Interesting article in today's NY Times entitled, "Cheerleaders Pep Up Drug Sales." (See Link)
The gist of the article is that many of today's pharmaceutical sales reps who are hanging out in the doctor's waiting rooms are a) Female, b) Good-Looking, and c) ex-Cheerleaders. (Actually, many of the ex-cheerleaders, who worked the sidelines in college...are still at it. When you do a Google search of pharmaceutical sales+cheerleaders, you find links to the New England Patriots, Washington Redskins, and the San Francisco 49ers.)
Indeed, the article cites a Gregory C. Webb, who runs cheerleading camps AND placement services for cheerleaders. He says that he knows hundreds of former cheerleaders who are now in pharmaceutical sales. Mr. Webb's website, www.spiritedsales.com, claims to have a database of 10,000 persons who are "self-confident, outgoing, responsible, and enthusiastic."
It is interesting to note that the pharmaceutical industry denies that sex appeal has anything to do with the reps that they hire. "Obviously, people hired for the work have to be extroverts, a good conversationalist, a pleasant person to talk to; but that has nothing to do with looks, it's the personality." So says Lamberto Andreotti, president of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
One of the not-so-funny anecdotes from the article is an exchange between a female drug rep, "the all-time most attractive, coolest woman in the history of drug repdom," and a male doctor. After her initial presentation, the doctor objected with "ten different reasons NOT to use one of the reps drugs." Her response? She gave a little toss to her hair, tugged on his sleeve, and said..."Come on, doctor, I need the scrips (i.e. prescriptions). His response? "OK...how do I dose that thing?"
As you might expect, there is a sad downside to this sexually-charged sales atmosphere. In an informal survey, 12 of 13 medical saleswomen said that they had been sexually harassed by physicians..many of them physically, e.g. touching, unwanted kisses, etc.
Finally, the article mentions that there are more than 90,000 drug reps out there. 90,000? Can this be correct? How many physicians are there anyway? No wonder that our drug costs are through the roof.
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