More than a decade ago we were called sales people with several products in our bags and easy access into doctors' offices and hospitals. There were few middle and upper managers. It was us and manufacturing. Device excluded, pharma realized their pipelines were not all that great and they could make more money pushing products harder. So they hired more "sales" people. Suddenly, there were pharmacists trading or buying samples and trading going in car trunks and all over town. It was free candy and everyone wanted a handout of some popular med. The FDA cracked down, strictly limiting the promotional activities and samples from sales people. POOF! Marketing and Regulatory departments joined forces to control us better and we became "detail" people. But sales results were still expected.
Now, we ran around with messages, samples and detail aids and pretty soon studies from Pfizer showed that more detail people could drive more business. Sadly, no company put any money into their future, like R&D or even AE tracking and recording. Instead, more money went to detailing and droves of us "selling". MBAs were hired to track and route us. More tracking and call reporting, the reach and frequency models were born. Companies now riddled with MBAs, Lawyers, Consultants, Middle Management and Accountants guided their "sales" force. More regulatory requirements were sent down the pike because there were so many of us. Every possible metric was and still is measured and analyzed. (Surely there must be just the right way to target us to drive that business!)
Ecomony tanks. Pay for performance is born. Me too drugs are everywhere. Doctors get pissed because there are 10 reps in their office and two patients. (I had one office tell me he had 40 reps a day call on him!) Access becomes limited in many areas and the industry uses physician consultants and pays them in order to keep access alive and the sales people looking busy. Lectures and Phase IV studies become the new way to detail a group of peers. This turns into a circus and a few bad apples make headline news. The industry gets blacklisted. Layoffs begin everywhere as companies merge to keep their bottom lines looking good. Competition heats up in the industry. No company seems to have a model on how to conduct business in this mature and highly competitive brutal environment. No one invested in R&D, which was a huge mistake. So, they push their sales people harder to move that needle on old products to support a top heavy business structure. We are still considered "sales" people and acountable to some bottom line number. Mother renames us customer service representatives so we seem friendlier and less pushy. Here's the problem. . .
What exactly do we sell? ANSWER: NOTHING! We are NOT sales people and that is the problem. We are an extension of marketing and nothing more! Selling is about convincing someone to buy or create need. We have not done that in a long, long time. There is NO transaction. Regulatory restrictions prevent us from creating need and doctors do not want to be convinced to prescribe anything, often it is not even in their control. Get rid of all this tracking and reach and MBA crap. We don't sell anything! Customers do not want to see a "sales" person (or a PR person). They are not buying anything and we do NOT influence prescribing anymore. We are not detailing anything! Get rid of all the middle management and sales tools. We are nothing but an extension of marketing and no one cares about pharma marketing unless you have a brand new product. We are not even PR people unless you count that Zocor/Vytorin firedrill. Oh, there are sample droppers, but you do NOT need to pay someone 90 grand a year to do that! You could have a sample dropper with a bunch of electronic or paper information to answer any label questions or a hotline number and pay them 40 grand a year.
How do you launch a new product (a once in a blue moon happening)? With contract people and contract organizations or a very lean sample team that you refocus based on need. Cut the deadwood now! (Another tip: You cannot really expect one person to "sell" eight or nine products. No one can possibly do it in a large territory with multiple callpoints.) Does mother just want to burnout people? Maybe. If Merck wants one person with eight products in their bag, they are sample droppers. Keep it short and sweet. You sure do not need seven layers of upper management to help them do their job. Run them like UPS.
The only groups that have any value are the HSCs and contracting people. I have seen firsthand that given a choice to meet with me and talk promotionally about a 10 year old product or meet with my HSC, they pick the HSC. My job is obsolete. The pharma sales person is a dead job. Please end it for us sooner rather than later! I beg you mother Merck. Design a new model. One that is about science and then some samples. Get rid of everything in between. You will find a leaner, meaner and more efficient Merck and one that is not forcing this new customer model down everyone's throat. If there are areas of no access, please for the love of GOD, do not put a representative there in the middle of that nightmare! The game has ended. Double your science people and try to form new relationships around research and development. Contract out your sample droppers with great electronic and paper resources. Face time is a thing of the past. Doctors just do not have time and, as our healthcare system evolves, it will only get worse for them. Keep your contracting at the best price and work closely with all the GPOs, government and insurance companies. . . but sales is dead. We do NOT sell. Stop it. We look foolish out there. (We burn more gas to get five minutes of face time with two prescribers than can possibily be cost effective!) A hybrid of the HSC with an advanced degree will be your new customer facing team.
P.S. that customer trust and value scorecard is a joke. What has that measurement done for Merck's bottomline? I bet nothing. It is a middle management scorecard created in an effort to justify keeping this old model alive and a bunch of douchbags in suits.
Now go and have the balls to reinvent this dead model. My hand is raised. Package me up and let me go! I am sorry to have spoken the truth. How many who read this will have the balls to fess up?
Now, we ran around with messages, samples and detail aids and pretty soon studies from Pfizer showed that more detail people could drive more business. Sadly, no company put any money into their future, like R&D or even AE tracking and recording. Instead, more money went to detailing and droves of us "selling". MBAs were hired to track and route us. More tracking and call reporting, the reach and frequency models were born. Companies now riddled with MBAs, Lawyers, Consultants, Middle Management and Accountants guided their "sales" force. More regulatory requirements were sent down the pike because there were so many of us. Every possible metric was and still is measured and analyzed. (Surely there must be just the right way to target us to drive that business!)
Ecomony tanks. Pay for performance is born. Me too drugs are everywhere. Doctors get pissed because there are 10 reps in their office and two patients. (I had one office tell me he had 40 reps a day call on him!) Access becomes limited in many areas and the industry uses physician consultants and pays them in order to keep access alive and the sales people looking busy. Lectures and Phase IV studies become the new way to detail a group of peers. This turns into a circus and a few bad apples make headline news. The industry gets blacklisted. Layoffs begin everywhere as companies merge to keep their bottom lines looking good. Competition heats up in the industry. No company seems to have a model on how to conduct business in this mature and highly competitive brutal environment. No one invested in R&D, which was a huge mistake. So, they push their sales people harder to move that needle on old products to support a top heavy business structure. We are still considered "sales" people and acountable to some bottom line number. Mother renames us customer service representatives so we seem friendlier and less pushy. Here's the problem. . .
What exactly do we sell? ANSWER: NOTHING! We are NOT sales people and that is the problem. We are an extension of marketing and nothing more! Selling is about convincing someone to buy or create need. We have not done that in a long, long time. There is NO transaction. Regulatory restrictions prevent us from creating need and doctors do not want to be convinced to prescribe anything, often it is not even in their control. Get rid of all this tracking and reach and MBA crap. We don't sell anything! Customers do not want to see a "sales" person (or a PR person). They are not buying anything and we do NOT influence prescribing anymore. We are not detailing anything! Get rid of all the middle management and sales tools. We are nothing but an extension of marketing and no one cares about pharma marketing unless you have a brand new product. We are not even PR people unless you count that Zocor/Vytorin firedrill. Oh, there are sample droppers, but you do NOT need to pay someone 90 grand a year to do that! You could have a sample dropper with a bunch of electronic or paper information to answer any label questions or a hotline number and pay them 40 grand a year.
How do you launch a new product (a once in a blue moon happening)? With contract people and contract organizations or a very lean sample team that you refocus based on need. Cut the deadwood now! (Another tip: You cannot really expect one person to "sell" eight or nine products. No one can possibly do it in a large territory with multiple callpoints.) Does mother just want to burnout people? Maybe. If Merck wants one person with eight products in their bag, they are sample droppers. Keep it short and sweet. You sure do not need seven layers of upper management to help them do their job. Run them like UPS.
The only groups that have any value are the HSCs and contracting people. I have seen firsthand that given a choice to meet with me and talk promotionally about a 10 year old product or meet with my HSC, they pick the HSC. My job is obsolete. The pharma sales person is a dead job. Please end it for us sooner rather than later! I beg you mother Merck. Design a new model. One that is about science and then some samples. Get rid of everything in between. You will find a leaner, meaner and more efficient Merck and one that is not forcing this new customer model down everyone's throat. If there are areas of no access, please for the love of GOD, do not put a representative there in the middle of that nightmare! The game has ended. Double your science people and try to form new relationships around research and development. Contract out your sample droppers with great electronic and paper resources. Face time is a thing of the past. Doctors just do not have time and, as our healthcare system evolves, it will only get worse for them. Keep your contracting at the best price and work closely with all the GPOs, government and insurance companies. . . but sales is dead. We do NOT sell. Stop it. We look foolish out there. (We burn more gas to get five minutes of face time with two prescribers than can possibily be cost effective!) A hybrid of the HSC with an advanced degree will be your new customer facing team.
P.S. that customer trust and value scorecard is a joke. What has that measurement done for Merck's bottomline? I bet nothing. It is a middle management scorecard created in an effort to justify keeping this old model alive and a bunch of douchbags in suits.
Now go and have the balls to reinvent this dead model. My hand is raised. Package me up and let me go! I am sorry to have spoken the truth. How many who read this will have the balls to fess up?