Sanofi-Aventis Cuts Hundreds Of US Sales Reps
1 CommentBy Ed Silverman // December 4th, 2008 // 6:29 am
The actually tally is not precise, but Sanofi-Aventis currently employs about 6,500 reps in the US and the cuts will amount to something less than 10 percent, or ’single digits, percentage-wise,’ a spokesman writes us. So at most, that would mean up to 650 reps losing their jobs.
Just as others have been doing, the drugmaker is implementing what it calls a ‘new commercial model,’ which requires fewer sales reps as third-party payers, for instance, get more promotional attention, as well as docs in certain regions or specialties, although the spokesman was not specific.
Whatever the model, those familiar armies of sales reps are dwindling rapidly. Over the past several months, big drugmakers have laid off legions, including Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Schering-Plough, Wyeth and Glaxo. A few months ago, Sanofi-Aventis eliminated hundreds of reps in France, too.
SalesStrategist
Sanofi-Aventis, like Merck before them has adopted a “New Commercial Model” that uses technology-enabled alternative sales channels linking reps and physicians with live video detailing. ~40% of physicians are viewed as no-see or hard-to-see but 90%+ are going online to search for medical information.
The potential is obvious, but only recently have some leading pharma marketers recognized that the physician needs to be served on their terms, whenever, wherever they are.
As the field rep productivity is declining, the industry has to find alternative models, and S-A apparantly has.