120 Days At Zoll/ Please read if considering

Quote
Anonymous said:
I am awaiting an offer and leaving soon. I have never been so gelded and demoralized in my career. I am sick and tired of having so little control over my business and being 1.) patronized by bullies and intellectual misfits 2.) at the whim of non-revenue accountable support staff and 3.) ruining my careerlong relationships. I am so tired of interviewing and mandatory bullsh** ride alongs and meaningless (for the most part) "business metrics" and reports aimed at babysitting. I attempt to lead my team through a complete mine field with no cover from above to support our efforts. Customers are so bogged down and upset with us, patients outright crying (device worse than the disease or outcome "death"). I am sick and tired of spinning the truth and seeing good people set for failure. I came here with an idealistic goal of building a great team that is successful for years (not a couple segments) to come, building solid business and clinical relationships with customers and being proud of the work we have done. Instead, I pour myself out of bed and put bandaids on the day and prepare for the next round of interviews with the naïve. Good riddens.
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My experience as well.
 






I'm outta here soon as well. I'm leaving honest feedback on other web sites so job seekers don't fall into the same trap like I did. It's one thing to be in sales for a growing solid company, it' another to work here.
 






Anonymous said:
I am awaiting an offer and leaving soon. I have never been so gelded and demoralized in my career. I am sick and tired of having so little control over my business and being 1.) patronized by bullies and intellectual misfits 2.) at the whim of non-revenue accountable support staff and 3.) ruining my careerlong relationships. I am so tired of interviewing and mandatory bullsh** ride alongs and meaningless (for the most part) "business metrics" and reports aimed at babysitting. I attempt to lead my team through a complete mine field with no cover from above to support our efforts. Customers are so bogged down and upset with us, patients outright crying (device worse than the disease or outcome "death"). I am sick and tired of spinning the truth and seeing good people set for failure. I came here with an idealistic goal of building a great team that is successful for years (not a couple segments) to come, building solid business and clinical relationships with customers and being proud of the work we have done. Instead, I pour myself out of bed and put bandaids on the day and prepare for the next round of interviews with the naïve. Good riddens.
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Thank you for your honesty!!!!!
 






I left 2 months ago but will tell you that marketing here is the worst I've ever experienced, with a guy (JW) that clearly is in over his head so he spurts alot of confusing and irrelevant info to confuse the rest of us. Unfortunately, our customers aren't buying the marketing messages, the market development initiatives aren't realistic with addressing barriers, and marketing's model is made up from literature (vs a bottom's up sales account analysis) giving us unreasonable increasing quotas that assumes a customer will use Lifevest forever (ahem...some one clearly does not understand sales).

The sales reps and the TM's are good people who all realize marketing here is terrible - we all want to leave- don't consider this place if have any viable alternatives.
 


















First post on Cafepharma...unfortunately!

As I've seen posted in many places, those benefiting most from Zoll Lifevest are the recruiters. This is due to continuous territory splits and high turnover.

I was wooed by a manager with high-hopes of big dollars. Disparaging remarks about prior reps made me confident I could do better. When I showed doubt with my recruiter, they "sold" as best they could. Even the AD made promises to bring me on. Now, despite early success, I am doubting my ability to represent the company.

Some areas of the country appear to be seeing good adoption, and if you are fortunate to be in one of these areas, are hard-working, and a customer service focused rep you can do well. However, the shelf life is still short. Reps with tenure over 5 years are few and far between, and typically in the better performing markets (Southeast/Texas). If not in one of these areas, plan on making a salary after 6-12 months and having a short stay.

It is obvious a great deal of thought has gone into the newly revised comp plan, it's one of the best I've seen, no joke, the problem is quota setting is flawed and growth rates are optimistic at best. Management is hyper-analytical; although there lacks a focus on rep retention and the impact of turnover in the eyes of the customer.

Regarding top management: ML is obviously bright with an operational focus; unfortunately, it seems his focus clouds his should-be-reliance on solid, consistent representation of a product with limited clinical support. JW is an overly positive spin-man who ate the Kool-Aid packet before adding water, but he is being a good soldier. JP, in my opinion, is a caring, good guy, with the best intentions; he is a good inspirational leader, but may be powerless against anti-sales sentiments.

There are some talented RMs and TMs within the organization, but like many other companies there are some who Lifevest would be better without. I came to the realization something was broken with the comp plan when I had an opportunity to see a few of the top (ranked) reps in action. While a few are as impressive as in any other area of our industry (clinical like CRM or selling like capital), a couple of the top 5 I feel could be down the list at a local DME store (or Walmart to better illustrate). This is why I feel someone with good customer service skills in an area with strong advocates can do very well, or a good sales rep in a territory with only a couple advocates can also do well. Unfortunately, I feel these areas are limited and as Zoll continues to shrink territories, high earnings will be a thing of the past, as will attracting top talent.

That said, the reason I, and many others were drawn to the company is not because of the current Lifevest offering, nor the hope of a new guideline based on a small save rate. Instead, some of us who have come from the device industry feel there are capabilities the vest may have yet to come to market, possibly in development, and hopefully, at the least, in planning phase. The fact is a product like this, with only one apparent use and no competition can't rely on reimbursement alone, and with probable changes within the waiting periods there may be fewer patients to protect with WCD.

The intentional reduction in territory size despite lack of business to support a representative seems to be the marketing strategy, much like a startup or pharma company about to release a new product. The problem is Lifevest isn't new. I feel Lifevest would be better served emulating the CRM model of representation as opposed to the pharma model. More "touches" for a product indicated less frequently is a recipe for annoyed clinicians; and by the way, even tighter restrictions for all representatives in the future.

In any case, Lifevest has a legitimate place in the protection of the patients it is indicated for, which is ultimately the determination of the provider. As a rep, I feel I am doing my job if I am presenting available information to allow my clinicians to make their own decisions on "which patients should get the vest, and which can do without". - CCS
 






Anonymous said:
First post on Cafepharma...unfortunately!

As I've seen posted in many places, those benefiting most from Zoll Lifevest are the recruiters. This is due to continuous territory splits and high turnover.

I was wooed by a manager with high-hopes of big dollars. Disparaging remarks about prior reps made me confident I could do better. When I showed doubt with my recruiter, they "sold" as best they could. Even the AD made promises to bring me on. Now, despite early success, I am doubting my ability to represent the company.

Some areas of the country appear to be seeing good adoption, and if you are fortunate to be in one of these areas, are hard-working, and a customer service focused rep you can do well. However, the shelf life is still short. Reps with tenure over 5 years are few and far between, and typically in the better performing markets (Southeast/Texas). If not in one of these areas, plan on making a salary after 6-12 months and having a short stay.

It is obvious a great deal of thought has gone into the newly revised comp plan, it's one of the best I've seen, no joke, the problem is quota setting is flawed and growth rates are optimistic at best. Management is hyper-analytical; although there lacks a focus on rep retention and the impact of turnover in the eyes of the customer.

Regarding top management: ML is obviously bright with an operational focus; unfortunately, it seems his focus clouds his should-be-reliance on solid, consistent representation of a product with limited clinical support. JW is an overly positive spin-man who ate the Kool-Aid packet before adding water, but he is being a good soldier. JP, in my opinion, is a caring, good guy, with the best intentions; he is a good inspirational leader, but may be powerless against anti-sales sentiments.

There are some talented RMs and TMs within the organization, but like many other companies there are some who Lifevest would be better without. I came to the realization something was broken with the comp plan when I had an opportunity to see a few of the top (ranked) reps in action. While a few are as impressive as in any other area of our industry (clinical like CRM or selling like capital), a couple of the top 5 I feel could be down the list at a local DME store (or Walmart to better illustrate). This is why I feel someone with good customer service skills in an area with strong advocates can do very well, or a good sales rep in a territory with only a couple advocates can also do well. Unfortunately, I feel these areas are limited and as Zoll continues to shrink territories, high earnings will be a thing of the past, as will attracting top talent.

That said, the reason I, and many others were drawn to the company is not because of the current Lifevest offering, nor the hope of a new guideline based on a small save rate. Instead, some of us who have come from the device industry feel there are capabilities the vest may have yet to come to market, possibly in development, and hopefully, at the least, in planning phase. The fact is a product like this, with only one apparent use and no competition can't rely on reimbursement alone, and with probable changes within the waiting periods there may be fewer patients to protect with WCD.

The intentional reduction in territory size despite lack of business to support a representative seems to be the marketing strategy, much like a startup or pharma company about to release a new product. The problem is Lifevest isn't new. I feel Lifevest would be better served emulating the CRM model of representation as opposed to the pharma model. More "touches" for a product indicated less frequently is a recipe for annoyed clinicians; and by the way, even tighter restrictions for all representatives in the future.

In any case, Lifevest has a legitimate place in the protection of the patients it is indicated for, which is ultimately the determination of the provider. As a rep, I feel I am doing my job if I am presenting available information to allow my clinicians to make their own decisions on "which patients should get the vest, and which can do without". - CCS
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How long have you been here? I'm guessing a few months...give it a bit of time and you'll see that you're kool -aid drinking too. Here is the real issue, the quota setting is flawed and and has been for quite some time. Corporate pulls out the mystical DRGs to assess your potential which that data is greatly flawed and given the lack of any real evidence on this product you will see that you're set up for disaster and making your salary only. Any good sales rep worth their salt isn't going to stay for salary only. Let's face it many of these territories have gone through 2, 3 or even 4 reps in the past one and a half to two years. How can ALL of these people who worked here be the problem and not the sales organization. The last piece that I'm sharing is that if your territory has a lot of teaching hospitals or is in a evidence based market you will not do well due to the lack of data. Zoll knows that they don't do well in teaching hospitals so if your territory has a few teaching hospitals or just as a teaching hospital your market is evidence based you will not be successful here due to the lack of evidence and will be making salary only. your AD will have your manager put you on a PIP so fast your head will be spinning. Just ask how many LV Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Clinic are using..hardly anything, why?? Because there is no evidence to support the product. If you ask in your interview about these hospitals you will be told, yes Mayo uses or yes Cleveland Clinic uses the LV but they don't use it much. No evidence, bad quota setting means you don't make money.
 






Anonymous said:
First post on Cafepharma...unfortunately!

As I've seen posted in many places, those benefiting most from Zoll Lifevest are the recruiters. This is due to continuous territory splits and high turnover.

I was wooed by a manager with high-hopes of big dollars. Disparaging remarks about prior reps made me confident I could do better. When I showed doubt with my recruiter, they "sold" as best they could. Even the AD made promises to bring me on. Now, despite early success, I am doubting my ability to represent the company.

Some areas of the country appear to be seeing good adoption, and if you are fortunate to be in one of these areas, are hard-working, and a customer service focused rep you can do well. However, the shelf life is still short. Reps with tenure over 5 years are few and far between, and typically in the better performing markets (Southeast/Texas). If not in one of these areas, plan on making a salary after 6-12 months and having a short stay.

It is obvious a great deal of thought has gone into the newly revised comp plan, it's one of the best I've seen, no joke, the problem is quota setting is flawed and growth rates are optimistic at best. Management is hyper-analytical; although there lacks a focus on rep retention and the impact of turnover in the eyes of the customer.

Regarding top management: ML is obviously bright with an operational focus; unfortunately, it seems his focus clouds his should-be-reliance on solid, consistent representation of a product with limited clinical support. JW is an overly positive spin-man who ate the Kool-Aid packet before adding water, but he is being a good soldier. JP, in my opinion, is a caring, good guy, with the best intentions; he is a good inspirational leader, but may be powerless against anti-sales sentiments.

There are some talented RMs and TMs within the organization, but like many other companies there are some who Lifevest would be better without. I came to the realization something was broken with the comp plan when I had an opportunity to see a few of the top (ranked) reps in action. While a few are as impressive as in any other area of our industry (clinical like CRM or selling like capital), a couple of the top 5 I feel could be down the list at a local DME store (or Walmart to better illustrate). This is why I feel someone with good customer service skills in an area with strong advocates can do very well, or a good sales rep in a territory with only a couple advocates can also do well. Unfortunately, I feel these areas are limited and as Zoll continues to shrink territories, high earnings will be a thing of the past, as will attracting top talent.

That said, the reason I, and many others were drawn to the company is not because of the current Lifevest offering, nor the hope of a new guideline based on a small save rate. Instead, some of us who have come from the device industry feel there are capabilities the vest may have yet to come to market, possibly in development, and hopefully, at the least, in planning phase. The fact is a product like this, with only one apparent use and no competition can't rely on reimbursement alone, and with probable changes within the waiting periods there may be fewer patients to protect with WCD.

The intentional reduction in territory size despite lack of business to support a representative seems to be the marketing strategy, much like a startup or pharma company about to release a new product. The problem is Lifevest isn't new. I feel Lifevest would be better served emulating the CRM model of representation as opposed to the pharma model. More "touches" for a product indicated less frequently is a recipe for annoyed clinicians; and by the way, even tighter restrictions for all representatives in the future.

In any case, Lifevest has a legitimate place in the protection of the patients it is indicated for, which is ultimately the determination of the provider. As a rep, I feel I am doing my job if I am presenting available information to allow my clinicians to make their own decisions on "which patients should get the vest, and which can do without". - CCS
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Like Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street: "Its's a dog with fleas kid"! Fitting description for ZOLL LifeVest!
 






Anonymous said:
First post on Cafepharma...unfortunately!

As I've seen posted in many places, those benefiting most from Zoll Lifevest are the recruiters. This is due to continuous territory splits and high turnover.

I was wooed by a manager with high-hopes of big dollars. Disparaging remarks about prior reps made me confident I could do better. When I showed doubt with my recruiter, they "sold" as best they could. Even the AD made promises to bring me on. Now, despite early success, I am doubting my ability to represent the company.

Some areas of the country appear to be seeing good adoption, and if you are fortunate to be in one of these areas, are hard-working, and a customer service focused rep you can do well. However, the shelf life is still short. Reps with tenure over 5 years are few and far between, and typically in the better performing markets (Southeast/Texas). If not in one of these areas, plan on making a salary after 6-12 months and having a short stay.

It is obvious a great deal of thought has gone into the newly revised comp plan, it's one of the best I've seen, no joke, the problem is quota setting is flawed and growth rates are optimistic at best. Management is hyper-analytical; although there lacks a focus on rep retention and the impact of turnover in the eyes of the customer.

Regarding top management: ML is obviously bright with an operational focus; unfortunately, it seems his focus clouds his should-be-reliance on solid, consistent representation of a product with limited clinical support. JW is an overly positive spin-man who ate the Kool-Aid packet before adding water, but he is being a good soldier. JP, in my opinion, is a caring, good guy, with the best intentions; he is a good inspirational leader, but may be powerless against anti-sales sentiments.

There are some talented RMs and TMs within the organization, but like many other companies there are some who Lifevest would be better without. I came to the realization something was broken with the comp plan when I had an opportunity to see a few of the top (ranked) reps in action. While a few are as impressive as in any other area of our industry (clinical like CRM or selling like capital), a couple of the top 5 I feel could be down the list at a local DME store (or Walmart to better illustrate). This is why I feel someone with good customer service skills in an area with strong advocates can do very well, or a good sales rep in a territory with only a couple advocates can also do well. Unfortunately, I feel these areas are limited and as Zoll continues to shrink territories, high earnings will be a thing of the past, as will attracting top talent.

That said, the reason I, and many others were drawn to the company is not because of the current Lifevest offering, nor the hope of a new guideline based on a small save rate. Instead, some of us who have come from the device industry feel there are capabilities the vest may have yet to come to market, possibly in development, and hopefully, at the least, in planning phase. The fact is a product like this, with only one apparent use and no competition can't rely on reimbursement alone, and with probable changes within the waiting periods there may be fewer patients to protect with WCD.

The intentional reduction in territory size despite lack of business to support a representative seems to be the marketing strategy, much like a startup or pharma company about to release a new product. The problem is Lifevest isn't new. I feel Lifevest would be better served emulating the CRM model of representation as opposed to the pharma model. More "touches" for a product indicated less frequently is a recipe for annoyed clinicians; and by the way, even tighter restrictions for all representatives in the future.

In any case, Lifevest has a legitimate place in the protection of the patients it is indicated for, which is ultimately the determination of the provider. As a rep, I feel I am doing my job if I am presenting available information to allow my clinicians to make their own decisions on "which patients should get the vest, and which can do without". - CCS
Click to expand...

You can't say the comp program is one of the best and then make a statement about unrealistic quota! If your quota is based on smoke and mirrors and is unattainable than the comp program might as well pay 1 million dollars at plan! Much of what you said is on target but it's apparent that you are very green. You talk about a person having success if they have good customer service skills but you fail to mention that customer service has been removed from your responsibility and is in the hands of tech support. As tech support is unbelievable awful it is only a matter of time until your customers are aggravated with you and Zoll! You talk about areas where money is being made. Is it tied into reimbursement? Or did someone set up a PSR NETWORK where ZOLL part time 1099 employees are writing for the vest! You touched on a lot of topics but have only skimmed the surface on many.
 






Anonymous said:
You can't say the comp program is one of the best and then make a statement about unrealistic quota! If your quota is based on smoke and mirrors and is unattainable than the comp program might as well pay 1 million dollars at plan! Much of what you said is on target but it's apparent that you are very green. You talk about a person having success if they have good customer service skills but you fail to mention that customer service has been removed from your responsibility and is in the hands of tech support. As tech support is unbelievable awful it is only a matter of time until your customers are aggravated with you and Zoll! You talk about areas where money is being made. Is it tied into reimbursement? Or did someone set up a PSR NETWORK where ZOLL part time 1099 employees are writing for the vest! You touched on a lot of topics but have only skimmed the surface on many.
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The PSR 1099 program at Zoll is really shady. Most of these employees either can prescribe LV or influence the prescribing of LV only for Zoll to then allow for that same PSR to fit the patient and be paid personally. I wonder how many of these PSRs have officially told their hospital in writing of their paid relationship with Zoll as it is a conflict of interest. If the PSRs are an "independent contractor", It still is a conflict of interest for the hospital employee and the hospital. Zoll knows what they are doing and the PSR model is what keeps the referrals coming, especially when there is no real data to support the product. Zoll could hire PSRs outright, but then of course their LV business would dwindle away. Very shady.
 






Ethics are not this company's strengths. This includes business policies, customer relations, clinical evidence management, and how they corner you into ethical gray boundaries, while protecting themselves. Very very disgusting. Bottom of the barrel.
 












Oh god! I'm so glad I got out of there!!!! To think biotronik has a $10 ICD and BS has a subcutaneous CD which will make this shit show of a division even more fucked!

After I left, one of my major accounts stopped writing the LV completely citing turn over and increased difficulty in the ordering process : IE pecos/npi number and intake claims that their signatures didn't match. This process made turned what relationships I had upside down and left me no excuse but to get out!

Please guys, only consider this company if: you are a recent college graduate looking for a first job or unemployed. The sales force constitutes those in pivot mode (between jobs), misled pharma reps, and newbies. Average turnover is <12 months.

Moreover, my successor was there for a month and she left. Good luck to those seeking something better. This can't be a sustainable business much longer provided subcutaneous icd's and contraction of the medical industry.
 




































I remember getting a call for this job a few years ago, but I just knew something seemed strange about the product.

This company/job is the perfect example of why knowledge is power. If you see through the smoke and mirrors and look at Zoll for what it really is, you will find out that its a bunch of BS.

Don't sell yourself short and sell this dog. There are so many better opportunities out there.
 






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