KAM's

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anonymous said:
Hospital team, FRMs, KAMs, alks2go and yammer are all a waste of money. Want to increase shareholder value, dump the remaining three.
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I know, right? Worst thing is, everyone sees it, I mean everyone!!! I have no idea how KAMs have kept their jobs this long. How come upper management doesn't get it? It's really weird. Like they are trying to drive share price down or something. You can't pay director level salaries and benefits to an entire team that delivers NO SALES and, worse yet, makes up big stories about what they are doing. Complete fiction stories when I hear them. How come we all know how fake the successes are but upper management doesn't??? It's just weird.
 






Well, for one to be this bitter and willing to go on the attack, something or someone has likely hurt you. People don’t usually spend time character assassinating others or trying to cost people their careers unless they’ve suffered in some way. If that’s the case, might I suggest you try to use some emotional intelligence and ask for help? If your numbers are it, ask how a collaborative partner can help you. If your manager is riding you, either do as asked or call HR for guidance. If you can validate these people your attacking are “fabricating” things or not doing what you’ve asked for help with, schedule a call and discuss it like an adult. We all work for a company that makes medicines that millions need. It takes an army. Why don’t you try utilizing every source you have vs putting more work on yourself? Has it ever occurred to you that without policy you may have no funding? Without Hospital Reps now it’s been handed to the TBMs and KAMs. Did you need more work? Have you ever worked a healthcare system? Without KAMs the TBMs will need to take on IDNs, and criminal justice including state prison systems? Without FRMs now the TBMs have been handed more work. The TBM role is one of the hardest and most important roles in this space. Having done it, I know it’s a Mother Load. Personally, I valued all the help and expertise I could get. Check yourselves. Figure out the sourse of your hatred and seek solutions that ultimately will deliver our medications to more. If you think you’re Superman or Superwoman and can do it all yourself, post your name. I want to meet you.
 






Personally, I like my KAM. Professionally, this team lacks proactiveness and follow through. If they were held accountable and were truly adding value, the KAM role as a financial asset would not be questioned.

From an “emotional intelligence” perspective, no one likes to see anyone lose their jobs. In this industry, it’s nothing personal, it’s just business.
 






anonymous said:
Well, for one to be this bitter and willing to go on the attack, something or someone has likely hurt you. People don’t usually spend time character assassinating others or trying to cost people their careers unless they’ve suffered in some way. If that’s the case, might I suggest you try to use some emotional intelligence and ask for help? If your numbers are it, ask how a collaborative partner can help you. If your manager is riding you, either do as asked or call HR for guidance. If you can validate these people your attacking are “fabricating” things or not doing what you’ve asked for help with, schedule a call and discuss it like an adult. We all work for a company that makes medicines that millions need. It takes an army. Why don’t you try utilizing every source you have vs putting more work on yourself? Has it ever occurred to you that without policy you may have no funding? Without Hospital Reps now it’s been handed to the TBMs and KAMs. Did you need more work? Have you ever worked a healthcare system? Without KAMs the TBMs will need to take on IDNs, and criminal justice including state prison systems? Without FRMs now the TBMs have been handed more work. The TBM role is one of the hardest and most important roles in this space. Having done it, I know it’s a Mother Load. Personally, I valued all the help and expertise I could get. Check yourselves. Figure out the sourse of your hatred and seek solutions that ultimately will deliver our medications to more. If you think you’re Superman or Superwoman and can do it all yourself, post your name. I want to meet you.
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So... No one should speak the truth if it hurts someone's feelings or if it saves the company $6.5M a year by getting rid of a team that is not needed and lie about their "accomplishments" to keep their jobs. Well, that hurts the shareholders feelings snowflake.
 






This team is working to prove their value at the expense of the teams they are to be working with. It’s a joke. There is no trust. Everyone just trying to cover their asses.
 












"Everyone just trying to cover their asses."

Exactly. It started when KO ran the team and has gotten worse under GA. Too many KAMs and not enough real work for them. And since they're not tied directly to sales, you have to use soft metrics to evaluate them. It's these metrics that drive what TBMs perceive as BS interations and mythical accomplishments that seem to fool folks who should know better.

But it's not the KAMSs fault...well...not the lion's share of the blame. You can blame them since they applied for and got themselves into the role, but they'd prefer not to have to produce the BS they do. They'd prefer not to have to lean on TBMs to justify their performance. Most were TBMs and know how hard the job already is...the second to last thing they want to do is make it any harder on the TBM. But the last thing they want to do is to be perceived by AH, PC or GA as a failure and have go find another job. CYA is really more like career survival. When the last big expansion happened lots of TBMs didn't really have a good idea of what the KAMs did and how they did it. Just seemed like a promotion to a team of pretty succesful former TBMs...more pay...more prestige....not tied to a number...lots of talk about how important the role was to the company and it'll look good on the resume. Once they got in the role they realized how F'd up it was...but now what? They could roll the dice and tell their boss the real deal...don't need so many KAMs...but that is pretty risky for obvious reasons. I used to be a KAM and opined on a call that I thought we had too many...ended up having a 2:1 with AH and GA...last time I made that mistake.

The issue isn't your KAM...it's the size of the team combined with soft metrics. It won't get any better until GA changes course and reduces the size...hopefully moving the excess KAMs into other postions. And I can understand why GA thought we needed so many KAMs...he saw it work before and figured he could replicate those successes. I don't think it's about his ego or desire to have lots of folks under. More like an honest mistake made with good intentions. He was successful in the KAM world for 8 years at Pfizer and 2 years at Astellas. He was hired to replicate those success at ALKS...so he went all in with the KAM size. They're all good people trying to survive. Would you be any different if you were a KAM?
 






The problem is that blindly assuming what worked in a different (and big) company and in different (and big) markets would automatically work here. Our fields are very complicated. It requires deep insight, careful thinking and execution. Ripping a page out of your big pharma playbook and replicating it, just makes us more like big pharma - like that bloated cruise ship we used to talk about. No one can see where we're going so they just run around on deck trying to look good, get a better seat at dinner, and curry favor with the captain.
 






Lot of truth to what you're saying and it brings up an underappreciated challenge in hiring senior leaders. You want somebody who has done it successfully before and you want them to replicate that success in your company. But they also need to appreciate the differences and adjust accordingly. Can be a tough balancing act if you're the senior leader...you've seen what good looks like before...probably even built it. You were hired to reload and repeat so you go with what worked before. Sometimes you kill it and sometimes you whiff. Doesn't make you an idiot or incompetent....just means you're not perfect. But at some point GA has to realize he has too many KAMs and make some changes. If he doesn't you're going to see the relationship between KAMs and TBMs continue it's death spiral and at some point it's going to get ugly.

If your goal is to skate to where the puck is going to be, you have to accept that it doesn't always follow the same path as it did last time.
 






anonymous said:
"Everyone just trying to cover their asses."

Exactly. It started when KO ran the team and has gotten worse under GA. Too many KAMs and not enough real work for them. And since they're not tied directly to sales, you have to use soft metrics to evaluate them. It's these metrics that drive what TBMs perceive as BS interations and mythical accomplishments that seem to fool folks who should know better.

But it's not the KAMSs fault...well...not the lion's share of the blame. You can blame them since they applied for and got themselves into the role, but they'd prefer not to have to produce the BS they do. They'd prefer not to have to lean on TBMs to justify their performance. Most were TBMs and know how hard the job already is...the second to last thing they want to do is make it any harder on the TBM. But the last thing they want to do is to be perceived by AH, PC or GA as a failure and have go find another job. CYA is really more like career survival. When the last big expansion happened lots of TBMs didn't really have a good idea of what the KAMs did and how they did it. Just seemed like a promotion to a team of pretty succesful former TBMs...more pay...more prestige....not tied to a number...lots of talk about how important the role was to the company and it'll look good on the resume. Once they got in the role they realized how F'd up it was...but now what? They could roll the dice and tell their boss the real deal...don't need so many KAMs...but that is pretty risky for obvious reasons. I used to be a KAM and opined on a call that I thought we had too many...ended up having a 2:1 with AH and GA...last time I made that mistake.

The issue isn't your KAM...it's the size of the team combined with soft metrics. It won't get any better until GA changes course and reduces the size...hopefully moving the excess KAMs into other postions. And I can understand why GA thought we needed so many KAMs...he saw it work before and figured he could replicate those successes. I don't think it's about his ego or desire to have lots of folks under. More like an honest mistake made with good intentions. He was successful in the KAM world for 8 years at Pfizer and 2 years at Astellas. He was hired to replicate those success at ALKS...so he went all in with the KAM size. They're all good people trying to survive. Would you be any different if you were a KAM?
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Ya, Uh... We don't have to have to tell AH or PC "the real deal"! They know the real deal more than any of us they manage. Maybe just maybe did you think they could be the ones that are "embellishing" what we are doing? Think about it. Maybe we aren't the problem, but our managers are. There you go. Now you've been schooled.
 






Our SRD on regional calls never brings the KAMs up as they know its a waste of resources. Our manger actively tells us not to interact with KAMs as they bring no value. BOOM, YOU JUST GOT SCHOOLED WITH THE TRUTH!
 






anonymous said:
Ya, Uh... We don't have to have to tell AH or PC "the real deal"! They know the real deal more than any of us they manage. Maybe just maybe did you think they could be the ones that are "embellishing" what we are doing? Think about it. Maybe we aren't the problem, but our managers are. There you go. Now you've been schooled.
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I think you're probably right on AH & PC knowing the real deal and embellishing accomplisments...and for the same reason their KAMs do. They been given impossible missions -
  • In the IDN world, change the economics of Vivitrol. We've never made much progress in IDNs because of the economics. Vivitrol won't kill them but it also won't do much to improve their bottom line...so why invest any time or energy? Yet we built the KAM team assuming we'd be just as busy in IDNs as we were in policy.
  • Stay productive on establishing policy programs...eventhough most of those have already been built and are up and running. Not nearly as many new funding opportunities as there were a year or three ago and, for the most part, once the program is established the KAMs don't have any work consuming much of their time. The number of new policy wins that need to be developed peaked and is heading down, and the low\medium fruit in policy is gone. So the workload on KAMs in policy is also going down.
  • All of the large treatment systems have been converted or at least called on. We might be able to get some of the hold-outs on board and somebody needs to take care of the ones we already converted. Between on-going business and converting some new ones, you need 5-7 KAMs for national systems...total.
No idea what conversations AH or PC have had with GA regarding any of the above but let's be honest, they're in the same bind the KAMs are...caught between what their boss wants, reality and survival. How many folks would be willing to risk their job by tell their boss he misjudged demand and we have too many people? And GA might feel he's in the worst position...he's the guy who justified the growth in KAMs in the first place. When he does accept he's got to downsize the team, he's got to go to his boss and explain his mistake.
 






Our KAM has told us multiple times it doesn’t matter how well we are doing each quarter because they are guaranteed a 100% ic payout every quarter. Not being tied to sales goals is their freedom not to care what happens and not to work hard to be successful. This team is a complete waste of money like the FRMs and the HBMs; fire all them and invest the savings into our future.
 






anonymous said:
Our KAM has told us multiple times it doesn’t matter how well we are doing each quarter because they are guaranteed a 100% ic payout every quarter. Not being tied to sales goals is their freedom not to care what happens and not to work hard to be successful. This team is a complete waste of money like the FRMs and the HBMs; fire all them and invest the savings into our future.
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Starting with that waste, AH. Such a tool.
 
























If PC Wants to keep his job, he better realize that there are too many KAMs and several of them really do not work at all. Either a couple of them go or the whole division goes and he’s out of job as well!!!
 












I’m concerned you’re often up in the middle of the night posting away about the KAMS, Turnover, Morale, etc. are you abusing alcohol? Meth? Or do you just sleep all day and have your days and nights turned around? Either way, please take care of yourself.
 






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