Our future is not so bright

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Anonymous

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This cluster...k is very dismal. Our careers are put on hold with the enterprise years....GREAT way to develop your peeps....oh yeah lets promote the BIGGEST MORONS in the company to help with this horrible situation. They are born leaders....NOT!!
 




Anonymous said:
This cluster...k is very dismal. Our careers are put on hold with the enterprise years....GREAT way to develop your peeps....oh yeah lets promote the BIGGEST MORONS in the company to help with this horrible situation. They are born leaders....NOT!!
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You may want to rethink the idea of a "career" in Pharma. Just sayin'
 




Anonymous said:
You may want to rethink the idea of a "career" in Pharma. Just sayin'
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These are all just temporary jobs while Pharma alters course and begins to move toward other forms of marketing their drugs. In five years there won't be a single PC PSS in this industry. Companies will consist of Contract Reps and a small sales force of specialty reps with even fewer managers. The current system of mega sales forces is doomed like the 8 track tape player and the VCR.
 








Anonymous said:
These are all just temporary jobs while Pharma alters course and begins to move toward other forms of marketing their drugs. In five years there won't be a single PC PSS in this industry. Companies will consist of Contract Reps and a small sales force of specialty reps with even fewer managers. The current system of mega sales forces is doomed like the 8 track tape player and the VCR.
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Yes, but AZ will be the last to convert. The will never be a trend setter but will always be a laggard that leads from behind.
 
















anonymous said:
Not true. AZ pioneered the CSA program which is the future of this industry and for which AZ has won awards for.
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Great. So what you are saying is that "detail" reps will go the way of the dodo bird while the much less expensive CSA's will rule. I kinda think that looks to most that the future isn't too bright. Unless of course you are a CSA or someone inside that is running the CSA show.
 








VERY senior rep here. Do you have any idea how many years I've heard that "reps will be gone in 5 years"? At least 25 or more! Oh don't get me wrong, they would replace all of us, IF they could, but they can't, and they know it! There is no doubt that AZ's salesforce is way too bloated. Also, there is no doubt that Frenchie has done a terrible job since he arrived, but he has not had a layoff. The entire pharma sales model is broke, but the don't know how to fix it.

No, reps will always be a part of the sales equation. The question is how will it be configured. How many "full time" vs "contract reps" will it be comprised of? If we don't have some type of reduction in force, early next year, I will be surprised.
 




anonymous said:
VERY senior rep here. Do you have any idea how many years I've heard that "reps will be gone in 5 years"? At least 25 or more! Oh don't get me wrong, they would replace all of us, IF they could, but they can't, and they know it! There is no doubt that AZ's salesforce is way too bloated. Also, there is no doubt that Frenchie has done a terrible job since he arrived, but he has not had a layoff. The entire pharma sales model is broke, but the don't know how to fix it.

No, reps will always be a part of the sales equation. The question is how will it be configured. How many "full time" vs "contract reps" will it be comprised of? If we don't have some type of reduction in force, early next year, I will be surprised.
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Right and also wrong. Yes, they don't have a clue and, yes they need us so long as other companies also maintain a sales force. But the model is changing rapidly to contracted and shared sales forces. They are all having their profits squeezed which forces them to look at cost savings to maintain their dividends and stock price. Contract sales forces are the first wave on the way of eliminating face to face marketing entirely. When they begin the cuts it will be fast and furious.
 








anonymous said:
First....there is no such thing as a "career" here. Second...they don't care if you leave as long as its on their terms!
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Oh yes they care if you leave but it has nothing to do with your performance. If you have been here more than 5 years then they begin to wear you down until you quit or they fire you.
It is all about dollars and cents since the lawyers and the bean counters run this company now.
 




anonymous said:
First....there is no such thing as a "career" here. Second...they don't care if you leave as long as its on their terms!
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This is true. AZ typically goes outside the company to recruit managers. The career ladder is a joke. There is no emphasis on managers to develop their people into positions of greater responsibility. Managers who harass and fire people are recognized as strong leaders and those that take the time to recognize, reward, and develop their people are deemed weak and targeted for removal. It has been like this for so long that nothing short of removing all of the current leadership team will ever fix this diseased culture. The best advice I received from my last manager was to leave AZ. He actually networked for me and helped me escape. He left shortly after too.
 




There will always be reps... the guy who's been hearing that for 25 years started out as the sole company rep with a nice big territory....but understand the corporate world moves in geologic time until there is a huge event (volcano, meteor strike, solar eruption) then you get a mass extinction event... salary levels have basically been frozen for years, contract 'service' rep jobs dropping sample/marketing material are going for $38K , gov't , technology and patients are way ahead in info/pricing ... pharma is still bloated with cash (see mergers to buy the next big thing)..but the reps job has evolved from a T-Rex position to that of a chicken.
 




anonymous said:
This is true. AZ typically goes outside the company to recruit managers. The career ladder is a joke. There is no emphasis on managers to develop their people into positions of greater responsibility. Managers who harass and fire people are recognized as strong leaders and those that take the time to recognize, reward, and develop their people are deemed weak and targeted for removal. It has been like this for so long that nothing short of removing all of the current leadership team will ever fix this diseased culture. The best advice I received from my last manager was to leave AZ. He actually networked for me and helped me escape. He left shortly after too.
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This caustic culture was brought in with the Astra group post merger. It was perfected under Tilton who remained in his job long enough to totally destroy the integrity and respect between the sales force and leadership. Nobody trusts anyone and nobody has confidence that anyone is looking out for them. It is a nihilistic and narcissistic culture filled with self promoting backstabbers and supported by human resources, possibly the most morally corrupt of all depts.
Those that are best at serving themselves at the expense of everyone else have thrived here.
 




anonymous said:
This caustic culture was brought in with the Astra group post merger. It was perfected under Tilton who remained in his job long enough to totally destroy the integrity and respect between the sales force and leadership. Nobody trusts anyone and nobody has confidence that anyone is looking out for them. It is a nihilistic and narcissistic culture filled with self promoting backstabbers and supported by human resources, possibly the most morally corrupt of all depts.
Those that are best at serving themselves at the expense of everyone else have thrived here.
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It is too far gone to fix. The only solution to our ills is for another company to buy us out and then clean house of everyone above DM.
 




anonymous said:
It is too far gone to fix. The only solution to our ills is for another company to buy us out and then clean house of everyone above DM.
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The future of the rep has less to do with this co., that co. or another. Our survival has even less to do with a contract rep. The role of the pharmaceutical sales rep has everything to do with declining access. At some point, and the motherships know, they will have to give into the number of actual "details" per day because we're all playing the game. I know, you know and your manager knows what the real deal is out there.
 








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