You might look good in that suit

Do a search on "Supreme Court pharma reps" and see what happened in our nation's highest court this week. Read the articles. Then post what you think.

 

This case marks the official end of the career of detail reps in the pharma/biotech industry. The reps are nothing but liabilities to companies lately. There's no access to justify needing any of them in the field anymore. Every company is currently laying off their detail people and replacing them with contract sales reps. Makes good business sense.

 

Yeah thats right, lets throw out the whole profession because of a couple greedy reps who think that because they have do an expense report or an occassional dinner program they're entitled to overtime pay. For all those who joined the class action lawsuit, I'd like to park a PI right outside your house and just see exactly what time you leave for "work." Furthermore, you're probably runing around picking up dry cleaning, going to the gym and doing other errands during your day. Not to mention all the times you feed your face with free food. This whole thing disgusts me and as usual, its the lawyers who will take every chance they can get to file bullshit cases like this. They argue a technicality like who's exempt and who is not using some outdated language written years ago. It's all about greed and when the reps involved realize how good they had it, they will be kicking themselves as they are vacuuming out the Enterprise rent a car for the next customer because thats where their next job will be. Nice!

 

I totally agree with you. I worked on the pharma side of things for 6 years before device and can say that I honestly never averaged more than a 40 hour work week. Am I proud of that...not really but the truth is that I was able to accomplish my job in about 30-35 hours a week.

 

Most reps that instigated the cases had been laid off by their companies. They are angry and don't care.

 

Well said my friend, well said!

 

The industry is finally realizing that reps aren't worth their high salaries anymore. Contract reps are a more cost effective way to promote to health care professionals. The salary of a pharma/biotech detail person was always too high for what they actually accomplished. The recession, health care reform, and frivolous lawsuits like this have made the pharma/biotech companies only begin to downsize, eliminate jobs, and outsource permanently. The job of a detail person was once respected over twenty years ago, but has become quite a parody and joke. By contrast look at how hard nurses, pharmacists, and doctors work every day. They have expensive school loans to repay, continuing education obligations, are on their feet working exhaustive schedules, and are responsible for peoples safety and lives every single day. They make minimum wage compared to what liberal science degreed detail people make for accomplishing absolutely nothing except brainless busy paperwork and showing up in a suit for less than two hours once a week. It's about time the job of a detail person gets demoted to the bs it really is and the salary is adjusted according to what the job is really worth. Detail people had a good run making the big bucks for years without earning their paychecks. The party's over.

 

My guess is you're poster #2 back again for another swipe. Which department in our industry do you work for? Marketing services, sales ops or maybe the biggest waste of money, market research where Dr's get paid to tell us what they think we want to hear. Now thats effective! Or, you probably are part of a contract group which is why you think that life is so great. Let me tell you, I've worked with contract people and they are mediocre at best and do no more than collect signatures. Admittedly we have some who do the same, but a contract rep will NEVER produce the same results because they just don't care and they're just not good! Rare exception is the one or two who want to get a permanent job with the company, so what does that tell you.

Best bet is for you to go back to your cube and your endless hours of meetings where nothing gets accomplished because legal and regulatory won't let you and stay off the reps back. You probably couldn't get in the field because you don't have what it takes. Sorry!

 

The role of a pharmaceutical salesman belongs to someone with a strong science and medical background who the medical professionals consider a peer in patient care and background. The job became one big joke when liberal arts and marketing majors took over the industry. Companies are finally right-sizing their employee base and the salary range for what this charade of a job has become. Drug reps with degrees in basket-weaving should not be making more money than their physician, nurse, and pharmacist customers.

 

I have degrees in Biology and Chemistry and do not consider myself a peer of my clinically trained customers. While I agree that, at one time, we were MUCH more respected as a whole, I am not in favor of you, or anyone else, dictating how much I can make relative to somebody else. Who are you to think this?

 

Now you must be talking family practice right? No respectable cardiologist or dermatologist is making close to minimum wage and for that matter no "detail rep" is making close to what these guys make either. These are the MD's that did not match into a specialty and had to take what they could get. Well somebody had to graduate at the bottom of the class.

I am going to guess you might be either an employee that works in a call center at J&J or a disgruntled MD that wishes he could make 100k for working 20 hrs a week. Most drug reps would agree that they have a mind numbing job and that they really do not offer anything more than a cafe latte to most offices but we are here to stay. We are also the ones that fill up the 10am tee times M-F. This allows me to sleep in a little and get a few calls in before 4. Not a bad gig and I am going to ride this for as long as I can.

CHEERS!

 

They tried that and the problem was all of your advanced degrees and "strong science background" people had zero business sense (or common sense for that matter) And the truth of the matter is, this is a business. No sales = no business.

So that's it. You're a frustrated pharmacist who couldn't get a look in the sales division. Ah, now I get it!

 

Reps always crack me up! They all think they're so special and that the company sales are a result of them. We've all seen too many reps win awards based on their competitors leaving the territory as well as vacant territories doing better without a rep in it to know that the job of detail people is all smoke and mirrors. Clinics, doctors offices and hospitals don't allow reps through the doors anymore. You can't continue to be a fraud and pretend that you're responsible for the numbers like you and your cronies have for decades. You've never earned your keep and the companies aren't paying you to fake paperwork and inflate numbers anymore. Now its time to find a career that finally justifies your real worth to a company. Don't worry. You have a degree in liberal arts or marketing which makes you business savvy and are so special that every company is going to want you to work for them. At 1/4 your current salary!

 

may i ask what you do for a living?

 

Does that matter? Judging by the deterioration of the career of the detail person across the entire industry I'm obviously not alone in the belief that the job is a joke.

 

I did not ask the question but here is my response:

It is the only thing that matters and based on the way you answered the question you are obviously not a sales rep. Your opinion from the outside in is skewed by your lack of knowledge of the industry and what a sales rep does on a daily basis. It would seem as though you have watched every YouTube video mocking the industry and have taken that as the gospel. Do you get your news from watching SNL? Sure the job is not what it once was but to make the generalizations that you have shows your lack of knowledge and insight to what good sales reps do.

Also you have contradictions within your own posts. You state "We've all seen too many reps win awards based on their competitors leaving the territory" so it is safe to say that before the rep left the territory they were making a difference? And thus the rep that wins the award was able to capitalize by being there to gain that business? This scenario alone proves the worth of "detail reps".

 

Good reps are 'very' good and poor ones are often lazy and disengaged. This will drive an increase in metrication and measure, GPS in rep's cars and increased accountability for effective time management. Not good for the reps, their managers nor the company.

FFS where has the essence of equity in good leadership which encourages the entrepreneurial spirit gone!

 

Well said, but why bother? Based on the start of this thread and the constant replies to every comment on this subject, I can surmise a few facts.

They've wanted to be a sales rep but were denied
They have an advanced degree that has not realized a return on investment (not well paid for what they do)
They don't look good in their suit, hence the thread title
They're extremely jealous of good looking, well paid, personable sales people