Origin of the term "detail rep"

Could you open a new thread on the whole forum to see if anybody knows the true origin of the term "detail rep".
I know a lot of people think they know where the term "detail rep" came from, but I think I know the true origin. I would like to open it up to the forum to see if any comes up with the correct answer.
In the early 80's I was told by a 40 year pharmaceutical rep veteran where the term "detail rep" came from. This guy started working in the industry around 1945 and knew what he was talking about. I would like see if anybody knows the correct answer. I am pretty sure I know the correct answer but want to hear someone else confirm it before I announce it.
A little background on me. I am an ex-rep that worked in the industry from 1983 to 1996 for Armour Pharmaceutical and Abbott Labs.

Thanks

 

I entered in '97 and was told by a legacy Wyeth Rep(detailed 70-early 90-s) that it meant that the sales persona was expected, once upon a time, to give the details of the drug to physicians who relied on this information to make rx decisions.

I always thing of detailing a car when I hear the term..and of course this is never used to describe a pharma rep anymore...drug rep is a nice term to use of this job now...oh and i'm out...i think the compliance officers and lawyers should do the job now, since they know the rules the best. Good luck moving market share then! But, they deserve the opportunity to move business their way after all....

 

"Yawn!" Who cares?

 

agreed...who the f*ck cares?? the job sucks and is a joke no matter what its origins...

 

Its a dead end JOB.
Amazes me how many refuse to acknowledge that and just cling to their positions, instead of exploring more stable and more rewarding careers. They will regret it for sure when they are in their mid 40s and up and can't find a good JOB, because they refused to listen to me.

 

The whole point of SOV was that if your company had a rep standing in front of a doc, the doc would literally be unable to speak to a competitor. The point was to have someone physically occupying the space in front of the prescriber, so that gave us Kens and Barbies, 'cus if you can't say something of value might as well have some eye candy for the docs/nurses to look at. Obviously as strategies goes, an epic, shortsighted failure that is resulting in the demise of the industry, as doc's - being smarter than the average bear - quickly saw thru the scam and eliminated access or went to sign only - A big clue that a strategy is not working is when your customers don't want to see you!

A real 'detail' person now could be a value, but the industry has to much bad PR and scrutiny to get any ROI out of putting employees in any role that could sway prescribing in front of doctors, plus it's possible now to create a 'virtual Detail Man' which will probably be the best way for pharma to reach it's audience.

 

I remember the detail men.

 

Your facts are wrong. One rep had the entire geography and every product the company marketed. I started in 1983 and had more than a full state and had about 12 products. You got as much time as you wanted, in the doctors office. They would offer coffee and clear a chair for you. The stupidity of multiple reps and share of voice went hand in hand with being product 'specialists' with one drug per rep.

The person training me in 1983 had been in the business for 30 years. Don't know if it is accurate, but training was to provide 5 details on your drug during the call.

 

I started in 1983 ... well, really end of 1982.

You also had calls to local pharmacies, which usually was your real "truth" of who was writing your drug. You'd also try and "pull through" orders from the pharmacies to their wholesalers; some of the bigger companies would have direct accounts with pharmacies (and there were few chains back then). You might be paid bonus based on pooled territories based on wholesaler coverage (which wholesale houses were strong in your area).

Wasn't until 1984 that we added something called "DDD Data," which showed actual sales of products from wholesalers to retailers by Zip Code; that is, sales of your products in that zip code. But that wasn't directly reflective of your effectiveness. For example, if ypur territory consisted of a "medical center" area, many of your presecriptions actually were filled elsewhere which may be outside of your territory.

I think it was the late 80s or early 90s before prescriber specific data became available. I remember talking to a Marion Labs rep around that time; they were an early adapter of the data and he mentioned that the prescriber-specific data changed totally the company's perception of who some of their best reps really were.

 

Great thread! Thanks for reminding us of from whence we came. I entered in the 90's-still good days. We were told to be CEOs of our territory. Good or bad, we were accountable alone. then the 2ks entered with all that stupid share of voice crap and group selling/ team meeting mess. The beginning of the end. #stuckonstupid

 

Of course, there always were questions on how DDD data was manipulated. I actually lost a whole lot of money because one of my accounts never reported a significant amount of product sales ... once I found out about it and got the actual numbers into the system, I won a Presidents Award trip to Hawaii the next year. You had to be sure that your company was reporting EVERY stock item (by NDC #) to be tracked on DDD otherwise you could lose a lot of sales dollars.

I remember working a part of my territory where reps from other areas would meet. I was at the hotel bar with two of them ... a Schering Rep and a Glaxo rep. At the time, both companies sold albuterol inhalers under different brand names: Proventil and Ventolin; I forget which was which.

Anyway, both of these reps had almost identical territories and they were talking shop about their sales. One rep tells the other how is it that he's getting beat by the other's sales of albuterol inhalers. The other rep says, hey, wait, my report says you've got the higher market share.

Ah, the good old days. Well, except for that lemon of a first company car I had.

 

When I started in 86 selling my 12 products; the meds that brought me the most coin were vaccines and injectables. Can you say a loaded customer is a loyal customer! DDD didn't matter in these particular categories...

 

You are correct about the term being "Detail Man" up until the 70's. My original question was do you know where the term "Detail Man" came from. When I got hired in 1983 by Armour Pharmaceutical Company there was a 40 year career rep named Gene Salatich from New Orleans. He was a rep during WWII and said that the term "Detail Man" was made up by the pharmaceutical industry at that time so that they could get additional gas ration cards for their reps. During WWII there was a gas shortage and gas was allocated by job classification. So the pharmaceutical industry came up with a new job category called "Detail Men/Detail Rep" and told the government that they needed additional gas allotments because their job was to "inform" the doctors about new drugs and new indications.

 

That is correct about the gas ration cards.

The first female in my company was in 1984.
She was doted over by the men and yet she knew how to put them in their place, and wasn't bothered by their opinions.
Our VP of Sales was a 70's type pig and made comments right to a women's face that would mean the door for anyone in a second, these days. He was fired years later, he deserved it. He actually hit on my wife at a President Pins winner meeting, she later told me she decided she'd let him make his little comments so he'd be more open to my future promotions. Lol.
I once worked in a company with 99 men and 1 female rep, meetings were a hoot. No one ever took anything that happened as serious and reported it to management, we just laughed at them the next day. I'm not talking harassment, just stupid for drinking too much.
Remember, when meetings were fun and you couldn't wait to go to them to see friends and learn what was going on in the company? Because you had no cell phone, email or VM.
We Never even entertained the idea that a test would be given, we were there to be trained on the product and have some fun at night, not the craziness that went on in the 90's, just a good dinner, a few drinks and great conversation about our lives and our love for the job. Conversation can be dangerous at meetings now, anyone can misconstrue what you say and report it, as whatever they thought you said.

I had an older nurse call me a detail man last year, so rare but very few people still use the term.