Introduction

>>Read Except from Chapter 1

Congratulations! You have chosen the leading book for advice, direction and career guidance to enter the pharmaceutical industry. You have taken the first step towards a vital and challenging profession and are about to embark on a step-by-step journey to your career. Pharmaceutical industry representative positions are one of the most sought after careers and will continue to show exceptional opportunities as it has over the past 125 years. The industry will continue to provide the dedicated individual with the professional, business and personal satisfaction desired in one’s career.
It has been a common misinterpretation that mass layoffs are affecting pharmaceutical representatives industry wide and to a small degree this is correct, with very large pharmaceutical companies having reductions. Recently the terms such as “Big Pharma”, “Biotech”, “Specialty Pharma” and “Medium and Small Pharma”, came into the mainstream language to describe the general size and often culture of a company, but overall, the number of pharmaceutical representative positions in the United States has not changed of any great significance.

Source: On file at pharmaceuticalsales.com inc.

One can see the reduction in “Big Pharma” and when these press releases are made, a 10% cut in an organization of over 120,000 employees makes quite an impact in the press and those employed in the industry. Then again, another company with 66,000 employees announces a 20% reduction, more bad news. But when a foreign owned smaller organization of 15,000 employees’ doubles their salesforce in the United States, not much is published. In reality, there has been outstanding growth in the Biotech, Specialty and Small and Medium Size pharmaceutical/Biotech company segments in the last few years. This has not totally off set the decreases of the larger pharmaceutical concerns, but, don’t be discouraged by a comment or headline (recently as one stated, “When will the bleeding stop on pharmaceutical representative sales job cuts”). In reality, the overall reduction has been approximately 2-3% in the United States. Take into account we are discussing over 100,000 positions nationwide, the reduction is nominal. Further enter that normal turnover in the positions of a pharmaceutical sales representative is 12-14% annually, you can understand the reality of some of these headlines. Of course this is not to minimize the complexity of emotions that one goes through when a reduction happens to you, for any loss of work is difficult and most pharmaceutical representatives will possibly face that experience over a 30 year career.

Now, it’s time to think of you as starting on an exciting mission. You can see the end point quite clearly, you see yourself enjoying and excelling in a challenging, respected career. You are the consummate sales professional in one of the most thriving industries in America. You are making a great salary versus any comparable careers, which includes a benefit package that rivals any Fortune 100 company. However, you are not exactly sure how to obtain your job “offer” to join the pharmaceutical industry, from where you are today. Purchasing Insight into a Career in Pharmaceutical Sales (Insight for short) has placed you on the correct path.

Insight is going to lead you every step of the way. The mission of the book is simple: provide job candidates seeking employment as pharmaceutical representatives in the industry with the tools and tactics by which to succeed. Reading, learning, and applying the lessons in this book will provide you with the greatest course of action for success. By practicing and following the detailed plan that is contained here, you will obtain your offer and gain entry into the pharmaceutical industry and save months. Yes, it is going to challenge you in many ways, as it has for thousands since 1998. Insight was the first book written in 1998, to address this topic of gaining entry to the pharmaceutical industry as a pharmaceutical sales representative. Numerous candidates will continue to revert back to the traditional methods of a job search, sending out cover letters and paying for professionally written résumés, primarily using recruiters and attending job fairs. Often candidates will hear a pessimistic comment and conclude this as a fact. Please, implement the tactics of this book, learn the pharmaceutical industry, read and study the book, listen to the two Audio Compact Disk and commit to learning the total process.

Insight provides you with pertinent knowledge that only one can obtain by spending 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of positions. Not just a few years as a field representative. Along with that, an additional 10 years with my past co-workers, now friends and contributors which have held and are currently employed in positions across the industry, including Field Sales, Specialty Sales, Biotech Sales, Hospital Sales, District Manager and Regional Director positions. In addition, positions as National Account Directors, Regional Account Managers, Directors of Managed Care, Sales Training Directors, Brand Managers and countless other personnel, of which a few, whose career paths have taken them to the Executive Vice President and CEO level (from the field sales position).
Even all this personal experience and contacts is not enough though, so countless hours have been spent on researching trends, both the internal and external forces on the pharmaceutical environment, products and companies pipelines.

Insight includes information on approximately 50 pharmaceutical/biotech companies, saving you hours of research time and setting a template for you to research a company as I have done. Annual Reports, 10-K filings with the Security and Exchange Commission, numerous press releases, countless phone calls and industry publications have been diligently scoured for you on a weekly basis, constantly updating files.

As always, before any actual interview, remember that change happens every business day, so every interview or networking contact requires you to visit that organizations website and research all recent press releases, in addition, visit some investment websites.

Reading Insight will have you confident and ready. There is always additional information and educational publications that can also assist you, the more knowledge you compile, the better prepared you are. Numerous books have followed since I published and released my first edition in 1998; some have great advice, much similar advice, and some have the same advice since it has been copied word for word. Use caution with many associations or so called certification programs that require you to pay substantial amount for being a member. You are asked to take a small test after reading their book. As stated, one entity copied word-by-word chapters of Insight, and then asked you take a test (as if you earned a degree), then sent you your certificate. I would suggest making a few calls to the pharmaceutical companies Human Resource’s department to verify this is organization is endorsed or even known, let alone given permission of the use of their logo. Their answer will be non-biased and you will know the truth. That seems to be fair to all. You may save a few hundred dollars and more importantly, hours of your time.

Chapter 1, The Industry, gives you a current status of the industry, including some of the most important issues that are having influence today.

Chapter 2, The Pharmaceutical Sales Representative, Insight gives you an in-depth view of today’s pharmaceutical representative. You will see what typical compensation packages are today, career advancement opportunities and positive and negative aspects of the position of a pharmaceutical representative. One must realize, this position is not an “easy” job and is often misunderstood by many.

Chapter 3, Résumés Although no resume will win you employment, many common mistakes will quickly eliminate you from the interview process. You will learn some simple rules for the pharmaceutical sales résumé’s and how their role is diminished in this industry.

Preparation is the backbone of your job hunting endeavor. Understanding your target market is perhaps the most important step in securing your “offer”. This industry is quite different than most in gaining interviews, this can not be stressed enough. How to gather and compile Research is outlined in Chapter 4. Some companies are privately held, requiring some extra effort when researching their history, products and pipelines.

Chapter 5, “It’s not who you know; it’s who you learn to know”
With the first edition in 1998, networking is what I wanted to describe as the number one priority for candidates. Still, many candidates will email me and complain that their “resume” is not getting any responses and “job fairs” seem like a waste of time. Candidates have the toughest time keeping networking as their number one priority, reverting back to sending those résumé’s, mass mailings to Human Resource departments and using recruiters. Why? Because it is easy. If there were not so many previous editions out there of Insight over the past ten years, this would be the new title of the book (It’s not who you know, it’s who you learn to know). This is the foundation of what I am trying to describe to you in step-by-step detail. The process is inverted, not starting with senior management, (but if your uncle is a CEO, use him) or a top executive, but your local pharmaceutical representative calling on physicians, right in your local area. This Chapter, when put into action, will be your test of your dedication and tenacity for this career. These two competencies are absolutely mandatory for pharmaceutical sales. You’re going to get feedback on your performance here, before you’re in the position of pharmaceutical sales. It is your key to obtaining “the offer” and in detail it is explained, with even a script written for you to utilize, when networking. Chapter 5 needs implementation consistently, on a daily basis. Surely utilize every avenue to secure a position, for individuals have obtained positions using search firms, someone they know, an advertisement, but networking, doing the work yourself, is what 97% of us must do, as I had to 40 years ago. This is the number one activity to getting the “offer”.

Now it is time to advance your career with some Insight methodology. Chapter 6, The Interview, puts you in the actual interview, with a variation of every question that you’re going to encounter. One hundred and six questions and a suggested answer for each. It suggests ways to tailor your individual responses in order to maximize your impact with the interviewer. You will learn to present yourself admirably, which will have you progressing to the first, second and final “face to face” interviews. Though the pharmaceutical industry has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, the interview questions have not, as always, District Managers are seeking to learn and uncover “behavior characteristics” or “competencies” that predict your chances of success in this industry. In addition, a list of guidelines for professional attire, which is imperative to follow during every formal and informal meeting you have. In addition, two Audio CD’s are included to compliment this chapter for one cannot just read it once and believe they are prepared. Upload to your Ipod, MP3, play in your car, and know them by heart, how you are going to respond.

Chapter 7, Questions provides another 22 questions for you to ask in the interview, which will compliment you as a candidate and distinguish you from over 97% of the other candidates. These questions will stimulate further questions from the District Manager, which will secure that your competencies have been revealed in the interview. Interviewing 7-10 candidates in a day is exhausting and interview recollection of each candidate starts to blend no matter how well your notes are from the day, so this is where you must differentiate yourself and stand out. Every District Manager is not an excellent interviewer, there is little training on how to interview, District Managers are as nervous as the candidate, for their success rate in the process nationally is about 63%.

There are three outcomes from every interview process. Chapter 8, Decisions reveals how to handle each situation, even “the offer”, with the required composure that insures your best possible outcome.

Chapter 9, Profiles contains over fifty pharmaceutical company profiles, that offer an overview of each company, some with numerous subsidiaries. A sampling from large, medium, small and biotech companies is included, plus the segment of Contract Sales Organizations (CSO’s).

Finally, Chapter 10, Commitment, is a lesson that is taught to any sales professional, asking for a particular action. Here, I am going to do what I was taught and ask you for a commitment and action, as your enter you pharmaceutical career.

>>Read Except from Chapter 1