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Vegas meeting

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anonymous said:
By the slim chance that any senior leader in sales from any of our divisions is reading these posts - including the new CE head - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP THE FIELD RIDE INSANITY!!!!! You want to cut costs? Cut the damn overpaid babysitter role. Holy poo, once a month babysitting is uncalled for! Doctors don’t want to see another damn body with a rep anymore. Make any excuse that you want but our customers don’t want them. Find a new way to do business other than the 90’s Pharma way. Perhaps elevate the rep role to true account managers and a handful of the best ABL’s to a director level role with a larger number of reps under them. Stop the field ride insanity and help us strategize and execute. Please and thank you
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anonymous said:
Field rides are a part of your job responsibilities. We don’t care how much you don’t like them. Grow up and act like a professional. You will do as you are told. If you don’t like it, don’t accept your paycheck.
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I’m trying to give you the middle finger emoji but sadly it doesn’t show up. You must be a manager who believes that you are a actually helping the reps (insert laughing emoji here). Enjoy your 90’s way of thinking
 




Couldn’t agree more. The fact Novartis thinks managers coaching is the key to success is comical. Why do you hire people you believe need babysitting and can’t puppet the talking points on their own? Can’t tell you how many times the manger either screws up the call by being there, or worse, is mute during the call and then has a bunch of talking points after leaving the office. I always ask why they didn’t say something while there. The most painful is when they ask the Dr. questions that have been asked and answered in the past. Totally redundant. Dr. and I bored while they ask their remedial questions. Waste of time and resources.
 




anonymous said:
Field rides are a part of your job responsibilities. We don’t care how much you don’t like them. Grow up and act like a professional. You will do as you are told. If you don’t like it, don’t accept your paycheck.
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Field rides are just another contributing factor to the steep decline in HCP office access.

Imagine for a moment you aren't in Pharma. Now think of how incredible and how lucky we are that even ONE of us is allowed back into a Doctors office where patients are talking to staff, getting weighed, having vitals taken, etc. Most patients don't know who we are, but if they did many would surely object to our presence.

Now consider the outrageousness of a Manager following the rep into an office just to observe the Salesperson. One of my docs put it perfectly. When I asked him why he won't let Managers in his office he said, "Why should I allow my office to be used a setting for rep training? We're treating patients here! Take that shit somewhere else!"

In a great many of major metro/ suburban markets field rides, heavy-handed closes, mandated weekly visits, mandated snacks, etc.. have reduced access to a tiny number of independent private offices. And yet Pharma hasn't changed expectations or behaviors one bit.
 












anonymous said:
Field rides are just another contributing factor to the steep decline in HCP office access.

Imagine for a moment you aren't in Pharma. Now think of how incredible and how lucky we are that even ONE of us is allowed back into a Doctors office where patients are talking to staff, getting weighed, having vitals taken, etc. Most patients don't know who we are, but if they did many would surely object to our presence.

Now consider the outrageousness of a Manager following the rep into an office just to observe the Salesperson. One of my docs put it perfectly. When I asked him why he won't let Managers in his office he said, "Why should I allow my office to be used a setting for rep training? We're treating patients here! Take that shit somewhere else!"

In a great many of major metro/ suburban markets field rides, heavy-handed closes, mandated weekly visits, mandated snacks, etc.. have reduced access to a tiny number of independent private offices. And yet Pharma hasn't changed expectations or behaviors one bit.
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I love how your doctor phrased it and I also had a doctor say something similar to me once when I asked why they didn't allow managers in the office. She said "As a business owner I hire people I'm confident can do their job. Why doesn't your company do the same? Why do they have to shadow you 2, 3, 4 years after you've been doing the job? I don't let them in because I think it's ridiculous to bring a second person into an already crowded space to talk to and distract my busy staff so reps can "show off or bomb" at their job. Take the dog and pony show somewhere else."
 




I actually appreciate when my managers does calls with me. She demonstrates what she has learned over years of experience in how to get access and attention of doctor and staff. She has shown me what a good close looks like and has helped my sales. I feel lucky to have such a helpful and nice manager and I know my numbers reflect her hands on help in the field. We should all be thankful Novartis hires such good people managers who are willing to do ride alongs with us.
 




anonymous said:
...Why do they have to shadow you 2, 3, 4 years after you've been doing the job? I don't let them in because I think it's ridiculous to bring a second person into an already crowded space to talk to and distract my busy staff so reps can "show off or bomb" at their job. Take the dog and pony show somewhere else."
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Unfortunately, the truth about the harm DSM field-rides pose to access and account relationships will never make it to Sales management b/c DSM's don't want to become irrelevant. If Sales Management saw the light and took field rides off the list of DSMs' responsibilities they would immediately realize they need far fewer DSMs.

So DSM's will forever insist, "I need to do field rides!!!"
 








anonymous said:
I actually appreciate when my managers does calls with me. She demonstrates what she has learned over years of experience in how to get access and attention of doctor and staff. She has shown me what a good close looks like and has helped my sales. I feel lucky to have such a helpful and nice manager and I know my numbers reflect her hands on help in the field. We should all be thankful Novartis hires such good people managers who are willing to do ride alongs with us.
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Then she should be looking for someone else to work that territory, as you have sufficiently proven your incompetence.
If you can't move market share and ask for appropriate patients types on your own, you are useless.
Sorry to put it that way, but it is true. You've been through training. If you cannot successfully implement what you learned there, you should either be sent back for additional help or relieved of your duties, as you were a bad hire.
 




anonymous said:
Then she should be looking for someone else to work that territory, as you have sufficiently proven your incompetence.
If you can't move market share and ask for appropriate patients types on your own, you are useless.
Sorry to put it that way, but it is true. You've been through training. If you cannot successfully implement what you learned there, you should either be sent back for additional help or relieved of your duties, as you were a bad hire.
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Totally agree! While there is always room to improve and grow, having managers in the field, with reps, in doc offices is not the way to do it. Offer out of field trainings to work on this stuff. No other profession does this on a regular basis. You might occasionally get observed, have a review etc. but you don't sit at a desk with a manager looking over your shoulder telling you what to say or how to say it. Its the dumbest thing and most useless waste of people's time I've ever encountered in the workplace. Imagine for a minute you are a teacher and the principal sits in to observe (which they do) but it happens every month and after every lesson throughout the day the principal pulls you aside to tell you what you did right or wrong? How incompetent would you feel? Imagine if for a minute you were a marketing exec and every 4 works your manager came and sat at your desk with you and coached you on how to better do your job?
 




anonymous said:
Totally agree! While there is always room to improve and grow, having managers in the field, with reps, in doc offices is not the way to do it. Offer out of field trainings to work on this stuff. No other profession does this on a regular basis. You might occasionally get observed, have a review etc. but you don't sit at a desk with a manager looking over your shoulder telling you what to say or how to say it. Its the dumbest thing and most useless waste of people's time I've ever encountered in the workplace. Imagine for a minute you are a teacher and the principal sits in to observe (which they do) but it happens every month and after every lesson throughout the day the principal pulls you aside to tell you what you did right or wrong? How incompetent would you feel? Imagine if for a minute you were a marketing exec and every 4 works your manager came and sat at your desk with you and coached you on how to better do your job?
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Aha! I diagnosed the problem. You call this a profession. It is no such thing, but rather a jobs program for unemployable adults with developmental disabilities.
 




anonymous said:
No other profession does this on a regular basis. You might occasionally get observed, have a review etc. but you don't sit at a desk with a manager looking over your shoulder telling you what to say or how to say it. Its the dumbest thing and most useless waste of people's time I've ever encountered in the workplace
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And Pharma does it on a regular basis while working in the most sacred of places; were sick people go to get their healthcare. Training and role-playing should take place away from a doctors office. Even if it were true that a few extra Scripts get written because of manager accompanying us into an office, it pales in comparison to the damage it does to access and account relationships. Not to mention stirring up cynicism from the patients who see two of us waiting for the doctor. And the manager usually dressed conspicuously like a manager.
 








anonymous said:
I actually appreciate when my managers does calls with me. She demonstrates what she has learned over years of experience in how to get access and attention of doctor and staff. She has shown me what a good close looks like and has helped my sales. I feel lucky to have such a helpful and nice manager and I know my numbers reflect her hands on help in the field. We should all be thankful Novartis hires such good people managers who are willing to do ride alongs with us.
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Sorry in advance foe this coming off as rude - but you must be one of the reps that was hired with little to no sales experience, or straight from college or you would surely know how to close a sale. Your manager shouldn’t have to show you what a “good close looks like” or be so hands on. Most of Pharma reps have some sales tenure and don’t need to be shown basic sales 101.
 




anonymous said:
Sorry in advance foe this coming off as rude - but you must be one of the reps that was hired with little to no sales experience, or straight from college or you would surely know how to close a sale. Your manager shouldn’t have to show you what a “good close looks like” or be so hands on. Most of Pharma reps have some sales tenure and don’t need to be shown basic sales 101.
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That post was a little too pat. I think they were being sarcastic. :)
 












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