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Dumbing yourself down enough to be a Merck rep

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Anonymous

Guest
As Merck continues to circle the drain, one must ask themselves of how it
all became such a loser's job? In the old days, Merck hired the best and the
brightest...Who in the world would really waste their time as a rep here, even
with the Obama economy?

Talk about work that completely lacks purpose...Doctors don't really care if we
show up or not, unless they need samples...and those can be sent thru the mail...

Most large corporations are subject to some level of buereucratic absurdity, but
it is being taken to dizzying new levels at Merck.

Sometimes I ask myself "Did I get a helluva lot smarter, or did this damn drug
rep job get a helluva lot dumber?"

Really bad management has taken its toll...
 






Sad to say, I'm too dumb to know the answer to your question. But I'm ready for my Friday morning teleconference and hoping to get a chunk of that mmf money to use in my territory. That's about all I know.
 




The job is making us all dumber. I went to college and got a job at Merck out of college thinking I was going to use critical reasoning skills to save the world. Here I am, 13 years later and I feel like a fool walking into offices, waiting to see if the office needs samples....flipping through a sports illustrated and then getting told 5 minutes later - "We're ok. Thanks."

Then I get to run off and get Panera! I sit in the dining area with my trusty laptop....looking at "data", answering emails where other "stellar" reps want to know if I have extra samples because they have sample-dropped too much....and then I get to hear about my Friday afternoon teleconference and how we need to share out success stories....even though nobody wants to pipe up because we are afraid we will be in violation of policy. Meanwhile - an hour later I am told the doctor is too busy and can't see me. $125 of Panera. 0% return on investment. Happens all the time.

Then I go home....I realize I didn't do anything today worth a damn. I take off my suit. Wife comes home and makes dinner. "Honey, how was your day at work? Did you save any lives today?"

A vision of my life enters my head. I am old - and I don't know if I made a damn bit of difference outside of what managed care dictated in my geography. When I die I want my gravesite to say "Be Well."
 




Anonymous said:
The job is making us all dumber. I went to college and got a job at Merck out of college thinking I was going to use critical reasoning skills to save the world. Here I am, 13 years later and I feel like a fool walking into offices, waiting to see if the office needs samples....flipping through a sports illustrated and then getting told 5 minutes later - "We're ok. Thanks."

Then I get to run off and get Panera! I sit in the dining area with my trusty laptop....looking at "data", answering emails where other "stellar" reps want to know if I have extra samples because they have sample-dropped too much....and then I get to hear about my Friday afternoon teleconference and how we need to share out success stories....even though nobody wants to pipe up because we are afraid we will be in violation of policy. Meanwhile - an hour later I am told the doctor is too busy and can't see me. $125 of Panera. 0% return on investment. Happens all the time.

Then I go home....I realize I didn't do anything today worth a damn. I take off my suit. Wife comes home and makes dinner. "Honey, how was your day at work? Did you save any lives today?"

A vision of my life enters my head. I am old - and I don't know if I made a damn bit of difference outside of what managed care dictated in my geography. When I die I want my gravesite to say "Be Well."
Click to expand...

You just read my mind and summed up my life.
 




You are one of the smarter Merck reps. You want to engage in a more in-depth disease discussion with a customer. Meanwhile, your manager is standing next to you and told you post-call that you wasted your time talking about science that has nothing to do with moving the stick. He does not want to hear that kind of clinical talk anymore. He coaches you to be more animated, wave your arms, stand at this angle (real comment from one manager), etc. I guess he meant quit acting smart and be dumb.
 




Is anyone else completely frustrated with those "routing" sheets? Takes all the fun and creativity out of the job. Managers think we are too dumb to assess our own business and which product to talk about. INSANE.
 




Anonymous said:
As Merck continues to circle the drain, one must ask themselves of how it
all became such a loser's job? In the old days, Merck hired the best and the
brightest...Who in the world would really waste their time as a rep here, even
with the Obama economy?

Talk about work that completely lacks purpose...Doctors don't really care if we
show up or not, unless they need samples...and those can be sent thru the mail...

Most large corporations are subject to some level of buereucratic absurdity, but
it is being taken to dizzying new levels at Merck.

Sometimes I ask myself "Did I get a helluva lot smarter, or did this damn drug
rep job get a helluva lot dumber?"

Really bad management has taken its toll...
Click to expand...


A lot of dummies doing the dummy rep job, rep managers included....but few options in the Obama economy. Unemployment is now near depression levels and whatever jobs out there are lower paying. Who can walk away? If you have a second income, maybe....if you win somewhere big, for sure you walk. Most reps I know are stuck. Older with years are looking for the layoff package, but most others are are trying to figure out what they can do that has real job openings and pays. So many dummies with so little time left before a layoff.
 




Anonymous said:
You are one of the smarter Merck reps. You want to engage in a more in-depth disease discussion with a customer. Meanwhile, your manager is standing next to you and told you post-call that you wasted your time talking about science that has nothing to do with moving the stick. He does not want to hear that kind of clinical talk anymore. He coaches you to be more animated, wave your arms, stand at this angle (real comment from one manager), etc. I guess he meant quit acting smart and be dumb.
Click to expand...

Sort of amazing who becomes managers....how about doing the tango too.
 




Merck is just a consumer products company today. Like selling soda-pop, diapers, hand lotion, televisions, and tires. It only pretends to be infused with science and clinical relevance.
 




Anonymous said:
The job is making us all dumber. I went to college and got a job at Merck out of college thinking I was going to use critical reasoning skills to save the world. Here I am, 13 years later and I feel like a fool walking into offices, waiting to see if the office needs samples....flipping through a sports illustrated and then getting told 5 minutes later - "We're ok. Thanks."

Then I get to run off and get Panera! I sit in the dining area with my trusty laptop....looking at "data", answering emails where other "stellar" reps want to know if I have extra samples because they have sample-dropped too much....and then I get to hear about my Friday afternoon teleconference and how we need to share out success stories....even though nobody wants to pipe up because we are afraid we will be in violation of policy. Meanwhile - an hour later I am told the doctor is too busy and can't see me. $125 of Panera. 0% return on investment. Happens all the time.

Then I go home....I realize I didn't do anything today worth a damn. I take off my suit. Wife comes home and makes dinner. "Honey, how was your day at work? Did you save any lives today?"

A vision of my life enters my head. I am old - and I don't know if I made a damn bit of difference outside of what managed care dictated in my geography. When I die I want my gravesite to say "Be Well."
Click to expand...

Well, imagine being in a nearly no see territory, having no samples and being expected to MOVE business. . . that is my life. I spent five hours on the phone or on email regularly just trying to get one single appointment. The other day I got zero! Today, I made seven phone calls and sent out four emails and got one appointment. It is maddening! You are spot on. I don't even bother with lunch anymore if after three there is no ROI, screw them. I just pester them for appointments until they cave or not. Regardless, moving the needle at this point is nearly a lost cause. I drive three hours a day, leave at six am often and am not home until seven or eight at night and my territory numbers keep dropping. Pretty soon I can hear PIP coming and maybe rightly so. I have no idea how to drive business if sixty percent of my customers are absolutely no access at all. This is getting old fast. They see no value in us and this will hurt patient care all the way around. Tell me what doctor really looks at a PI.
 




Glad I read this thread....I really like the idea of "Be Well" on my grave stone. To all you frustrated reps with a desire for more meaning in your work, forget about it as long as you're at Merck. Right now in this economy, the only meaning your work has is MONEY and that in and of itself is extremely meaningful. Our work is a joke, a game to be played. So keep playing the game until our economy improves so that you don't find yourself forced to look for another job now. I wish I had studied engineering like all of my roommates in college but hindsight is always 20-20. Use your job to finance more education if you can. Now is the time to retrain if you believe that is what is needed to help you get out of the pharma circus/nightmare. I wish you all better days.
 












Anonymous said:
Well, imagine being in a nearly no see territory, having no samples and being expected to MOVE business. . . that is my life. I spent five hours on the phone or on email regularly just trying to get one single appointment. The other day I got zero! Today, I made seven phone calls and sent out four emails and got one appointment. It is maddening! You are spot on. I don't even bother with lunch anymore if after three there is no ROI, screw them. I just pester them for appointments until they cave or not. Regardless, moving the needle at this point is nearly a lost cause. I drive three hours a day, leave at six am often and am not home until seven or eight at night and my territory numbers keep dropping. Pretty soon I can hear PIP coming and maybe rightly so. I have no idea how to drive business if sixty percent of my customers are absolutely no access at all. This is getting old fast. They see no value in us and this will hurt patient care all the way around. Tell me what doctor really looks at a PI.
Click to expand...

I am a tenured rep and I am no trashing you. I don't have as bad an access problem as you. Relationships over the years, knowing some of the top dogs since their days as residents really help. Merck still makes my job more irrelevant each day. But at least I have decent access and recognition with office staff since I am a local fixture among the reps. When access level in my territory is the same as yours is time for me to retire.
 




As a former tenured (20 plus years) rep, I can tell you that access will eventually dry up - it happened to me. It started when independent offices were bought up/out by a local hospital, or became "affiliated" with the local hospital. The hospital then put the "No reps allowed" policy in place. Front office staff were threatened with loss of job if they did not inforce the rule.

The hospital then ordered that all generics be used before any brand name medication, and changed branded meds to generic by accessing electronic medical records. Docs were held accountable for enforcing the generic utilization edict - docs were punished for not following through with the edict through a bonus system - bonus for using generics, no bonus for brand.

And, of course, the hospital banned all "gifts" like breakfast, lunch etc.

The funniest thing is that I still get letters asking me/my (former) company to help underwrite their medical symposiums - but part of the guidelines established for these symposiums is to prohibit any personnel from the sponsoring companies!!
I even attempted to pay the attendees fee to attend the meeting just to hear the presentations and keep myself abreast of medical trends - my check was returned, (my name was recognized!) and told I was not welcome even as a simple attendee!
 




Anonymous said:
...I even attempted to pay the attendees fee to attend the meeting just to hear the presentations and keep myself abreast of medical trends - my check was returned, (my name was recognized!) and told I was not welcome even as a simple attendee!
Click to expand...

One more fine example of how totally ridiculous our job has become. Our death as pharma reps becomes ever more painful with each passing day. We've become the classic elephant in the room that everyone tries to avoid and ignore.
 




Anonymous said:
One more fine example of how totally ridiculous our job has become. Our death as pharma reps becomes ever more painful with each passing day. We've become the classic elephant in the room that everyone tries to avoid and ignore.
Click to expand...

agreed...I became embarassed to say what I did for a living when asked...I knew then it was time to get out...

It amazes me that when you read these threads, people stay in this misery (even given the bad economy) because they say they wont find equal pay...well, of course they won't!! But if you are in a dead end pharma job, with constant threat of being laid off, is it really worth the money to stay?
 




It is if your older. If your younger, it makes no sense. Might as well start the career all over again and find a place where you can begin to make some decent money. It will be interesting to see what some of these s3's will do. Most of them are younger. Give them 10 years and see where they are then. It wont be here. The s3's in the west are terrible. Bunch of brown-nosers and cheerleaders. Some like to use their nipples to sell, but even that is beginning to fail
 








It is a job, not a career. I just do not like the bragging and fake crap that goes along with dealing with this monster. The reps are not dumb. In my area, they are quite smart.....it is the job that is dumbing everything down, along with crappy management. I know more than my manager, who wants to talk to the customer about anything except product (I am not kidding). Crazy, crazy, crazy days. If they would just let the reps sell and forget about all of the busy work going on, then maybe we could get out and do our job instead of taking tests, having meetings, working on environmental scans, business acumen and all the other crazy things we have to do besides sell.
 




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