Some Australian GPs Are Banning Medical Sales Rep

"What's going on mate?!"

That's what I would ask fellow medical sales reps in Australia, especially those who cover the General Practitioners (GPs) sector.

Why?

There is a group of GPs "banning" medical sales rep from seeing them at the clinic (maybe elsewhere too for that matter).

And their main argument is medical sales reps are influencing the medicines they prescribe.

And it does amaze me when someone says things like that ...

Look, in any selling situation, inside or outside pharma industry, the final decision, the final say before any purchase is made is in the prescribers hands.

I've preached about this since the very first day I wrote this blog.

I've talked for ages that, in NewSell (now WOMBAT Selling) especially, the customers control the closing. There's nothing that a salesperson can do to "literally" close the deal.

NewSell originator, Dr. Michael Hewitt Gleeson (who's an Australian by the way), had been challenging salespersons during his seminars all over the world to prove that salespersons are the one controlling the closing process.

And he threw in 10k as a reward to those who can prove it ...

And until today, the money is still with him. Nobody has yet to prove that there is a specific chemical in salespersons words that alter the brain chemical of customers and caused them to buy.

Only customers can convince themselves to buy ...

That's why I say it amuses me when customers blame salespersons for purchases they've made.

In a normal situation, I would have simply called it "blaming," but I'm sure that particular group of GPs are intelligent enough to see through the whole situation.

Why blame the whole situation on medical sales reps when you're the one controlling the purchase?

But the "No Advertising Please" campaign had begun anyway ...

Read about it here [article source].

"I think the campaign is a bit silly, it's insulting to doctors, it's also rather naive; our world revolves around education and information and the pharmaceutical companies are an important source of money for research, so every Australian will benefit from that research and pharmaceutical promotion," A GP said.

On a friendly, pharma-to-pharma rep note, who's the rep covering the GP who lead the campaign?

Which product he use the most?

Which one of you forgets to sponsor him?

Sigh ...

More Restriction To Pharma Rep - Doctor Engagement

It happens faster than any expert thought possible.

The time allowed for pharma sales reps and doctors engagement had been reduced at a fast rate.

Here's an excerpt from the survey:

"This years survey showed that 32% of physicians said they cannot talk to reps, compared to 27% last year. Apply this limit to doctors in organized health systems, and the restrictions become even greater: 42% of doctors affiliated with integrated health networks say they are not allowed to see reps—a 17% increase since last year" (Source)

Much has been talked about when it comes to the issue of meeting with prescribers.

And the result of this survey is not the only result that highlight the issue.

And like the survey concludes; little had been done by pharma to address it.

And you know why?

The senior managers think they're doing fine.

Not all, but some managers still think this way.

Their eyes can't see well, and their ears had gone wrong.

They still think the "old school" way still works.

They are rowing against the current and being washed away.

But they can't feel it!

Worst still ...

They carry the whole team with them!

No data can convince them otherwise.

They are blinded by their ego, and they just want to reach retirement.

How can we address this issue?

Can we the greener generation do something about this?

The short answer is YES!

And the way it can be done is through NewSell.

I'm done writing for now.