The Fall and Decline of the Pharma Rep

We have been witness to this slow yet steady fall from grace of what was once a highly desirable and sought after position. Evidence of the surety of an ignominious end is the constant presence on our own internal chatter board about the benefits of some EZCater function. I suppose it has something to do with access meals for offices but the entire concept seems to demean the whole premise of a pharma/provider interaction. This is what we have become. The EZCater Gal. I am sad for all of us. What do doctors think of all that?

 

Personally i think this is the best fake job ever. I have been at it about 15 years and came in with the big expansion and it was cake "selling" Nexium. Samples anyone? Easy peasy. Then symbicort - pretty easy sell - if you had formulary coverage as usual. Since then I have been leaving the house and leaving samples and not really doing much else than keeping my dry hump DSMs off my ass. Morons all but the fake smiles get it done and get me back to the sample closet. Problem is that I cannot even get in more than 2/3 of my offices so it is getting harder to dance my DSM around. Now the DSM says he has to ride with us even more. Shit

 

Management knows what you're doing and doesn't care. The DM's, all the way up is all job fakers.

 

Absolutely true. Why? because all their jobs depend on a narrative of reach & frequency. The GSK morons just magnify it. No one will talk about the Emperor wearing no clothes because if the truth was believed and understood the layoffs would be huge. Everyone understands that and so the game will continue to be played.

Just keep recording calls as stand up and get your 7-9 a day. It has been working for years. Why not a little longer?

 

If Penny can do it after working at the Cheesecake Factory, I guess it can't be too difficult?

 

Without sales reps then there is no need for DMs, without DMs there is no need for RDs., Without RDs there is not need for EBDs, without EBDs there is no need for NSDs. Then add in HR, Sales Training and how many depend on keeping the sales force large? It has been one big fraud for years supported by a reach and frequency fraud based on fake sales calls on Physicians that haven't received an authentic sales presentation in a decade or longer.

 

This is simply not true. Every day I have full sit down details with my doctors and they love when I show them the size of my increases in efficacy over generics and even ask me to come closer since the iPad is so hard to see. We talk about the pivotal trials used to support our indication then we fully discuss both the safety and efficacy of my brands along with fair balance and ISI. Then I always leave a PI and if that does not happen, then a call does not get recorded. They especially appreciate it when I reinforce the appropriate patient type for them since they are too busy to read up on that and I remind them of our 3 key selling points after having led off with some new insight into their practice that allows us to create positive tension and grow our business. Shame if you don't as this is how I can sleep at night knowing how much good i do for patients.

 

Best and most accurate description of the job ever! Best paying, part-time, FAKE job ever!!

 

LOL what excellent sarcasm you really did make me laugh out loud.

 

The thread title should be "the fall and decline of AstraZeneca ". Now, that would be a story at least 10 years in the making. I used to be halfway proud of this job, the "envy of many of my friends " , now it's become almost embarrassing. Every time I hear a manager, rep...or above say what a great company AZ is...I just want to shake them and say, "really?" Get with it,man....come back to planet Earth. Anyone who was here during the Pulmicort, Nexium,Crestor, Toprol XL days know exactly where I'm coming from...it's like if someone says "who is AZ?...my response is well, we launched (the aforementioned products ). Now, it's like the only big ,truly recognized products people say "oh yeah,I've heard of that,or see commercials"....are products long since gone generic. Those medicines truly were AZ'S finest "hour" . Its just such a shell of what a great company it once was. Really sad when you think about it. Its like a once great ncaa college football program that's just awful now. A nice legacy, but nothing currently to get excited about. At least we still get a steady paycheck, for now.

 

The smell of death is everywhere. If you think morale is low in the field then you should come to headquarters.
This is the tip of the spear representing all that went wrong with AZ. A museum without exhibits or a factory shut down and stripped clean of anything valuable. I walk the halls, close my eyes, and try to bring back the once robust and exciting place to work. Then I open them and reality sinks in. Very depressing.

 

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That was hilarious! Thank you.

 

This whole job defies a law of gravity, where shit actually flows uphill. They know darned well that we can't see 6-9 docs for full blown presentations, and they also know that we don't need the double coverage of so many of us in each office. But the more of us there, are, the more managers are needed. And so on, all the way up the chain

 

3 can't see any Docs so let's add 3 more for a total of 6 people trying to get a sample signature for samples they don't need. If this was your company, what would you do?

 

I would lie.

 

I would do what Trump is going to do in our bloated bureaucratic government agencies. Drain the swamp.
Start by interviewing everyone in headquarters and mid level management positions. Simple question, how much do your earn per year here and what do you do to earn it. Don't give me a job description, What do you do that brings value to this company? In other words, what do you do to justify your bloated pay?
Trump will end the gravy train in D.C. Eliminating people who have been getting rich by exploiting the stupidity of our government culture. We should do the same.

 

LMAO!!!

 

I cant help but think that a company such as AZ with so many continuous reductions in their workforce can only mean one thing, poor management. A well run company has leaders with vision beyond 1-2 years, can accurately forecast long term plans and adjust accordingly. Constant restructuring means those who are in "leadership" just cant seem to get it right. Meanwhie, those who carry out the orders pay the price for stupidity of those who give them, while these leaders get yet another chance to try to right the ship. No accountability on their part. I agree its time to drain the swamp as well.

 

Look, those at the top have no intention of staying here for 2 more years. This is all a part of their exit strategy.
They can make a hell of a lot more money in a lot less time by selling the company and cashing in their contracted golden parachute. Then they will move on and destroy another company. The only puzzlement is why they didn't take the opportunity when Pfizer came calling with an offer of over $80 per share. Maybe they didn't have enough cheap stock options or the terms of their contract would have cut their exit package because they hadn't been here long enough. There has to a reason why the stockholders lost over half of their equity in AZ stock. I am surprised the stockholders haven't come to Wilmington with pitchforks and torches.