Vivus Sales Reps

If Vivus canned all of their sales reps Qsymia scripts would not be affected. These script sales are pathetic. Vivus should save their money and fire their sales people. They are worthless.

 

I would put the talents of any Vivus rep up against any of you Lowcaseron reps. The talent of the Vivus reps are unsurpassed in the industry. Most of the reps are highly decorated, extremely experienced and hard working. You don't see any lazy newbies here. I would love to be able to compete against you in a clinical debate you clown.

 

You just proved the first poster's point idiot. The fact that Vivus hired so called great reps (which is total bullshit because most of the reps would not be on this contract except for the fact they got laid off from big pharma) and the sales are dismal and the stock is in the tank proves that you could have hired Enterprise people for half the price and gotten the same result. No rep with a strong background takes a contract position unless they have no other options, period.

 

Numbers do not lie. If you think the sales results of Qsymia are from a top sales team, I'm speechless. The sales numbers have been stagnate for months. What does this tell me? It tells me a couple of things. First, the doctors prescribing Qsymia are doing it whether there is a sales rep or not. They are interested in treating obesity and make it part of their practice. Second, the sales reps are having NO impact on increasing sales and/or converting doctors into prescribers.

 

Creating a new market takes time and has challenges. The Q number blow away Belviq number with a much larger sales force. I know dozens of reps with "big pharma" and most of those reps are lazy and worthless. Especially if the work in a pod system. With limited resources, Qsymia is doing OK. It has triple the share of its competitor. If you think a doctor would rx Q with not reps, you could say the same thing about any product. What ever product you sell is a blockbuster because of your vast knowledge and abilities. Most of the reps here were with big companies. Most are much happier her and are making the same $$ or close to it. The environment here is much better than the big companies. I know, I was with them for MANY years. This gig is better.

 

"Creating a new market takes time"??? What market are you creating??? Sounds like a corporate BS line to me. The market you are "creating" has been around and is being exploited by a number of supplement companies and snake oil salesmen everyday. Vivus owns Qsymia which has been FDA tested to assist in weight loss and you cannot sell the drug. I don't care if you were at big pharma or are a contract sales person. The sales results are pitiful.
The sales reps are responsible for convincing doctors that obesity is a problem and Qsymia is the answer. Plain and simple. The Vivus reps are unable to deliver. Furthermore, I don't care about a competitor's 400 reps on the ground promoting Belviq and not having much success. If anything, this shows that the sales rep are becoming irrelevant to a drugs success.

You say many reps are much happier since leaving big pharma companies. Well, I think the case is clear that big pharma is doing what they are supposed to be doing- holding their sales reps accountable. This is clearly not happening at Vivus. Of course, if I were collecting a six figure salary sitting on my ass complaining it's a "new market" I would use that as an excuse as well for not waking up in the morning to educate doctors.

What a bunch of losers!!

 

While you try to figure out how to create a new market let me help you with a new lead. Yes, you must get dressed, start your car and drive. A shower would be nice, but not required. We just need you to talk half way intelligently.

Here you go. This doctor is in AL and willing to prescribe medications for weight loss. We certainly know he is prescribing Belviq. To bad no one from Vivus could sell him on Qsymia. Hell, trying to sell him on Qsymia is asking to much form this sales force. Just showing up at his office would have probably done the job.

http://fox10tv.com/2014/01/31/belviq-weight-loss-medication/

 

I agree with your post but the reps for Vivus are contract reps and they are not making anything close 100k in base salary, trust me I know this for sure 100% on this one.

 

Whether the sales people are paid 100K or 20K is irrelevant. The issue is that Vivus is not managing the sales force properly. A talented management team will pay a sales person 20K and get 80K worth of results or pay 100K and get 400K in return. In either case it is not happening. Vivus is just throwing money away.

 

Why are you so angry. You sound like you were either let go or not hired in the first place. It's a bad feeling you have going around feeling angry and worthless. The only reason you want the sales force gone is because we are killing you trying to sell Belviq. I have launched dozens of medications in over 20 yrs and some were blockbusters and some were dogs. Qsymia is growing and the Drs love the medication. A lot of the success will come down to MC. Patients are willing to spend money on scams like Quik Weight loss, Jenny Craig and so called weight loss supplements, but when it come to medication, patients are programmed to not want to pay. You, need to find out why you are spending so much time being angry and jealous. Take up a hobby like knitting or learn how to read. Books are a good hobby. Maybe work out so you don't feel so awful about how you look. Life's to short to go around being miserable little man.

 

Wow!! Nothing I have said is mean and I certainly am not angry. I am just looking at the facts and shareholders agree with me if you look at the stock price over the past year and especially the past 3 months. Have you ever heard of creative destruction? If not, I suggest you look it up. Times are changing for sales reps. The internet has taken over.

Vivus would have a better return of their investment if they restructured their sales support. Offering webinars to doctors and activating the consumer through internet advertising instead of spending 30 million a year with PDI. The result this year will be 25 million in sales for 2013 and there is little to no sales traction especially since we are working off such a low base of 100-125K in total scripts. How is this sustainable? It isn't.

Can you imagine if Vivus had a well organized internet campaign for Qsymia of 5-10 million?? Okay, lets keep the sales force and just reduce the PDI budget by a third and reallocate it toward internet advertising. Attacking all of the message boards, various internet sites geared towards obesity.. You have no idea how much interest this could create. The hell with insurance coverage and the MC excuses. It is what it is and if Vivus waits around for government they are kidding themselves.

I suggest you lay off of the personal attacks and honestly take a look at yourself and your sales team. After 700 million in total loses generated by Vivus where are we today? Maybe taking a different approach would be appropriate before everyone loses their position.

 

Maybe Michael Miller leaving is just the beginning of something bigger. Something is going on. I am not sure what it is, but I think something must be going on behind the scenes.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/881524/000110465914003077/a14-3818_18k.htm

 

I guess we can see where our $10,000 extra bonus money was spent! It sure is refreshing to see the new CEO who carried a bag-haha gave himself a fat ass bonus for driving stock down and left nothing for the worker bees.

 

Don't worry about firing reps we are all looking for new jobs . I heard from last week"s newest recruits were exchanging job recruiters names before landing in the field this week. Sad state of affairs for a company that had so much hope and dedicated reps.

 

Let's see if they are doing anything with the internet marketing.

http://vimeo.com/89474668

 

actually the hit rate for Qsymia is quite good on Google and that costs $$ to buy the search terms, so they are doing that. the challenge is drug advertising is so restrictive to consumers that it can look really scary to them - teratogen, REMS, etc. they cannot make ads like Sensa.

also the market begins with a physician willing to Rx upon a patient request -this really does require reps to educate, address concerns, and de-bunk diet drug bias.

 

WOW.

 

This is not a sales rep fault, this Dr has been bought!!!!

 

Everyone be ready for some bad news coming. We are short on time. If you need to support your family start looking. If its side money go down with the ship. Remember, no severance or benefits provided. We all gave it our best, but it was out of our control.

 

Are tired of upper and middle manager BS and looking to dump company after next payout.