How many reps will Merck keep?

[Anonymous]

With access so tough, especially in the hospital setting, honestly, how can Merck afford to keep all of us reps? What will happen in 2013? Will they have one rep with all products in their bag? Makes more sense.

 

[Anonymous]

The prevailing rumor is that everyone except Women's Health gets replaced by Ventiv reps. The question of how many remains to be known. I'd bet no more than 1000 nationwide. Very few of us will be part of that, however.

 

[Anonymous]

The prevailing rumor is that everyone except Women's Health gets replaced by Ventiv reps. The question of how many remains to be known. I'd bet no more than 1000 nationwide. Very few of us will be part of that, however.

silly untrue rumor...(Except for the Women's Health group which remains golden and secure for some reason?)

Remember, Merck doesn't do anything that harms alot of managers...Deep cuts in the sales force put Merck senior execs in the tough position of having to get some of their middle managers off of the Corporate Welfare system...

they will look at any alternatives to this...

 

[Anonymous]

With access so tough, especially in the hospital setting, honestly, how can Merck afford to keep all of us reps? What will happen in 2013? Will they have one rep with all products in their bag? Makes more sense.

Agree...integrated health systems- restricted access to most all clinics...the time will come the only question in when and how deep and wide are the cuts... Tablet, hospital, women's health, hept c , vaccine , managed care, etc ... Any inside information on when and how the new configuration will be implemented? I a g

 

[Anonymous]

Agree...integrated health systems- restricted access to most all clinics...the time will come the only question in when and how deep and wide are the cuts... Tablet, hospital, women's health, hept c , vaccine , managed care, etc ... Any inside information on when and how the new configuration will be implemented? I a g

What access issues? Doors are shut to you because you must have poor relationships with your accounts. You must not be providing trust and value or else the doors would be wide open to you at all times. Look at (insert name of LER or S3 from district) territory, they have no problem getting access to each and every doctor on their call list, and they always have 8 calls a day. You must not be following the call plan as directed and spelled out at the recent 2S meeting. We practiced your script on numerous role play scenarios so you would know exactly what to say on each and every call. Now you have given me reason to put you on a plan, and then I can PIP you out of here and keep my nice cushy 180K job because I have discovered a real problem and have now fixed it. I can now blame the poor sales numbers on you. I can now bring in an MGAM, NAE, etc. to rescue your accounts and be a real hero, and probably be promoted to DCO. Thanks for making my day.

Signed,

Your CTL

 

[Anonymous]

What access issues? Doors are shut to you because you must have poor relationships with your accounts. You must not be providing trust and value or else the doors would be wide open to you at all times. Look at (insert name of LER or S3 from district) territory, they have no problem getting access to each and every doctor on their call list, and they always have 8 calls a day. You must not be following the call plan as directed and spelled out at the recent 2S meeting. We practiced your script on numerous role play scenarios so you would know exactly what to say on each and every call. Now you have given me reason to put you on a plan, and then I can PIP you out of here and keep my nice cushy 180K job because I have discovered a real problem and have now fixed it. I can now blame the poor sales numbers on you. I can now bring in an MGAM, NAE, etc. to rescue your accounts and be a real hero, and probably be promoted to DCO. Thanks for making my day.

Signed,

Your CTL

skillful articulation of just how fucked up Merck is...and yes, it is really all about your manager's keeping there worthless gig...a Ponzi scheme of the highest order...unless you are in management at Merck, you are screwed...

FU MERCK!

 

[Anonymous]

Agree...integrated health systems- restricted access to most all clinics...the time will come the only question in when and how deep and wide are the cuts... Tablet, hospital, women's health, hept c , vaccine , managed care, etc ... Any inside information on when and how the new configuration will be implemented? I a g

If it will cost managers jobs, it just aint gonna happen at Merck...

trust me on this...Merck is set up by managers for managers...

don't you get it yet?? C_O_R_R_U_P_T_T_I_O_N

 

[Anonymous]

If it will cost managers jobs, it just aint gonna happen at Merck...

trust me on this...Merck is set up by managers for managers...

don't you get it yet?? C_O_R_R_U_P_T_T_I_O_N

What about managers who lost their job in the past?

I heard it did happen...to some.

 

[Anonymous]

With access so tough, especially in the hospital setting, honestly, how can Merck afford to keep all of us reps? What will happen in 2013? Will they have one rep with all products in their bag? Makes more sense.

DEEP cuts".....Singlair was a cool cash cow the past four years..... Gone.....dont go buying a pricier house ..... When the leaves fall so to will the hatchet.

 

[Anonymous]

End-of-year restructuring actually announced at primary care 2s meeting. no mention of layoffs.

 

[Anonymous]

skillful articulation of just how fucked up Merck is...and yes, it is really all about your manager's keeping there worthless gig...a Ponzi scheme of the highest order...unless you are in management at Merck, you are screwed...

FU MERCK!

stop with your stupid shit. What is wrong with pharma is not the managers but the lazy ass sample dropping entitled reps that have zero business sense but act like they are the only smart ones in the company. Why does every post read, besides 99% of folks here are disgruntle reps, always read everyone is dumb, unethical, no judgement, out to get everyone except the reps in this company. Let me tell you that there are all of the above at all levels, some reps suck and dont give two shits about their job even thought it pays them for a life style they would never get otherwise and there are managers that are terrible to work for on and on. However there are also great reps that work hard, managers that care about their teams etc. Lastly what shows how stupid you really are is that you think Merck gives a crap about managers anymore than you. Managers talk about the same stuff you talk about in this regard. It seems to us in management that they protect you and care far more about what you think and feel than even us. You think if they wanted to lay off 2000 people they would all meet and say damn we need to gut this place to get back to profitability and make stockholders feel good and follow that by saying but we cant it would hurt manager jobs, really your are so fucked up. I have had plenty of friends that are managers that have lost jobs in this company in layoffs, there just happens to be more of you than us. You dont have two managers or more in territories doing the same job. Stop with the nonsense when they want to cut they cut and dont care about jobs and who it is.

 

[Anonymous]

The CTL doth protest too much, methinks.

 

[Anonymous]

The CTL doth protest too much, methinks.

me too. although I have seen far more managers reassigned in order to save their asses than reps. reps get the axe whenever deemed necessary. mangers have often been placed on a paid leave of absence until something can be located. whatever...we all try to do our best in the mickey mouse world of pharmaceutical sales. it's still a game played at the pleasure of your managers. it is what it is. nobody who has been in this business can honestly be told anything less.

 

[Anonymous]

stop with your stupid shit. What is wrong with pharma is not the managers but the lazy ass sample dropping entitled reps that have zero business sense but act like they are the only smart ones in the company. Why does every post read, besides 99% of folks here are disgruntle reps, always read everyone is dumb, unethical, no judgement, out to get everyone except the reps in this company. Let me tell you that there are all of the above at all levels, some reps suck and dont give two shits about their job even thought it pays them for a life style they would never get otherwise and there are managers that are terrible to work for on and on. However there are also great reps that work hard, managers that care about their teams etc. Lastly what shows how stupid you really are is that you think Merck gives a crap about managers anymore than you. Managers talk about the same stuff you talk about in this regard. It seems to us in management that they protect you and care far more about what you think and feel than even us. You think if they wanted to lay off 2000 people they would all meet and say damn we need to gut this place to get back to profitability and make stockholders feel good and follow that by saying but we cant it would hurt manager jobs, really your are so fucked up. I have had plenty of friends that are managers that have lost jobs in this company in layoffs, there just happens to be more of you than us. You dont have two managers or more in territories doing the same job. Stop with the nonsense when they want to cut they cut and dont care about jobs and who it is.

Managers are just like reps....you definitely have good and bad.

Problem is....the manager can either a good manager who helps their reps grow and
eventually move on or they can ensure (for their own bizarre reasons) people will always fail in some odd and newly dreamed up way....

I even wonder if occasionally you have some managers who paint one picture of their feedback to the rep and another opposite one in the managers meeting.....Who knows, but it sure would be interesting to be a fly on that wall........

All I can say is lucky are those who work for a good manager......

 

[Anonymous]

Wow. Poster #11 that was really quite a long incoherent rant. You really should not drink and post. I think your point was that managers are just as at risk as reps. I would submi that your job as a ctl is more at risk as the position, by any measure, is obsolete. Most of the administrative work is automated or done by the reps themselves. Managers these days have only a "readers digest" version of disease states or product knowledge and almost no insight into important accounts or kol's within their own districts. They have been relegated to the role of "coach". A job more easily, cheaply and objectively done by a "regional trainer" who could more effectively do evaluations and edps.
The old hierarchical state of management is really outdated. What keeps your job safe is that bloated, top heavy companies like Merck are way too entrenched and invested in the obsolete bureaucratic way of thinking. Companies like Merck should begin to think "laterally" rather than "vertically" or risk collapsing under their own weight. The last few years, Merck has given lip service to "bringing value" but done very little to eliminate positions like district managers not are only marginally "value added." Merck has only added more ("sgams"?) layers which contribute nothing except weight to the inevitable collapse of this out dated management system. The patent expiry of singular and the lack of a viable pipeline for Merck will,of necessity, through the new economy, lead to drastic changes, within the management structure of Merck. A managers job is more at risk than the reps he now "manages". In less than 10 years the current structure will no longer exist. It is already, in it's current form, obsolete. It has to change, or perish.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow. Poster #11 that was really quite a long incoherent rant. You really should not drink and post. I think your point was that managers are just as at risk as reps. I would submi that your job as a ctl is more at risk as the position, by any measure, is obsolete. Most of the administrative work is automated or done by the reps themselves. Managers these days have only a "readers digest" version of disease states or product knowledge and almost no insight into important accounts or kol's within their own districts. They have been relegated to the role of "coach". A job more easily, cheaply and objectively done by a "regional trainer" who could more effectively do evaluations and edps.
The old hierarchical state of management is really outdated. What keeps your job safe is that bloated, top heavy companies like Merck are way too entrenched and invested in the obsolete bureaucratic way of thinking. Companies like Merck should begin to think "laterally" rather than "vertically" or risk collapsing under their own weight. The last few years, Merck has given lip service to "bringing value" but done very little to eliminate positions like district managers not are only marginally "value added." Merck has only added more ("sgams"?) layers which contribute nothing except weight to the inevitable collapse of this out dated management system. The patent expiry of singular and the lack of a viable pipeline for Merck will,of necessity, through the new economy, lead to drastic changes, within the management structure of Merck. A managers job is more at risk than the reps he now "manages". In less than 10 years the current structure will no longer exist. It is already, in it's current form, obsolete. It has to change, or perish.

great posting...but it will never change at Merck...it is all about Managers having jobs for life pretty much...Crony capitalism...

of course Merck needs to change, but they are incapable of doing so for the reasons you list...

 

[Anonymous]

Look there are maybe hundreds of Merck reps who today, Sunday, are spending their day in their office planning for a field visit, while their managers are golfing or with their families, planning....nothing. I would spend hours running Insight reports demanded by my manager who would then systematically pick apart my call plan, pre- call plan and post call plan. Reps spend an inordinate amount of time planning for a managers visit. How much time do you think a manager plans for time spent with a rep. ? When his/her most pertinent question of the day is: "Where's lunch"? After hours of prep time for each account, the onus on a call was totally on me. She stood in the corner, sans name tag, with her computer open, so no one would talk to her. Then she would spend a hour picking apart every nuance of my call, mainly wasting this time so she wouldn't have to go into another office and risk possibly having to interact with a physician because she mostly didn't understand what we were talking about. AND they get an office day? What's wrong with this picture? What a waste of time, effort, energy and productivity interactions by managers with representatives or customers , field visits are.

 

[Anonymous]

The prevailing rumor is that everyone except Women's Health gets replaced by Ventiv reps. The question of how many remains to be known. I'd bet no more than 1000 nationwide. Very few of us will be part of that, however.

I think this would spell a major decline in sales across the board.

I have only met 2 Ventiv /contract reps who were on par with even the worst Merck rep. Over the years I have met plenty...most are looking for grocery money or a second income and had a spouse who was bringing home the major paycheck, some where looking for a stepping stone to get a "real job." ....The dedication, experience, and seriousness were in their job was lacking in most I met.....

Plain and simple, as I see it unless sales expectation decline enormously I cant see it happening at least at the level you state....

In the end, it still remains that companies get what they pay for...quality continues to be contingent upon compensation even in a bad economy.... IMHO this is how I see it.

 

[Anonymous]

You immediately lose credibility when you start your post: "I've met 2...." that's on par with:"dr. I have a study with a population of 2" or the Merck reps favorite: "dr. I think..." no one care what you think. The fact that the contract rep model is working and growing totally refutes your anecdotal comment.

 

[Anonymous]

You immediately lose credibility when you start your post: "I've met 2...." that's on par with:"dr. I have a study with a population of 2" or the Merck reps favorite: "dr. I think..." no one care what you think. The fact that the contract rep model is working and growing totally refutes your anecdotal comment.

Met at least a dozen over the last 3 years. Two stand out as superior to the rest... Most are quick in, quick out and not too up on disease state or much beyond sampling.

Sorry but this is my real-life experience. A percent are obviously good but I doubt if many at all are in it for the long run....thus, the dedication factor. I stand by my comments until proven otherwise. I know many folks will sometimes take these jobs ...at least for awhile and primarily due to the economy. If they have a spouse making a good salary maybe they'll be able to stay longer...but for most people it would be financially impossible if it is a sole source of income and if they live in a high cost of living area....thus, my strong doubts on any long run association.

Dont have to buy-in to my take, but I think it is a reflection of reality 2012.