Ranks of sales reps thinning

Fewer reps are knocking on doctors' doors these days. A consulting firm that advises most of Big Pharma says Pfizer [1], Sanofi-Aventis, and Bristol-Myers Squibb have all culled their herds of reps. And more companies will be following suit soon.

The cuts aren't a huge surprise; when most of the big drugmakers announced their restructuring-slash-layoff plans, they drew big targets on their sales operations. But other factors come into play, too, Jaideep Bajaj of ZS Associates told the WSJ Health Blog. Companies are backing away from their old, blanket-the-market sales models. Instead of sending five reps to chat up a doctor about the same med, they're sending only two or three.

- read the Health Blog item [2]
- see a video interview [3] with Bajaj

Related Articles:
Top 8 layoffs of 2007. Report [4]
Pfizer to axe 2,200 sales jobs in realignment. Report [1]
What to do with Avandia sales force? Report [5]