Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs - Forum » General Discussion

1. skibunny
   Member

   My mngr at work knows I want to pursue a career in pharma sales. She is an amazing woman (no medical background whatsoever, rather an IT background) and I think that's what makes her so awesome. She's not some catty nurse only out for herself. She also has a degree in psych, and she is so easy to talk to and truly listens. That said, when I told her that I wanted to go into sales, she's been very proactive in getting me exposure to sales in our company. I work in homecare in a mngment capacity but we provide home infusion (pts receive various drugs in their home via IV, such as antibx, chemo, pain meds, IVIG, solumedrol, Aredia, Remicade, etc.). Of course we provide nurses to go out and teach pts how to manage their infusions. Our pharmacy is licensed in several states and we provide refills for Medtronic pain pumps, we compound high dose MSO4, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, Baclofen, etc. We also do TPN and enterals. My point is that we need a sales person to call on hospitals and docs (esp ID docs, oncologists, pain docs, and neurologists) to sell our products and services. My mngr has had me do a preceptorship with our infusion and DME (O2) guys, and basically mentor with them. As it turns out, the infusion sales guy took me out to lunch on Tues as his last day was Fri. We talked about sales and the job itself, and he had amazing feedback for me (he used to be a pharma rep) stating that I have drive, ambition, my personality is astounding, and I light up when I talk about sales. I know he put in a good word for me w/ my mngr. Then, Fri at work, my mngr called me into a mtng with the Dir of Pharm. There is a Infusion Vendor Fair at one of the hospitals on April 6, similar to drug reps at a convention or show having a booth. They asked me if I wanted to represent the company and be the person for this show. I was floored. I know my mngr believes in me, but to actually come through blew me away. So, I'm going to do this. My mngr told me after the mtng that she wants to help me achieve my goal, and she will give me all the exp she can, and I truly think she wants to bring me into Eric's (infusion guy) position. She says she believes in empowering employees. I know lots of eyes will be on me to see if I can pull this off and bring in business. Does everyone agree this is a good exp for me to get into sales, and at least get that sales exp under my belt and maybe even make some contacts? Or am I spinning my wheels with this??? Any advice would be appreciated!

   Posted: 6 years #

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3. skibunny
   Member

   BTW, the infusion sales guy was a pharma rep and also a DM w/ a pharma co (didn't ask which one). He told me about times when he interviewed candidates and what he was looking for. I thought I might be able to use him as a reference at some point, or just pick his brain about these damn STAR ?'s. I also thought that after he's been gone awhile, I may ask him if he still has any contacts in the pharma industry and see what he can do for me. Is this okay to do???? Don't want him to go back to my mngr and let her know that I'm actively looking for a pharma job, or make it seem like I'm not grateful for the opportunities she's providing me.

   Posted: 6 years #

4. bunky
   Member

   IMHO this is a great opportunity. Why not make the most of it. Besides, no matter what happens you will now have a relevant success story to utilize in the future.
   
   BTW, I went to school in the mountains...after reading that post about tall peaks and blue skies, I'm envious. I probably wouldn't leave either.

   Posted: 6 years #

5. ~T~
   Member

   J,
   
   I think it would be a good experience to 'man' the booth at the fair. Whether it turns into a job opportunity from the infusion vendor is another matter (?). Was your manager just filling a need for the infusion vendor as the infusion rep's last day was Friday? Would she have anything to do with your getting a position with the vendor beyond recommending you to man the booth? If it turns out that you get an opportunity to interview for the infusion rep sales job as a result of you managing the sales booth @ the fair..great! But being the old coot that I am, this thought crossed my mind...why is the infusion rep leaving? I would have asked him that on the Q-T (among many other questions related to the infusion market in the area). Homecare is changing all the time with cut backs in CMS reimbursement.
   
   T
   
   

   Posted: 6 years #

6. ~T~
   Member

   I think I read too much into your post (?).
   
   Sorry!
   
   If you're just looking to get the one day experience managing the booth, I say more power to you. It would be a good experience! And definitely keep hold of the infusion rep's card or contact info. for future reference. He could end up being a valuable contact for future pharma or med industry leads.
   
   T

   Posted: 6 years #

7. ctwn03
   Member

   That trade show sounds awesome-GO FOR IT. It means more exposure for you! Get all the biz cards you can.
   
   
   Have Fun!
   

   Posted: 6 years #

8. bfly21
   Member

   Justine - here's another YES vote for doing the trade show. You will make more valuable networkng contacts and get more experience. And as we know, experience equals confidence and confidence you will need in abundance as you keep taking steps forward to your ultimate goal of being a pharma rep.
   
   I just PM'd you too...bfly
   
   

   Posted: 6 years #

9. nhrep
   Member

   Justine;
   Go for it. Take every chance you can to add something to your resume. Every bit of exposure and experience helps. Just think you can add something like...
   
   Present informational and instructional material to Practitioners and various other Profesionals on rapid infussion systems, Utilize contacts made during trade shows to develop sales leads which increase market share in the competitive infusion market.
   
   Sorry about the spelling. I am on overload between training materials for the new job which starts in the morning and the sugar high from my 4 year old sons birthday party which just ended.
   nhrep

   Posted: 6 years #

10. skibunny
    Member

    Thanks everyone. My mngr wants to get me in the infusion sales position, but it requires exp. She is doing what she can to get me exp so that she can move me into that position. Then she can get it okayed by the Sr. VP, who is her boss. I think she truly wanted to give me this exp and opportunity at this booth to get my feet wet. They had other people who can do it, like the Dir of Pharm and our Marketing Dir. But they decided to ask me. On the flip side, the infusion sales guy left because he had generated a lot of leads and business, but when the referrals from docs started coming in for home IV tx, we were turning them away b/c we didn't have the nurses to staff the cases. After 2-3 times being turned away, docs are naturally going to go elsewhere. He felt that there is great opportunity in this position if we ever get the RN's to staff cases, and change our priorities. Right now, there is the mindset that MC (medicare) pts are priority whether they are IV or not b/c the reimbursement is high. However, IV cases, plus the nsg that goes along with the IV cases is even higher. The yahoos I work with don't see that (or understand it). There is one woman in particular that refuses to put IV cases as a priority, and I am on her good side and she likes me. I think my mngr sees this as well, and looks at this as the perfect opportunity for me to convince this woman to change her thinking (what a perfect "sales" opportunity). The reason no one sees the $$ in infusion + nsg cases is b/c they're all women and they're all nurses----that explains it all. But it doesn't take a mathematical genius to figure out that we get big $$ for drugs, and a fairly decent reimbursement rate when we do nsg, as the nsg is considered "high tech." So, anyway, I see my mngr wanting to "groom" me into this sales position, and see what I can do. I'm psyched to do this booth, as this will be a great learning exp and I'm sure a wonderful opportunity to meet contacts (I wonder if some pharma reps will be there to market the drugs that we use in home infusion????). I will hopefully make an impact for my company and this will be the first step into my long and fruitful sales career!

    Posted: 6 years #

11. johnbrain666
    Member

    I did some booth "manning" this past weekend in Chicago for a medical device I sell. In the past I've been really good at interacting with docs, selling them on the imaging modality, but then I sort of waited to see if they'd buy the product. Well, few did, but slowly it's growing.
    
    Last weekend I straight out closed. Not pushy, just asked for their business. I pretty much did the four step close adapted to a product not myself and I drew on all my experience trying to get into pharma sales and applied it finally to device sales.
    
    WELL BY GOLLY IT WORKED! It actually worked so well I may forgo pharma sales and stick with the product. Our sales at this particular seminar increased 300% over last years seminar. Some has to do with the modality gaining greater acceptance in this specialty, but it really was our sales team.
    
    My point is, use the opportunity you have coming up to apply what you have learned here to your sales experience, thentake what you learn selling at the booth, and apply it to this experience.
    
    I personally sold $96,000 worth of equipment in 2.5 days, and our team at the show sold over 250K total. I'd have personally accounted for more but I couldn't write orders fast enough so I had another rep do it.
    
    ASK FOR THE BUSINESS MY FRIENDS!

    Posted: 6 years #

12. bunky
    Member

    Well spoken, John. We lose 100% of the business we fail to ask for.

    Posted: 6 years #

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