The Amgen decision for the bullpen vs offices

Discussion in 'Amgen' started by anonymous, May 11, 2020 at 9:40 PM.

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  1. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    No one including this home office know it all gets promoted at Amgen by sitting on CafePharma all day arguing with sales reps. You get promoted the old fashion way at Amgen by kissing as much ass as possible but not on here since no one cares how much bullshit you can spit out. I am sure the Press was not alerted when they hired you and no one cares what your opinions are. My experience in many years of sales was the only people who couldn't sell and didn't like to sell had to take over positions and don't respect sales people including this dweeb.
     

  2. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Incoherent much? Must have been drunk or hungover when you fumbled around on the keyboard for this gem.

    The home office person shed light on stuff that I know flew right over the head of our goofy sales reps. No one is saying they don't respect sales people, just that they overplay their value and impact. Personal promotion has an 88% impact on prescribing influence??? That number was pulled out of thin air by a stupid sales rep. It is patently false. That is a fact. Also the sales team at Amgen is not all that great compared to other companies we benchmark against especially the OBU. All that was stated is home office people are more valuable than sales people because the sales roles is highly interchangeable with a market flooded with warm bodies to backfill them.
     
  3. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    We need to outsource BD to India, they can do a better job for much less money.
     
  4. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    I am in the field and would agree that we have sales reps that are young and inexperienced. This is aimed at the bone team. I feel we have a solid team in the INBU. It is true that Amgen can toss a stone and come up with 100 qualified/over-qualified people for sales backfills.

    I would also say the same about home office. I have been selling for over 20 years with a handful of companies. You can NOT make a case that our training and marketing team from INBU/Bone are irreplaceable.
     
  5. anonymous

    anonymous Guest


    Everyone is replaceable. To your point hiring talented home office folks is very difficult and yes often times we land on mediocre talent, making the talented one very valuable. For field sales there is not shortage of fickle reps who are constantly looking for a change. We rarely have a tough time finding reps. Whether they are good or not is up for debate. I know in the OBU it is rare to be able to hire reps with oncology experience. I'd say less than 10%.
     
  6. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    They are young and inexperienced because no one wants to work at this lousy company anymore. Once they are here, the good ones leave.
     
  7. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    If you have been selling for 20 years and you are in the INBU consider yourself a total failure. That team is the short bus of biopharm. Our OBU is bad but they are a considerable step up from the INBU...
     
  8. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    We salute your long career of mediocrity!
     
  9. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    What you call "mediocrity" I call living a good life that has a true work/life balance. Enjoy your rat race in TO!
     
  10. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Get to a good TA that pays well. Yes, that is mediocrity. You probably make half that of a good onc rep at a good biotech.
     
  11. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    What do you consider a "good salary" for an oncology rep at a good biotech? Share numbers.
    This is not a dig...I am interested to learn the real salary range for an oncology rep.
     
  12. anonymous

    anonymous Guest


    $185 to $215 base salary. $60K at plan for IC.
     
  13. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    That's more than most physicians in this country
     
  14. anonymous

    anonymous Guest


    Lots of equity too, and not to mention the car allowance. It really is a difference maker and profit center for the rep. Reps are driving really nice cars and getting them paid for by the company and the milage. Not to be underestimated or undervalued as many reps will not give that up for a company care.
     
  15. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Work/life balance is great in TO. Who told you it wasn't? Do you just make this stuff up in your head to feel better? We're not consultants or investment bankers dumbass. Sounds like you're just lazy and have piss poor work ethic like half of the sales reps I've meet but you play it off like hard work doesn't matter and you're all about "efficiency" so everyone else who works hard must be wasting their time. Same old story. It's why you'll continue to be mediocre
     
  16. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    That's because they don't know shit about what it's like to be away 5-6 days a week, on average, while working 70+ hours. It's always the same idiotic arguments from reps.
     
  17. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Yes it is. I know for a fact that many onc reps make more than my oncologists right out of fellowship which is typically around $250K. If they stay in academics and they hit full professorship they start making big money but those first few years they struggle. For the community folks that economy has changed...back in the day pre AWP +6% oncologists made big money on the spread...especially from GCSF...hahahaha. Those days are long gone...and they struggle
     
  18. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    I am field based and have worked in a HQ with previous company. You are wrong to label reps/managers/field reimbursement as lazy.
    You say you work 70 hours over 5-6 days a week? I call BS. You might be at the office 70 hours over 5-6 days a week but are you REALLY working!
    How much of your time is spent showing up early and staying late because of the culture.
    I have visited TO on more than one occasion and I see a lot of people that try and look busy on their computers with their airpods. Take the marketing at this company for example. It is pathetic. You can't tell me they work 70 true hours a week! Or maybe they do and still produce crap.
    In the field, we are seeing the pointless amount of WebEx meetings that we are subjected to during Covid. This is a picture of your "work" at TO. You have pointless meetings every day that do not accomplish anything of worth other than to show that you are busy.
    So I agree with the poster to enjoy your RAT RACE.
     
  19. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    It is such a silly argument. I know this may be hard for you to understand or perhaps even believe, but some people actually like work. They enjoy working, and gain a high level of fulfillment from it. What you see as a Rat Race others see as engaging, intriguing and meaningful. I have lived in both worlds and understand both sides of it. Pharma sales is a lifestyle job for sure. I get that. Rarely do you make big money or there is limited chances to make big money(a launch here or there) or career growth by staying in sales, but yes you can enjoy a nice lifestyle financially if that is what motivates you. Nothing wrong with that, just like there is nothing wrong with wanting more than a lifestyle job and/career while settling on just OK money. Some people are motived to achieve more financially and in responsibility.

    Please do not take this the wrong way, but I absolutely despised the 'breakfast, lunch, snack' inservice which was the primary mode of interaction with the customer in the OBU. Sure there are appointments but the vast majority of interactions are attached to the rep brining in a meal. The mindlessness of having to call the office to confirm, finding out what type of food they wanted, calling or going online to order the food, to then stand in some cramped break room feeding 20+ staff to get a few minuets of time to talk to the doctor about a product that has been on the market for a few years with no new data. Often times hearing the complaints from an overweight HS dropout office admin that the food wasn't good. That experience was soul crushing for me and many others. The driving around, dropping marketing materials and care kits to feel like you are doing something on the days you didn't have lunch or appointment seemed mindless and pointless. The needless admin, call entry, top down micromanagement, and ride-a-longs were so frustrating and pointless that no matter how flexible my days were they were so unfulfilling and family, friends and extracurriculars can only fill so much of that gap for some people...me included. I enjoy being in TO, I enjoy having at least a shot at achieve some of my career goals from a responsibility and financial perspective. I am certainly not an all work and no fun person, however if we are to spend 40 hours a week or more on something I need it to be more than catering food, schmoozing, and talking about things the doctor already knows. Please save your, "there's more to the job than that" narrative I have held sales roles and sales leadership positions here and elsewhere so I know the drill and the nuances of the job. Sure you may think that many/all home office jobs are meaningless, however they are no more meaningless than what you do...
     
  20. anonymous

    anonymous Guest

    Well, since you lazily assumed that I was referring to a TO job, I'll call you lazy. I worked as a consultant, and yes, there were 70 hour weeks. It's good to know that you can walk around TO and spot people faking busy. The C-Suite could use you to lean out the workforce. Hell, you should have been an assassin with your keen sense of deduction.