Typical Day for a SME

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking about applying for a SME position. Can anyone tell me what a typical day looks like for a SME? I have Pharmaceutical sales experience and would like to pursue a different avenue however would like to remain in a sales position.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking about applying for a SME position. Can anyone tell me what a typical day looks like for a SME? I have Pharmaceutical sales experience and would like to pursue a different avenue however would like to remain in a sales position.

Sure. Start by sleeping in late. Then, head out and gas up the ol' company car. Afterwards, show up at one of your biggest accounts and bring them lunch. (Your pharma background should have you well prepared). Watch as the fat office staff scarf down whatever high carbohydrate lunch you bring them, as if they've never eaten before. Listen to the nurses bitch about how bad LabCorp sucks; yet because of insurance coverage, they are stuck with you and only because they hate Quest slightly worse than you. Bring a whole packet of patient bills home with you to rectify. On the way home, stop by a Quest account and try and convince that office to send you their United work. Before arriving home, pull off to the side of the road and nap. When you get home, listen to your wife bitch about how she got a huge bill for taking your kid for a routine doctor visit and why do the benefits suck at LabCorp?

Repeat daily.

By day four, you'll be wondering what kind of bs company you got yourself involved with. Read the boards. I used to work here. So much truth in these boards. It's so much better anywhere else. Really. It's not about people, it's not about technology, it's not about quality. It's about lean margins and profitability and that's it. Company exists only to appease investors. End of story.

 

[Anonymous]

Cracks me up to see people in Pharma think they actually work in sales. Lab industry is totally different. If I were you, stay with Pharma and buy lunches everyday otherwise you will be in way over your head. Just sayin

 

[Anonymous]

Sure. Start by sleeping in late. Then, head out and gas up the ol' company car. Afterwards, show up at one of your biggest accounts and bring them lunch. (Your pharma background should have you well prepared). Watch as the fat office staff scarf down whatever high carbohydrate lunch you bring them, as if they've never eaten before. Listen to the nurses bitch about how bad LabCorp sucks; yet because of insurance coverage, they are stuck with you and only because they hate Quest slightly worse than you. Bring a whole packet of patient bills home with you to rectify. On the way home, stop by a Quest account and try and convince that office to send you their United work. Before arriving home, pull off to the side of the road and nap. When you get home, listen to your wife bitch about how she got a huge bill for taking your kid for a routine doctor visit and why do the benefits suck at LabCorp?

Repeat daily.

By day four, you'll be wondering what kind of bs company you got yourself involved with. Read the boards. I used to work here. So much truth in these boards. It's so much better anywhere else. Really. It's not about people, it's not about technology, it's not about quality. It's about lean margins and profitability and that's it. Company exists only to appease investors. End of story.

You clearly don't know what an SMe does and are thinking about what a KAE does you idiot. An SME is not wasting their time calling on accounts already sending to LabCorp unless they only send united work or are on the verge of leaving and the KAE needs help hanging onto the acccount.

A SME is out calling on offices that are NOT using LabCorp at all for the most part. You are NOT taking home a whole packet of patient bills to rectify. You will almost NEVER find an SME doing that, again because SME's call on accounts not using LabCorp therefore there would be no patient bills to rectify. Your IQ must not even come close to approaching 3 digits, is it even greater than 80?

A SME is not the same as a KAE.

I am not saying that there are not lots and lots of problems at LabCorp but if you are going to reply to a question at least get your facts straight.

 

[Anonymous]

Cracks me up to see people in Pharma think they actually work in sales. Lab industry is totally different. If I were you, stay with Pharma and buy lunches everyday otherwise you will be in way over your head. Just sayin

Another typical lab rep that thinks that pharma sales reps can't sell. The fact is that if you can sell and are smart enough to learn the product then any rep can sell any product where its lab services, meidcal devices, pharmaceutical drugs or whatever. THe biggest problem with ANY rep coming on board at Labcorp is that the training S-U-C-K-S!!!! To be fair it basically doesn't exist. LCA has some web based training but it is terrible. I loved the one on selling where it advises you not to stand too close to the physician, really advanced sells training. Pharma training is so much more in depth and better but you only have a few products to master. THe simple fact is that if you are looking to be an SME its not important to try and learn about all the individual tests that LabCorp has to offer. Most of the time you are talking about interfaces, turnaround time, total product offering such as both clinical and pathology, clinical support decision materials etc. The simple fact of the matter is that there is not a lot of difference between how LabCorp does the test and Quest, Solstas, etc.

BTW I have seen a ton of LabCorp reps out buying lunches too so get off your high horse!

 

[Anonymous]

You clearly don't know what an SMe does and are thinking about what a KAE does you idiot. An SME is not wasting their time calling on accounts already sending to LabCorp unless they only send united work or are on the verge of leaving and the KAE needs help hanging onto the acccount.

A SME is out calling on offices that are NOT using LabCorp at all for the most part. You are NOT taking home a whole packet of patient bills to rectify. You will almost NEVER find an SME doing that, again because SME's call on accounts not using LabCorp therefore there would be no patient bills to rectify. Your IQ must not even come close to approaching 3 digits, is it even greater than 80?

A SME is not the same as a KAE.

I am not saying that there are not lots and lots of problems at LabCorp but if you are going to reply to a question at least get your facts straight.[/QUOTE

Who are you kidding SME is just the same as KAE I worked there many years and they are all treated the same Lab is not Pharma lets get real you are not selling you are servicing Big difference . Bottom of the pit who would leave Pharma to work for a LAB ? Oh by the way my SME reps always collected patient bills since the billing was always screwed up and basically this is a huge part of your job .Cleanup an apoligizing to DRs to keep business .gopher job this is not real Sales more like a customer service Rep

 

[Anonymous]

You clearly don't know what an SMe does and are thinking about what a KAE does you idiot. An SME is not wasting their time calling on accounts already sending to LabCorp unless they only send united work or are on the verge of leaving and the KAE needs help hanging onto the acccount.

A SME is out calling on offices that are NOT using LabCorp at all for the most part. You are NOT taking home a whole packet of patient bills to rectify. You will almost NEVER find an SME doing that, again because SME's call on accounts not using LabCorp therefore there would be no patient bills to rectify. Your IQ must not even come close to approaching 3 digits, is it even greater than 80?

A SME is not the same as a KAE.

I am not saying that there are not lots and lots of problems at LabCorp but if you are going to reply to a question at least get your facts straight.[/QUOTE

Who are you kidding SME is just the same as KAE I worked there many years and they are all treated the same Lab is not Pharma lets get real you are not selling you are servicing Big difference . Bottom of the pit who would leave Pharma to work for a LAB ? Oh by the way my SME reps always collected patient bills since the billing was always screwed up and basically this is a huge part of your job .Cleanup an apoligizing to DRs to keep business .gopher job this is not real Sales more like a customer service Rep

Everyone forgot to say how both an SME and KAE have to deal with the idiots in their respective labs who never follow up on emails or phone calls. yes im talking about I.T.

 

[Anonymous]

You clearly don't know what an SMe does and are thinking about what a KAE does you idiot. An SME is not wasting their time calling on accounts already sending to LabCorp unless they only send united work or are on the verge of leaving and the KAE needs help hanging onto the acccount.

A SME is out calling on offices that are NOT using LabCorp at all for the most part. You are NOT taking home a whole packet of patient bills to rectify. You will almost NEVER find an SME doing that, again because SME's call on accounts not using LabCorp therefore there would be no patient bills to rectify. Your IQ must not even come close to approaching 3 digits, is it even greater than 80?

A SME is not the same as a KAE.

I am not saying that there are not lots and lots of problems at LabCorp but if you are going to reply to a question at least get your facts straight.

Stop. Stop. Just stop.

This air of superiority you have regarding pharma proves how sub-intellectual you truly are. Face facts dummy: You don't sell jack. You wait around for Quest to screw up so you can pounce ....long wait times, poor service etc. You wait for your managed care dept. to close a contract so you can collect letters from health plans and try and strong arm doctors into sending to you or else! You fix problems with interfaces, you bring just as many lunches as pharma reps and maybe more. You write down your mileage each day and you log your visits because your company doesn't trust you enough to NOT babysit you. They realize that paying the lowest standard wages in the industry comes with this responsibility. You collect bodily fluids (urine, mucous, sperm, feces) for a living. I don't get my hands dirty. You are probably that same loser I see from LabCorp who smokes out in the parking lot between calls. Stay classy, friend. Next stop for you? Retail!

 

[Anonymous]

Stop. Stop. Just stop.

This air of superiority you have regarding pharma proves how sub-intellectual you truly are. Face facts dummy: You don't sell jack. You wait around for Quest to screw up so you can pounce ....long wait times, poor service etc. You wait for your managed care dept. to close a contract so you can collect letters from health plans and try and strong arm doctors into sending to you or else! You fix problems with interfaces, you bring just as many lunches as pharma reps and maybe more. You write down your mileage each day and you log your visits because your company doesn't trust you enough to NOT babysit you. They realize that paying the lowest standard wages in the industry comes with this responsibility. You collect bodily fluids (urine, mucous, sperm, feces) for a living. I don't get my hands dirty. You are probably that same loser I see from LabCorp who smokes out in the parking lot between calls. Stay classy, friend. Next stop for you? Retail!

Well, for one thing I have never smoked and never wrote down my milage either with LabCorp or other companies. I think you have me wrong about lunches, I agree that I have seen reps for LabCorp bring in just as many lunches as a drug rep. If you need to spend time with a physician and their access is limited then that's often what you have to do.Please don't give me crap about never doing that. No one wants to admit it but its the truth and while everyone may have certain offices that they can come and go as they choose its with an office they are already getting the business not one where they are on the outside looking in.

There are tons of offices where you only get to see the physicain if you do a lunch and if you are an SME you are most likely calling on offices that you may never have been in before you you are NOT going to have that great relationship with a physician so you can go in like you own the place.

The biggest difference between pharma and an SME is that an SME never gets to build up a long term relationhsip with their clients because they pass them on to the KAE. Once you sign them up they are yours and its time to move on to another account because big brother wants to know what are you going to close for me this month not thank you for what you did last month.
And managed care never did me any favors at LabCorp. It plays a bigger role in pharma than the lab world, that's not to say it doesn't impact business but not to the level of pharma. Some physicians are likely to charge their entire writing habit based on one important formulary because they want to be able to write one drug regardless of what plan its on. Most office will not totally switch labs based on one insurance plan change unless its the majority of their client base.