Topher...Some suggestions from the field.

I should start by saying that I really do appreciate your "Ask Topher" calls. I would love to offer some suggestions on the calls, however my manager would start the "process" in getting rid of me...and you would never know about it. Your job as a "General Manager" is to gauge the team, figure out what the team needs to succeed and execute! As you can hear from the feedback that you receive on the calls, there is much frustration in the field. So here are some suggestions...

1. Stop it with the SPT!! That model is archaic!! It only slows us down! Don't tweak it...get rid of it! It is a tool in the field that we don't need and don't want, and any time spent on it is wasted time.

2. Calls per day?? I still haven't met my "1/2" doc yet; I do have one that is under 5 foot though, so maybe she could count...I don't know. Too many wasted calls here, and wasted calls are wasted selling opportunities somewhere else. Of course this falls in line with the SPT...that you hopefully will be getting rid of.

3. Stop the programs, unless you truly are looking for some sort of "quid pro quo". The same people coming to my program on Wednesday are the same people going to my competitions program on Thursday. Hire more MSL'S, and let us use them in lunches.

4. Simon is horrible! Were reps involved in the decision making process of what tool would be of value in the field? Probably not. I don't know what AZ paid for Simon; but ain't nobody looking at it. Involve US!!!!!

5. I'm getting crushed in the Endo space...that has to be addressed! You took too many reps out of that space. It's share of voice that moves business, loss of share of voice means loss of market share. The ESS experiment is failing; actually it has failed.

6. You had to know that "IC" was going to come up on the call, yet you had nobody there to answer questions...he was on vacation. I didn't know that we only had 1 employee in the IC department. IC is a big problem out here!! Here is an idea...DSS gets credit for Primary Care and ESS gets credit for Endo's. I know that sounds simple, as it should; because it is.

7.Please tell my manager to quit riding with me till 5!! Really??? I have been selling to Docs when my Manager was picking out his Tux for his Senior Prom!! I don't need to ride with him 2 days a month!! He slows me down and then creates a bunch of "busy" work for me to do before our next ride along. If he can't assess a rep in a half-day; one who has been selling pharms for 22 years, the problem is probably him!

8. That's it. A lil steam let off from the field. One suggestion for your "ask Topher" calls; no names please, I guarantee you Larry (on the 8:30 call) is being called out by his manager. I talked to my manager after the call and told him I thought it was great and those things needed to be addressed. He had a different take...it was negative company bashing, hoped none of his reps ever speak like that. And there is the dis-connect between you and management.

9. Time to go to work.

 

Nice, except for fatal flaw of identifiable info in #7. FYI, company has a policy re posting online. Best of luck when the hammer comes.

 

Agree. Theoretically at least the purpose of these calls is to ask questions that concern the field. Ideally a question could be positive or negative. In reality there are unspoken parameters around the type of questions to be asked. A question is perfectly okay, so long as it reflects the intentions and direction of management.

Managers want reps to represent their district positively, and even if the question makes sense, if it could be taken as negative, or has no chance of reflecting change, it makes the questioner a pariah to ask a logical, but potentially negative reflecting question.

The purpose of these calls is to reach out to garner support, or to give the impression that management cares, not to get a true barometer of the field.

 

I watched a hbo documentary about ray hubbard and his "church". To be honest after a while it looked like they where talking about Astra Zeneca. Any one who talked negative about hubbard or his ideas where taking away and given re-education while the clueless ones where promoted. Sounds just like us. Lets hold a teleconference. But we only want to hear the untruths. The ones who speak up. Dodge their question and take down their names for re education.

 

When you split the sales forces, you literally divided share of voice in half. At a time when orals is facing huge managed care push back--and needs all the voice it can get. At a time when injectables had 2 more QW competitors join the arena. One with a free card. Free. Why did we try to be market leaders with Farxiga by coming out ahead of the pack with a novel, selling approach--one in which every one else was trying to copy our lead… But with Bydureon--we cut share of voice in half, and sometimes into a third. With 2 new competitors. Both with better devices. And one with a novel copay card for the market. What are we coming out with to try to win the market? What is our strategy? Everybody wants to try the exciting new thing. What are we doing to compete with that? Other than whipping the reps harder and harder and then say "We're looking into that" with every suggestion offered. You can't have the pie divided from 3 into 5 pieces and expect our share to grow larger than where it was prior to the new 2 pieces being cut. Let's LEAD, instead of saying "Well, our other competitors don't feel a need to do that so we're not going to do that". That's FOLLOWING. If GSK is going to show pics comparing needle sizes, let's be BOLD and show spreads with PI efficacy comparisons. Weight comparisons.

 

5 yes!
6 yes!!!!

 

The crazy thing is, where does that culture emanate from? We see it perpetuated, but is it intentionally by design, or by default? Is it the external consultants advising them that, like leftist propaganda, that while preaching diversity and inclusion, but in reality do not want any diversity of thought. The rule seems to be to isolate , target, and exclude any thought that strays from the reservation.

 

Lost share of voice in the Endo space is killing the "diabetes franchise" locally. I can only imagine the dollars lost on a regional and national scale. We are losing not only in the specialists offices, but also the PC docs who are refilling the meds as well as seeing the competition being prescribed at a much higher rate, and following suit. Open your eyes.

 

Bravo!!!!

 

AZ is not perfect by any means, but we are lucky to be working here. Our leadership allows us to basically work 4 hours in the field, or less on some days. They know we lie like hell about calls, but nobody wants to admit it. The real problem is Frenchie. Is needs to go and go now. The moron turned down $120 billion from Pfizer, and by now the dust would have settled, and the survivors would be facing at least some sort of security. Time to go Frenchie.

 

Well done. We follow a competitors selling model, when ours was unique in 2014. Management is so worried about accountability and now has back fired in the field. If you want to live the "enterprise" years, don't break us up into 3 different companies. You drive cost up and have created flat to declining sales.

 

All so true. he is an idiot. Soon Crestor, Seroquel XR and Symbicort will all be gone. But wait, we have Movantik!!!! HA! HA! HA!HA!

 

+1 according to TOPHER he is looking into different ways (incentives) to make us feel part of the portfolio. Better idea, give us all the products and let us be solution oriented with our customers. I sell on the oral side and one of my docs said our injectable rep mentioned DKA to him. Does this happen if we sell all products as a team? We are competing for the same patients. I know leadership views it differently, however you do not walk the same shoes reps do everyday.

 

Let Topher run the show. He is a great leader and knows his plan works

 

Thanks Mr T, I know we are in good hands . Listen I got to go now my 11am Tuesday yoga class is starting. LMAO

 

Yup , the ship is leaking big time and Mr T is using a hand pump.

 

Great I feel better already !

 

Great. Incentivize us on products we don't sell, and products my injectable partners apparently can't sell either. Sounds motivating.

 

I think the point was....we sell all products to all physicians. Twenty years ago we had all the products and were intelligent enough to have conversations on many disease states. This is one disease state with three different classes. It does not seem that hard. I vote for the entire bag and working/collaborating with partners to bring growth back to AZ.

 

It doesn't matter what we think, leadership knows what's best for the company. They are so in touch with our customers and the field force that....wait.....never mind.