For those of you who are in sales and marketing (or from Pfizer or Eli Lilly), you’ll know Reidy’s name. Those of you who aren’t familiar with Jamie Reidy, check out his book, Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman
First, I sat looking at Reidy standing in front of me for about five minutes without knowing Reidy was standing in front of me. I didn’t know what Reidy looked like, and was expecting a slick-looking guy – like the one you see on the front cover of his book. Reidy was wearing a rugby shirt and jeans and looked like like a down-to-earth guy with a nice smile. Maybe I was expecting to see a villain as he has been portrayed up and down the pharma industry, and wasn’t expecting to see a nice guy until our awkward initial moments of recognition.
I knew I asked Reidy questions he’s been asked too many times before by others – why did he write the book, how did his (ex) colleagues and bosses handle the book, what feedback did he get from physicians – Reidy enthusiastically answered all my questions and never gave me a feeling of “I can’t believe I am answering these same questions from you.” Reidy was animated and funny as hell and – I’ll admit it – has a potty mouth for which he was apologetic even when I didn’t care.
I asked Reidy what his impression was of how pharma reps viewed medical science liaisons (MSLs). Reidy said that for the most part, reps don’t view MSLs as helping them very much, so most of them don’t give MSLs much thought. Additionally, most reps and managers don’t have a clue what MSLs do for companies, or can do for them; the MSL role remains a mystery to the sales force. Reidy also said something else that I have heard from many district managers and sales directors – sometimes reps are left out of the loop when a MSL meets with a doctor the rep also sees, and the rep never knows about the MSL’s meeting, and gets blindsided by the doctor. It’s an eye opener to see some MSLs doing this to sales colleagues when they complain about being blindsided by their corporate marketing colleagues. The compliance environment may have caused companies to dictate “no joint calls” between sales and MSL teams, but there shouldn’t be a mandate against a “courtesy notification” between pharma’s teams when they have thought leader overlap. Is this a bad case of “what goes around, comes around” for MSLs?
Reidy never gave me the impression of being anti-industry, and in fact, has carefully ommitted stories that can lead to sensationalism. His goal is to “educate and entertain” with light-hearted and self-denigrating stories that still speak the truth about what can happen out there – and what is happening out there. When I met Reidy, I hadn’t read the book. I wanted to first meet the author rather than making judgments about who this person is based on any biases I may have about his writing.
The problem with critics who touts how Reidy exemplified the “greed of generation X” is that Reidy readily admits that he is “a slacker.” From our conversation, it was clear to me that Reidy has other goals in life besides maximizing his bonus dollars, and he is frank about his love for writing and creative exploits. Critics also talk about examining morality and seriously perceiving the problem, but Reidy isn’t interested in making this all serious – again, something he readily admits. Our industry has done nothing but make grave and serious moral statements about how important pharmaceutical products are to society, yet our industry’s scandals tell a different side to the same story to our patients and our doctors and the public. I suspect the public believes Reidy’s stories more than it believes industry’s campaigns and ads, however unappetizing Reidy’s stories may be to some of us.
I don’t think we can have too many “tell all” books like Reidy’s. Nothing drives change faster than periodic spring cleaning of what’s wrong, so people can get beyond pointing fingers at who’s doing the dirt-dishing and start addressing the real problems. My impression of Reidy is that he is genuine and – rather than a slacker – has struck a work-life balance that industry people talk too much about, but never practice for themselves.
Reidy said he gets a lot of flack for what he’s written but so far no one has called him a liar. I believe him.