Medical Sales Rep

HAz said:
My bro just got a job doing this, if you want any advice on how he got the job just send him a pm over facebook
http://www.facebook.com/torbayiphone#!/richard.french1


He will be happy to answer any of your questions.


Just make sure you say haz from ocuk told you about him.


good luck
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I feel like bit of douchebag pm'ing random guy I don't know but I've send your brother a PM. Would be extremely helpful to speak to someone whose just got into it. Thanks for reccomendation.
 
I would suggest steering clear of sales, if you are an intelligent guy then after a few years you will find it quite frustrating (i.e doesnt require much intelligence).
 
~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
THis is the crux of it..

The sales rep was suggesting the only reason they were so ludicrously expensive was because they used a finer thread than normal, or a thread which perhaps is not a standard pitch, perhaps enabling them to justify the obscene prices...

Its hard to know for definite.. however, I think we would all benefit from people being eagle eyed, and procurement for the NHS being far more ruthless, instead of negotiating silly contracts that end up costing everyone more.

I was thinking some sort of rule that a supplier to the NHS must charge a minimum of 20% less than the commercial market value, to prevent this gross profiteering.

Anyway.. I guess thats for another thread!
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The other issue though is to do with failure rates and complication rates. If said screw is 30% likely to loosen over 15 years and would reduce admissions due to failure, then the NHS would save thousands on a hospital stay to re-open the site, remove the existing screws and plate and re-plate the injury.

Orthopaedic kit is highly expensive. But if the correction is done well first time, you save a *LOT* of money as patients don't need to be in hospital.
 
EdwardTeach said:
I would suggest steering clear of sales, if you are an intelligent guy then after a few years you will find it quite frustrating (i.e doesnt require much intelligence).
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Depends what you're selling tbh...

Not that I work in sales myself but I do work with people involved in the sales process.
 
Sales reps lives will become increasingly difficult with the current finances.

More and more of the decision making process of what drug/product to buy is being removed from clinicians hands and right into management. And they mainly look at hard numbers.

End result, instead of a small army of reps needed to advertise and educate their product to frontline doctors/clinicians in their practices or hospitals, you only really need 1 small group to seal the deal to the PCT who will bulk buy on behalf of the entire region.
 
frosty03 said:
Sales reps lives will become increasingly difficult with the current finances.

More and more of the decision making process of what drug/product to buy is being removed from clinicians hands and right into management. And they mainly look at hard numbers.

End result, instead of a small army of reps needed to advertise and educate their product to frontline doctors/clinicians in their practices or hospitals, you only really need 1 small group to seal the deal to the PCT who will bulk buy on behalf of the entire region.
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Won't be any PCTs soon, so it may swing back if the GPs and CBUs take the lead (god forbid!), then the freebies will likely return.

Times have been hard for the reps, I haven't had a free pen in months!

Most reps are just suited monkeys reading from a script, it's unusual to find one who has any decent knowledge. It's always fun to push them to breaking point.
 
Minstadave said:
Won't be any PCTs soon, so it may swing back if the GPs and CBUs take the lead (god forbid!), then the freebies will likely return.

Times have been hard for the reps, I haven't had a free pen in months!

Most reps are just suited monkeys reading from a script, it's unusual to find one who has any decent knowledge. It's always fun to push them to breaking point.
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hahahaa!!

Oh god THOSE kind of reps, yeah I know about them.

Depends how much you decide to self educate yourself about your product and where it fits into whatever condition its for etc etc

But thats pretty bad if they do that!

EdwardTeach said:
I would suggest steering clear of sales, if you are an intelligent guy then after a few years you will find it quite frustrating (i.e doesnt require much intelligence).
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Depends I guess, if you just zombie about then yeh job is going to suck. But a lot of proactive people seem to enjoy their jobs in sales, and I'm just thinking of it as a starting point for me to get into sales generally. I don't really have any other ideas if i'm honest aside going back to uni this year potentially (if that happens) :(

I could tell you what is worse and that'd be having to study an MSc then pHD just to get a mediocre paid job in science sector. Now they wonder why nobody cares about science, and working in a lab i'd rather kill myself.
 
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Minstadave said:
Won't be any PCTs soon, so it may swing back if the GPs and CBUs take the lead (god forbid!), then the freebies will likely return.

Times have been hard for the reps, I haven't had a free pen in months!

Most reps are just suited monkeys reading from a script, it's unusual to find one who has any decent knowledge. It's always fun to push them to breaking point.
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Yea, know about the PCTs.. but the entity that will replace them will in effect be the same, but only a dfferent name. I cant see individual GPs/doctors given clinical freedom on choosing the right drug for the right price... that would be too sensible for it to actually happen......

Either way, be it at GP level or at some sort of regional commissioning, there will be artificial barriers or some sort of "local formulary" which is allowed, and with the huge pressures to dispense, (NOT prescribe, big difference), generic, it wont matter what each clinician wants the patient to have, since it wont actually happen since the pharmacist will give out what is "allowed"....

So OP, i still maintain that med rep job will be hard, and will become harder.... unless you really know what you're getting into....
 
frosty03 said:
Yea, know about the PCTs.. but the entity that will replace them will in effect be the same, but only a dfferent name. I cant see individual GPs/doctors given clinical freedom on choosing the right drug for the right price... that would be too sensible for it to actually happen......

Either way, be it at GP level or at some sort of regional commissioning, there will be artificial barriers or some sort of "local formulary" which is allowed, and with the huge pressures to dispense, (NOT prescribe, big difference), generic, it wont matter what each clinician wants the patient to have, since it wont actually happen since the pharmacist will give out what is "allowed"....

So OP, i still maintain that med rep job will be hard, and will become harder.... unless you really know what you're getting into....
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True but i'm a graduate, and to be honest the entire graduate market is near impossible at the moment. So I know what hard feels like and i've gotten used to it. Repping will hopefully merely be a stepping stone into other areas of sales :D
 
sp1ke said:
However the idea of chasing career in sales excites me, I love idea of closing a deal and chasing the close.
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Generally speaking, if you're selling something of a certain financial value then you'll be dealing with Procurement, for smaller buys it'll be with the ward or clinician directly. Clinicians will view you with disinterest at best and outright contempt at worst. There are very good reasons for this as healthcare and the perceptions of greedy suppliers which goes with it makes healthcare a very emotive area.

More particularly medical sales has taken my eye only because of experience I have already and fact i'm self educated on loads of areas in healthcare and have a massive fascination with different drugs and treatments.
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Be very careful of how you present this knowledge and who you present it to. All of my suppliers know their product to a least an average level. Very few of them could hold an in-depth conversation with a clinician where very precise technicalities are being discussed, and neither should they have to. There's generally a team of specialists for this kind of situation. I suppose my point is that it's incredibly easy to lose trust or even the relationship if you don't know what you're talking about but pretend that you do.

Lastly, there will always be sales jobs in healthcare unless something substantially changes with the NHS so there's that dependability. However, there is more money to be made in, say, FMCG roles where you're dealing with the private sector rather than the public one.

I hope it works out for you and let us know how you get on.
 
[FnG]magnolia;18873952 said:
Generally speaking, if you're selling something of a certain financial value then you'll be dealing with Procurement, for smaller buys it'll be with the ward or clinician directly. Clinicians will view you with disinterest at best and outright contempt at worst. There are very good reasons for this as healthcare and the perceptions of greedy suppliers which goes with it makes healthcare a very emotive area.



Be very careful of how you present this knowledge and who you present it to. All of my suppliers know their product to a least an average level. Very few of them could hold an in-depth conversation with a clinician where very precise technicalities are being discussed, and neither should they have to. There's generally a team of specialists for this kind of situation. I suppose my point is that it's incredibly easy to lose trust or even the relationship if you don't know what you're talking about but pretend that you do.

Lastly, there will always be sales jobs in healthcare unless something substantially changes with the NHS so there's that dependability. However, there is more money to be made in, say, FMCG roles where you're dealing with the private sector rather than the public one.

I hope it works out for you and let us know how you get on.
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Thanks for advice,

Yeh of course I mean i'd be willing to research and self educate myself on whatever i'd be selling to an extent. No idea what that will be as i'm not employed as a medical rep yet, however I just see med rep as a way of starting off in sales and at the very least starting off in an area which I am at least remotely interested in (wanting to be a doctor and all work experience i've done yeh so there is interest there).

Planning move to Leeds first though gotta get that out of way then worry about applying to proper jobs. This is all just a small idea which is still in its early stages. :D
 
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