One of the biggest perks as a free bonus for readers of my book or audio program called “How To Get A Dream Job In Pharmaceutical Sales – Direct Inside Advice and Guidance From A Sales Manager“, is a custom pharmaceutical sales resume evaluation by yours truly, a former sales manager in the industry.  There is not many opportunities out there where one can get a sales manager to review your resume for free before you start circulating it out to potential pharma companies.

However, what I find is that many readers are so eager to get their pharmaceutical sales resumes evaluated, they very quickly send in their document as soon as they order the book or audio program.  These are obviously existing resumes they had.

The big problem with this approach is that once they send in their document to get a review, they will get a custom evaluation for one time only.  Some people want another critique after they attempt to fix up their resumes based on my comments but they still haven’t read the book yet to get a good understanding of what the concepts are.

The bonus offer is a single time one only.  That is, I only evaluate each reader’s resume once so the moment they exercise this offer, no further critiques are possible.  Therefore what I always suggest is for folks not to be in so much of a rush to send their documents in.

Study Chapters On Pharmaceutical Sales Resumes First

Instead, they should read the book or listen to the audio program and study the resume examples carefully to learn more about the best strategies.  Then try to modify their resumes based on what they learned from the book.  After one has done what they can in terms of modifications, then they can send in their pharmaceutical sales resumes to me for evaluation.

This is how they will get the most bang for the buck with a single time evaluation.  It is a great bonus but do use it wisely since you only get one chance for a free pharmaceutical sales resume evaluation.

For more information on this field, see pharmaceutical sales jobs information for a free webinar.

Pharmaceutical Job

When I worked for various pharma companies in the capacity of sales and marketing, many of the products we were involved in could be marketed with effective targeting by age group.  For example, the antihypertensive agents or high blood pressure drugs we promoted were usually targeted to doctors who specialize in cardiology, nephrology and geriatrics because these physicians see a lot of patients with hypertension.

We also focused on family physicians who see a large share of older age group patients.  In contrast, physicians who work mainly in walk in clinics and pediatric clinics, do not see many patients with high blood pressure.  So what we were doing was targeting by age since we know that hypertension is commonly a disease with older patients.

Pharma Companies Identify Best Age Groups To Target

Although we do see the odd cases of high blood pressure in children, this condition among pediatrics is rare.  Since hypertension is much more common among seniors, it is much more worthwhile in a pharmaceutical job to concentrate on doctors who see many senior patients.  This is effective targeting.

Each age group can be targeted for certain products and drugs.  The cartoon above really sums up this notion really well in a humourous way.  Toddlers get infections often which is why the antibiotics are common with that age group.

Kids have their ADD issues and somewhere in the other end of the age spectrum are middle agers with their erectile dysfunction requiring Viagra.  These are all targeting by pharma companies.

Pharmaceutical Job Interviews

It is a good topic to talk about during pharmaceutical job interviews.  When speaking with managers from pharma companies, targeting by age is a topic they like to discuss and it will help demonstrate that you know something about the industry.

For much more background info for positions with pharma companies, see our free pharmaceutical job webinar.

I’m about midway through my pharmaceutical sales management consulting contract this week for a major pharmaceutical company as mentioned in my last post.  I was taking a peak at a few drug sample lockers of reps who were let go and I could sort of tell one of the reasons why they were let go compared to those drug reps who were spared of a layoff.

The ones who were let go seem to have a lot of drug sample stock left in their lockers whether they are expired samples or those that are still in active dates.  As a former pharmaceutical sales force manager, I do not like to see a ton of drug samples left in stock.  It just means to me that the drug rep in question was not working hard enough out in the territory.

Samples Should Not Remain In Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Lockers

Sample left in pharmaceutical sales rep lockers are doing nothing to create business.  They should be in the hands of physicians and the doctors should be actively encouraged to use them for patients.  Drug samples, especially ones for contraceptives, anti-inflammatories and anti-hypertensives are great precription generators.

If they are not in the doctor clinics, the samples are not there to do the job of generating new prescriptions for the company.  Pharmaceutical sales reps who work hard tend to go through a lot of drug samples and it’s part of their job to make sure that samples are being used out there.

To get a better idea of what pharmaceutical sales reps do in the field, check out my free webinar on pharmaceutical sales jobs.

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs

Some of my readers of my book, ‘How To Get A Dream Job In Pharmaceutical Sales – Direct Inside Advice and Guidance From A Sales Manager’, come back to me and ask if I could be one of their references to add in their resumes for pharmaceutical sales jobs.  Although I’m always flattered to be asked, my answer is unfortunately no.

The reason for me declining on such reference requests is that in order for references to be ethical, they should always be from individuals who have worked with you in a professional job setting.  These can be former superiors, colleagues who were on the same level as you or even clients or customers you had previously worked with.

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs Best With Ethical References

When applying to pharmaceutical sales jobs, it is best with ethical references only.  Any other people outside of the circle I mentioned would not be considered influencial because they have not seen you in action on the job.  This includes myself as well.

If I agreed to be one of your references and you have not worked with me in a past job position, then this in my mind would be unethical.  Not only have I never met you face to face, but I really have no idea what you are like on the job.  So I would not be an accurate reference for you.

The best references will come from your own past job history.  Go back and think about the best people who could give you the best references.  Use those people especially if they can cite your skills related to pharmaceutical sales jobs.

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs Webinar

If you are just in the interest phase of pursuing pharmaceutical sales jobs and want to know more about the field and what would be required to get such a position, check out my free webinar on careers in it.

I will be on a pharmaceutical sales management consulting contract all this week for a major pharma client.  Of course I can’t reveal the details of what we are doing but if there are any interesting things or observations I can share with your all, I will certainly post them here on this pharmaceutical sales jobs blog.

One thing for sure is that the pharmaceutical sales field is changing the way how some aspects of physician detailing and drug sampling are done.  I’ll get to see how one major company is adapting.

Of course, this does change the job of the pharmaceutical sales rep somehow in making the requirements of job entry even more challenging.  But to me, the things I’ve been pushing in my book, How To Get A Dream Job In Pharmaceutical Sales – Direct Inside Advice and Guidance From A Sales Manager, remains the same.

It’s far less the technical skills but the overall people and soft skills combined with an ability to sell which matter the most.  So just because you have a pharmacy or science degree, it doesn’t necessarily make you a good potential pharmaceutical sales rep.

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs Webinar

The best way to start your research on this field and to see if it’s one for you is to take my free pharmaceutical sales jobs webinar.  Get a pen and paper ready as there is a lot of information presented.

Rent To Own Canada

As a former pharmaceutical sales executive, it might be odd that I would expand again in territory that might seem unrelated to pharma. But in many ways, there can be some overlap.  The latest area I’ve expanded into is a rent to own Canada program.

What this program basically does is to help those with poor credit or even no credit, become homeowners.  Many new pharmaceutical sales representatives may fit into this category.  They haven’t established good enough credit to qualify for conventional mortgage financing yet.

Some are so early in their pharmaceutical sales careers, they might not have saved up enough for a down payment required by the banks.  So this is where rent to own programs will come in.

Rent To Own Programs Help People Become Homeowners

A brand new website on rent to own programs has just been launched (but not fully completed yet).  This new site will introduce everyone to the concept of rent to own.  There is a huge information section already up on this site and the only other additional element that needs to be added is a video.

But the new website so far has enough information already to give people a good idea of the rent to own Canada program that is now available to help renters become homeowners.  The program, as the name suggests, is only available for Canadian residents at this time.

The combination of a career like pharmaceutical sales and becoming a homeowner to build equity through time will certainly help secure a good financial future.  This is exactly what I did over the years.

photo credit: kahunapulej

Now A Motivational Sales Speaker Too

I now have a new keynote presentation to add to my overall available speaking programs for pharmaceutical sales audiences and this one will effectively make me a motivational sales speaker.

Although I’m primarily known as a motivational speaker as well as a diversity speaker, this new keynote should not come as a big surprise.  Since graduating with my MBA way back in 1985, I started a corporate career that spanned over 20 years.

About 14 of those corporate years were in the pharmaceutical industry where I held roles as a pharmaceutical sales rep, corporate sales trainer, product marketing manager and a national sales manager.  My first published book was aimed at those who want to get into pharmaceutical sales jobs - see link for a free industry webinar if interested in this career.

Extensive Background Behind Motivational Sales Speaker

It turns out that those individuals in pharmaceutical sales are among some of the highest trained in the corporate sales field.  Companies in this industry are always spending a lot on continuous training of their sales forces.  My corporate background enabled me to develop a very exciting new speaking program as a motivational sales speaker.

My new speaking program is called Turbocharging Your Business Sales and is aimed at both corporate sales force audiences as well as small business operators and this keynote will definitely fit in with pharmaceutical sales meetings.  It features numerous real life business cases from my own pharmaceutical sales career as well as from other industries which pharmaceutical sales forces will find quite interesting.

Helping Business Audiences Maximize Sales Effectiveness

Turbocharging Your Business Sales will help pharmaceutical sales force audiences maximize effectiveness of their sales calls and selling materials.  Good selling techniques are found in other industries besides pharmaceuticals and drug reps will find that lessons from outside areas will help reinforce what they do well in the field.

It’s almost like I’m putting on my corporate pharmaceutical sales trainer hat on again with an updated presentation fit for todays business environment.

Here is a brief video where I’m talking about this new presentation and for more details on this talk, go to my Business Motivational Speaker webpage.

If you need a motivational sales speaker for a future pharmaceutical sales meeting, please contact me and let’s see if I could be of help.

A full day seminar version of this motivational sales training is currently in development and will be launched in the near future.

photo credit: somaya

Pharmaceutical Sales Meetings

Just in case if you are trying to do any networking with drug reps out there, January is typically sales meetings month when companies have their big first sales force meeting to kickstart the year.  This might even run into February too so don’t be surprised if it’s a bit tricky to catch any of the drug reps in your area right now. But they will be back on territory soon so don’t give up your networking efforts.

Take the time to put the concepts learned in ‘How To Get A Dream Job In Pharmaceutical Sales – Direct Inside Advice and Guidance From A Sales Manager‘ in action by revamping your resume and interviewing skills.

New 2012 Calendars

By the way, if you don’t have a 2012 calendar yet, here are some category themes for really nice ones to help you plan out your year and career this year.   Just go to the following webpages to view the new 2012 calendars;

Motivational Inspirational Calendars

Dog Breed Calendars

Marine Life Ocean Calendars

Inuit Art Calendars

Native American Calendars

Polar Bear Calendars

Happy networking out there with the drug reps in your area.

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Pharmaceutical Sales Jobs

I will be doing a consulting project for one of the big pharma companies this month and it’s actually a repeat client since I did a similar one for them last year working for their drug representatives for a few days.  In addition to being a business speaker, I also do these consulting projects on the side. I know that they went through a layoff earlier this year but as I scan the names of the drug representatives I’ll be working with this month, I notice a lot of new names.

Although there were many of the same names from last year, there were a lot of new ones, including a familiar name of a rep I use to work with at one of my former pharma companies.  So it appears that after the layoffs, the lost pharmaceutical sales jobs were brought back with new rehires.

Pharma Companies Rehiring

This is not something entirely new as I’ve seen this type of thing quite a few times before.  Pharma companies would layoff a part of their pharmaceutical sales force only to rehire to fill back most of the vacant sales territories later on.  The funny thing is that when they do rehire, they never call back the former drug representatives they let go.

Maybe they rehire to fill the vacant territories with new blood at lower salary ranges or just to get a new crew to hopefully have better organizational fit.  In any case, what this tells me is something that I’ve always said when asked about my opinion on pharmaceutical sales reps getting laid off.

Pharma companies go in cycles.  They lay drug representatives off when things are bad and they rehire when things get better or when they realize that they need more people to work the vacant territories that never really vanished in the first place.  Sometimes these layoffs are an excuse to clean house of drug representatives who were perhaps trouble makers.

In any case, pharmaceutical sales jobs always seem to come back.  So I recommend those who want to enter the industry to always prepare and keep in touch with industry contacts.  You never know when they will be rehiring again and when they do, you want to be prepared and ideally, the first to know.

To help you get prepared better than anybody else when pharma companies do rehire to fill vacant territories, see my free pharmaceutical sales jobs webinar.

photo credit: caffeina

Interpersonal Skills Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

Since I’m in the midst of doing some diversity training presentations at colleges and non-profit organizations, I might as well outline one of the tips I present.  This is a very useful interpersonal skills tip to develop for the pharmaceutical sales rep or medical rep especially since how diverse the medical field is these days.

Given the diverse working environment in medicine and healthcare, we should be able to use good interpersonal skills with all sorts of people including those from other cultures and ethnicities.

So if you meet somebody new, especially someone from another culture during your day as a pharmaceutical sales rep or medical rep, and you wish to break the ice with that person in order to hopefully start a new business relationship, I would suggest asking yourself this question.

‘What difference about you, can you use to break the ice with the other person?’

My Example From Diversity Training

I’ll share my own example if this question was applied to me.  I’m Asian and I happen to know quite a bit about authentic Chinese food.  That is a cultural difference that I have compared to other people out there.

So I use this difference as a tool to help me build business relationships with others.  In Chinese cuisine, we have a special luncheon called dim sum and over the years, I have invited many people, especially non-Asians, to try out dim sum.

My guests have always enjoyed dim sum whenever I brought them to authentic Chinese restaurants that feature it.

As an end result, I have built up some great business relationships over Chinese dim sum over the years.  This is how I used one of my cultural differences to break the ice with others.

What about you?  What is the difference that you have that you can use?

One thing to note is that you don’t have to be ethnic in order to do this.  As long as you can identify something that is different about you compared to somebody else, especially culturally, that you can use effectively as an ice breaker.

This is an important interpersonal skill to develop in today’s diverse world in both the medical and non-medical fields and based on what I observe in my diversity training talks, many people have not considered this yet.

Here is the video version of this interpersonal skills tip as a new episode of Motivational WebTV.  As an added bonus, particularly for my international readers, this episode was shot in the woods across the street from where I live with their autumn colour leaves as a nice background scenery.

Share Diversity Training Interpersonal Skills Tip With Others

If you know others who would like this video, please share it with them.  There are buttons on the blog post to easily share it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and by email.  All past episodes are at my Motivational WebTV Archive.

Of course, if you have not checked out my free pharmaceutical sales rep career webinar yet, do so since it has great background info on the industry.