How to explain poor sales numbers for the past 2 years during an interview

[Red Leader]

Forced ranking destroyed my last pharmaceutical sales job bonus. My territory was one of the 2 highest volume territories in the nation. Unfortunately, when you have a high volume it’s next to impossible to grow the product the way they want you to. How do you explain this during a job interview if they ask what your rankings were for the past 2 years? How do you explain this without destroying your candidacy? I’ve never had to deal with this in 30 years in the business. I appreciate any honest feedback.

 

[anonymous]

Forced ranking destroyed my last pharmaceutical sales job bonus. My territory was one of the 2 highest volume territories in the nation. Unfortunately, when you have a high volume it’s next to impossible to grow the product the way they want you to. How do you explain this during a job interview if they ask what your rankings were for the past 2 years? How do you explain this without destroying your candidacy? I’ve never had to deal with this in 30 years in the business. I appreciate any honest feedback.

You lie. That's it. Everyone lies about their rankings to get Pharma jobs. You can give them the "I was in the top 1-10 on most ranking reports" line, or "I was in the top 10%. You can always say that your territory was realigned several times so the rankings were not reflective (and then just say, but I was almost always in the top 10%). If you tell them that in combination with any promotions you got or accolades, it sounds believable. You can also say that your company did not do force ranking but that you were a top performer. Lots of options, don't worry and focus on all of the positive things you accomplished.

 

[anonymous]

Nobody cares. Just know where the best donuts and lunch spots are in town. Losers.

 

[anonymous]

You lie. That's it. Everyone lies about their rankings to get Pharma jobs. You can give them the "I was in the top 1-10 on most ranking reports" line, or "I was in the top 10%. You can always say that your territory was realigned several times so the rankings were not reflective (and then just say, but I was almost always in the top 10%). If you tell them that in combination with any promotions you got or accolades, it sounds believable. You can also say that your company did not do force ranking but that you were a top performer. Lots of options, don't worry and focus on all of the positive things you accomplished.

I appreciate your kind feedback. In 30 years I was never asked this question with specifics. If they ask for documentation, I’ll most likely have to fabricate it to my advantage.

 

[anonymous]

OP,

Unless you are going for very high paying jobs that demand "numbers", don't worry about it.

In fact, that information is proprietary, so they shouldn't even be asking. That is a way out as well. Tell them its proprietary. And then just do your thing if you know sales.

Most people are not good at selling by the way. Especially in pharmaceutical and medical. They just rely on their company brand to sell. I am talking about bad companies like Medtronic, etc.