ARE THERE ANY SENIOR REPS AT AZ?

[Anonymous]

How about I know where I rank on my team because I have the stones to ask my manager where I rank out on my team and if you don't know ask them. So I do understand the point about rankings. If you don't like rankings get out of sales all together. You will always be ranked in any sales organization, doesn't matter if its Pharma, medical device, software etc.. There will always be rankings. So sack up.

So now it's gone from I want my whole team/company to do well to, if you don't like it get out. Thank you for revealing your true nature.

Another perception of forced rank: Microsoft. Sound familiar?

"Eichenwald’s conversations reveal that a management system known as “stack ranking”—a program that forces every unit to declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, good performers, average, and poor—effectively crippled Microsoft’s ability to innovate. “Every current and former Microsoft employee I interviewed—every one—cited stack ranking as the most destructive process inside of Microsoft, something that drove out untold numbers of employees,” Eichenwald writes. “If you were on a team of 10 people, you walked in the first day knowing that, no matter how good everyone was, 2 people were going to get a great review, 7 were going to get mediocre reviews, and 1 was going to get a terrible review,” says a former software developer. “It leads to employees focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies.”

 

[Anonymous]

Yes my true nature has come out. You obviously are to dense to see the point I made. I simply said I want others to do well. My point is how can you have a sells organization that doesn't rank you. The whole basis is to produce results. If you don't like that then sales may not be right for you. How would you like to have results rated? You want a good job phone call? This is real life, not a utopia. You are showing your true colors. You hate healthy competition? Stop crying. I am happy to work here and love my boss. Sorry you don't share my experience here. But if you aren't happy why stick around. Money isn't everything. I wish you nothing but bliss and a long joyful life. I wish that for everyone however they achieve it. So I hope that shows my true colors not your opinion from my previous posts.

 

[Anonymous]

You're right. The greatest athletes never practice after they are established as pros. The greatest teachers never do lesson plans. The greatest musicians only perform and don't rehearse. We stand corrected.

Another idiot that has absolutely no clue how to manage. Read the post that starts, "and therein lies the problem". God do we have an over abundance of idiots that work for this doomed company!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes my true nature has come out. You obviously are to dense to see the point I made. I simply said I want others to do well. My point is how can you have a sells organization that doesn't rank you. The whole basis is to produce results. If you don't like that then sales may not be right for you. How would you like to have results rated? You want a good job phone call? This is real life, not a utopia. You are showing your true colors. You hate healthy competition? Stop crying. I am happy to work here and love my boss. Sorry you don't share my experience here. But if you aren't happy why stick around. Money isn't everything. I wish you nothing but bliss and a long joyful life. I wish that for everyone however they achieve it. So I hope that shows my true colors not your opinion from my previous posts.

What is a "sells organization" you illiterate fool! You "sales" numbers are beyond inaccurate, and yes you do compete against others in your district! And yes role playing is a gross misinterpretation of what actually occurs on 99.99% of calls. Build a meaningful relationship with your docs, go beyond what's expected to learn your disease state, and when they can, they will write for you. AZ's entire training program, based solely on role playing, is an antiquated joke.

Now back to the OP's question. Senior reps are a viewed as dinosaurs by AZ management. Years ago, they were recognized at national meetings. Even Linda P. brought them on stage during a national meeting to be recognized. What a company!

 

[Anonymous]

Another idiot that has absolutely no clue how to manage. Read the post that starts, "and therein lies the problem". God do we have an over abundance of idiots that work for this doomed company!

Another genius weighs in. You just keep leading with 'do you need samples of____' which doesn't take any practice. You can't improvise if you don't know how to play the music right in the first place. Keep blaming managers, which I'm not, for your lot in life.. Why so afraid to demonstrate you can do your job in front of other people?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for my grammar error. I truly apologize. I am happy thats what you got from my message. My question to you is are you happy. If not then leave this company and find happiness. Life is to short to not be happy. Like I said earlier I want you to succeed and be happy. Have a great weekend.

 

[Anonymous]

I simply said I want others to do well. My point is how can you have a sells organization that doesn\'t rank you.

Wishing others to do well while being ranked can create a dual dilemma, can it not? While at a personal level l do like the majority of my counterparts, I do not truly wish them to do all that well performance wise. Doing well can move them up the vitality curve at my expense and vice verse. No doubt it is a competition. Yes, most companies in Pharma currently use forced rank. The emphasis on individual performance and rank does not necessarily translate to solid teamwork as others have noted. Certainly forced rank is good for a company in the short term. Question is, is it healthy for a company in the long run?

 

[Anonymous]

Another genius weighs in. You just keep leading with 'do you need samples of____' which doesn't take any practice. You can't improvise if you don't know how to play the music right in the first place. Keep blaming managers, which I'm not, for your lot in life.. Why so afraid to demonstrate you can do your job in front of other people?

Geez, where do we find people like this? Our normal interaction with a physician is about 20 to 30 seconds at most, and you know it! We don't have time to demonstrate shit! Also, many on here have talked about not sharing what works with other AZ reps because they are our direct competitors! IT'S ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Moron!

 

[Anonymous]

Wishing others to do well while being ranked can create a dual dilemma, can it not? While at a personal level l do like the majority of my counterparts, I do not truly wish them to do all that well performance wise. Doing well can move them up the vitality curve at my expense and vice verse. No doubt it is a competition. Yes, most companies in Pharma currently use forced rank. The emphasis on individual performance and rank does not necessarily translate to solid teamwork as others have noted. Certainly forced rank is good for a company in the short term. Question is, is it healthy for a company in the long run?

I understand your thinking completely but I believe I can share whatever knowledge I have with anyone and I still out perform anyone I need too. That's all. I wonder what organization doesn't rank a sales force and if that does occur where and how successful is it. Plus if you want to maximize your bonus at AZ you want the nation at 100% and then have your territory be above 100.

 

[Anonymous]

I understand your thinking completely but I believe I can share whatever knowledge I have with anyone and I still out perform anyone I need too. That's all. I wonder what organization doesn't rank a sales force and if that does occur where and how successful is it. Plus if you want to maximize your bonus at AZ you want the nation at 100% and then have your territory be above 100.

You bring up a good question. Do your efforts accurately reflect your activity to goal? Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not. I have to admit that there are times I did not try as hard and outperformed, and there are times I tried harder and did not perform as well. I have heard many other reps note this. Sometimes the goal is simply lower and more reachable, other times it is higher and more difficult. I've seen reps and districts at the top one year and dead last the next. I don't recall there being any passes or acceptable excuses. As some reps lament, sometimes it is just your turn.

Some years poorer people are kept and better people are let go. This kind of sales has too many variables. I don't view forced rank as the end all be all. It has plenty of flaws.

 

[Anonymous]

What all of you are missing, is that the data they use to rank you is so inaccurate that it reflects very little of anything. Long ago, when managed care was non-existent, you depended on DDD. What ever came into your zip codes to wholesalers, you got credit for. It wasn't perfect, but it was a helluva better than what we have now. If you ever sold a buy-to- bill product like Zoladex, you knew exactly what your sales were at any moment in time because you had a copy of your invoice. Even then, I've seen reps screwed out of sales from Zeneca management, even though they had the actual invoices to prove it.

Anyway, this doesn't have a damn thing to do with the OP's question about where all all the senior reps at AZ gone.

 

[Anonymous]

A lot took packages. And a lot have quietly been sacked.

 

[Anonymous]

No I am all sure we understand the data is not perfect at all. But what you have to realize is it's what we use and if you can't stand it or hate it, switch to a more traditional sales role where you know exactly when and where you make a sale. This is still a great job with great pay, benefits, and a high quality of life. I just accept the data isn't perfect but it's better than nothing. And I have two senior reps on my team, and if you count the 3rd one who is in her 50's, she just doesn't have more than 15 years in Pharma then yes I have senior reps on my team.

 

[Anonymous]

No I am all sure we understand the data is not perfect at all. But what you have to realize is it's what we use and if you can't stand it or hate it, switch to a more traditional sales role where you know exactly when and where you make a sale. This is still a great job with great pay, benefits, and a high quality of life. I just accept the data isn't perfect but it's better than nothing. And I have two senior reps on my team, and if you count the 3rd one who is in her 50's, she just doesn't have more than 15 years in Pharma then yes I have senior reps on my team.

I assume you are a DSM and if so, then you had better find a way to get rid of them or you will be the next to go and they will find some other hatchet man to come in and clean up your mess as they see it. There are more than enough candidates who would trash and burn people to get a promotion.

 

[Anonymous]

I assume you are a DSM and if so, then you had better find a way to get rid of them or you will be the next to go and they will find some other hatchet man to come in and clean up your mess as they see it. There are more than enough candidates who would trash and burn people to get a promotion.

Nope I am not the DSM and two of them are held in high regard on my team. One will be gone for sure next time around if not sooner. But in my bosses defense that rep is worthless and losing share in both products and not producing at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Nope I am not the DSM and two of them are held in high regard on my team. One will be gone for sure next time around if not sooner. But in my bosses defense that rep is worthless and losing share in both products and not producing at all.

Now get this; it doesn't matter. This is all about cutting costs so the higher salary more veteran people will be targeted for layoffs or dismissal. You can take that to the bank.

 

[Anonymous]

Now get this; it doesn't matter. This is all about cutting costs so the higher salary more veteran people will be targeted for layoffs or dismissal. You can take that to the bank.

They are very clever in how they have handled this but the bottom line is they have spent the last five years gradually eliminating the high salary veterans with pensions. They measure the percentage carefully to avoid a class action law suit. But, my guess is a huge suit is coming their way anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

Neither of the two senior reps have pensions with AZ. They are only senior in the fact of their experience. They haven't been with AZ for a long period of time. they are high priced though, so that works against them.