Embarrassed to be in pharma

[Anonymous]

Pharma reps really aren't paid well dude.

Get out! Seriously, you don't gain valuable skills that other industries would look at if/when you get laid off.

Pharma reps aren't taught to truly close, they don't know how to finance anything, find their own targets, cold call, do the truly hard close...For example, Does a DOctor ever tell you they won't write your drug? They say "We will try it, or I can't write it." In real sales, I have had a few closings where the Doctor said no, I drilled down over and over on different objections, cornered the guy/gal intellectually and got them to write a check for $10,000-100,000. Or if they didn't buy it, I would leave and say "Doctor, I guess your practice is not ready for a product like this. Please call me when your practice becomes more like Dr. Smith down the street who just bought one." And if I piss the Doctor off, who gives a shit? I don't have to go back.

Which is funny, I tried that hard close technique in pharma and got yelled at by my manager time and time again. So then I tried to do the "cock between my legs" close that so many pharma reps. do "ummm Doctor...after seeing this brochure and the clinical study my company paid for, don't you agree this will help your patients...Will you write today? Really? Oh great, thank you!" Then you do that same talk over and over again.

I should have skipped pharma and gone right into device after copiers. I am 30, make 150 but know if I had more experience in lieu of pharma, I'd be at 250 for even less work.

So my son, the real trick is to your so called intellligence to find a job you get paid more to do even less.

NEWS FLASH:

Anyone with a 2 year degree and some street smarts and ambition can learn your job is less than a week.

At least admit to that.

 

[Anonymous]

NEWS FLASH:

Anyone with a 2 year degree and some street smarts and ambition can learn your job is less than a week.

At least admit to that.

Actually, it doesn't even matter if you have a degree or not. You just have to be intelligent, able to present complex information, work hard, and be polite.

these "specialized" sales people are blowing smoke when they claim they are so smart.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, it doesn't even matter if you have a degree or not. You just have to be intelligent, able to present complex information, work hard, and be polite.

these "specialized" sales people are blowing smoke when they claim they are so smart.

Seems like getting these jobs is as easy as dressing nice and having a beer drinking buddy get you in.

 

[Anonymous]

YOu act as if your job is so special or that it take special skills to do well in it.

Once the economy picks up, I will be in your job too.

Just don't think that medical device is anything to write home about. You just got your chance and I didn't, YET.

Regardless, its not a complicated job. Sales never was intended to be complicated. It was intended to work for those that like to get out and hustle and are fearless.

You responded to my post. Do you have pharma only experience? if so, you are probabaly hosed. For instance, I have a friend who sold payroll and is interviewing with 2 device companies, my other friend who sold pharmaceuticals only has tried 8 times to get into device, but the companies keep nailing them on pharma only experience.

Sales can be more or less complicated depending on what you sell. Selling an MRI is harder to do then selling a stethoscope.

 

[Anonymous]

You responded to my post. Do you have pharma only experience? if so, you are probabaly hosed. For instance, I have a friend who sold payroll and is interviewing with 2 device companies, my other friend who sold pharmaceuticals only has tried 8 times to get into device, but the companies keep nailing them on pharma only experience.

Sales can be more or less complicated depending on what you sell. Selling an MRI is harder to do then selling a stethoscope.

So, all the pharma rep has to do is go sell payroll for 2 years and put up good numbers, right?

Life is not complicated, but we all like to complicate the shit out of it.

 

[Anonymous]

So, all the pharma rep has to do is go sell payroll for 2 years and put up good numbers, right?

Life is not complicated, but we all like to complicate the shit out of it.

That would be a good idea. The problem is if you leave pharma to go sell something truly b2b plan on taking a huge pay cut. Your base salary will be half and your commission won't be great. Then again, it is liberating work. It is good honest work.

 

[Anonymous]

That would be a good idea. The problem is if you leave pharma to go sell something truly b2b plan on taking a huge pay cut. Your base salary will be half and your commission won't be great. Then again, it is liberating work. It is good honest work.

do you think its a good move, if you can afford to do it?

I think it is. Its just taking two steps back and then going five steps forward.

It makes more sense if you are under 40.

 

[Anonymous]

do you think its a good move, if you can afford to do it?

I think it is. Its just taking two steps back and then going five steps forward.

It makes more sense if you are under 40.

If you can afford it, yes it is worth it. It shows initiative. I wish I had stayed in copiers another year or two.

The training will be very good in real b2b sales and what you don't learn from official trainers you will learn in the field.

 

[Anonymous]

The truth is medical device managers definitely don't like MOST pharma reps. They don't seek out pharma reps and they won't hold much respect for it in any interview.

However, can you name the industry that most people came from before they got into medical device? Copiers? NO. Answer= pharma.

Medical device is jam packed with people from pharma.

I came from pharma and I must have met 20 device reps in the last year that came from pharma.

In my last device company, my first manager, my 2nd manager, my teammate- all from pharma. The 2nd manager hired two of his friends from pharma.

The rep who sold a competing product came from pharma. My best friend from work who now has 20 years in device came from pharma.

A former teammate of mine who had 8 years in pharma just jot a great device job where he'll make at least $220k first year. (yes, he actually will)

I just completed an interview with the regional manager of different device company. He’s been in the device business for 25 years. Where did he get his start?- pharma.

My point: it's not easy at all to make the transition. However, these people found a way to overcome the pharma objection.

It took me 15 months and I was at my wit's end but I finally got in.

You may have to leave pharma to do other B2B before you can get in.

Network, network, network and cold call device managers until they hire you.

 

[Anonymous]

Ya, you just can't quit when they say no.

And you just need one job.

 

[Anonymous]

The truth is medical device managers definitely don't like MOST pharma reps. They don't seek out pharma reps and they won't hold much respect for it in any interview.

However, can you name the industry that most people came from before they got into medical device? Copiers? NO. Answer= pharma.

Medical device is jam packed with people from pharma.

I came from pharma and I must have met 20 device reps in the last year that came from pharma.

In my last device company, my first manager, my 2nd manager, my teammate- all from pharma. The 2nd manager hired two of his friends from pharma.

The rep who sold a competing product came from pharma. My best friend from work who now has 20 years in device came from pharma.

A former teammate of mine who had 8 years in pharma just jot a great device job where he'll make at least $220k first year. (yes, he actually will)

I just completed an interview with the regional manager of different device company. He’s been in the device business for 25 years. Where did he get his start?- pharma.

My point: it's not easy at all to make the transition. However, these people found a way to overcome the pharma objection.

It took me 15 months and I was at my wit's end but I finally got in.

You may have to leave pharma to do other B2B before you can get in.

Network, network, network and cold call device managers until they hire you.

Anybody take the courses at the Medical Sales College? Would love to here from someone with a pharm background that attended. 8-weeks then a med sales job?

 

[Anonymous]

Anybody take the courses at the Medical Sales College? Would love to here from someone with a pharm background that attended. 8-weeks then a med sales job?

I met a guy in pacemakers. Before he got in, he was was in pharma. At one point he just got sick of pharma and quit to take some 8 week device course without knowing whether or not there would be a job after. I believe it was 8 weeks but I'm not sure if it was the Medical Sales college.

Soon after, he landed a clinical job for Electrophysiology (EP) with a big company making $70,000 while he learned the ropes. He loved it even though he was making less than pharma. After he learned the technical side he got hired as a full sales rep. He loves it and I think he does well financially. He said he's very happy with the decisions he made and the risks he took.

 

[Anonymous]

Has it cleaned up?

It never was clean dude.

right now, the chick with big tits is in.

Oh, leave it to the 3 ED companies,especially Cialias, to clean it up with their sleazy
4 hour erection" shit blasting from out TV sets 24/7!

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, leave it to the 3 ED companies,especially Cialias, to clean it up with their sleazy
4 hour erection" shit blasting from out TV sets 24/7!

Exactly, and the sleazy sales and marketing morons stand around scratching their asses wondering why the pharma industry is getting a bad rap from the public!!!

All I can say is I'm very happy to be in another line of work now and away from unethical assholes I was working with before.

 

[Anonymous]

Exactly, and the sleazy sales and marketing morons stand around scratching their asses wondering why the pharma industry is getting a bad rap from the public!!!

All I can say is I'm very happy to be in another line of work now and away from unethical assholes I was working with before.

The assholes you will always have. In pharma, there seems to be more than other industries or professions that I have worked for.

One thing that keeps me going is that these products actually do help people have a better quality of life and allow people to live longer.

And if anyone tells you otherwise, ask them if they take pills. Most do.

There are other industries, like insurance, financial services, and real estate that are much more corrupt and do very little to improve the quality of life that pharma does offer.

 

[Anonymous]

There are worse things than being a pharma rep. Think about it. You are not selling beer, cigarettes, things to hurt people. Who cares what people think. If you are really trying to make a difference out there, are you really doing something wrong? Your perception is based upon what you want it to be. If you are ashamed, fine, change your line of work you will be better off..but there are a lot worse things that you can be doing.

How can you be in this industry and say that you're not selling things that hurt people? Show me a company that won't misrepresent clinical trial data and hide serious adverse reactions and deaths by re-naming these events. These misrepresentations result in people getting hurt or killed as a result and they're not a rare event. Vioxx, Baycol, Bextra, Pondimin, Rezulin, Seldane, Hismanal, Posicor, Duract, Redux, Propulsid, Lotrenex, Redux, Meridia, and let's not even go into the mass deception of HRT from the beginning. We now know that evidence of the dangers of these drugs existed and was hidden.

One can make a point by saying they didn't know about these drugs. How about the various marketing plans that seek to expand markets while ignoring the harmful effects the drugs can have on people. Neurontin was marketed for everything from hangnails to AIDS (an exaggeration, but barely) while reps shadowed physicians and made on the spot recommendations to prescribe Neurontin for patients being examined. Internal memos show that reps were schooled in how to recommend this drug for almost anything.

The same goes for antipsychotic drugs, given to moody children, adults with insomnia, the elderly despite the toxic profiles of these drugs, and now, as an add-on to antidepressants which have never really worked but again, all this was swept under the carpet. Don't tell me reps aren't being educated in how to overcome legitimate objections about these drugs. In the course of this, anyone who is not a sociopath or an idiot would have to feel a twinge of guilt for participating in the mass deception.

So, I don't think it's valid to say that promoting drugs is not harmful to people. Those who are ashamed of the industry are one of a very few rays of light in the present industry.

 

[Anonymous]

Anybody take the courses at the Medical Sales College? Would love to here from someone with a pharm background that attended. 8-weeks then a med sales job?

The answer to getting into device sales from pharma is not Medical Sales Colllege. If you think pharma is sleazy, the people who run Medical Sales College wrote the book. Check out the posts on AIMS- it is the same operation under a different name. They screwed mulitple former grads out of refunds they owed under an interview guarantee. They will take anyone who can pay their tuition. They are no better than the job placement centers that take your money to find you a job. I know many grads of the AIMS/Medical Sales College that never heard a word from their recruiter once they graduated. You will regret giving them your time and money.

 

[Anonymous]

At least your embarrassed to be in pharma..Med. Sales doesn't have a conscious, so it can't be embarrassed. See Wall St. Journal report about docs taking (earning I mean) millions to perform questionable surgery .. or ask the ortho nurse what they med rep sales guy does?? sure everyone is well trained .. but they still aren't the ones cutting.

 

[user11]

Huh-what are you saying? Use better english though when you reply!

 

[Anonymous]

Ya, you just can't quit when they say no.

And you just need one job.

It's always helpful if you know somebody though! I was in pharma for 7 years and couldn't get a devise job. To make matters worse....I worked for J&J that has operating companies that are devices and couldn't get it.

A friend landed me an interview with a friend of his who was a hiring manager for a device company. Would I have gotten the interview without my friend? Not a chance in hell.
I know that because I still had to go through the normal screening process. The job description wanted someone with 5 years of device experience. The screener cut the call abruptly short. The hiring manager went back to her and said to set up the face to face.

Networking is the single most important thing you could do. Five years of device experience required???? I still landedthe job. I'm not bragging....more in disbelief and feel so blessed that someone took a chance on me.

I'm here a year and very successful with my device job. There's plenty of good pharma reps out there that would do very well with devices. I never realized how depressed I was until I left that job and started this.

Don't believe the 15 hour a day bullshit. SOme days I'm out late, yesterday I left my house at 8:30 and was in my front door at 4:00Pm. Am I lazy? Not a chance. My boss knows I'm working.

It's nice to know that if my boss calls me and I pick up my phone at home at 10:00AM i don't have to pretent I'm in an office or in my car. I manage my territory well. I work nights when needed. If I get a call on the weekend and something needs to be handled I take car of that as well. And sometiems I just have moring where I do not need to rush.

Be passionate, have that fire in your eye. treat your customers as if they feel they were your very own family and you will be rewarded.

Be honest too! Everyone can spot a phoney!

Good luck to all! That job is out there. Go find it!