Only got 30 seconds? Here are the 3 main points of this entry: 1. Future doctors and the public don’t trust pharmaceutical sales representatives. 2. There is a lot of truth in criticisms of the pharmaceutical industry and the industry is not effectively defusing its image problem. 3. We need to change the way we train, reward, and indoctrinate our sales representatives as well as sales managers.
I got the latest issue of the eyeforpharma newsletter in my mail and read Lisa Roner’s editorial on how some residents find reps “immoral”:
Resident physicians not enamored with drug reps
Given, we will always have the “bad eggs” (pushy reps, unethical reps) and there is a cost of inexperience with any profession. Still, I am puzzled by such a large discrepancy between the perceptions formed by doctors/residents about drug reps and the scores of drug reps who say they entered this career to help people.
There’s a break down somewhere and I’m not sure if it’s really just because of a “scientific gap” in knowledge of today’s pharmaceutical sales representatives. I asked Lisa Roner, eyeforpharma Briefing Editor, and she agreed that this is probably not due to a scientific gap. Lisa said,
I think we have to look at the age and background of most residents for the answer. They’re mostly 20-somethings who have reached their formative years in an intense age of corporate distrust in America (and beyond, really). And when you couple that with the widespread and particularly harsh criticism the pharma industry has received over the past 10 years or so, I think these new docs have a preconceived negative image of the pharma industry long before they ever encounter their first sales rep.
I would say that they aren’t necessarily judging individual reps as “immoral,” but are instead holding the messenger accountable for an industry-wide image problem. Granted, as you’ve pointed out, there are always a few bad apples who probably deserve the label. And it doesn’t help that bottom-feeders, like the former Pfizer rep who wrote a book about his irresponsible and unethical escapades as a rep, got a lot of mainstream press. But straight arrows, who are genuinely out there to help people, don’t and won’t get written up on the front page of the NY Times, unfortunately.
I think it’s a classic case of judging a book by its cover. The industry’s “cover” has been drawn by the media, politicians and the public as one of greed, dishonesty and unethical behavior. And the reps take the brunt of the criticism, because they are the on “front lines” of public contact for the industry.
It all comes back to this industry-wide image problem. And until the industry comes together to alter the public’s perception – and moves from being a commodities provider to healthcare to becoming a valued partner in the complete healthcare continuum – the whole industry will continue to face this battle with the public – docs, patients, politicians, academics, investors, etc.
I think Lisa is onto something here. Our next generation of doctors are savvy customers who probably pack a hybrid cell phone/PDA and who may see corporations with much suspicion.
I can’t blame future doctors for holding the messenger accountable for the industry-wide image problem. Who needs Michael Moore when we’ve got former reps writing books and making movies about their escapades? I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, and we also must acknowledge the fact that pharmaceutical companies’ sometimes egregious selling behaviors described in these publicity stunts are based on a grain (maybe a sack) of truth.
We do have executives who turn the cheek on bad behavior because their bonus was more important than long-term public image. We have product managers who use their positions as steps on the career, where they make decisions then leave the consequences for the next manager to bear. Is it any wonder that we’ve generated a corporate nation of people who do not want to be held accountable, and are faster to point fingers elsewhere than to themselves?
I don’t think we can fight the image problem the way we’ve been doing so right now – being defensive, lashing out at “liberal media”, beating our chests with self-righteousness about how much our industry helps patients. The public doesn’t believe us. These tactics are not working, and I don’t think these tactics will work to improve our industry’s image.
We need to change the way we:
1. train reps and their managers
2. reward their behaviors
3. indoctrinate them about performance goals.
I’ve been writing The Clinical Side for Pharmaceutical Representative magazine for over a year now, trying to impart more scientific aptitude to our sales reps. However, I’m not sure I’m making a dent in this hegemonic dilemma.