Growing up, I felt like everything I owned was market with the names of pharmaceuticals- from pens and notebooks , to backpacks, to t-shirts, and more. My dad worked in pharmaceutical sales for my entire life, and so growing up with the free paraphernalia that he gave to doctors on his sales calls was just normal. He often brought home leftovers from the extravagant meals he provided for doctors and lots of fun gifts with his company’s name and logo on them.
However, when I was in middle school, I remember my dad coming home and telling me that he was no longer allowed to give out pens, pads of paper, stress relief balls, bags, t shirts, phone cases, or anything else that we had always had in bulk around the house. He also explained that his budget was being cut for throwing programs, lunches, and dinners for doctors. He explained that he saw this as both a good thing and a bad thing. He thought it was wise because it would keep salespeople from trying to bribe doctors and convince them to write their scripts because of all the additional perks the doctors get, like fancy meals and other paraphernalia. On the other hand, he thought it was unwise because all the free stuff they gave out was one of their primary advertising tactics. If a doctor is always using a pen with your drug’s name or your company’s name on it, he is going to be more likely to remember your product.
While I doubt that many doctors would actually be bribed simply by free pens to write a prescription, I think that my dad’s company had the right idea- they want doctors to write prescriptions because it is the right drug for the patient, not because of the benefits the doctor can get from it. I think this is an important lesson to remember in sales- that ultimately, your goal is to provide value to the end user, and this ought to be done through honest and transparent means. By cutting out all of the frivolous gimmicks, it gave my dad the opportunity to focus on building relationships with doctors, learning about their patients’ needs, and recommending the best drugs for them.
BoweryJE22
This is a really interesting post! I think that is such a great lesson for people to learn. It is hard to know if advertising in that way is helpful or not, but the way you described this made it easy to understand.
It’s interesting that his company made that change. You always hear about pharmaceutical companies bribing doctors with vacations to sell their drugs, but it’s nice to hear that not every company is out to do that and they actually care about selling a drug because they believe in it.
This is a very interesting issue and something I would not have thought of without this post. I see both reasons for why it is but if you ask me, I am always pro pens!