“I just got laid off by a large Pharma company and would like to interview for the analytical capital equipment sales position you have advertised”.
It seems that every week someone in our office has a lengthy discussion with a high-performing Pharma rep, and the end of the discussion usually goes like this: “You have done extremely well in your career and have distinguished yourself among your peers. Unfortunately, our client doesn’t consider Pharma experience applicable to their job.”
The response is usually something like: “How can that be? I was 14th out of 125 reps for 2 years.”
While we’ve all had to deal with a changing business environment, I bet it’s fair to say that few industries/professions have been rocked as much as the pharmaceutical industry. For years, Pharma reps have been relatively well-paid and lived a corporate existence filled with more perks than most. Much of their time was spent delivering food in hopes of getting a few minutes with the Doctor to inform him/her about their product. A book titled “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell points to Direct to Consumer (DTC) advertising as the “Tipping Point”, or the point of inflection at which that world changed.
Quick…. What drug does Sally Fields promote and what is it for?
I bet at least half you said Boniva for Osteoporosis. Do you get the point?
The point is that Pharma companies are using the various forms of media (internet, television and radio) to educate you about their offerings and encourage you to “ask your doctor if XXXX is right for you”. Sounds kind of like the educational role that Pharma reps have always played. I know of one large (maybe the largest) Pharma company that wouldn’t allow their reps to ask doctors if they were prescribing their product. They felt it was too much pressure to put on the doctors.
So how is all of this relevant to why most Pharma reps won’t be considered for Capital Sales positions?
It’s relevant because companies selling analytical capital equipment in the hospital and reference lab market are looking for people who are experienced in selling a complex technical product(s) in a complex sales environment. By placing their equipment in that laboratory, they have been successful in overcoming technical, user, financial, location, and workflow issues, just to name a few. They have also probably gotten a commitment from that organization to use their product for 3-5 years and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars running and supporting that technology. (You might be able to argue that the selling process to get drugs on hospital formularies is a complex sales cycle; but it doesn’t require the rep to go “eyeball to eyeball” with the end decision maker and ask for the order. “Press hard, the third copy is yours” comes to mind.) That rep is also responsible for ensuring that the customer is happy and doesn’t send the instrument back and cancel the contract. So, there is skill needed to execute a strategic sales plan and skill needed to execute a customer satisfaction plan, i.e. keeping them happy and using your product.
The point of this article isn’t to denigrate or minimize the skills of a good Pharma rep. I totally understand their point of view and that of our clients. That doesn’t mean that PHC Consulting will never present an exceptional Pharma rep… it means that unless that rep understands the world they’re in and understands the perception that clients often have about the Pharma world, they won’t be successful.
You might be surprised how many Pharma reps bring serious attitude to the career discussion. That attitude might be better directed by the saying “That was then, this is now.”
Your thoughts? (Put them in the comments or e-mail me at kraig@phcconsulting.com.)
Kraig McKee
Senior Recruiter
Written by Peggy McKee - the medical sales recruiter
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