A year ago, Xu Yue could not imagine herself as a “medical representative”, she was so gentle and elegant, with a strong sense of scholarship that people often misunderstood her as a teacher.
Xu Yue studied at an obscure university, majoring in a lackluster field. Compared to her classmates’ employment anxiety that began to diffuse from their freshman year, she always looked like a free alien. It was only on the eve of graduation that Xu Yue was finally anxious to follow along with her partners when they were all panicking about finding a way out.
When she was at a loss, a small pharmaceutical company extended an olive branch to Xu Yue – the person in charge of the interview asked her if she would like to join the sales department. Instinctively, Xu Yue wanted to refuse, but when she thought about the serious employment situation, she agreed. After returning to her dorm room, Xu Yue talked to her roommate about the interview that day, and the girl in the opposite bunk laughed lightly and said meaningfully, “A pharmaceutical representative?” The end of the voice trailed long.
In the end, Xu Yue still joined the pharmaceutical company, as a “commercial”. After 5 years of uneventful work, she finally switched to be a “pharmaceutical representative” last year.
The following, is her own account.
1
This pharmaceutical company is not large, profit is still possible. Before I was responsible for housekeeping, the work environment is relatively simple, and the leadership, colleagues are getting along well. I am not a very ambitious girl, just want to do a stable, less stressful job.
The only thing that killed the scenery was that the sales director, Mr. Yang – the head of the sales department who interviewed me back then – would occasionally come to persuade me to transfer to his department: “You have a good image and good temperament, but you are a bit introverted. But it’s okay, come to my staff to refine a little, will definitely become a great pharmaceutical representative.”
Every time, I smile and decline. Although after working for a few years, I look generous and articulate on the outside, but I know I am introverted and slow at heart, and I can only admire those who are born with a “self-contained” personality.
Last year in early spring, a strange man followed Yang into the conference room. The man was not tall, his face was dark and his eyes were shining like wolves. My first impression of him was not very good, but I never thought that I would deal with him for so long later.
Under the introduction of Mr. Yang, we gradually understood the context. The company wanted to broaden its business scope and signed an agreement with Mr. Shen to represent one of the medical devices of Mr. Shen. However, unlike the drugs our company routinely sells, this product had a very “sophisticated” sounding name: “Surgical AI 3D Reconstruction Surgery Planning Solution”.
My colleagues and I looked at each other in disbelief, but we continued to listen to Mr. Shen’s eloquent speech.
“Today is an era of intelligence, and the President has mentioned ‘precision’ in many speeches, which is where the major trend of medical care lies.” “There is precise poverty alleviation outside and precise medical treatment inside, we have to put our limited energy into the unlimited medical cause.”
……
This Mr. Shen is very eloquent, but after more than an hour, we were still confused about this product. The good thing is that he stopped talking in time: “I am talking about these are macro aspects, the purpose is to let you have a general understanding of our products, next, please ask our manager Cheng to give you a specific explanation of this product.”
Manager Cheng was lean and slim, looking competent and fresh. After he finished, we finally had a preliminary understanding of the “Surgical AI 3D Reconstruction Surgery Planning Solution”: this is a virtual product, mainly for tumor patients, using big data algorithms to shape the patient’s CT and MR (magnetic resonance imaging) examination results from a flat two-dimensional to a three-dimensional image, so that doctors can see the tumor in a more intuitive way. This allows doctors to visualize the location and size of the tumor in the organs, as well as the relationship between the tumor and the blood vessels. With this as a reference, the surgeon can plan ahead before the surgery and improve the efficiency of the surgery.
It sounds, indeed, quite technological, but when my colleague asked the price, it cost 3000 RMB/case, so I couldn’t help but spit out my tongue.
Diagram of “Surgical AI 3D Reconstruction Surgery Planning Program” (Photo by the author) Diagram of “Surgical AI 3D Reconstruction Surgery Planning Program” (Photo by the author)
After the lengthy prelude, Mr. Yang mentioned the most crucial part: the company now needs someone to take charge of this business. When he saw that the response was not as enthusiastic as he expected, he spoke in a tone of hatred, as if he had a huge treasure in front of him, but we all did not know the goods: “This is the most advanced direction, it is a sunrise industry, and it is more promising than the drugs we are doing now. The commission is also very high, the bonus is much higher than your current project!”
The sales colleagues around me are bowing their heads, I can guess what they are thinking: to be a pharmaceutical representative is a big process, can stay and do a long time people, have their own fixed “territory”, their own division of responsibility for the area detailed to the hospital, department or even medical group, they have a familiar smooth communication with doctors, stable monthly performance, a good income – who are not willing to throw away their familiar circle rashly to a new and unknown field.
Seeing that the scene is cold, Mr. Shen’s face swept over a trace of displeasure, and Manager Cheng was watching the show from the sidelines. Finally, Mr. Yang stepped in to make a roundabout, saying that everyone should go home and think about it, and then he would find someone to talk to separately.
Unexpectedly, when everyone packed up the paper and pencil and left the conference room, Yang called me into the office, still the usual set of rhetoric, said he thought I had a good personality, strong affinity, and the ability to communicate with people is also very good, in fact, very suitable for sales. At the end, I was seriously asked, “Do you want to try?”
He gave me a good bonus policy, so I was a little heartened – business belongs to the internal, fixed salary, at most only some performance bonuses and year-end awards, income is not too bad, but compared with sales colleagues, it seems rather shabby, all day long to see them drive a good car, carrying brand-name bags, days, there is still a gap.
Yang patted me hard on the shoulder, smiled and encouraged me to say that the Cheng manager will lead me throughout: “He is very experienced, even if you are ‘white’ he can also bring you out. You two are considered a partnership, you both have a share in the performance, he will certainly do his best to help you. You try first, do it to do, do not do it or come back to do your business. If you really make achievements, this new product ‘territory’ by your choice, you choose the best hospital best department, the rest of the busy can not recruit people, as your team, you can also take the team bonus. Don’t worry, you’re so smart, you’ll do well! Then we’re settled?”
Seeing my acquiescence, Mr. Yang hurriedly called Mr. Shen: “From now on, our Xiaoyue will be in charge of this project. You take care of it.”
After hanging up the phone, Mr. Yang explained that I would first learn about the product in the next two days, and then go to the hospital with Mr. Cheng 3 days later: “Because no one in our company knows about this project, you may need to deal with Mr. Shen and Mr. Cheng a lot in the early stage. Your work progress should be reported to Mr. Shen, and you should be polite to them both.”
2
Three days later, I waited for Manager Cheng at the entrance of Ning You Hospital (a pseudonym) at 8:30 as I had agreed. It was almost 9:00 when the manager arrived late, and as soon as he met me, he pulled me with a smile: “Beauty, let’s take a picture.”
He held up his phone and took a headshot of us with the hospital’s main entrance as the background, then looked at me with a smile: “Are you familiar with the products? Do you have the paper manual with you?” When I nodded, his smile was even more exaggerated: “Good, then you should visit the doctors properly, our product is more suitable for hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and thoracic surgery, you should go to those departments to take a look. I still have something to do, I’ll leave now, bye.”
Before I could react, his figure had already disappeared into the crowd in the outpatient hall. I looked down at WeChat and saw that in the newly created small group consisting of Mr. Yang, Mr. Shen, Mr. Cheng and I, Mr. Cheng had posted a group photo of us, followed by the sentence, “Although Xiaoyue is late, but it’s okay, we are in time, we are going to visit the departments now!” We are going to visit the department now!” followed by a “more than V” expression.
It seems that this Cheng manager can not be counted on. I was a little chagrined, but then I thought, “I can’t expect someone I don’t know to help me too much, so I should rely on myself.
When I went to the registration window, the specialist number was already gone, so I could only register for a general number. I registered for a hepatic surgeon and was very far back in the line. The registration slip said, “Estimated time of visit is 11:15.
I waited in front of the office for a long time, but finally my turn came. When I entered the room, the doctor gently asked me, “What is wrong with you?”
My heart thumped nervously, licked my lips, and spoke in a voice I felt was dry: “Hello doctor, I would like to introduce you to our products ……” The doctor stopped and looked up at me with undisguised annoyance in his voice: “You are here to see a doctor. “Are you here to see a doctor? If not, please get out!”
I was taken aback by the doctor’s stern tone of voice and exited the consultation room in a state of disbelief.
Thinking that I had waited for nearly two hours at the door, I was reluctant, and looking at the display, I decided to wait for the doctor to finish his work at the door of the clinic. After waiting for almost 40 minutes, I finally waited until the doctor packed up his things and walked out of the clinic. I hurriedly followed, with the previous blow, my voice became more and more unnatural, I do not know if the doctor can hear it. The doctor turned his head and saw that it was me, his eyes instantly turned cold, turned his head and left.
I didn’t go after him, and sat down on the bench next to him in frustration. I’ve had a natural fear of doctors in white coats since I was a child, and I don’t know how to deal with them at this moment.
I couldn’t help but take out my cell phone and send a voice complaint to my colleague Xiao Deer, who laughed out loud: “How can you bother the doctor like that?
I muttered unconvincingly, “You always used to say you talked to the doctor when he was in the clinic, isn’t that nice?”
“Gee, that was when I already knew them well, and the hospital I was in charge of was small, the doctor was idle, and sometimes no patients went when they sat in the clinic, and they certainly didn’t resent going then. Where are you going here – Ning You Hospital eh, one of the busiest hospitals in the city, right?”
Fawn taught me to visit the doctor’s office directly from now on, and I felt a little vain: “Didn’t they say that doctors’ offices don’t let medical representatives in?”
“How do you know if you don’t try?”
With Fawn’s encouragement, I gathered the courage to go to the doctor’s office located in the inpatient building. Standing in front of the office, I watched the doctors in white coats going in and out in a frenzy, and a steady stream of patients’ families, and I stood there for a long time.
“Go out and wait, go out and wait!” A security guard came over and reprimanded me nonchalantly.
I was shocked and stammered, “No, I’m a patient’s family ……”
The words did not fall, the uncle interrupted nonchalantly: “Do not pretend, family or medical representative, I can see at a glance.” After a pause, the uncle eased the tone: “Now there are too many people inside, the doctor is too busy, you go outside and wait, wait for less people to come back, do not add to the mess.” After that, he didn’t make it too difficult for me and walked away.
I stood on tiptoe to look inside the office and realized that the uncle was right, not to mention him, even I could easily tell who was a patient’s family and who was a medical representative – the patient’s family was always shrouded in a layer of indefinable sadness. And inside the medical representative, some obviously familiar with the doctor, grinning and laughing as they sat on the poor chairs; more are respectfully standing by, waiting to talk to the doctor in the middle of the busy.
I wandered around the small doctor’s office like a fly on the wall, tiptoeing sideways from time to time to make way for people. More often than not, I stood quietly at the door of the office and watched in order not to attract attention. Luckily, no one knew me and no one said anything to drive me away.
3
After a few days of standing still, I gradually observed a lot of content, to sort out some clues: the hospital hierarchy is clear, in a department, the director is the highest level, has a separate office, rarely appear in the doctors in the public office; the deputy director of the department and some higher ranking professors, also have another office, they will lock the door to enter and exit, rarely disturbed. Those who remain in the public offices are mostly attending physicians, residents, and some trainees and interns. Although department heads and professors regularly come to the public office to receive consultations from patients’ families, most of the time, they are either in the operating room or in their own offices, and it is difficult for medical representatives to meet them.
But for most of the important things, the communication and the shooting needs to be with the directors and professors, which means that I must first find the head of the department at an appropriate time.
I inquired from the doctors in the office that the department head’s last name was Ding, and then went to the floor under the wall and stared at the photos and presentations of well-known experts, professors and directors in the hospital, trying to quickly get this information in my mind, and put the people and photos one on one, ready for the visit.
At 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning, I waited at the door of Director Ding’s office, yawning. There was already a row of peers standing around, and looking at them in high spirits, I hurriedly adjusted myself. “It seems that they are all veterans and have long been used to getting up so early to wait for the director.”
This is the prime time to wait for the chief of the department, because the surgeons at Ning You Hospital are busy early in the morning: shift meeting before 8:00, then room check, after which wave after wave of patients’ families will swarm after them to the office and start a whole day of continuous consultations. The peak of consultation is often until more than 10 o’clock, during which time, as a medical representative who “knows what to do”, he must not interrupt.
But before the consultation rush is over, the chiefs and professors leave in a hurry to go to the outpatient clinic or transfer to the operating room. The surgical procedures are not short, and once the doctors enter the operating room, they rarely leave unless under special circumstances, and in between a few surgeries, they will only take a nap in the rest area wearing their surgical gowns. Once the chief professor enters the operating room, it is as soon as 4:00 or 5:00 pm, or as late as late at night or even early in the morning. In other words, if you miss the 7:00 a.m. time, it’s a lottery to wait for the director – thinking back to the initial appointment with me at 8:30 a.m., Manager Cheng actually did not intend to take me.
The medical representatives waiting at the door apparently have a tacit agreement, according to the first to come in a long line, very quiet, occasionally talk or answer the phone, are softly spoken. I whispered to a girl next to me to inquire about Director Ding, she replied enthusiastically, and then, of her own accord, asked me, “You’re new here, right? I haven’t even seen you before. My name is Xiaoya, let’s add a WeChat, in the future there are things can also be timely ventilation.” I was grateful and thanked her, she smiled and waved her hand: “Hey, you’re welcome, we are not easy, help each other.”
As we were talking, I suddenly saw the original squatting next to the wall, crooked, stood up straight, turned my head to see, it was the director Ding came.
This is the first time I saw Director Ding in person, he is not tall, sword eyebrows, starry eyes, the whole body is covered with a “do not approach” aura, he walked quickly, the delegates have slightly bent over, respectfully greeted “Professor Ding morning”. “Professor Ding, you’re here”. Director Ding did not look away, nor did he say anything in return, only to hear him, if anything, “hmm”.
When Director Ding walked to the office door, the girl in first place quickly greeted him, took his bag, followed him with half a step, and said warmly while walking inside: “Director Ding hasn’t had breakfast yet, I bought noodles and bread and milk, do you want to eat dry or thin today?” Seeing her with a hand full of breakfast, carrying the director’s bag in one hand, the boys in the back of the line thoughtfully helped to falsely close the door.
I secretly envied the girl and Director Ding’s familiarity, who knew that within 2 minutes, I saw her walking out with her head bowed in frustration. Xiao Ya whispered to me, “She hit a nail, it seems that today Director Ding is in a bad mood, it is not appropriate to meet.”
The people in the front of the line went in in turn, probably because they did not dare to delay Director Ding too much time, but also unspoken consideration for the hard work of peers, everyone spoke concisely and clearly, nothing pleasantries, straight to the point, try to save time. But even so, before my turn, Director Ding came out of the office in a hurry.
Xiao Ya sighed: “Waiting for nothing, too many people today, let’s go.”
Thinking that I got up at 5:00 a.m., but did not even say hello, I was very reluctant, heart crossed, with the information to catch up with Director Ding: “Hello Director Ding, my name is Xu Yue, I would like to introduce you ……”
I did not finish my sentence was interrupted by Director Ding, he waved his hand, did not turn his head to look at me, his voice serious and cold: “Later, I have something now.”
Director Ding walked away quickly. I stood in the same place, my inner frustration overturned. Xiaoya came over and touched my arm: “Let’s go, we don’t have to wait for Director Ding today. This is the way the business is, other industries do sales, and people can make an appointment in advance, we can’t do this, the doctors are too busy, can only wait. If you have an appointment in advance, they will also have something at any time – it is impossible for the doctor to put off everything just to wait to say something to us, the small pharmaceutical representatives, right?”
Another thought quickly drilled into my mind, “Do you think it’s not a good idea for me to rush up and disturb Director Ding at that time? I think he looked very angry.”
Xiao Ya smiled: “It’s nothing bad, don’t take it to heart, Director Ding is very nice.”
4
I reported the progress to Mr. Yang and Mr. Shen respectively, and they both reassured me that this is a common situation. Mr. Yang praised me for my “great progress and perception”, while Mr. Shen advised me to “abandon my glass heart and be strong inside”.
In order to let me get familiar with the work as soon as possible, Mr. Yang specially arranged for me to follow his staff Xiaozhi for a few days, “to learn how to deal with doctors”. Xiaozhi is a Jiangxi girl, 2 years younger than me, petite, charming and playful, with a quick and spirited personality. Her education is not high, but the performance of the company’s top, very important by the leaders.
Xiaozhi is based in our neighboring prefecture-level city of C. Several major local hospitals are under her responsibility. This day early in the morning, Xiaozhi and I went to the local city hospital, the hospital is not large, and there are not many patients, so it is not like the Ning You hospital that everyone is scrambling for time. As soon as we entered the department, Xiaozhi patted this doctor’s shoulder, discussed with that doctor about his new haircut, or exaggeratedly praised a passing nurse’s new necklace, “brother and sister” called incessantly, with her innocent face, but really have some lovable temperament.
The atmosphere in the office was instantly enlivened by her, the original expressionless doctors also seemed to have switched channels and joked around with her. In the midst of the joking, everyone suddenly silenced and greeted respectfully in the direction of the door – the head of the department was here.
Xiaozhi, unlike the others, got up with a smile, jumped to the door like a bunny, stood next to the director, and shouted, “Hello, Brother Hu!”
The serious-faced director was amused: “Kid, am I still your brother when I’m over 50?”
Xiaozhi smiled cheekily and answered, “Brother Hu looks like 30!”
She deliberately made the compliment pompous, so not only was it not offensive, but it made everyone laugh even more. The head nurse in the office was laughing so hard that she turned around and said, “You have to come more often, we’re counting on you for the fun of the day!
The “pleasantries” ended, Xiaozhi put away the playful look and began to do business, as if a different person. First, he quickly caught up with Director Hu, who was about to leave the house, and in a few words finalized two things.
One is to confirm with Director Hu that he can attend the seminar in Kunming at the end of the month (pharmaceutical companies have traditionally been “responsible” for a large number of meetings of directors and professors, one is their own need to participate in academic conferences in the industry, at this time, there are always “understanding” The other type of seminars are “co-organized” by pharmaceutical manufacturers, mostly on the theme of progress in the field of medicine, and although there are very few advertisements from manufacturers, most of the reports from directors and professors will involve the drugs used, which is equivalent to endorsing the company’s products to some extent). The seminar in Kunming was co-organized by the manufacturer of the product we represented, and according to the agreement, Director Hu would give a keynote report at the seminar. Director Hu thought for a moment and nodded: “Well, remember, I told them all, no surgery today, let’s have a meeting at noon.”
After sending Director Hu to the elevator entrance of the floor, Xiaozhi went back to the office without stopping, communicated with several attending physicians about the “feeling of using” the drug, asked some key patients about the effect of the drug and whether there were any side effects, wrote down the doctors’ questions during the clinical use of the drug, promised to communicate with the manufacturer’s product manager and give a reply later; turned around and went out to the head nurse to understand the situation of the inpatients.
After several important things were done, Xiaozhi breathed a sigh of relief, her tense emotions relaxed, and a smile finally appeared on her face: “The task of the three hospitals was completed by 60% today.”
Before the “departmental lunch meeting,” Xiaozhi continued to work non-stop. First, she sent a round of “materials” to each department she was responsible for – that is, small gifts made by the drug manufacturer’s marketing department, such as instant stickers with logos, prescription pens, etc. These small gifts have a professional name, called ” These small gifts have a professional name, called “brand tips”, although not valuable, but very popular, especially the pen, always grabbed by the doctors; next to determine the restaurant room, order in advance, ready for the meeting “supplies”; help a doctor to pick up the courier, help another doctor to run errands to buy a data cable; to the city’s second hospital doctors ordered She ordered a dozen cups of milk tea for the doctors of the Second Hospital and sent them by courier; she ordered lunch for the doctors of the First Hospital.
Zee took time out of her busy schedule to admonish me.
“Information communication is one of our most important jobs, on the one hand, we can get timely feedback from doctors on the product, on the other hand, the process of asking doctors how they feel is actually the process of making doctors deepen their impression of my product. Want to handle a good relationship with doctors, just by booing and asking questions can not be enough, you have to have something to say and be able to communicate equally and professionally is the most important.”
“Emotional communication is definitely needed, people, are emotional animals, usually pay more attention to their personalities, preferences, cast their preferences – like to play football and he talked about ball players, like to play games and he Kan game, in the purchase of a house and he talked about the decoration, and like to drink tea and coffee …… Anyway, find common topics with them. The actual fact is that you will be able to find out more about this. The best thing is to find out the situation of the doctor’s children, boys and girls, how old they are. To send a gift, pick a child’s gift is most appropriate, a set of ‘Lego (blocks)’, a few hundred yuan, the price is not high, and can be sent to the doctor’s heart.”
“If the doctor is willing to talk to you like a friend about family matters, it means that your relationship has progressed well, but you must not be carried along by the doctor all the time. You have to consciously interject the information you want to convey into the conversation, and the topic of the conversation must be controlled by you – for example, I will mention new research results related to the drug and the latest trials on the drug, to ’emphasize’ to them that The benefits of the drug have been proven once again, or it is available in a certain population – in short, bring something new to the table so that the doctor will want to talk to you more. Maybe they know all this stuff, but you can speak up and they’ll be impressed that you’re not a jerk, that you can communicate as an equal – that’s a little bit of our dignity, I guess.”
5
At 11:30 p.m., Zee returned to the department to greet the doctors in the dining room, while I waited in the private room to greet them.
The “department meeting” is one of the most common methods for pharmaceutical reps to present their message to the entire department at the same time, which is more efficient than going door to door. But doctors are so busy that it’s hard to get people together, so scheduling departmental meetings during lunchtime kills two birds with one stone. Sometimes we would order some fast food and hold it in the conference room of the hospital department; sometimes we chose the restaurant next door. Doctors do not have high requirements for lunch, a per capita box lunch of 40 yuan, they can laugh at the “luxury lunch”.
The restaurant ordered by the petty capital is located close to the city’s three hospitals, positioning mid-range, the food tastes good, leaving few places for casual seating, mostly small and large private rooms – interestingly, each private room can not be seen in other restaurants common complicated decorations, but all white out a wall, with the ceiling hanging projector as standard, apparently by the mountains to eat mountains.
The doctors came in twos and threes, and I helped prepare the PPT to be played. By the time Director Hu was seated, the dishes had been served, but no one had touched the chopsticks. Xiaozhi stood in front of the projection and formally started the presentation of a newly launched drug. The presentation was not an easy one, and the director and the doctors would interrupt and ask questions at any time.
Sure enough, not long after the opening, Director Hu asked two questions.
“There is a discrepancy between this content and what I have seen in XX journals before, explain it.”
“The logic of the results of this clinical trial seems to be a bit problematic, are there more details of the data?”
I sweat for Xiaozhi – such questions are often related to the doctor’s recognition of the medical representative: whether the business level is high or not, and whether the doctor is professionally educated, will determine how the doctor will treat you.
Xiaozhi was well-prepared and basically answered all the questions, but if she was not sure, she promised to give feedback after she understood them – she secretly taught me afterwards that it was okay not to answer one or two questions once in a while, but to have an additional topic to continue communication with the director.
Half an hour later, when Zee’s presentation was over, I took out the sign-in sheet and slightly bowed over the doctors to ask them to “help” me sign in one by one.
After the doctors finished signing, we both got up to say goodbye and left early, went to the front desk to buy the bill and went straight to the nearby McDonald’s to have two burgers.
The afternoon was more free, and Zee rushed to complete some text form-type tasks.
Until the evening, Xiaozhi called me again: “Want to go to a hospital with me again?”
I froze: “At this hour, what are you going to do?”
Xiaozhi smiled and did not reply, dragged me straight to the city hospital: “Know why I did not go to the hospital during the day? Because I heard that Professor Zhang today is a series of several major operations, now at this point, should be almost off the surgery, we go to visit.”
When we went to the office, it was almost 10:00 p.m., and there were only two half-asleep, half-awake medical representatives holding their heads diagonally and playing with their phones. We sat next to them and waited until Professor Zhang, who was off the operating table, finished receiving the two representatives before Xiaozhi greeted us, shouting “Surprise!” in an exaggerated manner. She handed over the midnight snack and warm milk in her hand.
Professor Zhang smilingly took them and asked, “What can I do for you?”
Xiaozhi smiled cheekily: “Nothing, just thought you probably haven’t eaten at this time, hungry, bring you some, you eat first, I’m leaving!” After saying that, he pulled me and ran away.
I turned my head to look at Professor Zhang, I could not help but admire: Xiaozhi’s business is doing well, not without reason.
When I got back to Xiaozhi’s place, I was already exhausted. After washing up, I saw that Xiaozhi was still studying the product information, and I couldn’t help but say from the bottom of my heart, “I admire you, you’re really hardworking.”
Xiaozhi looked back at me, her expression quieted down, no longer in high spirits during the day, and that seemingly ever-present energy was finally put away into a corner. She lowered her head and said softly, “What can I do if I don’t work so hard? It used to be said that the threshold to be a pharmaceutical representative was low, but now it’s not low anymore, and my college is already the lowest requirement. The better companies are starting with a bachelor’s degree, but also medical pharmacy major.”
“Our company is an agent, I think there is an opportunity to go to the manufacturer is better, but the education is not enough, then only the performance of the fight a little more. I am a rural child, unlike you, I have no way back, my biggest wish now, is to quickly buy a house of their own.”
6
Back from C, I almost every day in the Ning You Hospital, early in the morning, waiting for Director Ding, occasionally can say a few words; when Director Ding is not in, I will find doctors in the office to chat.
It was a kind of “torture” for me to chat like this. I carefully prepared my words: I couldn’t waste each other’s time with meaningless gossip, and I couldn’t always introduce the products in a rigid way, and I was always worried about saying the wrong things to annoy them.
The good thing is that my inner struggle did not show up on the outside, the doctors see me as a smiley, talkative girl, plus from time to time to buy them some fruit, milk tea and box lunch, gradually I and the doctors are getting acquainted. Sometimes, when I saw that I was waiting for Director Ding, they would kindly let me go downstairs to the cafe to rest for a while, saying that they would send me a message when they saw Director Ding, or purposely move a stool from the office to the closed door of the director’s office so that I could take a break.
However, once it came to the most critical issue – “whether the product can be adopted” – they all said they could not help, and that the director had to give his nod to the matter.
When I met with Director Ding a few times and he finally had some impression of the “Surgical AI 3D Reconstruction Surgery Planning Program” and me, Mr. Shen said happily, “Okay, I can do it!”
I don’t know who Mr. Shen found to be his middleman, but Director Ding readily agreed to attend this dinner party which was invited by me and organized by Mr. Shen behind the scenes. I booked an elegant private room, and there were only three of us at the table. Compared to the usual unsmiling in the hospital, Director Ding’s attitude at the table was softer, but the aura was still there. Mr. Shen initially chatted with Director Ding, and I was naturally happy to play a supporting role, not interrupting but eating the food.
Halfway through the banquet, we finally talked about the product, and Director Ding mused: “Your product, Xiao Xu introduced me very clearly, we have also contacted other brands of the same type of products, the concept is good, but you have a common problem is: are not ‘into the hospital’ ah (referring to the absence of Do into the hospital’s billing system, doctors can not directly from the hospital’s system to write medical advice) – so, when you talk to the doctors, if they do have a suitable case to do, you can go to contact, ‘go outside the hospital’ (doctors and patients) after communication, notify us to dock the patient for procedures and charges).”
Seeing the director of Ding loose mouth, Shen was excited, the wine was full of ears when I asked me to drink a toast to the director of Ding, and arranged for the waiter to replace my cup of drink with red wine. I raised my glass and just said “thank you for your support”, Mr. Shen stopped me: “Silly again, right? Why is ‘Director Ding’, shout ‘Brother Ding’!”
I was in a dilemma with my glass, and I couldn’t shout “brother” even after a few turns of the tongue. Director Ding said, “No, just shout ‘Professor Ding’.” After saying that, he glanced at Mr. Shen with displeasure, and when Mr. Shen saw this, he hurriedly kept quiet and made the gesture of beating his mouth.
After that meal, Mr. Shen was very excited, rubbing his hands and rambling, “This is good, the situation of Ning You Hospital has been opened. With this benchmark of Ning You, the ‘market education’ will be much less worrying, and the market of the city will be better in the future, Xiaoyue, come on, there is a wide world ahead ……”
But to my disappointment, the back of the promotion situation is not as good as imagined, a month to do five or six single. I thought about it and found Dr. Liang, who is usually the most familiar with me, to ask for advice, and then I realized: the patients do not understand that they have to spend 3,000 RMB at their own expense to do an invisible “program”, and finally they can only see an image on the computer or cell phone. Even if some patients’ tumor conditions are really complex enough to warrant imaging reconstruction, doctors will not forcefully recommend it as long as the patients are not willing to do so – who would want to get into this mess in today’s sensitive doctor-patient relationship?
The more critical issue is: “Your fees are too expensive, it costs 3000 to do one, XX and XX products, one is 2000, one is 2500, your price is not competitive at all.”
“You should know, whether from the accuracy and production efficiency, we are the best, can not just look at the price ah.” I said. Dr. Liang laughed: “You should know that when a patient is admitted to the hospital, money is spent like water, and it is a little bit to save. The point of your type of ‘program’ is to give doctors for reference, they are not as accurate as yours, but there is our ‘manual error correction’ well.”
Even though the doctor had carefully selected and identified the patients who needed the most imaging reconstruction through the initial stage, and communicated with them fully, 80% of the patients and their families would suspect my identity at the first instance during my follow-up process, even though the doctor had talked to them, and even though I took out the company’s information, business card and reported the doctor’s name, most of them would politely say. “Excuse me little girl, I’ll go check with the doctor.”
In addition to doubts about my identity, the most frequent question from the families was, “Can’t I do the surgery without it?” I could only patiently use the company’s trained words to explain: “It’s not that you can’t do it without it, but with it, it allows the doctor to have a more intuitive feeling of the situation in the patient’s abdominal cavity before surgery, more accurate surgery, shorter surgery time, and less intraoperative bleeding, just like the difference between backing up with a rearview mirror and backing up with a full 360-degree car image.”
After hearing this, most of the family members nodded their heads without saying a word – I know that they will ask around to see if this project is necessary, ask their aunts and uncles to find people in the same medical industry for advice; ask their friends and relatives who are “knowledgeable” in the big cities of North, Shanghai and Guangzhou for ideas; and even turn to Baidu encyclopedia and so on …… but in the end, almost 95% of them will ask me to go back and pay the money without saying a word.
The patients at Ning You Hospital include many people from ordinary families, even farmers who lack medical insurance, and many patients from other provinces who have left their own medical insurance support and come all the way here just to seek better medical solutions. For years, there were middle-aged women holding small cards at the side entrance of the hospital, whispering to everyone who came in and out, “Stay in a hotel” or “Cheap hotel”, and countless families often followed them into the narrow lanes by the hospital, turning around and staying in the simple single rooms. The families often follow them into the narrow alleys by the hospital, turn around and stay in simple single rooms. They compressed every expense as much as possible, just want to spend the money to the edge of the treatment. But where is the edge of the knife?
One evening in the middle of summer, I received a call from Dr. Liang, asking me to hurry to the hospital – a patient had agreed to do the program.
I rushed to the office, and it was after 7:00. Only Dr. Liang and an older boy who looked very young were left. I froze: “Are you a family member?” The older boy nodded and hung his head without saying a word.
Dr. Liang should have already communicated with the boy, the boy did not say anything more to me, but simply asked about the steps to sign the contract and pay the money. In the sweeping code payment, he suddenly stopped, slightly apologetic, “please wait a moment”, and turned to go out.
While waiting for the boy to come back, Dr. Liang briefly told me about the case: the patient was a 45-year-old woman from a rural area who had brought up her two sons alone after divorce and had spent many years paying for the children’s college education. “The situation is still very bad, the cancer embolus has invaded the portal vein, the surgery is expected to be very dangerous, that’s why I recommended her to do your reconstruction program”.
Before the words were out of my mouth, in came another, more boyish boy, the older boy’s brother. The younger brother cautiously asked me, “Excuse me, does the money have to be paid in full today?”
I shook my head, “It doesn’t have to be today, but we can only start doing the program if we receive the money and the company’s engineers can start doing the program, which takes about 2 working days, so just work backwards in time and make the program before the surgery date.”
The two boys stopped talking and buried their heads looking at their phones, I sidled away to a farther distance, but I could still see them both tapping their WeChat wallets, balance funds, and mobile banking in turn. Finally, the brother transferred all the money in his balance to WeChat, and then transferred the money to his brother through WeChat, the brother stared at his phone for half a day, and declined to voice: “Still not enough, still 300 short.”
Two young faces became dull, I suddenly nose slightly sour, impulsively said to them both: “I transfer you 300 yuan it.” Both boys looked up at me in surprise, which made me a little embarrassed, and I waved my hand: “It’s nothing, I’ll assume that I won’t get a commission for this single.”
After the two boys left, my emotions were a bit tense. Dr. Liang looked at my red eyes, sighed, handed me a tissue, and calmly comforted me: “Don’t cry, we will try our best to do her surgery.”
I choked up and said, “I just feel so sorry for them, no dad, mom is sick, I don’t know if I can save the person after the money is spent, and I don’t know if I have money to finish college.”
Dr. Liang was silent for a long time and opened his mouth to advise: “You still spend too little time in the hospital. All those who come to the hospital are poor people, don’t be so impulsive in the future, or your salary is not enough to donate.”
I do medical representative this year
Late one night, I suddenly received a phone call from a family member, her voice was hoarse and tired, and she asked me suspiciously why her father had not seen the results of our examination when he was going to have an operation tomorrow. I patiently explained that the results of this test were mainly for the doctor to see, and that a paper report and invoice for the patient would be sent directly to her by courier later.
She talked to herself and didn’t seem to need my answer.
“I also asked Dr. Chen specifically about this test during our checkup this evening, and he said a few things that weren’t clear, and I still don’t understand exactly what role this thing plays in tomorrow’s surgery.”
“I don’t have a clue about my dad’s surgery tomorrow, the doctor just said he was in a bad way, but then said they would do their best. I don’t understand again, I can only do what the doctors tell me to do, but does this stuff of yours really help?”
“You do not know what is the examination of 3000 yuan, since we were hospitalized, money really is not money, the doctor also said that let us get ready for the later stage of targeted therapy thought, every month to tens of thousands of dollars, I sold the house also can not raise so much money……
“Said the opposite voice stopped, the microphone in addition to empty echo no other, I quietly waiting, until the end came a long sigh:” Forget it.
I know that Dr. Chen, who is in charge of this patient, is a very patient-friendly doctor with an excellent reputation. When I am in the office every day, I often hear him discussing with his colleagues what he can do to give cheap medical advice to patients with modest means. Even so, I have heard the story of one patient Chen was in charge of who, when she was making her bed after leaving the hospital, was cleaning out a kitchen knife wrapped in newspaper from under the mattress. The whole office was in an uproar, and everyone was discussing with each other whether anything had gone wrong that upset the patient. “I really want to thank him for not killing me,” Dr. Chen said with a wry smile.
At the end of his speech, there was only silence except for a few coordinated dry smiles.
7
At the same time, I also started to deal with the “hospital admission” of products. Layer upon layer of typing reports, approval and signature, for me as a novice, many do not understand how to deal with. Mr. Shen had asked Manager Cheng to take charge of the matter, but manager Cheng, as before, said yes, but no one was seen.
To appease me, Shen began to offer me frequent meals for work, and I couldn’t refuse.
After much discussion, I also figured out the contradiction between him and Manager Cheng: Manager Shen was the regional manager of his company, responsible for the business of three provinces, while Manager Cheng was the city manager under his charge, responsible for the expansion of our province. Manager Cheng had strong business skills, but he was not at peace with Manager Shen. On the contrary, he kept a close relationship with Manager Shen. Mr. Shen has been trying to change manager Cheng, but he has been trying to avoid the trap. In addition to occasionally setting obstacles to manager Cheng’s reimbursement, he can’t do anything about it.
Shen suspected Manager Cheng of playing tricks behind his back – in order to expand the market, the company will have a part of the free trial, the cost of the cost of the regional “cost center”. “Every now and then he’d come up with a free trial, and I guess he took the patient’s money and applied for a free trial from the company. Small abacus play very fine! Every order 3000 yuan, he was hacked, but also with my cost center to pay for him!”
I expressed doubt: “free bill and charge bill are different systems, and the patient to pay the money is only recognize the company’s charge system, directly pay the money to the company’s account, do not trust the money directly to the medical representative?”
Shen waved his hand impatiently and said, “More is more.” In the middle of the sentence, he stopped again. “I can’t talk too much to you.
His dark face was covered with a greasy smile. I resisted the discomfort and turned away.
After I gradually opened up the situation, manager Cheng began to appear in the department with me frequently. Some doctors wonder, “Why are you both in charge of our place? Who should we call if we have something to do?”
“We are both the same, but she is the agent and I am the manufacturer.”
Then, more and more frequently, Shen began to whisper in my ear, “When the time is right, I will hire you to our company, kill cheng, let him know how much he has, and then all the resources here will be given to you!”
In a flash, I figured out where Manager Cheng’s hostility toward me came from, and I was suddenly relieved of any complaints he had had — after all, self-preservation is a human instinct. I smiled when I thought of the pancake that Yang always drew for me at the very beginning.
“The cake is too big. I have a bad stomach and can’t digest it.” I answered in silence.
Time to the end of summer, ning you hospital performance has not been too big progress, other hospitals have been difficult to open the situation, cheng manager alone to explore a few hospitals also see little progress.
Mr. Shen obviously has a good temper and is putting more and more pressure on me. Sometimes I went to Yang and said, “I’m not his subordinate, so why should he dictate to me?” Yang can only appease: “Bear it, the company for this project, paid the deposit, paid the agency fee. Now the situation can not be opened, we are under a lot of pressure, you do well, savvy, is a sales material, come on!”
I am a little annoyed that I stepped into the mud hole, now this mess old sales people evaded, the company saw the situation can not open naturally will not spend the cost of hiring, this pile of trouble I really can not get rid of.
One day, Manager Shen suddenly called me and asked me to go to a dinner party with him in the evening. “The leader of the National health Commission is recommended by the middleman. Let’s see if he can put more pressure on Director Ding and push our project forward.” After a pause, Manager Shen emphasized seriously, “The leader is very important tonight. You must drink now.”
Before every meal Shen would advise me to drink, I always refused to drink, was forced to do, also only drink some beer and wine to deal with. Shen was very dissatisfied with this: “What kind of salesman does not drink? You can’t do that!”
Now Manager Shen repeated the old story: “Do you know why there must be a young lady at the wine table? Because a group of men drinking is really too stuffy, without you to adjust the atmosphere, business can not be negotiated down? You have to learn to make an atmosphere.”
Hearing this, I was even more annoyed. I tried again and again, but could not resist: “Mr. Shen, I feel a little uncomfortable today. Otherwise, I won’t go to dinner tonight.”
Seeing that I was angry, Manager Shen had to say sarcastically, “Ok, don’t drink. Don’t drink.”
Not long after dinner, Mr. Shen introduced me to the guests: “Xiao Yue is very strong, is a top student, English is super good, past eight.”
I instinctively wanted to retort, but thinking about not refuting Mr. Shen, I had to lower my head and keep silent. Unexpectedly a leader inquiringly with great interest 1: “the little girl is pretty good, but how did the English major think of coming to this line?”
I have not thought of how to say, Shen always quickly grabbed the conversation: “No, xiao Yue is a medical student, but she is diligent and studious, in her spare time suddenly passed the eighth grade.”
That leader “oh” 1, meaningful ground looked at me one eye, did not speak again. I was so annoyed that I thought That Mr. Shen must have not seriously studied in college. The leather leaked out before I blew it, which caused me to be misunderstood. I secretly rolled my eyes at the thought.
I’ve survived every toast and toast with half a glass of red wine, mostly just a sip. I guess such behavior is frowned upon, but I don’t care — I’ve listened in private to colleagues’ discussions on a daily basis, praising someone for being “nice,” deriding someone for being “not cool,” or for being “nice to drink. I have also heard female colleagues in sales chatting:
“I was so good yesterday that I drank half a bottle and got the whole table drunk.”
“Then you are really lucky, I was in E city a few days ago, but I was forced to carry myself to the table, and Xiaofeng carried me back to the room.”
I turned my head and stared at the neon lights outside the box in a daze. I didn’t bother to respond to Manager Shen’s advice: “Toast more and be sweet.”
After the show, I was busy closing, checking out, calling for the driver, and by the time I had delivered the last guest, my face was already frozen with laughter. I relaxed my jaw and stood on my back in the plaza outside the hotel. My only desire at the moment is to get home, kick off my high heels and put on my comfy pajamas and collapse on the couch — a moment that, after my transfer to the medical representative job, has become an indescribable bliss.
I do not know when Manager Shen sneaked to my side: “Little Yueyue, why do you look unhappy today?” I forced a smile, he continued to speak: “I think you, the other are all good, but can not let go, too stiff, this way not ah.” As he spoke, he moved his arm vainly from behind me.
He likes to touch my shoulders and thighs from time to time. When crossing the street, he seems to greet me with a hand on my waist. Although I am angry, he always pulls back his hand quickly. This evening, perhaps in his drunkenness, he had shown himself to be quite daring. I suddenly the whole body a tight, shoulder a hard, the whole person forward a quick step to get rid of him, the voice has become hard up: “I go first.”
I quickly walked to the side of the road and pulled over to a taxi. In the cab I was thinking about what I had just done. I felt sick to my stomach.
8
I found General Manager Yang and said that he was not willing to follow up this image reconstruction project any more, and he was even more unwilling to dock with General Manager Shen again. Mr. Yang advised me that such high-quality resources as Ningyou Hospital are the areas that many medical representatives want to be responsible for. It is a pity to give it up because you are not easily recognized by the doctors.
I was not moved, in the hospital department mixed more than half a year, I also roughly understand the ningyou hospital rules. Doctors have a lot of internal mobility. Doctors who are trained and trained come to “transfer” and leave after a few months. The attending doctor and resident doctor in the hospital also change the medical team almost every year. This meant that I had to constantly inundate new doctors, and even if I had a good relationship with them, key decisions still required getting through to medical team leaders and department heads.
I shook my head firmly. “You said you’d let me go back to my job if I couldn’t do it.”
Mr. Yang replied to me one day later: If I really don’t want to do it, the project company would send someone else to follow up. But he offered me a replacement condition — to visit Pingshan Hospital (alias) to see if there were any projects that could be operated.
Pingshan Hospital is a small local hospital. I have lived here for nearly 30 years and have never heard of its name. In June, it was taken over by Ningyou Hospital, as the “Ningyou Hospital and Pingshan Hospital medical alliance” into my sight. After a hospital level leader of Ning You was transferred to hold the post of president of Pingshan concurrently, the internal personnel structure was greatly changed. Directors of many key departments of Ning You also went to hold the post of department leader in Pingshan one after another, among them director Ding.
Mr. Yang said that this was a good opportunity. The old team of the hospital had been replaced, and the succeeding leaders had not found a firm footing at present. It was the best time to establish a relationship when the time was not ripe, “We can certainly lay a foundation in Pingshan Hospital”. Before leaving, Yang emphasized, “If you want to inquire about the needs of those large medical equipment, don’t spend time on the small orders of more than ten or two hundred thousand yuan. At this stage, do the big list!”
Director ding saw me in the office of Pingshan Hospital, not surprised: “your legs are quite diligent, but pingshan hospital patients economic conditions are not so good, your things are too expensive, they certainly can not afford to use.”
“No, no, no.” I quickly explained with a smile, “I’m not here to talk about video. I’m just here to visit you and wish you a new level of success.”
Director Ding smiled: “There is something straight.”
Embarrassed, I stammered, “Well, in addition to image reconstruction, there are other businesses we could be involved in…”
Director Ding did not embarrass me, very readily said: “now the major surgery needs a lot of things, endoscope, B ultrasound machine, laparoscope, and CT machine.
I took the pen and paper to record quickly, while recording while asking: “Which brand do you tend to respectively? What is the approximate budget for each one?”
Director Ding paused, his voice a little unpleasant: “Can you find any brand I want?”
I too felt ill, flushed and unable to speak.
Before going out, director Ding said earnestly: “Little Xu, I suggest you still focus on doing one thing, so does your company.”
I was impressed, but I could not answer, so I answered shyly.
Back at the company, Yang always excitedly stared at the demand list I gave him and kept nodding his head. “Turn a head and told me:” To find the supply of goods I will deal with, you go to visit the equipment section, and equipment section chief as soon as possible familiar with.
After some thinking, Yang initially decided to focus on 3D laparoscopic equipment, but Director Ding reminded me that: “The department can only demand, the specific final purchase of which brand, or the equipment department and president to decide.
Laparoscopy is about three million dollars, a high budget, and it’s really not up to the department itself. Yang and I thought:
First of all, we should communicate with the mainstream brands to see if they are willing to authorize us to represent them to bid for Pingshan Hospital. This may seem like a simple step, but it’s the most critical and difficult. We should according to their own information to determine the brand, most likely the bid to get their authorization, once selected a brand, in addition to paying hefty margin, also means that went out with other brands, if you finally choose hospital is not our agent brand, not only the security deposit can’t take back, before paying energy draw water with a sieve. However, even for the brand we like, the agency is not easy to discuss. The brand side will weigh the relationship among the three parties, and only when they are not quite sure about the business of the hospital, will they be willing to give the agency to us.
Secondly, we need to maintain a good relationship with the department director, equipment section chief and director of the hospital, not only in order to obtain internal information in a timely manner, but more importantly, if the final conditions of several brands are equal, then it will be a crucial factor to win the support of several leaders in the bidding.
General Manager Yang is responsible for contacting manufacturers, while I am responsible for activities in the hospital. I learned from Director Ding that the main intention of 3D laparoscopy in the hospital were three brands: W, A and S. Yang didn’t think too long before he decided W — he was familiar with the “regional manager” of W manufacturer, so it was easier for him to get the agency.
He directed me: “You as a sales brand W manufacturer to visit the equipment section chief.”
I hesitated: “even if you successfully talked about the brand agent, we can only communicate at most with the identity of agents?”
Yang is unconcerned: “You are new to this industry and don’t understand. In this industry, you don’t care about these details. The hospital only cares about the brand you represent behind, as for you are manufacturer or agent, it doesn’t matter at all. We are more competitive if we say we are a manufacturer.”
I still do not want to: “Director Ding know me, after meeting, people knew I was lying, not good? Since you say it’s all the same, wouldn’t it be a good idea to honestly say we’re agents?”
Mr. Yang’s face fell and there was pent-up anger in his voice. “Do you know what your biggest problem is? Don’t know much but think too much! This project is too big, too complicated, and you have too little experience. Don’t ‘think’ all the time. Just do what I tell you to do!”
9
After learning from director Ding that the chief of equipment section of Pingshan Hospital was surnamed Li, I set out to visit him.
Because of my previous experience of “strangers” in Ningyou, I was quite at ease at the beginning. However, when Chief Li took me to the meeting room and solemnly said that I needed to know more about the situation, I was still blindsided.
Mr. Li looks to be in his early 30s, baby-faced. But as soon as he spoke, my contempt was quickly withdrawn — he was an age-inappropriate professional and able man, firing off questions like, “Can you tell me about the model you recommend and the configuration of the monitor and camera system?”
“Is it a hernia light source or a halogen light source?”
“Which hospitals in the province have won the bidding for this model? How are they using it?”
I was caught off guard by a series of questions. The product knowledge of Brand W I had memorized before was obviously not enough to cope with his questions. I answered reluctantly while rapid rethink in mind, finally honestly confessed: “embarrassed section li, I mainly responsible for business communication, to mainly visit you today, have a look at our hospital needs, on this side of the relevant information about specific products, later I will come again with the company’s product manager made a special trip.”
Chief Li looked up at me thoughtfully. Without saying anything, he took my business card and asked me to bring the product manager back as soon as possible. He got up and got ready to leave the meeting room. Worried that my performance was too bad today, I hurried to catch up and asked, “Leo, can I have your phone number?”
Li section chief report a string of numbers, I record on the phone, and then immediately dialing out, Li section chief took out the ringing cell phone lo lo, I pay on the smiling face: “Li Ke, this is my phone, you do not want to save, so next time I do not have to report home.
Li Kechang smiled and deposited the number in front of me — this is the fawn taught me, “see a doctor has in the first time to recognize you, he has to see the first time to give you his mobile phone number. “But it’s not enough to be willing to give you your number. It’s only enough to be willing to save your number.”
Back to the company, I urged Yang always contact W manufacturer and I together to strike while the iron is hot, “synergy to visit” – I said to get news, according to the department plan, laparoscopic to put in place by the end of the year, at this time is mid to late August, communication, negotiation, hanging net, bidding, sign a contract, purchase the arrival of the goods, for our time is very nervous.
People from Factory W have had several meetings and meals with us, but their attitude has not been clear yet. At the banquet, Yang and the other party’s Total Sue toasts, you come to me to between but are secretly testing each other’s bottom card. Yang always constantly to each other boast about our relationship with Pingshan Hospital how iron: “Xiao Yue and the director of the department of surgery ding very good relationship, from the ning you hospital to make the relationship, director Ding special recognition of her. There are equipment section li section chief, and small Yue is very familiar with.”
I lowered my head to one side and did not dare to answer — Director Ding was not special to me, but rather polite, not as harsh as others; Li is only one time, I have no confidence to visit, just waiting for a professional to accompany, to restore a little impression.
I secretly give Yang total wink, want to let him not to say too much, Yang total completely ignore me, continue to put forward suggestions: “or another day to let xiao Yue and you go to visit li section chief?”
I nervous to no good, until the total answer to hear Su carelessly: “don’t bother, I and Li section chief is also very familiar with, another day I go to visit, then help small Yue to convey greetings.”
Hearing this, Mr. Yang’s face turned sour.
After the banquet, Yang always said to me with a somber face: “The cooperation with W is expected to hang. That old Su certainly had not done the relation of pingshan hospital, he must seek an agent that can get through the relation of Pingshan hospital, why don’t seek us? What a shame!”
After the cooperation with Brand W was hopeless, Manager Yang tried to contact brand A again. The negotiation is still going smoothly. Brand A has been declining in China in recent years. It is said that the sales staff of the manufacturer has been cut down A lot, and most of the business is left to the big agents in this city. Agents are not willing to devote their energy to developing the business in Pingshan Hospital, so when Yang always went to the two sides did not go through too many rounds of negotiation, they readily signed the temporary authorization.
I was curious and asked why the agent of Brand A was so frank? Deer smiled: “A brand agent was not going to do the pingshan hospital business, this kind of millions of big orders, the later stage can not be certain, but the early stage of the ‘investment’ that is certain. If not, isn’t it a empty basket? How about selling a temporary license to us, and when the deal is done, their faces shine and the brand can take the credit; The order is not enough, the deposit of 50,000 is also stable into the bag!”
I learned from Director Ding that from the department, equipment department and even the president, the recognition degree of A brand is not high, and the possibility of winning the bid is very small. I tentatively asked Mr. Yang: Do you really want to take the authorization of Brand A for A gamble?
Yang nodded his head firmly: “Brand A is only getting lower recognition, not bad quality. With my decades of contacts in the industry, I want to make the impossible possible.”
I saw Yang always firm expression, speechless.
Yang always asked me to contact Li Section chief again to recommunicate the issue of Brand A, and I looked embarrassed. “Before, I said I was of Brand W, but now I’m going to talk about brand A again. Is that A bit of A joke?”
Yang always seems to see through my mind, casually said to me: “It doesn’t matter, you don’t have any baggage, such a situation in the industry is normal, Li Section chief will not because of this on you.
10
As Mr. Yang said, after listening to my lame explanation, Chief Li’s expression did not change at all. Although I did not know what he was thinking, he did not have too many doubts about this matter. He just asked me to give him the configuration list of all models of Brand A as soon as possible.
Mr. Yang frequently visited the new vice president in charge, and it is said that he asked the vice president to take time out for a “long talk” after having many relations with him. After A period of time, Mr. Yang told me mysteriously that through his unremitting efforts and introduction, the vice president had increasingly recognized his idea: “We should not be superstitious about brands, but only focus on quality and service. Brand A is the most cost-effective choice.”
Then there was a round of talks, sometimes with the three brands together, sometimes with each brand separately by the hospital. The situation seemed to be getting clearer step by step, and everything was developing in A direction that was beneficial to us. From the department to the equipment department, news came from all over the place pointing to the possibility that brand A would win the bid. Mr. Yang was satisfied with that for A while.
The other two manufacturers became restless. Mr. Su of W factory frequently came to me, trying every means to extract quotation, configuration and promised later service of Brand A from me. Later, seeing me keep my mouth shut, I laughed and said, “It doesn’t matter, I still have the means to find out.”
On the day of the bidding information “hanging on the net”, The ambitious Manager Yang hesitated for A long time: according to the parameter requirements of the equipment listed on the net, especially some public parameters, Pingshan Hospital was not obviously inclined to Brand A as we expected before, but ambiguous, both Brand W and Brand A were applicable.
Yang frowned and thought for a long time, but still couldn’t figure out where the problem was. I told him the conversation between Sue and me, and he glared at me: “Why didn’t you report this important matter earlier?” Then he told me to hurry to Li Section chief to inquire about the quotation of W Company.
Seeing that I was as enthusiastic as ever, Li Ke’s smile did not change after he heard the reason clearly, but his face was full of embarrassment. “I certainly can’t tell you the quotation offered by their company.”
I did not do much hope, at the moment did not struggle, say hello and ready to leave. When turning around, Li Section chief called me: “I also want to go down, we together.” As he locked the door, he handed me a document in his hand. “Give me a hand,” he said. “There are too many things in my hand to free my hand.
When I looked down, the transparent folder that Li Section chief handed me was exactly W Company’s quotation plan, configuration and promised gifts and after-sales services. My heart a burst of ecstasy, while Li Section chief is still immersed in “playing” the door, I hurriedly that page of documents secretly filmed.
After returning to the company, I gave the picture to Mr. Yang, who repeatedly praised me for my “ability and great achievements”. After turning to look closely, he could not help cursing: “This old Su, given such a low price and so many gifts, can’t he do business any more? !”
He cursed and said angrily to me: “Wait for me to communicate with A factory later, we let A little, they let A little, how also want to drive old Su they have no way out.
I do not know how Yang finally communicated with A brand, the final price made Yang sad: “When it comes to the millions of large orders, the final profit is not as much as hundreds of thousands of small orders. Put in so much, finally became the industry joke. It’s chicken ribs.”
The result was that Yang remained in a “depression” for a long time. It wasn’t until the day of the bid opening, however, that he received a bigger blow: the W brand was still the winner.
But Su total also not happy, he impolitely called Yang total: “brother, our quotation is not to have a little bottom?”
Yang always angrily answer him: “no matter have bottom have no bottom, still you in bid.”
“It’s not as good as a bid! I don’t have the cheek to say that all the others are busy snigging now. Dean X is so cunning!”
I thought of lee section chief “accidentally” let me see the quotation, seems to understand something. Yang always said to himself with hatred: “For a long time, not only did a ‘accompany run’, but also did a ‘accompany run’ when the gun made…”
Afterword.
Pingshan hospital tender in the past not long, I refused to Yang always retain, put forward no longer dry medical representatives. But I didn’t return to my job as Yang always promised. My work and quiet life were abruptly cut off.
I asked Fawn with puzzlement, “Why did Mr. Yang start to do so much trouble this year when his business was doing well? One time he did image reconstruction, another time he went to do bidding for projects. These are not areas our company used to be familiar with.”
Around the fawn, secretly sighed: “the day of the pharmaceutical companies are now becoming more and more difficult, national health care reform again and again, and get it in this year” centralized purchasing “and” bring purchasing ‘(in the process of drug centralized purchasing in the bidding, or clear purchase quantity when bargaining negotiations, make enterprise for specific drugs quantity quotation. It can be understood as a large ‘group purchase’, where the low-bidder wins the bid, plays the role of exchanging quantity for price, and lowers the price of purchased medicine), and the profits of the middle tier are squeezed out.”
“You look outside, how many pharmaceutical companies, layoffs, layoffs, closures. It’s getting harder and harder for us. It used to be the norm for me to get 10,000 or 20,000 yuan a month, but now… Alas, Yang always do not toss out some exit, I am afraid that their own position is not secure.”
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