Jackie Nielson Video

[Anonymous]

Guess we will not have to worry about Trust & Value scores........

 

[Anonymous]

If NCM and TV are now kaput....I feel sorry for all those who might have lost their jobs to such failed programs and mandates....

So.... in the end was the process really a dud or was it really the rep or managers?
...many of them may now be gone as a result, yet many of them might have been big performers under a different or older model.

Such is life they say.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem is this is not a down cycle. Generics are here to stay (currently 80% of every new Rx) and with so many idiots voting for Obummer, branded drugs will be covered even less. Existing reps can be deployed to sell what few new products Mother will have.

You comment shows that either you aren't a rep or you're one with your head in the sand. Ever notice how your docs don't really pay attention to anything you say beyond the basic exchange of pleasantries?

I am a rep. I do not endorse the approach adopted by BMS. But obviously they have decided that is the way they want to go about: laying off when there is no new product and rehiring when there are new ones coming out. I don't care for Obama either. But the fact is our job is becoming more worthless every day. I can congratulate myself to have great relationships and knowledge which I do. Merck does not care. I have over 20+ years of relationships with some of my key docs from the days they were residents. We even socialize together. I have watched reps like you with the very basic professional relationship that would exchange pleasantries. I actually walk in some clinics from the backdoor while you are trying to smooch the receptionist to see the doctor.

 

[Anonymous]

I am a rep. I do not endorse the approach adopted by BMS. But obviously they have decided that is the way they want to go about: laying off when there is no new product and rehiring when there are new ones coming out. I don't care for Obama either. But the fact is our job is becoming more worthless every day. I can congratulate myself to have great relationships and knowledge which I do. Merck does not care. I have over 20+ years of relationships with some of my key docs from the days they were residents. We even socialize together. I have watched reps like you with the very basic professional relationship that would exchange pleasantries. I actually walk in some clinics from the backdoor while you are trying to smooch the receptionist to see the doctor.

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not dogging any particular rep or type of rep, I'm just saying our role is of little value to docs these days especially with the dearth of new products from R&D/acquisition. Because of this, you don't need the army of people we have given our cost. It's good that they have been slowly downsizing through attrition the last couple years, but more need to go. As a new product gets approved here and there, they can just shift us off of the dead wood like Vytorin. Your relationships get you in the backdoor and they say hello because they know you, but they don't need anything you bring them besides samples-and those are even becoming useless since most patients will be getting generics.

If you don't have the products to sell, you simply don't need the salespeople. Keeping five reps in the same office only gets us closer to the day when that office shuts the door to all reps. It's like when too many animals try to feed off the same pasture: the grass gets stripped to the root, the sun bakes the roots and all the animals die. The smarter ones move on before this happens.

I'm sure you were about to say "Well why don't you move on if you feel this way?" I will do so glady when they start handing out packages again. You can just stay and try to keep your head in the sand.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not dogging any particular rep or type of rep, I'm just saying our role is of little value to docs these days especially with the dearth of new products from R&D/acquisition. Because of this, you don't need the army of people we have given our cost. It's good that they have been slowly downsizing through attrition the last couple years, but more need to go. As a new product gets approved here and there, they can just shift us off of the dead wood like Vytorin. Your relationships get you in the backdoor and they say hello because they know you, but they don't need anything you bring them besides samples-and those are even becoming useless since most patients will be getting generics.

If you don't have the products to sell, you simply don't need the salespeople. Keeping five reps in the same office only gets us closer to the day when that office shuts the door to all reps. It's like when too many animals try to feed off the same pasture: the grass gets stripped to the root, the sun bakes the roots and all the animals die. The smarter ones move on before this happens.

I'm sure you were about to say "Well why don't you move on if you feel this way?" I will do so glady when they start handing out packages again. You can just stay and try to keep your head in the sand.

Nothing wrong waiting for the best exit package. Merck owes us nothing. We should maximize whatever we can when we say goodbye to take care of ourselves and our families.

I can go out and dine with all my top docs whenever we feel like it. The other day we went to Lowe's together after one was done with the clinic. I don't want my colleagues to come along. They are a nuisance. They always mess up my dining experience. My younger colleagues are good bullshitters. I want to keep and milk my relationship to the very end. There is no incentive to include them in anything I do. The few times I did...they proceeded to tell their managers how great they were without even thanking me a bit. F Merck and F those colleagues.

 

[Anonymous]

They don't have a clue! Still did not know and have been working on it for a year. Best guess is that they have a bunch of half witted MBA's who spent too little time in the field with a real customer, making #'s year after year with less samples, less RFM money and little ability to change the perception of the customer! One of the reasons we've lost so much access and respect with customers is that our leadership has screwed up the territories so many times that the doctor had nobody to put faith in or talk to and all the time we've been hiring more of the T&A crowd with an airhead and a nice profile! As you keep minimizing the job over the years what did you want the customer to think? Merck has no business being a leader in pharmaceuticals when we screw up relationships and territories every two or three years just like clockwork! In the large cities changes were much more common than the country territories and relationships suffered drastically! One rep now has access to only 25% of his customers when before the last two changes he had about 85%, and now he'll be asked to go back and see customers that he lost two and four years ago and he's betting that will not fly! A great field policy would be every time we make a new wholesale reorginization everyone associated with the last one in management would be 'FIRED', that would halt some of this horseshit and replace a revolving door in sales with a revolving door in goofy management! Which at least would be customer friendly! After all it's all about the customer! BE WELL

 

[Anonymous]

Old Merck reps at least admit they don't know something. Newer Merck reps have too much self esteem, exaggerate their relationship with docs to managers, and know how to BS.

 

[Anonymous]

That aint self esteem, is a combination of arrogance and fitting in here