Check your Novartis email. We have been told to work from home for the next 3 weeks! I believe they have handled the situation as well as they can. All travel and meetings cx until April 30th. One NVS meeting in a June cx.
It's time to get realistic about the scenarios all reps from all companies face.
Most likely scenario - in 60 days we will start back in the field. 40-50% of the offices we previously did have access will stop giving us access. Limited lunches no outside events. No meetings until Fall
Scenario if virus not contained or comes back in Fall - layoffs across the board. Established products will eliminate entire reps.
Worst case scenario - In 6 months to a year you only will get access to 10-20% of your customers. This will be permanent. The company will not need you. This will go for every company. Pharma wanted to downsize for years and this gives them a perfect reason. The earnings will be another reason to force cuts Offices wanted to eliminate rep visits for years and this gives them a reason to close their doors permanently.
If this gets worse layoffs could come in May. Your caterer in affected areas is going out of business. Rural areas or Midwest might fair better. The coasts will be crushed.
What you should do - hope for the best but expect the worst. I know many reps feel they are important to the company or the doctor. This is not true and can be easily eliminated. You are not needed and you are a luxury. Luxury items can be eliminated. You now have free time. Start a small business, come up with ideas on a new career, if you are under 50 invest in the stock market for the long term.
For those who feel the above possibilities are not realistic you will be the one surprised by the ending of your career.
Most likely scenario - in 60 days we will start back in the field. 40-50% of the offices we previously did have access will stop giving us access. Limited lunches no outside events. No meetings until Fall
Scenario if virus not contained or comes back in Fall - layoffs across the board. Established products will eliminate entire reps.
Worst case scenario - In 6 months to a year you only will get access to 10-20% of your customers. This will be permanent. The company will not need you. This will go for every company. Pharma wanted to downsize for years and this gives them a perfect reason. The earnings will be another reason to force cuts Offices wanted to eliminate rep visits for years and this gives them a reason to close their doors permanently.
If this gets worse layoffs could come in May. Your caterer in affected areas is going out of business. Rural areas or Midwest might fair better. The coasts will be crushed.
What you should do - hope for the best but expect the worst. I know many reps feel they are important to the company or the doctor. This is not true and can be easily eliminated. You are not needed and you are a luxury. Luxury items can be eliminated. You now have free time. Start a small business, come up with ideas on a new career, if you are under 50 invest in the stock market for the long term.
For those who feel the above possibilities are not realistic you will be the one surprised by the ending of your career.
WAH... Lets face it, President's club is pure luck... we all know it and it ends up hero to zero. shut up is right....
Most Doctors can’t tie their own shoes. Their mentally locked. If they did not have reps pounding medicines in their head their thinking would be about what color underwear to wear tomorrow. So the industry needs reps. They love it! Ames them feel important! We feed their ego daily and hourly! And that my friends is why we are in business!
In 2008/09 it was the perfect time to downsize and Pharma gutted Reps left and Right. Mds offices will be closed down for over a year or more because of this. Reps in 2020 are not important As a matter of Fact I just say a DM posting on Linkedin on the importance of "Positive Tension" and how to do it. This alone should be the reason Reps and Managers need to be banned.
Seriously! Let’s communicate patient safety and health benefits correctly and we all will be fine in the long run. We are the front line in communication to the Doctors and to the Offices on any news and all clinical updates and we need to wear out hats brilliantly. We are in an amazing business. We need a Doctor’s brilliance and they need our Pharma to help their patients. So have a great quieter selling time . Reflect and prepare for a busy rest of your lives.
Lot of doom and gloom. Access is bad everywhere- the Midwest actually has the worst access (Wisconsin, Minnesota). We should lay off people- especially in cardio where we have way to many reps. Other divisions like Immunology and Oncology should be fine. The industry will always have reps because they work. In 2008-2009 when all the idiots got laid off I switched to a small biotech and got a 25k raise. The cream always rises to the top. Ask yourself what are you willing to do to win- and do it. For those that are unable or refuse- yes likely will be shown the door.
Regeneron called me this week for an interview. So to think rep job is going away is extreme.
We need to keep available for our providers. I can definitely see in a few months from now the potential for reps that have gotten over Covid-19 even filling in at clinics. Many of my docs already look to me for help navigating an ever more complex treatment paradigm. And I have helped get difficult patients on the right drug (FYI not always mine- its never a good time to "sell" when advising a Dr.). We are experts in Rheumatology and have access to the best data in the industry!
My advice is be there for your providers- in the next couple of months as more and more people fall ill the US healthcare system will be stressed. They will look to the industry to "come off the bench" and help in anyway we can. It might just be a coffee but it also might involve seeing an infected patient (after you are immune). That is how we did it when I sold medical device- we scrubbed in and really offered value to surgeons. Now is the time to change our ways and save some patients lives along the way!
My advice is be there for your providers- in the next couple of months as more and more people fall ill the US healthcare system will be stressed. They will look to the industry to "come off the bench" and help in anyway we can. It might just be a coffee but it also might involve seeing an infected patient (after you are immune). That is how we did it when I sold medical device- we scrubbed in and really offered value to surgeons. Now is the time to change our ways and save some patients lives along the way!
And what specialty is your medical degree in???
You probably have a business degree, maybe a teaching degree. Puh-lleeesse!! NO healthcare professional is going to ask you for help!!
We could definitely step in and room patients, take vitals, discuss treatment options- anything a nurse could do we could do and probably better.
This has to be a joke because no one would be this stupid. That would be a total HIPPA violation and open any physician up to a lawsuit
Sadly this sounds about right for the IQ level of the typical clueless novartis manager or executive
& think about it, if it was a rep this moronic, they were hired by the aforementioned
I actually tested positive 2 days ago and I'm currently in quarantine. I'm definitely planning on helping on the "front lines" once I'm cleared. Ive already reached out to 2 of my large Derm offices and they said they can are going to need the help. I envision doing some of the easier mundane visits like skin cancer screenings but maybe I can help out with some PSO or PSA patients. Maybe I'll just help out the front desk or do some PA's. Bottomline we all need to be available to help out- this is a really serious time and only going to get much much worse. Soon our providers will be so backed up with patients and at the same time will have to deal with staff and physician quarantines as they are likely to get this POS virus!
One love! We can get through this if we work together.
One love! We can get through this if we work together.