Too Many Sales Reps?

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Pfizer makes enough profit to kepp 3x the salesforce. They just want to lay us off to manipulate the stock price to make a killing on their stock options. It's a corrupt game played by 20 execs at the top and on the Board. Wyeth did it to perfection.

We are just pawns in their billion dollar SEC crimes.

Prove me wrong, I dare anyone.
 




Anonymous said:
No there are not too many reps. There are too many arrogant assholes in headquarters who never sold shit, never generated revenue for this company, and have zero people skills trying to micro-manage the sales force. I have been on 2 "advisory boards" and a Regional President's leadership council and I am appalled at the elitist, arrogant attitudes of people who clearly do not understand the customer or what we do, yet they think they know best with their computer generated information. Pathetic!!!!

Leave us alone!

A Sales Rep
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Have you ever discovered/developed a drug? Filed the patent? Brought it through 18 months worth 1000s of clinical trials? Established a network of plants to manufacture the API and drug? By the time it's ready to go as a finished product, its efficacy sells itself. Thank you for buying the doctor dinner and taking him to play golf while he reads the HQ-prepared marketing material and realizes that you're just an overpaid delivery man. Your contribution is underwhelming.
 




Anonymous said:
The problem is that the industry started paying way too much for the skills of pharma reps in the late 80's/early 90's, and an entire generation of folks got accustomed to bloated salaries. Face it, there is no other industry in the country where reps with low end bachelor degrees can routinely surpass 100K without any shred of a specialized skill set. In most cases, folks would be jumping ship left and right if faced with FIVE YEARS of uncertainty, but pharma folks know there is no place to go that offers the same pay opportunities. As a result, this board is ripe with bitter and unrealistic people who have a distorted perception of what they're worth. You all want 100K+, but fail to realize that you have absolutely ZERO effect on physicians and their prescribing habits. It all comes down to CMS and HMO formulary decisions and we all know that we can cut 80% of the existing sales force to accomplish the same outcomes.

Ill stop short of lambasting the entire industry and calling all reps a bunch a worthless idiots like some do (some of the best and most talented people I know are pharma reps), but its time to face the facts. Get out now and get retrained/re-educated rather than wait for the inevitable to happen.
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This post is probably the most accurate depiction ever laid out. BRAVO. Let's face it folks we live in a distorted view of reality. This charade has to stop soon. It doesn't add up when skilled and licensed laborers make far less than we do. Let's face it, I know we have to eat a lot of garbage doing our jobs, but what about licensed nurses, physical therapists and teachers. They may make a good living, but they make an honest living. We have bloated salaries and perks that are exorbitant. This is why the industry is in massive trouble. I do agree, get out of now versus getting pushed out.
 








Anonymous said:
Have you ever discovered/developed a drug? Filed the patent? Brought it through 18 months worth 1000s of clinical trials? Established a network of plants to manufacture the API and drug? By the time it's ready to go as a finished product, its efficacy sells itself. Thank you for buying the doctor dinner and taking him to play golf while he reads the HQ-prepared marketing material and realizes that you're just an overpaid delivery man. Your contribution is underwhelming.
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Let's face it, a lot of scientists in Groton (especially post-2000 hires) have never seen a drug they worked on brought to market either.
 




Anonymous said:
Have you ever discovered/developed a drug? Filed the patent? Brought it through 18 months worth 1000s of clinical trials? Established a network of plants to manufacture the API and drug? By the time it's ready to go as a finished product, its efficacy sells itself. Thank you for buying the doctor dinner and taking him to play golf while he reads the HQ-prepared marketing material and realizes that you're just an overpaid delivery man. Your contribution is underwhelming.
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Neither has Pfizer R&D. Isn't that the problem? Ask yourself, how underwhelming is the R&D division at Pfizer, and listen to the responses. There is no taking a Dr. to golf. That's been over for 10 yrs. And if the drugs sold themselves, then why haven't some of them generated much revenue.
 




















Wow...if that isn't the most underwhelming indictment of our job. Eesh. Time to get out...

Anonymous said:
Have you ever discovered/developed a drug? Filed the patent? Brought it through 18 months worth 1000s of clinical trials? Established a network of plants to manufacture the API and drug? By the time it's ready to go as a finished product, its efficacy sells itself. Thank you for buying the doctor dinner and taking him to play golf while he reads the HQ-prepared marketing material and realizes that you're just an overpaid delivery man. Your contribution is underwhelming.
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Anonymous said:
Could you just imagine how sales revenues would increase exponentially if they put all of the execs, DMs, RMs, SDs, marketing and brand teams in the field calling on the docs, instead of us?

Since we don't do shit in their eyes unless we do exactly as they say and command, then just think how incredible it would be if the experts implemented their wonderful ideas themselves?

I'd laugh at my own posting, but these assholes mentioned actually believe me. They wish they could clone themselves because they would definitely have 100% marketshare if we just did everything they said and think.

When a company is chock full of clowns like this, it is doomed to fail.
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I remember many years ago when marketing would come into the field and had no idea of the issues the reps faced until they saw it first hand
 




Anonymous said:
Neither has Pfizer R&D. Isn't that the problem? Ask yourself, how underwhelming is the R&D division at Pfizer, and listen to the responses. There is no taking a Dr. to golf. That's been over for 10 yrs. And if the drugs sold themselves, then why haven't some of them generated much revenue.
Click to expand...

The answer is definitely not to increase and improve Pfizer R&D. That's just stupid. These days R&D is a waste of money and effort. If you're big pharma why not let other smaller companies spend their time and money developing drugs and once they're approved and there are sales projections available swoop in and buy the good ones? How does this not make sense in today's environment? Why spend years and billions developing a drug that may not even see the light of day and if it does likely won't be paid for by most insurance plans anyway.

The name of the game now is managing costs to increase profit, and finding new ways to sell Pfizer to customers. The days of pushing drugs through the FDA, getting 3-4 approvals per year, selling features and benefits to community based docs and raking in sales $'s in a wide open market are gone.
 




Anonymous said:
The problem is that the industry started paying way too much for the skills of pharma reps in the late 80's/early 90's, and an entire generation of folks got accustomed to bloated salaries. Face it, there is no other industry in the country where reps with low end bachelor degrees can routinely surpass 100K without any shred of a specialized skill set. In most cases, folks would be jumping ship left and right if faced with FIVE YEARS of uncertainty, but pharma folks know there is no place to go that offers the same pay opportunities. As a result, this board is ripe with bitter and unrealistic people who have a distorted perception of what they're worth. You all want 100K+, but fail to realize that you have absolutely ZERO effect on physicians and their prescribing habits. It all comes down to CMS and HMO formulary decisions and we all know that we can cut 80% of the existing sales force to accomplish the same outcomes.

Ill stop short of lambasting the entire industry and calling all reps a bunch a worthless idiots like some do (some of the best and most talented people I know are pharma reps), but its time to face the facts. Get out now and get retrained/re-educated rather than wait for the inevitable to happen.
Click to expand...


So many low end BA degrees that it is scary. I am embarassed to have these folks as my peers as well.
 




Anonymous said:
The answer is definitely not to increase and improve Pfizer R&D. That's just stupid. These days R&D is a waste of money and effort. If you're big pharma why not let other smaller companies spend their time and money developing drugs and once they're approved and there are sales projections available swoop in and buy the good ones? How does this not make sense in today's environment? Why spend years and billions developing a drug that may not even see the light of day and if it does likely won't be paid for by most insurance plans anyway.

The name of the game now is managing costs to increase profit, and finding new ways to sell Pfizer to customers. The days of pushing drugs through the FDA, getting 3-4 approvals per year, selling features and benefits to community based docs and raking in sales $'s in a wide open market are gone.
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Where have you been. That is what pharma is doing, but when you invest in third party companies product R&D, its not like you get to cherry pick. If the compounds you invest in don't pan out, thats lost money. What you gain in investing in outside companies product development a company loses in the inability to control the developement.

Your statement of managing costs is code for downsizing, which neither ultimately creates a long-term increase in profit, but is considered a short-term firx for a company that is overloaded with bad executive management. Managing cost in these ways has never been the ideal fix for a companys' issues. And new ways to sell to customers has limitations in the pharma industry.
 
















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