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I am a Territory Manager in western Michigan. Depending on the company, the job titles of pharmaceutical sales specialist, pharmaceutical representative, drug rep and territory manager all refer to similar positions. As a territory manage,r I do not manage people, but rather a specific geographic region.

My responsibility is to promote my products to primary care physicians and their offices within my given territory. My job is to promote medications used in the treatment of diabetes as well as erectile dysfunction. I stop into the offices, meet with healthcare providers, schedule luncheons and find opportunities to get in front of the physicians and their staff. It is really more product marketing than sales. I am basically a commercial for our drugs inside the doctor's office, as well as a customer service representative. Our company provides a great deal of product information, such as drug benefits, clinical trials, side effects and answers to common questions that I can use in communicating with doctors and in educating them.

The other part of my job that my company is really big on is providing patient education materials for the offices to hand out to their patients when using our medications. I think this is one of the ways our company distinguishes itself and adds value to its services.

It has a lot to do with credibility. If you are in the offices feeding the doctors lines of garbage, back pedaling from false claims you made, or not being respectful of the doctor's time, then you probably are not going to be received well. In the eight years that I have been doing this, the providers that I interact with have been receptive. It is important to know the data you are presenting, both positive and negative, so the doctors don't think you are trying to spin-sell them in anyway. The goal is to present your product as a positive alternative to what the doctor's currently prescribe, or to validate and reinforce their use of your products. It's simple, really.

Along with the accessibility of the physicians, there are so many pharmaceutical reps out there pushing their products. Doctors are busy people, and there are a lot of drug reps out there that are not respectful of that. Obviously, when doctors are bombarded by drug reps, they choose to limit who they offer to meet. If a doctor says he only has a minute, then only take a minute of his or her time. Don't try to extend that minute into five. I have the mindset of being considerate and thankful for whatever amount of time a doctor will give me and make the best of it. I may not be able to fit in everything I want to share with them, but I can always come back another time, especially if I have developed a relationship with that doctor because I have been considerate.

That's a good question. It goes both ways. A lot of times it feels like Groundhog Day, but that is primarily the down time. Getting in the car every day and driving from office to office can become mundane. On the flipside, you get to meet and interact with a lot of different people all the time. There could be someone new working in an office - a new nurse, a physician assistant, or a new doctor - so interaction can be quite varied.

Within my territory, I travel a lot, although not necessarily over night. If I have to be gone over night, then I probably didn't schedule my day or week properly. In the last year, I've put about 39,000 miles on my car. So I drive roughly 800 miles each week on average. I have 140 physicians in my territory, which breaks down to 96 different stops for me. So each week, I plan which offices to visit on certain days and then start with the office that is farthest out and work my way back towards my home.

Honestly, in the beginning, I really only took pharmaceutical interviews to practice my interviewing skills. My plan and education in college was to be an elementary school teacher. However, as a result of the interviews, I got hired into a great industry. I am still able to teach new things to people every day, but it's to adults rather than kids. It was really the luck of the draw for me because it certainly wasn't my plan.

Since being in the pharmaceutical industry, I have been with three companies, which is fairly common, especially early on. When you start out in this business and begin to make a name for yourself, you will meet people from other companies or other drug reps that you compete with that may turn you on to a position with their company. You need to find a company that is the right fit for you and offers the best opportunities. That may or may not be the first or second company that you work for. For example, one of the reasons I left the first company I worked for was because I was offered $14,000 more per year by another company. To a young guy starting out, that's a lot of money.

My father has had a lot of influence on my career choice. He was a cardiologist so I have been going to various pharmaceutical functions since I was six years old. Years ago, pharmaceutical reps were able to entertain doctors, so I grew up going to Detroit Lions and Pistons games, fancy dinners and concerts with drug reps. I always thought it seemed like a fun profession. However, there isn't a "Pharmaceutical Sales" degree in college, so I went with an education degree.

Within the next five years, I would like to become a district manager. In that position I would be responsible for managing a group of 10 or so territory managers who do what I do now. My job would be to make sure the reps were doing a good job and managing their territories properly. I wouldn't necessarily have physician contact on a daily basis, but I would have rep contact. I like the idea of helping others succeed and do well in their careers.

I work out of my home, so I don't have an office to go to. My days start and end with making visits to the offices in my territory. I like to be out of my house by 8:30 a.m. Each day, I am required to make at least nine office calls, although I never do less than 10. An office call means stopping into the offices and having contact with a healthcare provider and dropping off samples. My goal each day is to have six visits done by noon. That way my afternoons aren't as stressed. Not to mention the fact that there seem to be more drug reps out and about in the afternoons than early in the morning, so I am not fighting for time in the offices.

There are some administrative things that I am required to do as well. Each time I drop samples off to an office, I have to get a physician's signature. Then I enter that information into the computer and make sure everything is accounted for. Sometimes I attend evening functions as well, such as dinners or lectures.

The dress code for our company is suit or jacket and tie every day. Some companies may have a different dress code, or may have certain dress allowances for Fridays or during the summer, but our company stays with the same dress policy year-round.

Our district is extremely diverse. I'd say about 70 percent of us have our backgrounds in pharmaceuticals and 30 percent from other industries. We have a 23-year-old guy who works for our division and a 55-year-old woman who works for our division, and everyone in between. Each person brings a unique perspective to the table that benefits us all. Some of us are young and aggressive, like me, and then there are some women that bring candy and treats into the offices they visit. It helps me to see some of the creative things other people are doing, because it may not be the first thing that I would think about, but it may give me ideas.

Doctors know why you are in their office. They know that the only reason you are there is to push your products. So, my preference is to approach the doctors from a scientific level and demonstrate why one product is better than another rather than try to get them to like me as a person. In fact, while I try hard to develop a respectful relationship, I am not as concerned about a doctor liking me as I am about them using my products. Not everybody is going to like you, but if you show your products are the best fit for a doctor's patients, then he or she is more likely to prescribe them.

If you were to come into this industry right out of college, I would estimate the salary range to be in the $40,000 to $50,000 range. When I was first hired in 1999, my starting salary was $37,000, so I would expect that the starting salary has increased since then.

Personally, if I were to switch jobs at this point in my career, I wouldn't accept a position that offered any less than $65,000. It could be different with other companies, but we get a percentage pay increase every year based on merit. So, with experience and as you excel in your job, there really is no ceiling on your income. At the company I was at prior to this one, we had a guy who had been in the business for 28 years who was making more than any of the managers.

Because our industry has a performance based-component, it is pretty standard to receive bonuses or commissions during the year based on your sales numbers. Also, a lot of companies will have specialized sales contests where you can win monetary awards or trips. It is also standard to be provided with a company vehicle and have the expenses that go with that covered, such as gas, maintenance and insurance.

A lot of times when you are in a job like this you enter into a network of people you interact with inside and outside of the workplace. It is good to develop a social network of people in the business, because you never know when someone might present you with a great opportunity, or you might have a need within your company that would be perfect for someone you know. There's definitely a large social aspect to my job and in this industry.

As far as interaction with doctors, I tend to leave that for the workplace. I think there may be about three doctors that I have called on over the years that I socialize with outside of the office, but I keep that pretty limited.

Absolutely. Community involvement and outreach are encouraged by a lot of companies. It isn't typically a requirement, but I think companies like to know you are involved in the community and they are often willing to donate money or help out in some other way.

After you get hired in, you get materials to study at home, and then usually you go on-site somewhere for a couple of weeks for training. While in training, you will learn the nuances of the business. You will be taught science and sales models, disease states and so on. It is really very interesting. You get the material spoon-fed to you, but you have to put in a lot of work as well. The training does a good job of preparing you for being out in the field. However, after training is over, you still need to stay current on new studies and products as they relate to the drugs you are promoting.

If you are doing your job every day, taking care of business, meeting expectations and hitting your sales numbers, it is pretty stable. If you are not hitting your sales numbers or if you are with a company that is not doing well, it's tough. At-will employment is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, which means you can be let go for any reason. So if you make mistakes, aren't doing your job properly, or if you are at a company that is downsizing, then this can be an unstable business.

I think the industry is pretty much staying the same. Just like any other industry, some companies are going to trim the fat, some are going to hire and some are just going to stay the same. The pharmaceutical industry really isn't any different. However, there is fluctuation based on the way the drugs are marketed. A medication has a certain patent-life. Once the patent expires, generic versions of the drug become available. If there is a generic equivalent to the drug you are selling, then there is really no need to sell that product any longer.

I guess this also relates to stability in this business. If you are working for a company where the patents on many of their drugs are expiring and there aren't new products in the pipeline to sustain business, you could be in trouble. Patents on drugs expire and new drugs with new patents are coming out all the time. Obviously, you want to be with a company that has a good research and development department that is producing a steady stream of new products to replace those that have expiring patents.

I think access to physicians has changed. There are a lot of offices that make it challenging to get time with their physicians. There are a lot of group practices that are going up and making policies that drug reps aren't to be seen. That makes my job really hard.

Also, the big players in the pharmaceutical industry came together and established a set of policies and regulations for how we perform day-to-day practices. The industry has been scrutinized for some of the practices used, such as taking doctors to sporting events, golfing, on fishing trips and other forms of entertainment. Actually, these types of things go on in any sales industry. But it touches a whole different nerve in our industry because the idea that a doctor might be influenced to use a certain medication over another because of a fishing trip really doesn't sit well with a lot of people and I can certainly understand why. Interaction with physicians should be more about education than entertainment. I think this industry has done a really good job at reining itself in and establishing a better and more appropriate way of conducting business.

I definitely would have done a lot more in the way of research before interviewing. If I were going into an interview tomorrow, I would make sure I knew about the company and the drugs they produce. I would find out what their major products are as well as their main competition. You can find that information out online or you can go to any pharmacist and ask them questions. They are working with these products every day and can tell you about them and which products are used more than others. That would be a good idea if you don't have a lot of knowledge about pharmaceuticals.

The best advice I've been given came from my first boss who told me to make as many office calls as I could in the morning so that my afternoons would be gravy. The other piece of advice is if I am having a difficult day, end the day with a visit to an office where I know the people and usually have positive experiences so that I don't end the day with a bad taste in my mouth.

The only thing I will say that is different in terms of where you are located geographically is that it is helpful to be in a state that has a liberal managed care market. What I mean is if, for example, a state's Medicaid program covers a lot of medications, then it isn't as difficult to have doctors prescribe the medications you are selling. No matter how good your products are, if doctors have to jump through a bunch of hoops to prescribe your drugs because they aren't covered by certain health insurance plans, then they probably aren't going to use your products very often.

I think you need to be very intrinsically motivated to excel in this industry. You work out of your home and don't have to punch a clock. If you aren't self-motivated and disciplined, then this could be a very difficult job. In this business, you work independently and don't always have someone telling you to get going; you really have to be a self-motivated individual.

Not only do you need to be self-motivated, but you also have to be willing to work hard. A lot of the incentives in this business are performance-based. So if you want to earn those bonuses and raises, you better work for them. The harder you work, the more successful you'll be and the more money you will makeplain and simple.

Finally, this is a competitive field. You are going to run up against a lot of drug reps who are trying to get doctors to use their drugs over yours. You need to believe in your products and be willing to fight for them. You need to be educated, able to communicate well and be convincing. You can't be a push-over.