Interviewed at a copier company (WTF?)

Long story short: did 5 years in sales, went back to get my bachelor of science in microbiology, just graduated 2 weeks ago, and now interviewing at copier companies to try and get 1-2 years B2B to break into pharma or medical.

Things guy did:

1.) told me he makes 6 figures

2.) called one of his team members a "dirtbag."

3.) said another recent hire was "probably not gonna make it."

4.) said the F word 2-3 times

5.) asked me if I played sports in high school.


The interview went well. I am scheduled for a ride a long on Tuesday. I worked in car sales for about 2 years, so I know what kind of douches are in sales. However, this guy was pretty typical. Not rude, just crass.

It's 36K base as an "associate" for a few months, and then commission. told him i was planning to pursue medical sales (in a moment of candidness, hadn't planned on that) and he said that's fine, but you won't want to pursue medical sales if you're good at this job after 4 years. He said that medical sales are "harder, with about the same pay." My research says otherwise.

Anyway: holy fuck. I am glad I spent 4 years studying microbiology and getting a 3.47 to have to go through all of this shit again. PLEASE PROMISE ME THIS IS LEADING TO MEDICAL OR PHARMA! I will be good at the job, sure, good enough, but this sounds like it is really going to suck!

 

Long story short, fuck that guy. If you have spent some time in sales and have a BA in micro you should be good. Don't go for pharma, it's not selling, you are basically a trunk monkey. Do your due diligence and hang on for device. Get on linkedin and make some contacts and call managers. You will succeed.

 

I was thinking of taking a b2b job like this, payroll, or lab to break in to medical/specialty pharma. Currently at Enterprise. Are we better off taking any medical job and building relationships, or going strait to medical from b2b? Thanks.

 

Kimberly-Clark medical hires a lot of Enterprise folks

 

Original poster here.

(apologize for grammer or spelling, just typing this really quick)

Seems like a jock's club at these copier places. Going to go to the ride along and see if I can find any human beings at this company. I haven't applied to ADP or Paychex yet, but that is my next move if this copier thing doesn't work out. I just want a professional, respectful work environment. I have heard that some people get recruited after only 6 months in copiers, and that copiers looks better than payroll. I'm hoping my bio degree is actually a plus for these medical companies.

I am okay with doing tons of cold calls, door to door, and basically whatever they want me to do. I can be that annoying sales person to try and make the numbers. What I don't want is to work with a bunch of fucking rude idiots who think they're cool because they sell copiers and make good money. I think this is a test. If I can put up with this job for a year or two there is a high paycheck waiting at the end of the tunnel. I just have to bite the bullet, hang out with these shallow idiots, and work 60 hours a week for a year to get the accolades. Sorry, just typing out loud here.

This copier company is a subsidiary of Xerox - not Xerox itself, but a local company that was bought out by Xerox. That's still valuable for med sales, right?

To the person who said I don't need the copier experience - thanks, but it's been 2-3 years since I have had a full time sales job, and I need to start getting paid soon. I think you'd have to be really lucky to break in without B2B from what I have read.

 

Enterprise is lol.

Talk about not selling. Go to enterprise.

Best bet is payroll sales if you cant break into a crap pharma gig.

Better bet is a small specialty company in any industry and forget the big corporation nonsense.

 

Enterprise guy here. I work 60hr weeks and sell overpriced insurance to people who already have their own. Sell scumbag body shop owners on us over their buddies at Hertz. We agressively sell and get abused daily. I respect device and b2b reps, but I run a business, and do a pharma reps job at the same time. It just sucks that we get no respect.

I just went on the Kimberly Clark forum, sounds like the Titanic sinking over there. Yikes.

 

With all the changes to healthcare there is an abundance of displaced reps with experience and relationships looking for work that you are competing for. The med sales that existed 10-20 years ago is long gone. Still make a decent living but not the pinnacle of sales jobs anymore. Your best shot is to network with other reps or find another industry. I'm out ASAP! Because I'm young enough to do something else, I will

 

Previous poster: why you getting out? What is your current salary and job tenure, and what sort of jobs will you be looking for?

 

The good news is you have the right attitude about this- you need to be willing to suck it up for at least a year whether you go into copiers or payroll sales. Just put your head down, work your butt off, hit quota and win some awards and medical companies or recruiters will find you. Going with ADP or Paychex is good because their sales training is very well respected by other companies (like pharma and med device companies). They also realize the people who are successful doing that are true hunters and not scared to go get business, which is the attitude you want in medical sales.

The problem with Enterprise is part of your "selling" is done to people walking up to you- that's like retail sales. I know you're out doing other selling to the body shops, but the reason copier sales or payroll sales will get more respect than Enterprise is because it is 100% cold-calling, eat-what-you-kill with well-respected sales training structure. Medical companies want someone who has proven that they can go out and find business.

If it were me, I'd do payroll sales before copiers- my opinion is it is a more stable selling environment and you have a better chance of closing business quickly than with copiers. I know a few guys who have stuck around ADP for over 5 years and handle gigantic accounts (Coca Cola size) and they make $250k/year and don't work too hard. Also, I think transitioning from payroll to benefit management to large companies will actually serve you well if you stick with ADP or Paychex long enough to get there.

Finally, one piece of advice on the small copier company. It will still be good experience, but with a small company you may not have rankings, accolades, etc. that will stand out on your resume. I'd ask them about that and also ask about the sales training to make sure it is "Xerox-approved" (so to speak). I strongly recommend getting into one of the larger companies so you can get documented rankings in a mid to large sales force with the respected training.

If you keep the attitude you have now and you can actually sell, you'll do well. Best of luck.

 

To get into entry level med sales you go to copiers, payroll, Yellowbook, Pitney Bowes, Sysco, cellular on an outside role, etc.

The one that people don't do often and where the money is better starting out and usually in the long run is IT software sales. Lexis Nexus (law firms), Thomson Reuters (law, financial and medical), IBM, Microsoft, PeopleSoft, HP, Oracle, Cisco, etc.

Huge money is being made in oil and enrgy sales right now also.

Every job can get you into medical but the market is extremely tight and I know people with companies like these and will never set foot in medical because of the money they are making. I also know a dozen tyhat have left to go into IT and will never come back.

It's a different world from 6 years ago even.

 

Been in for 7 years, worked for 2 well respected blue chip companies. Low 90K high 170K, tracking for ~135K this year. Hearing from collegues across the industry that everyone is trying to pay reps less. There are certainly ppl making 250+ but it is becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of device reps. It will get worse before it gets better. Not worth the BS in my opinion

 

Agree 100%. Been in since 2004. I was 24 when I got in. Regional Manager now. It sucks the fattest cock these days. Sure its still better than 99% of other jobs out there but it is not what it was and frankly I am out the first chance I get. All companies are reducing sales teams, they are outsourcing them to shitty little contract teams where the reps will give you a handy to make 75k just to say they are in medical sales. I am talking about multiple therapeutic areas too not just shitty med surg products.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at the CRM companies and Ortho boards for those that think they are the "pinnacle" of medical. They too are a fucking nightmare littered with layoffs and shrinking commissions. I am talking to you Stryker! You still have your select few making big bucks but by and large the pay is much less today than 5 years ago and with much more bullshit. So this is my Jerry Mcquire manifesto I guess. Fuck it.

 

100% agree that direct employee medical device sales is going into the toilet. All the big companies are making huge pay cuts to their reps because the margins just aren't there. The majority of the industry is going the way of the 1099. If you are smart and can get on board with some of these niche companies then you can ride the wave for a few more years, however if not then find another industry to take your talents. You can still make 250k as a 1099 but you have to be smart and have the right connections, the days are gone for the direct employees to make that money. Have fun covering those trauma cases at 3am and getting paid 90k/ year to do it when your working for Synthes or Stryker. Glad I went 1099 a few years back and have established myself, Id hate to have to do it nowadays.

 

Interesting thing about the reps still making good money direct. Even if they are not messed with and allowed to continue to earn, if they leave or get promoted the company will just split their territory. One guy making 300K = 2 reps making 150K each. I spoke with a recruiter a few weeks ago and he said that it is shocking how the value of a tenured and successful med rep is dropping

 

To be clear for the guys trying to break in, most of the disgruntled reps are old farts who think they are entitled to something. Most guys are bitching about making 150k because they WERE making 250k+ years ago. Does it suck to continue to grow revenue and make less? Yes, and I am one of those guys but at the end of the day I make a real good living compared to a lot of folks I know and I can live w that. Just have reasonable goals and expectations (in the 100-170k range) and you'll be alright if you hold the same standards as some of the vets in the industry you'll be disgruntled like the rest of us posting your frustrations on CP...jmo

 

This is true. The guys who have 15-20 years in feel they are owed something for standing in that OR opening boxes or showing up for the interragation for CRM. These are the schmucks who were making 300k and up years ago when companies would do anything to win a surgeons business. This was before GPO's etc... when surgeons had a choice of what they would use. They could say to the company "try and screw me and i will flip all MY business to the competition" and corporate would shit their pants. Today they don't care and will replace the old timer with an ex ball player who hit 186 in double a fucksville.

Money is still good but the days of 200k and up are gone. I would say 1 in 30 reps makes greater than 150k. 5 years ago it was 20/30.

 

To the original poster, good luck on your job search. I sold copiers for 2 years many moons ago. Didn't make much money, but I was just trying to get the experience. If the manager is telling you in 4 years you'll be making as much as the medical reps, and it is easier...then he is smoking something. Device doesn't always have to be in the OR, jerking off some Ortho Dr so he will use your implants. In fact, there are many jobs with much better QOL in medical with very similar pay.

 

original poster here:

copier place essentially offered the job, but I said I needed to talk over with my fiance and sent a ty email, now they're waiting for me to show up and "close them" on the job I am sure. I don't feel good enough about it to go close them - too unprofessional.

I am in the interview process with ADP - I just finished my video interview. I am going for ADP - better training, more prestigious than copiers (lol), and likely a better work environment. Also, as an earlier poster said, the chance to open accounts quicker than copiers. I am VERY excited for ADP, hope it works out.

 

Very true statement. As someone in the Ortho world looking to branch out, ( 5 years experience but sick of the expenses and just not making enough to justify the expenses and bullshit), what companies outside of Ortho would you recommend looking into? I tend to agree that the days of big money are over and I'd rather have a job with benefits and better QOL.