STOP WITH THE ASKING US TO DETAIL DR.S!

While I am very grateful to still have a paycheck, this Veeva engage is a terrible idea. My customers will actually get very annoyed that they are being "detailed " while they are scrambling to hold it together. The last thing they want is us bothering them in the middle of an international pandemic. The offices aren't less busy. In reality, they are probably short-staffed because employees with children have their kids at home indefinitely from school. I understand that Amgen is worried about losing a lot of sales money, but we have to be realistic and respectful to our offices. Once or twice a week phone calls checking in with staff, to reiterate support should be all that we are doing right now. I am not angry, just trying to be realistic and sensitive to offices and patients.

Detailing physicians over the phone is not a good idea Home Office. They do not want to be bothered. They are trying to get through their day with very short staff, etc. We need to be respectful. Thank you for the job you are providing us. This is a crisis and we didn't create it. Let's not add to the offices stress by asking Drs to call us if we send lunch. We should just be able to talk with nurses or mas. Dr.s have no time to call nor do they want to . It makes us look bad.

 

excellent point!
Anything other than a sincere check in is tone deaf & potentially result in loss of good will.

 

Agreed 100%. Just like the new catch phrase from the latest Simon Sinek book, every other big pharma group is using this 'novel' strategy, training on Veeva Engage and even starting this now in the field. So it's 15 or 20+ reps who are all now calling the office, emailing meeting links, asking for the staff's time when they are fearing for their own safety and jobs. Have a good friend who works for another big pharma co, said he has already done a few virtual details through the platform. 2 of which the hcp could never get the video feed to work, lol. If we are ordering catering this is def not compliant, and prepare for that to come to a halt as soon as a competitor finds out.

Don't do this Amgen, it is going to come back to bite us. If you need to give us and the training dept. something to do, push out more training modules and a district review call each afternoon led by a new rep each time. Will give us some structure each day.

 

Thanks for your note. We have reviewed it and you are right and in fact, we now realize we don't need you. You will learn soon.

Thanks for saving us millions.

TO

 

Oh stop it! You are a jerk

They do need us. They do not need us NOW. They are trying to get through their day with very short staff and tons of patients who are sick .

Give them a month or two.

They will need us just not today. Let it go. Give it a rest Amgen. This pushing us to do virtual details with a product not in launch mode is absurd. We are not being sensitive.

 

Enough with the all caps

 

no one is putting all caps.

I agree with the o/p

Amgen should be ashamed of themselves, as other companies should be, that they are asking reps to detail Dr's over the phone. No division is in launch mode. WE all have checked in with our offices. They know we are here to help if they need us.

Let it go. This is a national crisis.

 

absolutely! We look like idiots. They are scrambling to survive and dealing with their families during this stressful time. We are clogging their emails like it is cyber Monday and flooding the phone lines of their short staffed offices. All to shameless promote products with the same messages that they heard week in and week out prior to the shutdown.
Someone needs to look at the risk benefit to doing this and the future impact on relationships with providers and potential harm to the pharma industry. Fortunately there are few companies doing this any longer. They heard the feedback from providers loud and clear. For this Amgen is like the one or two annoying reps in your territory who ruin access for us all. I say no extra business will he generated by annoying these offices during this difficult time.
If you need the reps to work focus on something internal and leave the docs alone for a few weeks.

 

AMEN!

 

Exactly...let's show a little class, a little industry leadership. Leave the HCP's alone during this time. NO ONE is making new decisions on prescribing during this time. They are sticking with what they know and what they are comfortable with. Some dumb phone call or WebEx with a doctor is not going to result in anything. Also no one is laying anyone off. So stop with that nonsense.

 

Essentially, you are telling Home Office to put us on long term unpaid furlough. Those Consulting agencies will "conduct analyses" and make headquarters ask themselves "Why should they, our biggest expense, bring home those paychecks and have benefits for 3 months, while sitting at home doing nothing? We'll bring them back in late June"

 

You're showing your ignorance of your own industry. You really think that only 15 to 20 reps call on busy offices? Thats so wrong that its not even funny. There are hundreds of pharma, biotech companies out there. And many of them have contract reps supporting their field forces.

 

100% agree!!!

 

You're an idiot Long-term YES. we matter. For 6 weeks we do not matter. What part of this crisis do you not understand? Idiot!

 

Yeah go ahead and pull the sales force and see how the street responds...

 

With the few virtual lunches I’ve done so far it’s the most normal thing they do all day

 

Classic!

 

exactly

 

I know of 6 large accounts across the country, (2 institutions), that have already banned one company for trying to set virtual appointments. Don't be a jackass and live up to the stereotype of how the public, (and many accounts), view industry. Do the right thing now and business will come. Maybe the Moron EQ managers can spend their time on sensitivity training.

 

I would suggest that knowledgeable sales folks should propose another way to your management, to handle the "social distancing" situation.

Often managers (of all types) come up with shitty ideas to solve a problem; but if that is the only idea being discussed, then their idea is "the best one' because it's the only one. You need to germinate the pool with more ideas.

Amgen does teach its managers to be very arrogant, if they weren't already, so this may be hard to do. You might have to publicize the idea somewhat anonymously, outside the manager's area of influence. Then if it works, you won't get credit -- but you made your life better in other ways.
I would think that with sales, the actual amount sold is what counts most (does the strategy move the ball ?).