I want you all to know that i thoroughly enjoy reading all of these posts. They are great for when you are the shitter taking a dump. There is some funny shit on here. That being stated, I would like to put my first and last post on here as I am an employee.
Let's be real, there is something about every job that sucks, that is why they call it work. That being stated, I have been with this company for awhile and I think it would be a big mistake to think that there are only a handful of UNHAPPY people. I had the opportunity to speak with many colleagues at the NSM in Vegas. People are struggling and there are some studs and studettes that are struggling. There are NOT weak reps as I personally know some them and have great respect for them. The doctors portion of the NSM was great. Kudos to ACell as it was the best thing they have done to date. Yes ACell is a start up however, there are many different ways of going about it. I do know after being in med sales for over a decade that it is really important to have content and happy employees. Sales reps are typically very understanding people if you COMMUNICATE with them. None of us know the direction of the company, where the goals are or time frames are for completing them. We like to know what we are working for and the direction of our company for long term stability. ACell could truly help itself by just speaking to their people. Simple solution to a current big problem. They need to understand reps as a whole. NO disrespect to distributor reps but direct reps that come from strong companies have a completely different set of expectations from their companies.
That being stated, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for not preparing your sales force for the tasks at hand. I have been to training classes and yes they have gotten a little better but can you really tell me that a company offers literally almost no competitive training. If you are one of the people that are sticking up for ACEll then what are the excuses for the following:
1. ACell offers no competitive training. WHat has been offered to show the differences in a) HIsotology, B) Healing mechanisms C) Processing D) talk tracks to combat what competition is saying about your product etc... etc....
2. Data - sure there is a lag time with start ups but take hernia for example, you only need a couple retrospective studies with 10-20 patients each. This is what all other biologic companies have. I know for a fact ACell has passed on MULITPLE opportunities to do studies all accross the country with new found reps that have penetrated.
3. Selling Tools? (Enough Said)
4. Marketing brochures and single patient case studies - What's the excuse to not at least have several single patient case studies with the wounds on our Ipads that are ACTUALLY FINISHED???
I could go on but I think we get the point here. I hope someone can come back with any other excuse but the BOTTOM LINE. Really? There are 100 other ways to go about this and have happy and content employees across the board. People are spending so much time worrying about finances it becomes a huge distraction, taking second jobs etc...
Someone put on here about go and work for Pfizer. I have to tell you Pfizer reps as a whole make more money that ACell reps which is a travesty when a pharma rep makes more than a tenured device rep with GROUND BREAKING TECHNOLOGY. More market inexperience shown on that previous comment.
As far as the handful of HAPPY people (reps) Be honest chicks n dudes, you are probably one of the chosen few with reimbursement. DOn't be patting yourselves on the back too much.
Lastly, no matter what you think, you should not be calling people out by their names on a public blog. That is pretty rotten and you should really stop. If you have something to say good or bad say it but leave names out. The flip side to that is after speaking to many of you, the quality of SOME of the managers are completely unqualified to be managers. Management positions have been offered to guys that have never either been in medical device field or had one good month of initial sales and were promoted. SOme are buddies of someone above (which does happen everywhere occasionally). The problem is the reps are turning to their managers for answers and the managers don't know the them. There is no PROMOTIONAL CONSISTENCY which frustrates a lot of people. SOmeone needs to learn that sales reps are organized, OCD many times and goal setters. If the objectives aren't clear it messes up their mental house and not all but many get distracted.
Acell needs to either turn to their people in the field with significant biologic experience, pick their brain and get an educational plan together. I do not understand what the big deal is. Get your best people at a round table and figure it out then share the message. There's no shame in admitting your weak in something and let's face it, MOST Of us are extremely weak clinically. You need to be educated clinically to compete which will guess what, POSITIVELY IMPACT SALES.
In closing, at the end of the day many of us are sales reps and regardless go out and bust your ass and try and make it happen.
To ACell, come on guys there are alot of things that can be tweaked which could immediately start impacting sales. Talk to your people, let them know what is being planned so they know the direction of the company. We were told there was another manufacturing line going up last March. We are always scrambling for product and its actually a good thing that we are sales are pretty small because you would screw yourself out of many opportunities NOT BEING ABLE TO SUPPLY.
Peace OUT BIOTCHES
Let's be real, there is something about every job that sucks, that is why they call it work. That being stated, I have been with this company for awhile and I think it would be a big mistake to think that there are only a handful of UNHAPPY people. I had the opportunity to speak with many colleagues at the NSM in Vegas. People are struggling and there are some studs and studettes that are struggling. There are NOT weak reps as I personally know some them and have great respect for them. The doctors portion of the NSM was great. Kudos to ACell as it was the best thing they have done to date. Yes ACell is a start up however, there are many different ways of going about it. I do know after being in med sales for over a decade that it is really important to have content and happy employees. Sales reps are typically very understanding people if you COMMUNICATE with them. None of us know the direction of the company, where the goals are or time frames are for completing them. We like to know what we are working for and the direction of our company for long term stability. ACell could truly help itself by just speaking to their people. Simple solution to a current big problem. They need to understand reps as a whole. NO disrespect to distributor reps but direct reps that come from strong companies have a completely different set of expectations from their companies.
That being stated, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for not preparing your sales force for the tasks at hand. I have been to training classes and yes they have gotten a little better but can you really tell me that a company offers literally almost no competitive training. If you are one of the people that are sticking up for ACEll then what are the excuses for the following:
1. ACell offers no competitive training. WHat has been offered to show the differences in a) HIsotology, B) Healing mechanisms C) Processing D) talk tracks to combat what competition is saying about your product etc... etc....
2. Data - sure there is a lag time with start ups but take hernia for example, you only need a couple retrospective studies with 10-20 patients each. This is what all other biologic companies have. I know for a fact ACell has passed on MULITPLE opportunities to do studies all accross the country with new found reps that have penetrated.
3. Selling Tools? (Enough Said)
4. Marketing brochures and single patient case studies - What's the excuse to not at least have several single patient case studies with the wounds on our Ipads that are ACTUALLY FINISHED???
I could go on but I think we get the point here. I hope someone can come back with any other excuse but the BOTTOM LINE. Really? There are 100 other ways to go about this and have happy and content employees across the board. People are spending so much time worrying about finances it becomes a huge distraction, taking second jobs etc...
Someone put on here about go and work for Pfizer. I have to tell you Pfizer reps as a whole make more money that ACell reps which is a travesty when a pharma rep makes more than a tenured device rep with GROUND BREAKING TECHNOLOGY. More market inexperience shown on that previous comment.
As far as the handful of HAPPY people (reps) Be honest chicks n dudes, you are probably one of the chosen few with reimbursement. DOn't be patting yourselves on the back too much.
Lastly, no matter what you think, you should not be calling people out by their names on a public blog. That is pretty rotten and you should really stop. If you have something to say good or bad say it but leave names out. The flip side to that is after speaking to many of you, the quality of SOME of the managers are completely unqualified to be managers. Management positions have been offered to guys that have never either been in medical device field or had one good month of initial sales and were promoted. SOme are buddies of someone above (which does happen everywhere occasionally). The problem is the reps are turning to their managers for answers and the managers don't know the them. There is no PROMOTIONAL CONSISTENCY which frustrates a lot of people. SOmeone needs to learn that sales reps are organized, OCD many times and goal setters. If the objectives aren't clear it messes up their mental house and not all but many get distracted.
Acell needs to either turn to their people in the field with significant biologic experience, pick their brain and get an educational plan together. I do not understand what the big deal is. Get your best people at a round table and figure it out then share the message. There's no shame in admitting your weak in something and let's face it, MOST Of us are extremely weak clinically. You need to be educated clinically to compete which will guess what, POSITIVELY IMPACT SALES.
In closing, at the end of the day many of us are sales reps and regardless go out and bust your ass and try and make it happen.
To ACell, come on guys there are alot of things that can be tweaked which could immediately start impacting sales. Talk to your people, let them know what is being planned so they know the direction of the company. We were told there was another manufacturing line going up last March. We are always scrambling for product and its actually a good thing that we are sales are pretty small because you would screw yourself out of many opportunities NOT BEING ABLE TO SUPPLY.
Peace OUT BIOTCHES