Medical Sales Rep

CREATIVE!11 · 8 Apr 2011 at 15:43

Anyone have any advice on this line of work?

I'm 23, worked for NHS past year (good experience) on ward and admin based. Finished uni 2years ago did biology got 2.2 (blahhhhh) applied to medicine last year missed exam by couple points so reapplying this year (but now looking at career paths too possible an MSc.

However the idea of chasing career in sales excites me, I love idea of closing a deal and chasing the close. 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.

Anyone have any opinions on this job? maybe you do it? any advice?

Saviola · 8 Apr 2011 at 16:25

I have a friend who does it. He lives in Chicago now and he is always travelling, probably 6 months of the year away from home. It all sounds very glamorous.

It is however extremely hard work and is very very competitive. Check out Pfizer or another big player.

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 16:42

I thought these guys were scum, ripping the NHS off, and drowing in their own elevated self importance?

Were some of them not even present IN the operating theatre, even though they had zero medial knowledge, and some of them used to be 2nd hand car dealers? They were selling surgeons all manner of kit and were "showing" them how to use them even though they had no medical basis to do so.

Also they hike the prices UP for the NHS, Im sure there was a report recently that said a surgical pin cost them something like £1 to make, yet they charged the NHS £128.

*goes off to find article*

do you really want to be part of that total scam OP?!! LINK IS HERE

tres · 8 Apr 2011 at 16:48

Daily Fail article. Personally, I wouldn't want a 99p B&Q screw in me

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 16:52

tres said:
Daily Fail article. Personally, I wouldn't want a 99p B&Q screw in me

Dont be silly. Even the bloody sales rep admits himself that its a rip off and the only difference is that its sterile.

The Article is straight from the horses mouth too. What else do you want???

[TW]Fox · 8 Apr 2011 at 17:33

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
the only difference is that its sterile.

That seems like quite an important difference.

CREATIVE!11 · 8 Apr 2011 at 17:37

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
I thought these guys were scum, ripping the NHS off, and drowing in their own elevated self importance?

Were some of them not even present IN the operating theatre, even though they had zero medial knowledge, and some of them used to be 2nd hand car dealers? They were selling surgeons all manner of kit and were "showing" them how to use them even though they had no medical basis to do so.

Also they hike the prices UP for the NHS, Im sure there was a report recently that said a surgical pin cost them something like £1 to make, yet they charged the NHS £128.

*goes off to find article*

do you really want to be part of that total scam OP?!! LINK IS HERE

Most are pretty good from what i've been told. But thats same with any company. Everyone is out to rip each other off, welcome to capitalism. One article does not sum up an entire proffesion.

Also yes I'm aware it's a tough job, anything in sales is really isn't it? but for me it's just in an area of interest for me which is a great start.

SexyGreyFox · 8 Apr 2011 at 18:14

tres said:
Daily Fail article.

Is it not true or are you just a DM hate bandwagon jumper?

Clipsey · 8 Apr 2011 at 18:20

Saviola said:
It is however extremely hard work and is very very competitive. Check out Pfizer or another big player.

One of my best mates over here used to work for Pfizer, his first gig was Viagra

Now works for Striker (sp?) but more into medical equipment. He probably has to work about 90hrs a week, but earns about 80k.
Once he has done his 'time' say another 2-3 years he'll easily be doing very well for himself (150k maybe).
Lucrative money but a **** load of hours to start with.

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 18:24

[TW]Fox;18860423 said:
That seems like quite an important difference.

Yes and no.... obviously medically yes, but the financials in making it sterile are not significant enough to justify the outrageous cost, thats the point.

I dont think I could do a job where I knew I was ripping off the Taxpayer and the NHS.

These medical sales reps, are one of the reasons the NHS is costing EVERYONE so much money to run.

Dr House · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:01

Believe it or not a lot of r&d goes into very ordinary looking medical reduction and fixation plates which is why they cost so much.

You can get 2 devices that do the same job however the newer device that is still in patent can cost 2000 euro compared to 100 euro for the other one but the results are generally much better with the newer modern device that has just gone through 8 years of r&d to develop it.

CREATIVE!11 · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:18

Dr House said:
Believe it or not a lot of r&d goes into very ordinary looking medical reduction and fixation plates which is why they cost so much.

You can get 2 devices that do the same job however the newer device that is still in patent can cost 2000 euro compared to 100 euro for the other one but the results are generally much better with the newer modern device that has just gone through 8 years of r&d to develop it.

This, a lot of money goes in to cover R and d not just covering cost of device.

SexyGreyFox · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:35

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
Dont be silly. Even the bloody sales rep admits himself that its a rip off and the only difference is that its sterile.

The Article is straight from the horses mouth too. What else do you want???

Do you really believe that surgical pins are made with the same material as a B&Q screw?

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:38

dmpoole said:
Do you really believe that surgical pins are made with the same material as a B&Q screw?

Its not a pin, its a screw.

Pins are either Titanium, or Stainless steel depending on their use.

Im not sure whether you read the article, but an actual employee from the medical supplies company is detailing all the figures involved, and is showing everyone blatantly that its a rip off.

How much evidence to some people actually need?

Seems like people would prefer to be in denial and detached from the realities of why our NHS is costing us an arm and a leg... almost literally!!

SexyGreyFox · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:41

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
Its not a pin, its a screw.

Pins are either Titanium, or Stainless steel depending on their use.

Do you really think that surgical screws are made with the same material as B&Q screws?

(BTW, on a factory where I worked for 27 years the words pins & screws were interchangeable so excuse my mistake)

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:54

dmpoole said:
Do you really think that surgical screws are made with the same material as B&Q screws?

(BTW, on a factory where I worked for 27 years the words pins & screws were interchangeable so excuse my mistake)

Plenty of medical screws are made with T304 steel, which is a common material for standard metric, imperial and machine screws at any engineering type outlet.

Whether specifially B+Q sell screws in this material I do not know, but knowing B+Q I would have thought they would have zinc coated steel screws, what grade of steel I do not know.

I am sure they do sell stainless stuff though, but its been a while since I have visited a B+Q as my requirements for locknuts and screws etc always lead me to other places.

316 Stainless is common in all shapes and sizes of screw, and thats another material used in medicine. The only "exotic" material really is ceramic, but again, I think this is ultra rare in the NHS because of the silly cost.

HAz · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:56

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

SexyGreyFox · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:59

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ said:
Plenty of medical screws are made with T304 steel, which is a common material for standard metric, imperial and machine screws at any engineering type outlet.

I was a Michelin Apprentice for 5 years in the machine shop and I worked at Staffs Silent Gears in the machine shop for 2 years so I know my metals.
The thing is they won't be putting 'normal' pins in bodies that are just sterile, if they were I'm sure I'd be ending up with lots more CN Claims on my desk.

singist · 8 Apr 2011 at 20:08

Try De Puy .... part of Johnson&Johnson.

Got a friend who works for them ... good money and interesting stuff.

I deliver for 'em... implants and instruments ... very big international Co.

~~#M-Bizzle#~~ · 8 Apr 2011 at 20:17

dmpoole said:
I was a Michelin Apprentice for 5 years in the machine shop and I worked at Staffs Silent Gears in the machine shop for 2 years so I know my metals.
The thing is they won't be putting 'normal' pins in bodies that are just sterile, if they were I'm sure I'd be ending up with lots more CN Claims on my desk.

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!