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Manager access not allowed

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I showed up to a clinc today to get ready for a field visit in the next couple of days, you know, the old milk-run with the same customers he has seen before.

As I beging to prep the staff, I tell them bozo will be with me on Wed and Thurs. They said: well, maybe we will be seeing you, but we wont be seeing your manager." I guess they had one from another company in last week that spoiled it for all managers. They then told me they were thinking about banning reps as well, but couldnt because of the gravy train lunches, and samples...at least for now. Yes! One less place for me to take bozo.
 




Anonymous said:
No see mgrs. was big in my territory yrs ago!
Bottom line= There is no REAL selling in PHARMA & somehow no one gets that, which leads to horrific/bogus ride alongs!!
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This poster nailed it. There is no selling in pharma anymore. You may get more than just a few seconds with a few docs who want to stare at your tits or listen to what golf course you played last Thursday. Most of them do not care what you have to say because it is nothing more than they hear from the internet, magazine ads, or their patients. But as long as the dumbass companies are willing to pay you and you are willing to drift further into a zombie like state driving around being a caterer and sample delivery person let them do it. And further more let the manager they are paying to babysit you come with you. He/she may not be welcome everywhere but ride it out together. Most managers were reps at one time; you don't think they know how much you all fuck off every week, week in week out? Who cares? They are just checking their boxes just like you check yours with the detail only calls in Vision. Nothing more than a game you both get paid for.
 




Look, if the product is the best, it sells itself. But if it ain't the best, it needs to be pushed and doctors need inducements to get them to prescribe it. Inducements don't arrive through the computer screen. Since 70%+ of pharmaceutical sales are not sales of the best product, this pharma sales/inducement model obviously still works. Even if you have the best product, you need to keep playing the inducement game against your inferior competitors since the game obviously is real. There is probably as much money in sales, marketing, and pushing products as there is in R&D so it must have some benefit. It's all a game but it's a real game and the only game most products have going for them.
 




Anonymous said:
Anybody else see that offices are not allowing managers to come back to the sample closet on field visits? It is way bad here. And, it is getting worse by the day. My manager told me that if she cant come back, she will have to score me low on some of the competencies because she cant "observe" my interactions with physicians. What kind of a joke is this? Its not my fault that the offices wont let her back-or any other manager for that reason.
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I've had my territory for 7 yrs. and my mngr rides w/ me every 2wks! I am running out of places to take her. My docs only will c her to be nice to me but they are getting sick of seeing her. I had a doc come to the window 2 times and not even look up at us. He clearly did not want to see us. The bad thing is these CTL's don't even get it... aren't we pros at reading body language in this industry? Don't know what to do! It's embarrassing and it's killing my numbers!
 




Anonymous said:
Unfortunately, physicians have figured out that managers can't help them. Any more what can a manager do for a physician? Nothing and they know it. So to our customers, managers are just a distraction that they don't need. Funny, we have been told that the reps must become "relevant " with the physician and let them feel that we are on their agenda, and then we bring in the manager which couldn't be any further off the physician's agenda. It is so silly.
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So true! I am so sick of being told that I am the "solution" to their problems. Meanwhile, my mngr. coming in and wasting their time is more of a "problem"! Pts. first??? Now the pt. has to wait an extra 20 minutes because my mngr. is giving a live visual on what taking two puffs of Dulera looks like!! "one puff Dr., now two puffs" WTF?
 








Anonymous said:
I've had my territory for 7 yrs. and my mngr rides w/ me every 2wks! I am running out of places to take her. My docs only will c her to be nice to me but they are getting sick of seeing her. I had a doc come to the window 2 times and not even look up at us. He clearly did not want to see us. The bad thing is these CTL's don't even get it... aren't we pros at reading body language in this industry? Don't know what to do! It's embarrassing and it's killing my numbers!
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A manager is supposed to ride with a rep that often if she/he is trying to PIP or get rid of him. But you have been around for awhile and she has done that all the time? Then usually it is because you live close to her and is her default rep to go spend the day when she screws up her schedule (all the time). A good director would notice that and tell the manager to start spending more time with the other reps. Your manager cannot ride with all other reps twice a month too? You should ask her if she is working on promoting or fire you?
 




im milking the company and hating it. this job used to be great. i work with the boss next week and have to save up providers to see for that day. this is terrible. its been going on for too long, and he doesnt get it. even if he shuts his mouth and says nothing its bad because we all know docs like us and dont want to cause any trouble. so, they are friendly to us when the manager is around. but then the pressure comes, the questions, and the hard close to action. too much of that will ruin anything. I think we are just doing time. we need to continue this thread so we can let the dco's really know what is going on with these managers. maybe we can have a little managers shredding like the above poster mentions. it would thin the heard of unnecessary expenses and our sales would probably improve because we dont do things, well, like what im doing now. how awful. if this happens all the time with other reps(does it?)we have a large portion of reps not working because they have to save up docs to see when they have their field visits. theres another reason why we suck
 




My manager literally dominated a lunch I had recently with a group of hard-to-see physicians. He was like an used car salesman, eyeballing each doc as he/she walked into the room and modeled to me how he would sell according to the new NCM model. It was so tense that no one felt relaxed enough to eat casually. Then he shared with the district during a teleconference how he modeled the 2011 method of selling to me. The problem was he spent most of his time cornering the physician with the lowest potential and I cannot tell him that because he was so proud of himself.
 




thats to bad dude. ive had those experiences myself. all this "modeling" is a total joke.

we had a clinic-one or our largest close this week to managare. he wont be getting back there anymore no matter how well he thinks he knows everybody
 




My guy brags and tells me how well the MDs know him.
We show up at the clinic-people walked right by without ever noticing him. Whats with these CTL's? They think they know it all. I know people know our jobs are a joke, but does anybody know what a joke the manager job has gotten to be in the past 5 years?
 




Managers are desperate. They know that they do little to affect sales but pull down big salaries which they don't earn and they know that everyone knows it. Give 'em a break. It must be tough to realize that your career is a fraud and you have a russian roulette revolver pointed at your head every day.
 




Anonymous said:
My guy brags and tells me how well the MDs know him.
We show up at the clinic-people walked right by without ever noticing him. Whats with these CTL's? They think they know it all. I know people know our jobs are a joke, but does anybody know what a joke the manager job has gotten to be in the past 5 years?
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All they really are these days is baby-sitters, although their baby gets to chauffeur them around all day. Not a bad gig if you can get it. What a waste of company money.
 




In MVID, sometimes a vaccine rep will have to do a field visit with their CTM and DCO. How obnoxious is that, 3 people coming in to see a customer? Is it any wonder why access is being blocked when out of touch management exploits the reps' customers? This is what happens when you put too many socially inept pricks in management without any common sense or experience selling, just a willingness to step on toes to tow the antiquated company line at Merck.
 




Anonymous said:
In MVID, sometimes a vaccine rep will have to do a field visit with their CTM and DCO. How obnoxious is that, 3 people coming in to see a customer? Is it any wonder why access is being blocked when out of touch management exploits the reps' customers? This is what happens when you put too many socially inept pricks in management without any common sense or experience selling, just a willingness to step on toes to tow the antiquated company line at Merck.
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Then you have to wait around as the DCO coaches the CTM on his skills. Any established physician would tell you they have seen all these tag along over the years. They all claim to be there to listen to their customers and to provide solution. The physician would never hear from them again.
 




Anonymous said:
Managers are desperate. They know that they do little to affect sales but pull down big salaries which they don't earn and they know that everyone knows it. Give 'em a break. It must be tough to realize that your career is a fraud and you have a russian roulette revolver pointed at your head every day.
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But they don't have a revolver pointed at them...that is the problem...when is the last time you saw Merck clean out its middle managment ranks...?? This crew of idiots has their cushy corporate welfare jobs pretty much until retirement...Merck supports its managers!! Even the worst of the worst that might get PIP'd even, survive here...

It is all part of the Merck corruption that brought down the company...
 




Not really. Managers do and have been canned. Look at the west DCO who lost his job several weeks ago. There are other managers out west who have lost jobs over the past few years. There is one that might lose his job right now if he doesnt get his sht together and quite treating us like children. You know who you are. He never shuts his pie-hole on field visits either, and the doctors hate him when they see us coming with him
 




Anonymous said:
But they don't have a revolver pointed at them...that is the problem...when is the last time you saw Merck clean out its middle managment ranks...?? This crew of idiots has their cushy corporate welfare jobs pretty much until retirement...Merck supports its managers!! Even the worst of the worst that might get PIP'd even, survive here...

It is all part of the Merck corruption that brought down the company...
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In my three decades with Merck only two managers I know of that were PIP'ed. The first one (married) had an affair with a rep. Their field visits were at the Holiday Inn. But another manager, also married, did the same and was reprimanded and kept his job. The first one was also very vocal and that may seal his fate. The second one was very old fashioned as a manager when every manager around him adapted and became the new vicious types. He was simply too laid back and nice. He actually took vacations and believed what he was told not to check his MVX messages and the importance of work life balance.
 








I forgot the name of that female manager in Chicago that got drunk and hit a rep at a meeting about the time when we pulled Vioxx off the market. I was in the region office and they had this very serious looking meeting going on about what to do. She was related to a retired VP of sales. I wonder if she was able to keep her job or not?
 




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