What do you ACTUALLY do?

Is this job a complete joke, or am I missing something here? There's not actually selling bc its fully driven by contracts. And lets be real, we are not needed to stand in the OR. It's a waste of time, and quite frankly, awkward at times for the doctor. Lets stand for 2+ hours for a SNOW or Powder MAYBE used. Enlighten me please.

 

Shhhh, You dont want to let the cat outta the bag. You are a mannequin that gets paid well to exist. Now get out there and sell!

 

You clearly don’t know how to do this job. Buddy up with supply chain, your coordinators, & your docs. Provide high quality account management and pick off business. Small short touch points bud. It’s how the winners do it here…..But we hire too many pharma potatoes who can’t think beyond what marketing jams down their useless carbon omitting space cadet brains.

 

Pick off business? What a joke. Don’t you mean if you’re satisfied with a mediocre salary and the knowledge that your job is always in danger because you can wear scrubs the rare days you actually leave your house? Pharma Potatoes? You think you’re better?

 

Play golf Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
By the beach on Friday
BBQ on Saturday
Volunteer on Sunday

 

Wouldn’t volunteer work be too much like actual work for you?

 

It feels good to help others.

 

Oh realized I didn’t respond to this. You accustom to the trauma/spine/sports med life? Covering cases, providing clinical expertise yet not actually selling a damn thing. You’re a dime a dozen.

If you can actually influence surgeons & supply chain, handle internal matters, & grow business while not having to be in the OR all day then your brain is capable for much more than a box cutter. Enjoy the same 10 surgical scenarios on repeat.

 

“Providing Clinical Expertise” hahahaha
I know lots of surgeons who respect the clinical expertise of a marketing major.

 

Our products don't have any good head to head clinical data. Surgeons don't care. Thank goodness for our contracts Team. They make this easy money. Rarely losing accounts in my territory thanks to bundle contracts hospitals can't say no lol

 

That’s the only reading most of us have a job

 

I leave my house to hang out by the pool. My spouse drives my car to work. All is well.

 

I’m a fairly new executive here. Sounds like we need to focus more funding to our contracts team if our sales team are on vacation. Do we want more head to head clinical data?

 

I’d like to add my take on this. Very rarely do I come on this website but I’m looking today for cheap entertainment. I can’t recall the last time I wrote anything about Ethicon or my former employer. The people that are on here constantly bitching and moaning don’t realize how good they have it. I’m not saying specifically with Ethicon but speaking about the quality of our lives in general.

Facts:
What you get at Ethicon is a good work/life balance. We don’t take call and we don’t usually work past 5pm.
We have great benefits
Comp plan - The pay is not necessarily on par with other device jobs and our pay fluctuates drastically. I’ve made 200k and I’ve made $70k. A higher base would certainly help. You can’t say we have simplified the comp plan. If I have to sign off that I read the plans, refer to them constantly, try to remember what products are on it now vs previous plans, listen to podcasts, join webinars, have discussions, print out my H1 vs H2 plans, then it is way too complicated.
I’ve heard some reps on teams have a really high base whereas others start at 65k. I’m a tenured employee but I know my base is much lower than others. I have received small incremental increases but it’s still a slap in the face.
We sell an enormous bag with most of it not going towards our sales numbers. I understand we want to sell advanced brands and newest innovations. If you have an account with $2mm in wound closure sales but very little barbed suture or plus, that is all house money. The field is getting absolutely screwed on that.
We can’t determine our total sales for our territory; we can determine our sales of comped products. That needs to be explored.
We need a lot of things. Our resources are pretty terrible and inaccurate. Marketing folks don’t know the products as we emphasize a wide range of experience versus expertise. Keep people in their roles and help us.
Our customer service is terrible. Our contracts need some work. Sometimes they work in our favor and sometimes we get destroyed by them.
Our budget cuts are…..I don’t even know where to begin. I haven’t heard of any other companies going to the extremes we have. Apologizing to the surgeons and PAs that have signed up or are interested in educational courses due to budget cuts is embarrassing. I’ll bring in the sales if you give me the resources. Don’t limit me.
VALUE YOUR TENURED EMPLOYEES. Keep us, stimulate us, pay us. Sorry but I’m over seeing the next great associate or contracted rep get all the praise and flattery. They haven’t paid their dues and haven’t been here in the trenches for the long haul. I have yet to work with one that works as hard or brings as much to the table.
TURNOVER in the FSO needs to be addressed. Every time I read about a person or see them in Optimizer I have to guess what role they took over. The number of former employees in my contacts is shameful.
The shameless self-promotion at this company needs to stop. You have to be recognized and your good work pointed out, otherwise the how ratings may not fall in your favor. If the other managers and AVP don’t know you your compensation will be affected. Unfortunately everyone is too busy to get to know people. We have to wave the flag and yell “Look at me! I’m doing my job well!”

WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO? The title is a good question and there are a variety of answers. I take pride in what I do whether it’s painting my house or my job. I want to be great at everything including spouse, friend, parent, employee.
I have become a trusted resource for my customers over many years. I have worked my tail off to get there and I’m constantly learning. I have worked weekends and overnights when needed. I like to help the nurses, surgeons, and techs with our devices. With their decisions. With their knowledge. With solutions. Have I driven miles and miles and miles to borrow product for a case in the morning? Many times.
There are days I am in the OR at 7am and leave at 6pm. There are days I’m digging out of backorder hell. There are days where I’m in meetings and calls when I could be doing something more productive.
I do best in the OR and try to be there. I find a reason to work with someone even if they’re not using the latest and greatest. That is where the opportunities arise.
I can’t typically break free to recreate as someone mentioned above. I have a sense of missing something where I could be moving the ball. I stay busy and have many irons in the fire at all times to not go stagnant.
Do I sometimes cut out at 2 or 3 for family stuff? You bet. Do I sometimes take an unofficial day off for a vacation? You bet. Do I sometimes work on company holidays when everyone else if off? You bet.
I’m very grateful for a manager that doesn’t micro manage me. I’d leave if that was the case.

To the new executive, those opinions on people not working absolutely do not represent the majority. Let’s be clear about the braggadocio in the above posts.

To the reps saying sales are only from contracts: figure out a way. You may get knocked down 9 times but someone will say yes. We’re in sales. Find the clinical or materials champion. Be the first person they ask for a solution. I am fiercely competitive and I want to take that business.

Overall, I like my job. There are lots of things we need to fix. If you’re lost in the woods are you going to sit down and pout or will you figure a way out? I’ll figure out a solution. That’s my take. It could be easier but it’s not. Other companies have issues as well. I’ve experienced them.
Enough with this rambling. I need to go convert some competitive users and plan next week. I hope you enjoy my post and I’ll try to remember to check back for the responses. I’m curious to see how many will be snarky vs actual insight or agreement.