Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Salesforce Reduction Posts Are Rolling In -- At CafePharma


As the snow falls silently here, these appear from the virtual white-out, linked from CafePharma:

. . . .RE: Just Got Word:

01.07.10 @ 7:32 AM -- Entire Northeast S/P to be wiped-out (Maine, NH, Vemont, Mass, CT, RI). . . .

01.07.10 @ 8:31 AM -- I'm in Northeast and I'm out. Manager said they had a lot of bad calls to make today. . . .

01.07.10 @ 8:40 AM -- NE kk rep. Displaced. . . .

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Re: ALPHABETICAL ORDER OR WHAT?

01.07.10 @ 8:34 AM -- I was called at 7:30 Eastern and let go. . . .

Retained reps are being called first. Confirmed. . . .

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Re: KENTUCKY CASUALTIES. LIST THEM HERE. NOT JUST MELANIE'S GROUP

01.07.10 @ 9:15 AM -- So far Kentucky seems spared. Myself, and 3 teammates are ok. This was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The BEs and underperformers will walk. . . .

01.07.10 @ 8:44 AM -- My manager told me that she made the decision who she called first. My call is at 9 am, I was told they are short calls. . . .

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01.07.10 @ 9:33 AM . . . .Everyone in my district was let go, and there wasn't one BE in the whole damn group! On the cardio side, 14 of 16 were let go, and there are several top performers in that group as well!! I personally won a president's club with this shithole of a company in 2008 and was let go. . . .

01.07.10 @ 9:34 AM -- NE EE rep here top 10 in region = Terminated. . . .

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01.07.10 @ 10:26 AM -- WEST COAST calls are trickling in, slowly. Some district calls began at seven this morning. I noticed on Twitter that some groups were notified early as the manager obtained permission from the entire district to phone at seven. I would assume other announcements from the West will be out in an hour or so.

Thus far about 75% of SP let go, absolute annihilation. I was kept as I work in the boondocks where one Merck rep left for maternity and the other retired. Unfortunately all of my friends were let go.

Peace, -- M. . . .

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01.07.10 @ 11:43 AM -- Bloodbath in the Dallas Fort Worth area!!!! Looks like 90% gone. . . .

More to come -- will update later. Good luck to one and all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They deserve to go- they've peddled snake oil for their livelihood.... shameful.

condor said...

Allow me the luxury of politely disagreeing, here -- Anon.

First, very few of them "deserve to go" (for dishonesty, or lying) -- very few were "dishonest" in any sense: they simply (and faithfully) repeated what high-level officers in marketing fed them. That is where the arguable dishonesty lies. Could these salespeople have been more intellectually curious? Certainly.

Few salespeople ever got ahead in old pharma by asking impolite questions, though -- they were entitled to trust the officers leading them.

Second, if you think the New Merck reps are any different -- they are not. Most are very hard-working, decent, honest, and bright people. But they also know it is a terrible time to be looking for a job -- and they will (as I suspect you might) protect their paychecks, first.

Where I am inclined (in part) to agree with your "gotta' go" view is in a more macro-economic sense: this industry cannot be sustained on the now-ending "rep as snake-oil seller" model.

With reform, will come head to head comparative efficacy tests -- and differing payment schemes, depending on verfied outcomes-efficacy -- not surrogates.

The "old" pharma business model is dying, as we watch (so some laborforce dislocation is inevitable) -- long live the new, science based pharma!

Finally -- due primarily to legacy Schering-Plough's executive officer and board ineptitude (or worse!) -- far more are losing their jobs than if a competent, ethical management team had been at the helm.

Do stop back!

Namaste