Obviously there are exceptions, a lot of bright people, who come from different areas. And we have had different individuals
from the medical departments, from pharmacy, from regulatory affairs and those kinds of things, who have definitely risen
up through the ranks.
But I think the majority of people still have come up through sales. That is kind of the career path that we still try to
employ. The reps who are successful are the ones who want to move on and do other things. They are encouraged to spend time
in the home office in a variety of different jobs, one being marketing, and to spend time in the field as a manager. Once
you have done those three areas, I think you are open to moving up in the organization. Most individuals still start with
sales.
It definitely is a different world today. Who knows what the future is going to bring? We are trying to stay in touch with
what we think is going to happen. All you can do is keep training them right and meeting the customer needs. If you do that,
you bring value to prescribers, patients, and shareholders.
Ed Yavuz, Wyeth's vice president of sales training and management development, describes the elementsof a successful training department
and offers his own as a model for others to follow.
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