Rough Times Ahead You Have Been Warned

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Anonymous said:
For those of you that see the storm clouds approaching, where are you looking? Our competitors, ortho, and start-up companies don't seem worth the risk to me. Debating getting out of the industry and curious if others are feeling that way too
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It's been hashed out ad nauseum on these boards but the general consensus is that if you don't like what's going on in the industry - i.e. storm clouds - switching to another device company won't solve your problems.

Ortho/Spine/Trauma are all under the same pricing pressures as everyone else. Some start ups have a high risk/high reward compensation plan however unless you hit gold it's not a long term play.

The sad truth is that device companies are being regulated more, taxed more and the average cost of goods sold is decreasing. Factor that in with hospital employed physicians, large purchasing organizations and growing hospital systems consoladating our customer base there are indeed rough times ahead.

Surgery won't stop and big companies will continue to roll. However many are top heavy and will endure massive restructuring in the next decade. The other side of the tunnel might be a great career but personally I'd take any industry over med device right now. The days of managing a surgeon relationship in the OR and being compensated at the level that some were are numbered. it's still a good job and if you have a low cost of living it might make sense to stay. If you are looking to make150K+ as a rep. RUN! If you are working for Ethicon as a rep and are looking to make 100K+ RUN FAST!
 






Good last post.

I think as a rep with Ethicon 150K is about right. What amazes me is how it is getting harder to live on 150K in general. The days of taking home 60K checks per quarter are over but if you play your cards right you can have a great life with quality family time working for jnj.

I say stay till they let you go. What other company doesn't discipline it's reps who don't hit their number year over year? Intuitive? Medtronic? Miss your number in a quarter and you're gone there. At least at Ethicon they know contracts run the biz and that's why they tolerate loosing a hospital/system in your territory.

Start your own business on the side while working for JNJ that is what the smart ones do.
 


















Anonymous said:
It's so funny how there is always someone that puts down a company. When I was in pharma, everyone said its a joke and device is where the real salespeople are. Now I get into device and some will say Ethicon is low rung in the device world. First of all, I have been here for 5 years and I would say it is the hardest device job out there. 2nd, who really gives a shit anyway. Please tell me what the holy grail of device jobs is? ortho? Those guys are a joke because they don't sell. They hang out with a handful of surgeons and get trays ready. easiest gig in device in my opinion.
Those that say Ethicon is easy are either ignorant are not doing the job right. Take a territory leader for example. You try selling a million products to EVERY specialty in a bunch of hospitals while trying to be an expert at the same time. Oh and by the way, hospitals don't want costs to go up but we are paid on growth. Ortho guys and plenty of others are paid dollar 1 so they just have to physically show up to give the proverbial blow job and fill out paperwork for billing.
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You obviously have not worked for another device company if you think that Ethicon is the hardest device job. Ethicon is the pharma of the device world and everyone knows it.
 






Anonymous said:
It's so funny how there is always someone that puts down a company. When I was in pharma, everyone said its a joke and device is where the real salespeople are. Now I get into device and some will say Ethicon is low rung in the device world. First of all, I have been here for 5 years and I would say it is the hardest device job out there. 2nd, who really gives a shit anyway. Please tell me what the holy grail of device jobs is? ortho? Those guys are a joke because they don't sell. They hang out with a handful of surgeons and get trays ready. easiest gig in device in my opinion.
Those that say Ethicon is easy are either ignorant are not doing the job right. Take a territory leader for example. You try selling a million products to EVERY specialty in a bunch of hospitals while trying to be an expert at the same time. Oh and by the way, hospitals don't want costs to go up but we are paid on growth. Ortho guys and plenty of others are paid dollar 1 so they just have to physically show up to give the proverbial blow job and fill out paperwork for billing.
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Clueless
 


















Anonymous said:
It's so funny how there is always someone that puts down a company. When I was in pharma, everyone said its a joke and device is where the real salespeople are. Now I get into device and some will say Ethicon is low rung in the device world. First of all, I have been here for 5 years and I would say it is the hardest device job out there. 2nd, who really gives a shit anyway. Please tell me what the holy grail of device jobs is? ortho? Those guys are a joke because they don't sell. They hang out with a handful of surgeons and get trays ready. easiest gig in device in my opinion.
Those that say Ethicon is easy are either ignorant are not doing the job right. Take a territory leader for example. You try selling a million products to EVERY specialty in a bunch of hospitals while trying to be an expert at the same time. Oh and by the way, hospitals don't want costs to go up but we are paid on growth. Ortho guys and plenty of others are paid dollar 1 so they just have to physically show up to give the proverbial blow job and fill out paperwork for billing.
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To say that you're "selling a million products" is a bit of a stretch. The contract in place is determining who uses what at an account. We are more of a maintenance rep. Sure, there are a chunk of products that we get comp'ed on and you're encouraged to sell those products but the majority of the bag is determined by a GPO or local agreement. You're business isn't going to go away overnight because the contract tells the accounts what to do.
 






Anonymous said:
To say that you're "selling a million products" is a bit of a stretch. The contract in place is determining who uses what at an account. We are more of a maintenance rep. Sure, there are a chunk of products that we get comp'ed on and you're encouraged to sell those products but the majority of the bag is determined by a GPO or local agreement. You're business isn't going to go away overnight because the contract tells the accounts what to do.
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Totally not true. In my territory I have 3 large hospitals where Ethicon is on the GPO contract but yet Covidien has most of the endo business. Covidien can come in a do a local agreement anytime and they did. These hospitals have 1 or 2 very high volume docs that have been Cov forever and refuse to change thus blocking a conversion cause they do sooo much business.

Contracts help, yes, but by no means are they the end all be all
 






Anonymous said:
To say that you're "selling a million products" is a bit of a stretch. The contract in place is determining who uses what at an account. We are more of a maintenance rep. Sure, there are a chunk of products that we get comp'ed on and you're encouraged to sell those products but the majority of the bag is determined by a GPO or local agreement. You're business isn't going to go away overnight because the contract tells the accounts what to do.
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Be honest, would you rather do what an Ethicon reps does OR go to 1 maybe 2 accounts ONLY and sell to one specialty ONLY. The latter is your ortho rep….set up trays and bill out. Granted, they have to put there heads up a handful of docs asses and live with them, but taking everything into account that waaaay easier
 












Anonymous said:
I am sitting laughing at you clowns who think that Med Device is still the place to be. Keep drinking the kool-aid, regardless of company.
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You keep laughing..I'll keep making $175-200K as long as it lasts.
I can read right through your BS...you'd love to still be in med device..
I'll sit back and wait for your denial
 






Anonymous said:
FTE = Full Time employee. HR Acronym for headcount.

At least HR is making them give us at least 90 days to perform against the new quotas and we have some control this time.

To the other geniuses, no it's not GYN. Get ready to do even more with less.
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This is absolutely 100% not true. Totally false. If you knew the level of some of the people who read this site you might be surprised..
 






Anonymous said:
You keep laughing..I'll keep making $175-200K as long as it lasts.
I can read right through your BS...you'd love to still be in med device..
I'll sit back and wait for your denial
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LOL, sure you do, and thank you for helping make my point in stating "for as long as it lasts..." You act as if Med Device is the only sales arena that you can make 200k+. Comical. Someone is starting to sweat because Ethicon/Med Device is all that they know! ;)
 






Source deep inside Somerville training is that they are being asked to assemble a cross training program for the Bio salesforce over the next 4-5 months. Not sure exactly what that means to us but can't be a good thing.
 






























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