I have heard numerous stories of reps going to pharmacies and getting print outs of prescriptions that they are not getting credit for from Novo. Reps did so because they had high level targets that swore they were writing Victoza, but weren't showing up in the data. Pressure was being placed on the reps by their managers and RD's to have "difficult conversations" to find out why the docs weren't writing. In some cases managers were telling their reps that the doctors were lying to them and they needed to tell the doctor that. (That worked out real well...getting reps kicked out of the offices and then the manager getting mad at the rep because that happened. Um, DUH?!?) Anyway, in each instance that I have heard of, the reps are reprimanded for trying to get to the bottom of the issue by going to the pharmacy and getting print outs of what the doctor has written, and the punishment has ranged from getting "hands slapped" to being put on a PIP to being threatened with immediate termination. Someone please help me understand why the company tells reps to go out, be aggressive, and ask for the business, only to turn around and tell those same reps not to question the data, when it is CLEARLY wrong? It is very disturbing to me that this is going on in this company, and please, before anyone gets on here and starts to rant that I'm an ungrateful rep and I should shut my "piehole", please know that I enjoy this company, I genuinely enjoy going out and interacting with my customers, and I feel for the most part the company treats us well. I just have deep concerns at how the company treats anyone who dares question the data, especially when our jobs are on the line for numbers! It just doesn't make sense to me.
You are spot on! the sad thing is Novo will do nothing about it. I also enjoy the interaction with my customer's, and yes I am grateful for my job, but there is clearly a problem with the data, and there has been for awhile. Hang in there though, and good luck!
Obviously you haven't been a rep too long. No one in the industry gets exact Rx data. All IMS, not DDD, but IMS script data is based on a sample size from each zip code then a formula is applied based on past history, among many other variables, to determine trends and weights that each physician gets assigned. So true you can go to the CVS, get a plethora of scripts that you may or may not get credit for, but the flip side is that you may be getting credit for scripts that your docs didn't generate either. Call you local IMS rep and ask how they come up with TRx data. It not exact, but it is an exact mathematical formula. The whole industry uses the same methodology.
To your point, I have a friend whos a pharmacist in my territory. She texts me everytime a V rx goes through and tells me who writes it. I have a doc whos written many V and I get the excited success feedback, yet his name has only shown up 2x.... This is one example of about 4 of my writers that arent showing up after I get confirmation of rx fills. So, I'll agree. I complain about it all the time...
I actually have been in the industry for a long time, and while I understand that the data is never going to be perfect, I have never heard of a company being so quick to threaten jobs when the data doesn't add up. My issue with this company is that our jobs are threatened on a regular basis because of not meeting goals, based on the NUMBERS, yet the moment someone actually starts to look into their numbers, they are beat down and told not to do so, all the while still getting chastised because of their numbers! See how stupid that is? You can't have it both ways, but Novo tries their best to have it that way. Extremely frustrating.
Poster above about IMS...if this is the case, it's wrong. I'm in mgmt, field and home office, and that is no way to treat anyone, let alone, our sales team. I've heard of great experiences and I've heard of poor ones. I personally apologize if that's been your experience with mgmt here at Novo. Not what most of us are about. What should be question is not the accuracy of the data...it is what it is industry wide...question the percent of scripts captured in the zip code. If it's not at a certain percent basement the zip code cannot be considered reporting accurate based on the formulas used. It's something around 30%. Yes, it only takes 30% of a zips scripts to report to forecast a statistically significant "accurate" number. Good luck and hopefully you get better coaching.
You act like this is something new!! NN is notorious for fudging on the numbers. Get use to it. Welcome to Novo, where denial is a way of life....
Did you know that IMS clearly states to all that their data should not be used to calculate compensation? But everyone does...
This is some what accurate. That's to protect themselves from ppl like us in litigation. It's just a disclaimer. Clearly they wouldn't exist if the industry didn't use it for that purpose among others.
