Competitors hiring humira reps.

[anonymous]

Otezla rep as well. We are all looking, not because we want to leave but because it's pretty clear that we are toast. BMY wants our dermatology platform, not our rheumatology one. If we do survive, we get plugged into a metrics driven, reach and frequency model that still believes speaker programs drive business

They are making a mistake. Think about it. For the past 5 years I have had a product that

barely works
had zero commercial coverage the first 4 years
has zero trade support
has a dysfunctional, even harmful HUB
a non existant medical center strategy (since we launched 5 classes of residents/fellows have graduated not knowing a thing about Otezla)

and I have won 5 PAs. That's not a fluke. I can sell.

Dermatology has had it easy.

Imagine if I could sell Sky and have at launch:
99% commercial coverage
100% Medicare coverage
100% Medicaid coverage whether managed or FFS
100% Tricare coverage
100% VA coverage
an ally as a HUB
unlimited Congress and Society presence
unlimited support of academic medical centers
a coherent IDN strategy

I would be number one with Sky start to finish

meanwhile, we weren't even allowed to bring up the merger at our meeting

 

[anonymous]

Otezla rep as well. We are all looking, not because we want to leave but because it's pretty clear that we are toast. BMY wants our dermatology platform, not our rheumatology one. If we do survive, we get plugged into a metrics driven, reach and frequency model that still believes speaker programs drive business

They are making a mistake. Think about it. For the past 5 years I have had a product that

barely works
had zero commercial coverage the first 4 years
has zero trade support
has a dysfunctional, even harmful HUB
a non existant medical center strategy (since we launched 5 classes of residents/fellows have graduated not knowing a thing about Otezla)

and I have won 5 PAs. That's not a fluke. I can sell.

Dermatology has had it easy.

Imagine if I could sell Sky and have at launch:
99% commercial coverage
100% Medicare coverage
100% Medicaid coverage whether managed or FFS
100% Tricare coverage
100% VA coverage
an ally as a HUB
unlimited Congress and Society presence
unlimited support of academic medical centers
a coherent IDN strategy

I would be number one with Sky start to finish

meanwhile, we weren't even allowed to bring up the merger at our meeting

Judging by your post you very clearly don’t know how to sell or how this market works and if you actually did win a presidents club it’s because you got lucky. Now go back to your own board.

 

[anonymous]

Otezla rep as well. We are all looking, not because we want to leave but because it's pretty clear that we are toast. BMY wants our dermatology platform, not our rheumatology one. If we do survive, we get plugged into a metrics driven, reach and frequency model that still believes speaker programs drive business

They are making a mistake. Think about it. For the past 5 years I have had a product that

barely works
had zero commercial coverage the first 4 years
has zero trade support
has a dysfunctional, even harmful HUB
a non existant medical center strategy (since we launched 5 classes of residents/fellows have graduated not knowing a thing about Otezla)

and I have won 5 PAs. That's not a fluke. I can sell.

Dermatology has had it easy.

Imagine if I could sell Sky and have at launch:
99% commercial coverage
100% Medicare coverage
100% Medicaid coverage whether managed or FFS
100% Tricare coverage
100% VA coverage
an ally as a HUB
unlimited Congress and Society presence
unlimited support of academic medical centers
a coherent IDN strategy

I would be number one with Sky start to finish

meanwhile, we weren't even allowed to bring up the merger at our meeting

If you don't understand how and why speaker programs drive business then you are clueless. If you encourage offices to utilize any HUB service from any manufacturer then you offer no value to your offices. Most products in this class are covered under medicare- if you don't understand why that isn't a big deal you don't understand the specialty market.

Coverage from a ranking perspective vs. competitors also doesn't matter- and if you don't understand that you don't have the business acumen skills necessary to do this job. As long as you are at parity with the people you are ranked against it doesn't matter.

All in all you wouldn't last very long here and I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did at Celgene. You very clearly need to be under a "metrics" driven management team. You wouldn't last long having to figure out this stuff by yourself.

 

[anonymous]

If you don't understand how and why speaker programs drive business then you are clueless. If you encourage offices to utilize any HUB service from any manufacturer then you offer no value to your offices. Most products in this class are covered under medicare- if you don't understand why that isn't a big deal you don't understand the specialty market.

Coverage from a ranking perspective vs. competitors also doesn't matter- and if you don't understand that you don't have the business acumen skills necessary to do this job. As long as you are at parity with the people you are ranked against it doesn't matter.

All in all you wouldn't last very long here and I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did at Celgene. You very clearly need to be under a "metrics" driven management team. You wouldn't last long having to figure out this stuff by yourself.

And if Abbvie stack ranked you against peers how would YOU do?
Not too good I’d bet. Abbvie needs to stack rank EVERY rep and weed out the lower percentile reps.

 

[anonymous]

I can guarantee that the pressure and tactics used on sales teams, is used on RMs and DMs to a lesser degree. Do you realize there were many former DMs from Abbvie, Abbott and thier acquired company’s that were demoted to sales reps? Do you know many RMs were fired under the guise of resigning and some that are now lowly reps at other company’s? You’d be surprised whos on the Corporate “Wall Of Shame” I can name them all, but I won’t. Why kick a man (and woman) when they’re down.

 

[anonymous]

And if Abbvie stack ranked you against peers how would YOU do?
Not too good I’d bet. Abbvie needs to stack rank EVERY rep and weed out the lower percentile reps.

I get told by my customers that I’m the best rep they have quite consistently. This is further backed up by the approximately 20 referral letters I have as I’m planning on leaving this place and jumping on board with Gilead. Time to make big money and stop messing around here.

 

[anonymous]

stack ranking is the way to go, BUT ONLY IF, the territories are regularly adjusted to keep them somewhere near even.

At Celgene, we have a district manager who got her two bottom performing territories shifted to another DM and she only got to keep the cream (an area that is exploding with growth). Guess what - she wins every single year. It's over from the first rankings. The poor schmuck who got her two bottom dwellers has been in the sewers ever since.

Doesn't make her nearly as good as some think she is and doesn't make him nearly as bad as some think he is.

The key is you have to have equitable territories and equitable districts or stack ranking doesn't reward the right people

 

[anonymous]

Novartis rep, here. Yes, it’s $38k for bonus, but I doubt that recruiter was accurate with base. Our own recruiters will not give you a number like that. Be forewarned that it IS a cluster. Five times variance in bio markets in territories (not a curve), and 75% of pay is based on your volume compared to the other territories. This is what you get when you put a former ABL with no Ops experience as the director. He’s now getting pushed out, due to all of his mistakes, but they aren’t changing the pay. If you get a territory with big biomarket volume, take it! No real minimum calls or micromanaged crap (at least not most of managers). They don’t give a lot of territories enough targets to see.
Oh, and, yes, you do get stock at the end of the year. It used to be only Presidents Club, but they are increasing the percentage of reps receiving it this year.
They, did, however, discontinue additional contests, which is where a lot of us made up for the nutty IC basis (fair share goaling).
Also, beware that the head of the rheum division has been pushing to use IMS data instead of the crap we have now, but it keeps getting shot down, so be prepared to have to pay attention to every detail in the numbers from week to week and month to month in every report. The amount of mistakes that they miss is unreal.

 

[anonymous]

I get told by my customers that I’m the best rep they have quite consistently. This is further backed up by the approximately 20 referral letters I have as I’m planning on leaving this place and jumping on board with Gilead. Time to make big money and stop messing around here.

Good luck making any coin at Gilead. Besides your over inflated ego (me, me, I, I.....look at me) you are clueless as to what Gilead offers - which is jack shit poor base salary and bonus. Lastly, they have a bunch of HCV and cardio reps hanging on for Rheum.

 

[anonymous]

Good luck making any coin at Gilead. Besides your over inflated ego (me, me, I, I.....look at me) you are clueless as to what Gilead offers - which is jack shit poor base salary and bonus. Lastly, they have a bunch of HCV and cardio reps hanging on for Rheum.

Gilead pays quite a bit more than Abbvie. And has a significant sign on bonus including a sizable stock grant. Lastly they may hire from within but that would be a huge mistake for a last to market JAK that has shown some questionable efficacy. You don’t want to have an inexperienced sales force selling a big boys drug.

 

[anonymous]

Novartis rep, here. Yes, it’s $38k for bonus, but I doubt that recruiter was accurate with base. Our own recruiters will not give you a number like that. Be forewarned that it IS a cluster. Five times variance in bio markets in territories (not a curve), and 75% of pay is based on your volume compared to the other territories. This is what you get when you put a former ABL with no Ops experience as the director. He’s now getting pushed out, due to all of his mistakes, but they aren’t changing the pay. If you get a territory with big biomarket volume, take it! No real minimum calls or micromanaged crap (at least not most of managers). They don’t give a lot of territories enough targets to see.
Oh, and, yes, you do get stock at the end of the year. It used to be only Presidents Club, but they are increasing the percentage of reps receiving it this year.
They, did, however, discontinue additional contests, which is where a lot of us made up for the nutty IC basis (fair share goaling).
Also, beware that the head of the rheum division has been pushing to use IMS data instead of the crap we have now, but it keeps getting shot down, so be prepared to have to pay attention to every detail in the numbers from week to week and month to month in every report. The amount of mistakes that they miss is unreal.

Novartis a messed up company. Luckily they have the first IL 17 to market and they still are messing that up. Physicians feel they are one of the worst companies to deal with. Weak TLL force, weak reps- they carry 4 detail pieces in rheum for “segmenting”. They do have good access but at what cost- my guess consented discounted a ton. It will catch up to them and Lilly will start to close the gap....then it becomes high pressure. I head the head of Derm is pretty weak. Not sure about rheum leadership.