also linked to death in pediatric patients and other cardiovascular events.

 

Apparently KK, PS, FO and every other multi billion dollar pharma company disagrees with you. Can you argue with those most prescribed medications list which happen to have been effectively sold and launched by pods? If you have only sold in a solo system maybe YOU don't know how effective it can be? Even Michael Jordan admits he needed the help of a team to win championships. You wouldn't survive one day at Pfizer. The company went out and recruited most overlays if not all from big pharma for a reason. In my training class every rep hired with the exception of 1 had come from a team selling environment. I don't think the long term strategy is changing.

 

There is some truth to this. I am not the original poster and this exact response was told to me in the interview. Declining market wasnt the only factor but it was part of the decision. I was told the other factor was work load that exceeded the size of the average territory.