Anecdotes & memories of a sales guy

  I wish to recount how a friend of mine,  Gangadhar Chowdary overcame his shortcoming in carrying out his job as a Pharma Sales person. In my days as a medical representative in Guntur in the 70s, Gangadhar Chowdary was working in a Company called Beacon Laboratories as a medical representative. Beacon was a small company. It selected Gangadhar Chowdary as it's representative as he belonged to the dominant community in Guntur district. Most of the medical representatives were from the Brahmin community in those days. So Beacon had made a strategic plan to attract medical practitioners of the dominant community in the district by employing a man from their community. However, my friend was not proficient in communicating in English.  Communication between a pharma representative and a medical practitioner is generally done in English. But Gangadhar Chowdary had a great answer to his problem. He befriended a representative from another Pharma Company, SANDOZ (Baji) who was...

  Since I worked with a Pharma Company, my schoolmate wanted to know what happens to drugs after they expire.  I was faced with the task of physical disposal of the expired medicines since I was in-charge of the zonal office of Novartis in Chennai. Pharma companies had an understanding with the traders to take back all expired medicines and give value credit in return to them. Wherever feasible, returning to the manufacturer is the first choice because the manufacturer is likely to have good disposal method at its disposal. Immediately you will wonder that if it is the first choice, won't the manufacturer recycle the medicines by freshly repacking them and putting on a new expiry dates? What foolproof measures are taken to prevent this collosal fraud? Fortunately there are some factors which work against pharma companies in doing what you feared, recycling expired medicines as new packs. Only less popular or in fact least popular brands become expired. So factory level recycl...

  A poster picture appeared in a WhatsApp message reading Google...Now Hiring No need to apply. We already have all your information.  And following comments from a friend accompanied: Google has everyone's concise information (సంక్షిప్త సమాచారం) up in the cloud. Google decides if one is to be hired ! This prompted me to imagine how candidate selection for employment would be in the days / years to come...  with A I (artificial intelligence) aiding in hiring process.... CEO, Sikhar at Seek Corp called his HR head, Hari and sought to know about how the recruitment plan made during the previous day is progressing. The company (Seek Corp) was looking for hiring a Manager for a client company, Desire&Get Ltd. in Hyderabad. Hari contacts Google Assistant (Google Assistant is the AI-powered software you talk to when using a Google Home speaker) to find out suitable candidate. Hari: Google, is there any suitable candidate for the post? Google: Give me a second to scan Cloud...

  The kitchen tap was leaking so I called a plumber to fix it. I was watching him work...thus went a story about a plumber from Happy For Now (HFN) Story Team, Jodhpur. That story appeared in our WhatsApp group a few days ago. The worker uses inappropriate and broken tools for the repair work. The story goes on to suggest that the worker politely refused to accept extra money offered to buy new hacksaw blade and a right wrench (spanner) saying that he would manage all his new assignments with the tools he has. Reading this, far from real story, I had a hearty laugh. I compared it with stark reality around us. These workers usually do not even have right tools for the works. They often care a damn about using right tool for work. Often a threaded screw is hammered down rather than screwing it in with a screwdriver. A plier is used to tighten or loosen a nut instead of a right wrench (spanner) You mostly see a carpenter fixing 3 screws into a door hinge with 4 holes. Most often a two...

  I saw a picture poster in my WhatsApp message box yesterday. I am sure you all have also seen it. It was posted by my brother, Dr. Narasimha. It read 'Santosh Tailor - Specialist in - Alteration of Ladies to Gents.'  I remembered immediately sartorial professional (Tailor) Yadgir and his assistant (seamster who sewed button holes) engaged in creating zooty outfits for wear. I recollected their gnan vitaran about laws governing Tailoring. I am sharing thoughts that came to my mind in this connection. Incidentally you will understand how Santosh Tailors will be able to alter outfits of Ladies to fit Gents. Men's clothing buttons are on the right side, and women's clothing buttons are on the left. - street corner tailor Yadgir. (Don't expect that every quote is from Mahatma Gandhi.) 1. If one button in a shirt is put in wrong buttonhole, then every button is in wrong place. 2. "If you take care of the first button on a shirt, rest of the buttons will take care...

  I worked as a pharma sales person for about 30 years from 1972 (first 14 years as a Medical Representative and later as a Manager) In the 70s & 80s only a small number of generic equivalent brands were available in the market in vast majority of therapeutic segments. The exceptions were antibiotic drugs and vitamins. I remember that in Guntur, about 65-70 MRs were based in the 70s and 80s (representing about 50 companies - some companies had >1reps) Ethical promotion to convince a doctor about superiority of a product resulted in prescription for it. Doctors were looking for knowledge about new changes in therapeutic options available through pharma companies. Now, the internet availability has given them direct access to all latest information they require. Availability of more number of Brands in many classes of medicines has changed the orientation of pharma business from being industry driven. The baton of power to influence the pharma sales has slipped into the hand...

  I recall my experience in a doctor's chamber in Eluru. There was a doctor couple who were running a Nursing Home in the town. The husband was a senior surgeon and his wife, Dr.V.Parijatham was a general practitioner predominantly practicing as a gynaecologist. Both of them were very busy practitioners in Eluru. As a medical representative of a multi national pharmaceutical company CIBA, I used to visit them to promote our products and thus gain sales for my company. Usually, our visits were at monthly intervals. When a medical representative plans to call on a doctor, he reaches the doctor's clinic / hospital and waits for the doctor to be free to get an interview with him / her. The doctor is informed of my wait, usually through my (business) card sent to him through an attendant at the clinic. Sometimes, the receptionist or the clinic attendant doesn't take our business cards but usher us into the consultation room at an appropriate time. Usually after the doctor comple...

  That was early 90s. My two nieces, Aruna and Shubha who had completed their intermediate exam visited us at Hyderabad. Their purpose was to appear for EAMCET exam to seek admission into Engineering Colleges in the then Andhra Pradesh. They are daughters of two of my elder brothers, Seshagiri Rao and Vasant Rao. Their declared purpose of seeking engineering college admission in AP was only to play it safe since both of them were certain of their admission into colleges in Karnataka. Infact they had completed their intermediate course in Bangalore. So, their visit to Hyderabad was primarily to holiday with us for a few days and the EAMCET was only a pretext. We had a gala time. Once the exam was over, I wanted to take them to my eldest brother who was living in Mahendra Hills area of Secunderabad, about 10 kilometres from my home in Ameerpet.  My two nieces, my wife and I got into the car to go to Mahendra Hills. We were on Sardar Patel road and at the junction with Rastrapati...

In one of my WhatsApp groups, quite a spicy discussion about performances in interviews for selection as a medical representative appeared a few days ago. Someone from Alembic said that the outcome of the interview depended on talent in group discussion, a talent with high weightage in that company.  Another from Glaxo said the most important factor was truthfulness. One more stated that excellence in communication determined final selection. Others listed good grasp of subjects studied in college, ability to accept challenges etc as factors with high weightage. One even said 'అంతా భగవత్ నిర్ణయం' (God ordains)  As I wrote in my earlier article titled "Job Unknown" I attended many interviews in different Organisations, not just the one conducted by my eventual employer, CIBA. Alembic, Dey's were two other Pharma companies where I attended selection interviews. Discussion on interview result  is like a married couple discussing premarital spouse selection interviews...

I started my career as a Medical Representative in 1972 at Guntur. The job required me to visit doctors to promote the use of our medicines. For this intra town movement, most of the Medical Representatives used two wheelers or hired cycle rickshaws on hourly basis. Obviously, a two wheeler was more suitable as it was a more convenient and time saving mode of transport. There were two brands of scooters (Vespa or Bajaj/ Lambretta) and 3 motor cycles (Rajadoot/ Jawa/ Royal Enfield Bullet) which were popular those days. Those days, one had to wait for a few months for getting a new two wheeler after booking. So, I purchased my first scooter, a second hand Lambretta which was sparingly used  by a doctor in 1974. I still remember the Vehicle Registration Number - APK 9522. Subsequently I purchased a Priya scooter after using Lambretta for about 3-4 years. About a year later I changed from Priya scooter to Rajdoot motor cycle.  Most Medical Representatives in Guntur used to go to a...

  Shall I talk of sweet things today for a change? I like sweets very much. I call these as memories since I have turned a diabetic about 20 years ago. I therefore call my love for sweets a "sweet memory."  My first job was as a medical rep in a Swiss Pharma Company called CIBA. I was sent to Guntur for my first posting in May 1972. As I was a bachelor, I was staying alone. It meant that I completely depended on hotels, restaurants and various eating places. I was thus exposed to varieties of foods. It gave me freedom to be indulgent in satiating my taste buds in many different ways. Guntur offered varieties of eating places and I frequented 2 places whenever I wanted to sweeten my mouth. Balaram Hotel, a north indian run joint, serving north-indian sweets, puri-kurma, chapathi and tea in the evening hours generally for the movie goers as it was next to a twin cinema hall complex (Ranga Mahal and Sesh Mahal) Layered pheni was my favourite item there. Run like a telangana st...

  Voveran introduction by Ciba in India was a success story that we cherish always in our lives as a sales force. I can safely say that CIBA operations in India can be divided as pre and post Voveran periods. As a sales force we were considered as very docile. During the pre Voveran period our product range did not contain any formulation in the highly competitive and money raking segments of Pharma market like anti-inflammatory/analgesics, antibiotics, Vitamins or cough syrups. With Voveran introduction we entered a big segment of anti-inflammatories which always witnessed a fierce competition amongst the formulations. Not many in the pharma industry gave any chance for Ciba to do well in this segment given the image our field force as being mild and non aggresive. Coupled with this notion, Pharma companies operating in the analgesics/anti-inflammatory segment were all well entrenched players like Suhrud Geigy, Boots, Roussel etc. Strategies employed by a very dynamic marketing t...

I was working in Guntur for about 12 years when I was transferred to Eluru. I was assigned the district of West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh as my new territory. Two illustrious predecessors, Mr.Anantha Krishnan (my immediate predecessor) and before him, Mr.P.B.K.Syamala Rao had worked in the district of West Godavari with Eluru as head quarters. Both of them besides being very pleasant persons, were also competent, intelligent and endearing. They were, thus, most liked by the doctors in that district.  Ciba as a company trained its employees in a meticulous manner and usually turned them into likeable persons who were adored by all. Since I also belonged to the rolls of the same company, I presume that I am no less liked by doctors in the territory I worked before moving to West Godavari district. I had successfully maintained best relationship with very senior consultants as well as junior Post Graduate doctors during my stint in Guntur. When I moved to West Godavari district, duri...

  It's likely you've used, or at least heard, a couple of oxymorons in your everyday life, even if you didn't realise it at the time. An oxymoron is a figure of speech containing words that seem to contradict each other. Let's see if any of these examples of oxymorons hit home for you: Act naturally, Bittersweet, Clearly confused, Deafening silence, Only choice, Open secret, Original copy, Weirdly normal and GENUINE FAKE. It is "GENUINE FAKE" which attracted my attention what with so many fake news, stories we come across in our daily life these days. Quite a few forwarded messages in social media turn out to be fakes. When I googled for "Genuine Fake" I was surprised to notice that there is a shop on Jalan Legian (Legian Road) in Bali, Indonesia with that name. However, when I hear this oxymoron, it brings back old memories connected with my (once) favourite drink (Coke) and my job in pharma industry. Double Seven was an Indian soft drink brand. It ...

   I am talking about Badminton - Shuttle Badminton. Having played ball badminton in my school days and watched tennis during my college and later, I never thought Shuttle Badminton as any game for men, what with a small sized court and a feathered shuttle for play.  I was first exposed to that game in Guntur in early 70's. Medical Representatives based in Guntur were playing the game in the evenings after completing the day's hard work. They were playing in a godown converted into an indoor badminton court. The godown itself belonged to Panchayathi Raj Department. While all was ok, the height of the roof was lower than required by the game rules. The horizontal bars of the roof trusses were obstructing the shuttle when hit high. But the players deftly avoided those bars even while hitting the shuttle high. My own senior colleague in CIBA, K.B.Sarma was a regular player and used to take me there along with him. About 10-15 colleagues in Pharma Sales profession were play...

  Guntur was a small town in those days. Tobacco business was the biggest commercial activity. It was also famous on account of two other activities. It was an educational center. In fact, it was in this town that the Coaching Class culture to train young students for medical and engineering course entrance exams started originally. Ravi college was started in Guntur by CVN Dhan, considered as the Czar of Coaching Class culture of India. Vignan college was another from this town which in later years became a deemed University. Medical Care is the third most important activity of this town. A Medical College, a Govt General Hospital and scores of private hospitals helped to cater to the health care needs of the vast population of central coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. In view of the third factor, many pharmaceutical companies stationed their medical representatives in Guntur. There were about 70-80 representatives working in Guntur in the seventies. Medical representatives in ...

  I joined as a medical representative in 1972. I was all of 21 and was looking for a rental accommodation in Guntur. Having lived in own houses in Proddatur till completion of school and later in Bangalore during my college days, I didn't like to rent a room or share living accommodation with anyone else. After several rejections from house owners due to their dislike to lease out accommodation to bachelors, I landed a small independent house. I was to be the first occupant of the brand new place. The drawing room was very small. I purchased 3 single seat cane arm chairs. They costed me Rs.180 totally. That was quite a big amount in those days. They remained with me until 1979 although I changed to 2 other houses. I was moving into a new larger accomodation since I got married in 1979. I planned to buy new furniture. The furniture shop owner agreed to buy back my old cane chairs after deal for new furniture was settled. Next day he came home to take the used chairs after inspectio...

  I made a trip all alone to Bangalore from Proddatur (in Kadapa district) in the summer of 1962 when I was barely 11 years old. In itself, the journey was adventurous. Our nearest Railway station, Yerraguntla, is about 12 kilometres away from Proddatur.  Boarding the train at Yerraguntla, I had to change in Guntakal and board another train to reach Bangalore.  Since my paternal grandmother was from Bangalore, I have scores of cousins in Bangalore. Since my trip was for holidaying, I planned to visit all my cousins as also visit all tourist places in and around Bangalore. By nature, I was adventurous and my 11 years age did not deter me from moving alone in public transport in Bangalore. Since I could speak Kannada fluently, I could converse  with people around if I required any info or help. My cousins helped in guiding me regarding City Bus routes, bus stops where to board a bus or alight to visit places of intests. I thus didn't require anyone else to accompany me...

Gadiyaram Ramasubramanya Sarma (grandson of Satavadhani and ప్రబంధకర్త Sri Gadiyaram Venkata Sesha Satry, author of epic Sri Siva Bharatam) and I were selected for participating in the Jambooree in Allahabad. It was an All India event conducted by Bharat Scouts and Guides. I will ink my memories of the trip as asked by him. My father suggested that a haversack (what we presently call a backpack) would be ideal for the trip. Haversacks were not available in Proddatur and we got one from Bangalore. It was a canvas bag which was weather and water proof. Since the trip was taking place during peak winter, I had to carry warm clothing, gloves etc. I even got new flannel shirts stitched. I packed all that I was to take for the trip in the haversack. Every night for 3-4 days before the trip commenced, I practiced walking with it on my back, straps firmly resting on my shoulders. The bean shaped army zinc water bottle with microporous cloth cover was also firmly in place hanging from the shou...

  It was about 30 years ago that I had a strange run of experiences in a short period of 30 odd hours. It is a sort of unique occurrence that happens in the life of a sales person which may never happen in any other job.  Those were the days I was working as a District Sales Manager in Ciba(a Swiss MNC Pharma company) based in Hyderabad and responsible for sales in Telangana, Rayalaseema and North coastal districts (Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram & Srikakulam.) I once visited Mancheriyal with an overnight stay. I joined my colleague, Chandrasekhar (who was working Adilabad district) in his work in that town. Since I also planned to visit Sirpur Kagaz Nagar the next day along with him, he arranged for a room for my stay in a local lodge where he was also put up. The place was just about manageable with bare minimum comforts  - just an ordinary room with a bed and an attached bath. Clean linen apart, nothing more to write about the room. After completing the day's work in...

  I was searching for an important document in my old files once. I stumbled upon a clipping from "Indian Express" news paper dated 31.12.1981. Looking at it, I pleasantly remembered my badminton playing days while I was working in Guntur during 1972-83 period. I had played ball badminton while in school in Proddatur. I took to Shuttle Badminton only in 1974-75 in Guntur. Initially I was only accompanying my colleague, Mr.K.B.Sarma and watching a bunch of medical representatives playing in the evening in a covered make shift shuttle badminton court. Our daily field work as medical representatives used to be over by about 7 PM. After completing the day's work, about 15-20 medical reps used to relax playing badminton. Mr.K.B.Sarma presented to me his badminton racquet when he was promoted and transferred to Vijayawada in 1975. It was then, that I started to play somewhat regularly (I used to be on tour of Prakasam District for about a fortnight in each month) Badminton was ...