Confessions from a former AZ PSS

[Anonymous]

What a lousy thing to be thrown out of a company after putting in years and hard labor to develop a territory. I don't know if this will help, but let me share my story.

I grew up in the east L.A. area (by the way, I'm white). My parents were always verbally and physically abusive. My neighbors knew it and my teachers knew it. No one helped me. When I got bigger (grew to 6' tall), my parents decided to solicit the help of my high school (in Baldwin Park). Dear old mom went to the high school counselor (short guy) and told him some lies about how I was verbally and physically abusive with them at home. Instead of doing any type of counseling, he decided to join in. He brought me into his office and hit me with the board and sent me to class. Then he came to my math class to try and embarrass me by saying I was crying. The class laughed until I got up to tell everyone I bent over and told the counselor to kiss my a**. I told the counselor if he wanted a piece of me I was ready now. Then I told the counselor other things to piss him off. The math teacher told the counselor to leave and I chased him out of the class (I expected to be expelled but wasn't). The counselor, in front of everyone, said he would do everything he could to make sure I never graduate. The math teacher did nothing, but the counselor kept his word. I had teachers on my ass all the time, including the math teacher. One teacher (part time Sheriff) put a gun to my head in the middle of class. The counselor did everything he could to make sure I never graduated but he failed. I kept fighting back, with everyone. I did graduate (not a great GPA) but I had a poor image of education. No one guided me through the steps of enrolling in college. I signed up for a couple of classes, but I couldn't figure things out. Someone told me that I needed to meet with the counselor. Flashback to high school! No thanks. I dropped out. For many years, I continued to go through bad times, more guns to my head, living in a tent, unbelievable things people don't realize goes on out in the real world. At 19, I finally got a crappy job as a delivery driver...for a medical supply company. I learned the industry and kept working hard hoping to crawl out of a dark place. I eventually became a medical sales rep (no degree) and then a sales manager for a medical supply company. Life took me for another ride in 1990 and I had to leave that part of the industry, but another door opened up for me to become an Independent Rep for medical sales. Of course I was scared, but I had grown up with the attitude of never give up, no matter how bad things get. I had a wife and 3 little children to feed. I wasn't going to let them down. I left for work early and came home late. Eventually, I became the top sales rep, took on additional product lines and am very happy that I accidentally found this industry. I am now 56 years old and looking at dropping all my old lines and starting over with new product lines. It's awkward, but I think necessary. I don't plan to fail.

I hope that no matter how hard your job gets, continue to believe in yourself. You are in a wonderful industry and, as far as I am concerned, the hardest part is over. You have many avenues you can take. Many of you have degrees and are much smarter than I am. If I can survive in this industry I know you can too.

Good luck and best wishes to all of you.

Sounds like you got butt assaulted by many authoritative males when you were younger. Prolapsed rectum??

 

[Anonymous]

What a lousy thing to be thrown out of a company after putting in years and hard labor to develop a territory. I don't know if this will help, but let me share my story.

I grew up in the east L.A. area (by the way, I'm white). My parents were always verbally and physically abusive. My neighbors knew it and my teachers knew it. No one helped me. When I got bigger (grew to 6' tall), my parents decided to solicit the help of my high school (in Baldwin Park). Dear old mom went to the high school counselor (short guy) and told him some lies about how I was verbally and physically abusive with them at home. Instead of doing any type of counseling, he decided to join in. He brought me into his office and hit me with the board and sent me to class. Then he came to my math class to try and embarrass me by saying I was crying. The class laughed until I got up to tell everyone I bent over and told the counselor to kiss my a**. I told the counselor if he wanted a piece of me I was ready now. Then I told the counselor other things to piss him off. The math teacher told the counselor to leave and I chased him out of the class (I expected to be expelled but wasn't). The counselor, in front of everyone, said he would do everything he could to make sure I never graduate. The math teacher did nothing, but the counselor kept his word. I had teachers on my ass all the time, including the math teacher. One teacher (part time Sheriff) put a gun to my head in the middle of class. The counselor did everything he could to make sure I never graduated but he failed. I kept fighting back, with everyone. I did graduate (not a great GPA) but I had a poor image of education. No one guided me through the steps of enrolling in college. I signed up for a couple of classes, but I couldn't figure things out. Someone told me that I needed to meet with the counselor. Flashback to high school! No thanks. I dropped out. For many years, I continued to go through bad times, more guns to my head, living in a tent, unbelievable things people don't realize goes on out in the real world. At 19, I finally got a crappy job as a delivery driver...for a medical supply company. I learned the industry and kept working hard hoping to crawl out of a dark place. I eventually became a medical sales rep (no degree) and then a sales manager for a medical supply company. Life took me for another ride in 1990 and I had to leave that part of the industry, but another door opened up for me to become an Independent Rep for medical sales. Of course I was scared, but I had grown up with the attitude of never give up, no matter how bad things get. I had a wife and 3 little children to feed. I wasn't going to let them down. I left for work early and came home late. Eventually, I became the top sales rep, took on additional product lines and am very happy that I accidentally found this industry. I am now 56 years old and looking at dropping all my old lines and starting over with new product lines. It's awkward, but I think necessary. I don't plan to fail.

I hope that no matter how hard your job gets, continue to believe in yourself. You are in a wonderful industry and, as far as I am concerned, the hardest part is over. You have many avenues you can take. Many of you have degrees and are much smarter than I am. If I can survive in this industry I know you can too.

Good luck and best wishes to all of you.

I don't know about the wonderful industry part. Sure we make drugs that can help people, but the driving motivation isn't about that and there are plenty of fines throughout the industry to demonstrate that. Drugs have been viewed as a competitive commodity in a marketed fashion to gain share, often without fair balance and real concern for patients. Over the years I have seen so many challenges to patents and clinical data that I have become skeptical of any of it. Anyway, good luck to you and your family.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you got butt assaulted by many authoritative males when you were younger. Prolapsed rectum??

Not really. Growing up, I took blows to the face and the traditional whippings. I got used to it. Unfortunately, you also start to believe this is a normal life and your view of the world becomes a little warped. With that said, if you still believe in yourself you can still make a good life. Looking back, I am surprised that I never ended up dead or in jail for all the things that happened and how I responded to them. I was one of the lucky ones.

 

[Anonymous]

Not really. Growing up, I took blows to the face and the traditional whippings. I got used to it. Unfortunately, you also start to believe this is a normal life and your view of the world becomes a little warped. With that said, if you still believe in yourself you can still make a good life. Looking back, I am surprised that I never ended up dead or in jail for all the things that happened and how I responded to them. I was one of the lucky ones.

So basically you are saying you have continued dreams sucking BBC?

 

[Anonymous]

So basically you are saying you have continued dreams sucking BBC?

Now, I think I understand I am on the wrong board. I didn't realize the "former AZ PSS" reps were so negative. It's difficult to lift some one up and show them how to be a winner when they clearly want don't want it. I will never understand that mentality, but then again, rising to the top is not for everyone. I am sure the competition and your former managers are looking at these posting and saying "yup, that why those reps are gone".

 

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the OPs position. I've been out for several years. I had 14 friends in the business that covered my territory across all the companies out there. (rural area where 95% of us lived in the same town)
Now only 4 of them are still doing it. Only one fromAZ.
Dnt think medical sales is the end all, cure- all, as it has now become like pharma. No access. All kinds of hoops. Completely unrealistic quotas. I worked for a company that had every territory with the same quota because they were set up to all have approximately the same number of hospitals in it.
How do you suppose that worked out? I sold the biggest deal in my state in 15years and STILL didn't hit the number that year.
The brutal truth is, the best thing you can possibly do is get to a commission- based system of selling anything. A least then you know that if you sell, you make money. I make more money now on a 30k base and no car with $275/ month for expenses than I ever did as a pharma OR medical Rep. Not to say those medical jobs aren't out there, but few and far between. I also have a boss that leaves me alone for the most part.
And that's the real key.

I also learned to not trust any company, ever, at all. I did not stop until I had 50k in the bank so if someone screwed me I would be fine for a year. The problem now is, the fear and worry are still there, but it is better knowing that I can do it on my own. I also sell for 3 other companies on a 1099 basis. I spend 5-10 hours a week on them and they give me another 15-20k per year. Everyone should do that.
I loved what I did as a pharma rep. I was really good at it. I made 4 presidents clubs in 8 years with 2 different companies. I would go back to what it WAS in a second. I would never go back to what it IS.

Good luck out there.

 

[Anonymous]

Previous post is dead on... Pharma was a great fantasy job...good sales jobs are straight forward AND you or the company don't have any doubt about your real $uccess in what you are doing.

 

[Anonymous]

Very open and honest. Spent several years with Sanofi, AZ and Schering and could not get back in. I should write a book on how not to get a job. My advice, save save save and stay debt free. Some day you might be living on what you saved. Forget the big house, the big suv, the big vacations and quit trying to impress people that are of little importance to you.
From the time I started in pharma, all of my buddies from other companies are gone. All pharma reps are now "rent a rep".

This is a true story. Lets go back to summer 2008. Rumors were circulating all summer about AZ cutting its salesforce. The summer passed and the death cries were getting louder. I was a 10 year veteran of AZ and Symbicort sales trainer with several leadership positions and in good standing with both my DSM and Regional Business Manager. SO as fall came around, I was honestly not worried. They announced the day that we would get "the call" and to stay by the phone. I was 90% certain that I was safe. It was mid November 2009, a few weeks before thanksgiving. I got the call from the DSM and she said that I was planned to be cut. She was so sorry. There was "nothing she could do" I was in total shock ! How could the Sr. Member of the sales team be cut? I had good reviews, I was friends with all my doctors, and I had 10 years at AZ. I was a level 3 making $87K base (after a COLA increase). I was respected in my area as a great rep. I worked from 9-3:30 every day and got 6 signatures. I was paid a severance of 2 weeks for every year so I got one big check. I was forced to sign a legal document in order to get that money. It said I would not sue AZ. I got 6 months free COBRA and 20 weeks if I signed legal form. I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and kids and everyone saying "sorry" to me. My goal was to get a job after Jan 1 and save some severance. In the next year, I collected unemployment and started aggressively sending out resumes to everyone I knew. I sent resumes to EVERY pharma and biotech company twice. I said to myself this is my opportunity to finally get out of pharma sales and into a "real career" that was respected. I sent out several hundred resumes in 2009 and 2010. I must have emailed 200-250 resumes. I got 3 pharma interviews. I never made it past first round. The District hiring managers told me "we had over 100 applications for this open territory" and "how many times did you make presidents club cause we only want the best" ? I never made it. I was 38 years old at that time. It has been 3 years now and I am still sending resumes out. I am selling but not in the industry. I am now making $55k, exactly half of what I was making three years ago as a level 3 PSS. No more vacations, free gas, spoiling the kids etc. Its all gone now. My income is low. I get approx. 3% response rate on applications I mail out. SO If I mail out 100 resumes, I get 3 responses. This takes six months to do. Forget about the Symbicort training champion or the exceeded expectations that one year or my biology degree with honors or my 6 signatures every day, I am telling you that I was thrown out of AZ in a millisecond and never recovered. I share this humiliating and very true story with the AZ salesforce as a wakeup call to start looking NOW. Be prepared. It took me 2 full years to get a terribly low paying job. At 40, it is really tough. The pharma rep profile is 23-30 and a pretty girl. This is not an "old mans game" Lets face it, its a part time job and a college grad could perform that job at $40k a year and be thrilled. If someone has a legitimate question, please ask and I will honestly reply. (this is a true story)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your honesty. It is basically what everyone, including me, has gone through since being laid off in '09. Keep working at that lower paying job until something better comes along. Even the lower paying jobs are difficult to get these days. Grateful to have landed a lower paying job. It beats unemployment and paying directly for healthcare coverage. A nightmare.

 

[Anonymous]

I am now making $55k, exactly half of what I was making three years ago as a level 3 PSS. No more vacations, free gas, spoiling the kids etc. Its all gone now. My income is low.

All of America is going through a wake up call. IN the medical industry, many changes have taken place in the past 20 years. The internet has allowed mom & pop operations to be run out of their garage without the same overhead or personalized customer service. Customers are herded to find the cheapest supplier in order to stay in business. Insurance companies are cutting back reimbursement on doctors forcing them to buy as cheap as possible. Hospitals are also building up their own referral network of physicians and telling other doctors to go find another hospital. Things are tough throughout the industry and getting tougher. Big companies are now squashing the sales reps. Salaries are reduced and bonuses are limited.

 

[Anonymous]

You should feel like a thief......which you are for only working 3 hours a day while collecting full-time salary & benefits. And for 10 years!! A fine example of morality & ethics you set for your family pal.....but you yourself said it best; you're a loser.

Whatever. People that work in offices at a desk spend half their time chit-chatting with co-works, surfing the web, looking at their personal email or making personal calls, etc. There are SO many jobs out there where people are not TRULY doing their WORK 8 hours a day. Besides, this is sales. Maybe not a typical sales position, but I can guarantee in any other sales position, it's about RESULTS - not the hours put in. The reason people feel guilty in pharmaceutical sales is simply because they don't feel like what they're doing is making a difference one way or the other.

I don't feel guilty anymore. I am often doing administrative work at night, I go to these useless meetings and give up personal time from my family, and on a daily basis I see who I can see and even hit those offices where I can't do much... But at least I know I tried. I talk to someone, anyone, and leave info behind and samples (that is unless one of my other 4 counterparts have already been there). It's not ideal, but it's still a pretty good gig. It's all in how you look at it.