Posts from ‘July, 2009’

At AACC, I had the pleasure of a long conversation with a national sales manager of a $30M company (10 sales reps and 10 technical support folks) where I discovered his opinion that “sales reps these days just aren’t as strong as they used to be.”  I said, “Really?  I’ve discovered that sales reps are [...]

AACC was in Chicago this year….I always like Chicago as a trade show location.  The AACC usually draws 20k + visitors, but I thought there were fewer attendees than usual.
I agree with Robert at the Dark Report – the mood was somber.  I saw unemployed candidates looking for jobs who said that they weren’t seeing the career opportunities they [...]

Here’s an interesting article from The Ladders on Negotiating a Bigger Revenue Package.  It includes definitions of eight types of sales and/or commission packages, discussions of the pros and cons of each, and negotiating tips for improving your deal:
Straight commission – just like it sounds…you get paid for what you sell
Variable commission – commission varies [...]

Jobs in medical sales, pharma revenue, biotechnology sales, medical diagnostics sales, clinical device revenue, imaging sales, hospital equipment revenue, pathology sales, and other healthcare revenue are fairly competitive to get into (you’re going to got to put some effort into it), but worth it in terms of compensation, commissions, and extras.  Plus, it’s an exciting [...]

A behavioral job interview is a popular interview tactic in the medical sales arena.  It focuses on finding out how the candidate handled (behaved in) specific job-realted situations.  In healthcare sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics revenue, clinical device sales, biotech sales, lab sales, imaging revenue, or pharma sales, customer interaction is key—so how you handle [...]

Are you hiring revenue reps for medical revenue, pharmaceutical sales, clinical diagnostics, imaging revenue, pharma device sales, biotech sales, pathology sales, surgical supplies sales, hospital equipment sales, laboratory sales, or other healthcare sales?  Your first step should be to review your current team:  What works in your sales reps and what doesn’t?  Then you can [...]

In 2008, these were the Major 20 pharma companies: Major 20 Pharmaceutical Companies 01
Pfizer
$44,424 02
GlaxoSmithKline
$38,501 03
Sanofi-Aventis
$38,452 04
AstraZeneca
$28,713 05
Merck
$26,532 06
Novartis
$25,477 07
Johnson & Johnson
$24,866 08
Roche
$21,998 09
Eli Lilly & Co.
$17,638 10
Wyeth
$17,179 11
Bristol-Myers Squibb
$15,622 12
Abbott Laboratories
$14,632 13
Schering-Plough
$12,773 14
Bayer Schering
$12,294 15
Boehringer Ingelheim
$11,103 16
Takeda
$10,626 17
Astellas*
$8,530 18
Daiichi-Sankyo*
$7,382 19
Eisai*
$6,250 20
UCB Group*
$4,370  
The list looks a little different these days.  For instance, Pfizer purchased Wyeth in January 2009, Merck purchased Schering in March 2009, and Roche signed a major deal with Genentech…confirming for many a trend toward [...]

Used to be, seniority counted.  For a lot.  It was an orderly progression up the career ladder, many times within a single company, and if you were fine at your career opportunity, you’d likely get your turn in management.  Not anymore.  For one thing, career paths aren’t what they once were–it’s more common to not only job-hop, [...]

Do you have a very important interview?  Make sure you have a brag book.  Brag books can be an absolutely critical way to tip the scales in your favor in an interview.  Not only do they highlight all your wonderful qualities, they allow you to demonstrate these intangible skills that make a great impression.  In this economy, [...]

As a pharmaceutical sales recruiter, I spend a lot of time on the phone fielding inquiries from position seekers.  Not only about specific jobs in laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, imaging sales, biotech revenue, clinical diagnostics sales, clinical laboratory sales, medical device revenue, hospital equipment sales, clinical sales, or other areas of healthcare sales, but also about career coaching:  [...]