Assume position

It seems you’d rather complain than do something on your own to increase your income.
Here are some things you can do:
Rent a room out in your home
Analyze your expenses and look for ways to cut them
Look for things to sell or rent to others
Find another revenue stream for income
Take some classes to develop new skills and look for a new job because it’s possible that pharma rep was not intended to be a career.
Get a side gig
Start reading the financial independence blogs for ideas on how to do all this since there are others in your situation who can help you with how to make it work.

 

Considering that reps earn 3 to 5x the national average income, financial independence is very achievable-yes, even in the Northeast.

 

Agreed!
Everyone should be analyzing their income, investments, and expenses on an annual basis, at minimum. Today it’s easier than ever with tools like Mint dot com and Personal Capital dot com. Plus we have tons of personal finance and financial independence blogs. You can find people on these blogs in very similar circumstances living very well.
The poster that took a retail job during the holiday season for an extra $2K that she will have to pay taxes on didn’t even need to do that! If she subscribed to DoctorofCredit dot com she would have learned tons of techniques throughout the year to make extra income she would not even pay takes on. Then she could have saved or invested that income to make more!
All you need to do is pay more attention to where your money is going!

 

Ugghhh!!! This job is not what it once was. Not what it should have remained. Reps are scrutinized every week about their sales numbers. Three bad weeks and you are writing a plan of action report. Then every year you sit by the phone and wait to see if you will be laid off. Managers who ride in the field with you every three to four weeks sitting next to micro-analyzing your every word . " you didn't say convince". Yes we get paid a descent salary. We also are very effective in moving product. They wouldn't pay people to do nothing...unless you are in management in which case you have to be creative in showing your worth..."I rode with a a rep today..etc etc. We all manage our money well. But when the disparity in pay vs low level executives is 6X greater, there is a problem. When they never are placed on an improvement plan or demoted, there is a problem.

 

Been here 18 years now. My overall compensation has gone up 15K. Take a look at your previous W2 statements. GSK has held our wages stagnant. In two decades our pay has increased by 10%. That's 0.5% per year. When was the last time they raised the salary maximum for the sales force? Not since I've been here. Again, two decades. I agree, we make a descent salary. We also have extreme uncertainty when it come to employment stability. Yes, all industries have downsizings but not at the rate our company has. Ask any of your friends, would you like a job with more job security making 20K less per year? Or would you like a job that pays 20K more per year where there is a good chance you will be laid off in two years? Then throw in the fact that you have management breathing down your neck constantly and literally! Like the above post said, TSMs are in the field with reps monthly. Throw in an RSD and a random STEM work contact while your at it. So yes, we make a descent salary, but it comes with a lot of anxiety.

 

sell plasma
apply for a NFL head coaching position

 

GSK should have cut another 20% of the field managers. Still too many with too little to do.

 

Interesting that sales are usually doing fine until the last month of the 1/4 or semester then they go down faster than a slack jawed Vegas hooker.

 

Just wait until Monday. Management will be barking out a lot of orders and expectations. "Hope you had a nice break w/ friends and family. Now forget your loved ones and begin using the coco selling model to achieve overinflated sales goals"! "Start scheduling worthless dinner programs asap"! "Get you calendars out. Gonna schedule our monthly field rides where no matter how well you coco we will still find fault and assign action items". "For those of you promoting Anoro, don't want to hear about Spiriva and Incruse being in your market basket. Just sell Anoro for copd and ignore GOLD guidelines which place emphasis on single agent bronchodiliators". "Trelegy reps, continue promoting for all areas of copd even when not supported by guidelines". Finally, "Even though GSK holds over 70 percent of the market with Anoro, Incruse and Trelegy it ain't enough. Sell you worthless slaves! Sell! Otherwise you will be the ones let go in the next layoff in 2020! Sell!!! Oh yea, don't forget, it's all about Patient First".

 

I was laughing about the last post. Then it hit me. That's exactly what management will say. Although we are not individually paid on sales numbers, it's sure funny how our calibrations reflect territory performance.

 

I wish calibrations reflected territory performance. That’s definitely not the case in our region.

 

Sounds like a solid false claims case for something GSK got slammed for 3 billion once already. Time is of the essence, go find a qui tam attorney and file something right away

 

It must be awful at GSK!

GSK sales manager leaps to death - Korea Biomedical Review
A GSK Korea sales manager in charge of consumer healthcare division jumped to his death off the company headquarters in Yongsan-dong, Seoul, on Thursday.

According to local reports, police arrived at the scene after someone reported that a man had jumped off the building. The sales manager, surnamed Song, had already died when the police arrived at the scene.

The reason behind Song’s death is still unknown and the police are investigating the incident based on CCTV recordings.

Medipana, an internet medical media outlet, reported that the police have also found Song’s suicide note.

“Based on the fact that Song left a suicide note, acquaintances of Song are worrying that he may have fallen to his death due to stress at work,” it said.

corea022@docdocdoc.co.kr

 

Very sad. All jobs have stress. I don't think anyone would deny that. If you are in other parts of the GSK organization, you are probably unaware of the stress placed on the salesforce. Do we make a nice wage? Yes. However, the goals and expectations that are set are outrageous. The level of scrutiny by management is way over the top. There is always a threat of being fired via performance plan. Of course layoffs occur almost every two years so that's always on our minds. To the gentleman referenced in the above post, I am so sorry. For you and your family. I hope the reason for what happened to you was not caused by the insane amount of pressure GSK placed on you. God bless.

 

GSK needs to get its act together whine comes to the sales force. The constant blame and finger pointing aimed at the sales force borders on unethical. I have been here nearly 20 years. I have never seen the amount of pressure placed on me as I have currently. My sales numbers (which we are not supposed to be evaluated on yet are the main source of reference by management) have been above goal. My behaviors have always been one that has been used as an example in best practice sessions. Why did my manager ride in the field with me 9 times last year? I feel that my job has an added exception attached to it...to justify my managers existence. GSK needs a reminder. It's not enough to say that you appreciate your people. Those are just empty words. After you've heard these shallow comments over and over and over with no actual action or proof, you lose all leadership ability and respect. Your words fall on deaf ears. It's not the sales reps fault, leadership needs to own it. But as goes the ask culture, management never owns anything but praise. Negative news is always the sales reps problem and fault. God bless the Korean gentlemen and his family. I pray GSK was not the source of his pain.

 

As a former FLL it was all about who and how many we were performance managing. It’s unfair as each rep brings different skill sets and approaches to drive performance but then you get those who want to standardize the sales call with craziness of COCO and convince. Good luck to all.

 

Pressure and stress in pharma? That’s funny

 

The last post is outta touch with reality. As most human beings, we try to work and honest job and make as much money as we can in order to sustain our existence. We try to earn money for our mortgage, food, heat, etc. We try to earn to help our children attend good schools. We try to earn so that we can hopefully retire with dignity. The fact that we choose pharma sales vs a wall street traders position is irrelevant. Some chose teaching as a profession knowing there is little stress with a tenured role and plenty of time off. So yes moron, there is stress. It's unfortunate because our stress is brought about by management who have very little to do. I'm not trying to be funny about that. It's true. TSMs primary role is to work with reps (reps who have been excelling in their positions for many years) and critique how they implement the sales strategy de jur. Reps lose there jobs at a very high rate vs other positions within the company. They carry a lot of weight / blame on the companies performance. All while justifying managements positions. Try being a rep with GSK for two years. Just two years. See if you do not feel stressed? Test with no scores. Calibrations based on convoluted and biased projects. Sales performance that does not take relevant local issues into considerations. Worse, sales performance where unethical physicians prescriptions and vouchers have a blind eye turned on. Just look at this thread. There is stress and a lot of it!

 

If a TSM has 12 reps and works in the field with each individual 1X per month, each rep would have 12 field contacts per year. This is much too often. This scenario allows the TSM to have 2 office days per week. That's a lot of free time for TSMs. So why in the hell is the average rep to manager ratio 9? Do you understand what I am getting at? These managers have absolutely nothing to do except micro-manage and...cause stress! They do not participate in hiring as we are always laying off. They do not help with career development as there is no upward mobility at all. They just ride with reps and hyper-analyze the coco. No other pharma company behaves this way. If you are a field sales manager you really need to look in mirror and ask yourself, how much value do I really add? Do I really help my sales people or am I just a nuisance? Get it TSMs? We all know how little you do!! Best thing you could do is stay as low profile as possible and count your blessings for a fat paycheck that requires you to put in a 30 hour work week. Almost forgot, zero accountability! Everything is the reps fault. Numbers are bad, rep goes on a PIP. Amazing!

 

The GSK process for rep evaluation has been abysmal for years. Every time there has been a change it is because “we have heard you” or “trust our intentions”. Do you still expect anything different after all the failures, or have we simply been lied to? Duh......