Companies have a different perception of what an ideal Medical Representative should be like. It usually follows the general culture the founders established with the company or a set of parameters Human Resources come up throughout the years. Then there's the individual preferences of hiring managers when they are looking for talents.

The parameters vary from company to company. There are those who prefer fresh graduates, regardless of their college degree. Other companies prefer those with previous work experience so that there would be lesser time and effort for training, and to generate sales immediately. Either way, applicants needed to prove themselves and convince hiring managers that they are capable to deliver what is expected from a Professional Medical Representative.

People often thought that only applicants with a medical degree, such as nursing, medical technology, or physical therapy, are preferred for the job. But in reality, even those with non-related degrees can apply. Companies are looking for talents in other areas of expertise, as well as long as you satisfy some basic technical and personality requirements. To make the long story short, if you are trainable and if you have excellent communication and relationship skills, then you can become a Medical a Representative.

Companies look for specific competencies, which individulas gained from other jobs or from school activities. Generally, Employers prefer those that are graduates of a four or five-year course, preferably in Business, Marketing, Management, Communications, or Allied Medical course, with at least one year experience or exposure to sales. But fresh graduates are very much welcome to apply, specially if applicants possess above average communication skills, which are crucial in selling and presentation. Since the business environment had become increasingly paper-less, employers prefer applicants who are proficient with computers and tablets, as well as various business software such as Microsoft Office applications. Applicants should be resourceful, creative, and require minimal supervision.

You should have at least the basic pre-employment documents at hand, such as photocopies of your school's transcript of records, training certificates, Police and NBI Clearances, and City Health permits. Some companies require you to submit these documents in advance for verification, but others opt to require this from you if you are selected and before you sign the employment contract. They may also require additional requirements for you to accomplish, such as medical examinations, to ascertain if you are healthy enough to perform extended fieldwork.

There are various web-based job depositories where companies advertise their job openings. In these websites, you can upload your resume and apply. Applicants can search for job openings to hundreds of companies. You can even customize your search parameters in order to receive relevant job openings in the field of your choice. Popular job websites like Jobstreet is very helpful. Linked In is another avenue for you to look for Medical Representative jobs. You can also directly go to the company's website, or social media pages and look for job openings.

Head Hunters may be able to contact you directly without even applying for any position. This is done through job-matching. By uploading your resume to the web-based job directories, you are automatically included in the database. Employers actively look for applicants with experiences and competencies needed for their opening.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, newspapers are a widely used medium for companies to advertise job openings. Since not all applicants have 24/7 access to web-based job directories, broadsheets are the next best thing. Manila Bulletin is one of the best broadsheets that provide numerous job advertisements, including pharmaceutical sales.

But here is a tip to get information if there's an opening in your preferred territory. befriend Medical Representatives in the area, and get the necessary information, and possibly a referral. Because usually, the Medical Representative and the District Managers earn some sort of incentives, if they refer a successfully hired applicant. So, use your excellent communication and relationship skills with them first, before anything else.

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Where do you want to be in the next five years? Sure, everybody wants to be promoted. How do you see yourself? You can be a District Sales Manager and have your own people or you want to enter the complex world of strategic marketing and be a Product Manager. Or if you like training and development, why not be a Training Manager? You like planning and implementing events? Try to be a CME Manager. The opportunities are endless. And the salaries and benefits also grow with the position.

You may want to be promoted as a District Sales Manager. District Sales Managers have several Med Reps reporting to them. Being promoted from rank-and-file to management position means you have what it takes to manage and develop your people. The combination of the sales targets of your people is your target. Likewise, the qualitative performance of the group reflects back to you. District Sales Managers are middle managers, meaning, they serve as the conduit between the management and the field personnel. The next level of promotion would be as Regional Sales Manager and National Sales Manager.

If marketing is your forte and has excelled in program conceptualization and implementation as a Med Rep, you may want to be promoted as a Product or Brand Manager. Product Managers are responsible for the strategic direction of a product, or in the case of a small organization, the company’s whole product portfolio. They coordinate with the Medical Director or a group of medical advisers on how to properly promote the products to their colleagues.

Being able to develop people and eliciting top performance in terms of product knowledge, marketing knowledge, and selling skills is the job of a Training Manager. In collaboration with Human Resources, Training Managers analyzes training needs, design training programs and facilitates its implementation. They are sometimes sent to expensive training programs, here and abroad, and cascade those training to the people.

CME Managers, on the other hand, are those who facilitate continuing medical education of the target customers. Basically, these are lectures or presentations that involve the company’s products and its impact on the quality of life of patients. They usually accompany the lecturer on such events. These lecturers are also doctors who are highly respected members of the academe or are Key Opinion Leader (KOL) in the field where the drug is promoted. CME Managers are also responsible for the company’s participation to medical conventions, making sure that such participation will allow greater exposure of the company and its products to all participants.

Your manager will assess you quantitatively and qualitatively. In the quantitative aspect, you will be evaluated for your over-all sales performance. How does your territory fare versus your sales target? Aside from the total sales, you may also be evaluated on a per product basis.

Call performance is also evaluated. Your call rates determine if you are promoting to the right customer with the right product using the right promotional strategy. The proper use of the promotional fund is evaluated by comparing it to your sales. It’s called expense-to-sales ratio. This is a little bit tricky. Every company has different ways of computing this.

In the qualitative part, you are evaluated on the way you do things. This is based on the concept that if you do what is expected of you better than the standards set, the result will be positive. Written examinations and detailing exercises are recorded and improvements or lack of it are included. The quantity and quality of prescribed marketing and promotional activities compared to the standards are also reviewed. Your behavior is also reviewed by means of your 201 file.

The ratio or percentage between the quantitative and qualitative parameters may differ from company to company. In a sales-oriented company, they put more weight on sales performance, say 70%-30% in favor of sales. In other companies, they tend to have a balance between the two.

Performance appraisal or evaluation is an essential component in the pharmaceutical business. It allows the company to retain and reward talented people, as well as eliminate non-performing employees.

Performance appraisal is necessary. It is a procedure that involves the assessment of an individual’s performance on a regular basis. It’s not just once a year or every six months. Appraisals are done every minute you are connected with the company. Performance appraisal lies at the heart of good business practice. A performance appraisal system can only function if the business has a clear idea of where it is heading and has taken steps to ensure that it is taking the workforce along.

Performance appraisal should be treated as an ongoing developmental process. It should be closely monitored by both the Med Rep and the District Sales Manager to ensure that performance parameters and objectives are being achieved and lapses are being addressed. By preparing yourself diligently and demonstrating a willingness to co-operate with your manager to develop yourself, you will create a positive impression.

To better understand and assess your own performance objectively, try stepping to your manager’s shoes. Make sure that you understand all the parameters, all the policies and all the performance objectives. Go through the appraisal system step by step by day 1 in order to be prepared by year end.

Review your job description, your role as well as your duties and responsibilities. Try to analyze you agreed quantitative and qualitative performance targets. What extra efforts have you performed or projects that you have been involved within the past year and what impact does this made to the overall performance of your territory? How does your work compare to the other members of the team?

Keep a detailed record of all your work-related activities. You should have copies of all documents that can substantiate your positive performance. Collate the necessary documentary evidence to support your assertions.

Be open and co-operative with your manager. Chances are he will do the same thing with you. After all, his main task is to develop you. By doing this review, both of you can highlight your success stories and improve past shortcomings. Acknowledge problems and deal with it constructively.

Being prepared in this review will allow you to be in a better position to discuss your performance in an objective manner. Express how you learned from these experiences and have used the knowledge gained to improve yourself and your territory’s performance. In anticipation of your next appraisal, be sure to take note and implement your manager's developmental plan.

Your manager will assess your performance quantitatively and qualitatively. In the quantitative aspect, you will be evaluated for your over-all sales performance. How does your territory fare versus your sales target? Aside from the total sales, you may also be evaluated on a per product basis.

Call performance is also evaluated. Your call rates determine if you are promoting to the right customer with the right product using the right promotional strategy. The proper use of the promotional fund is evaluated by comparing it to your sales. It’s called expense-to-sales ratio. This is a little bit tricky. Every company has different ways of computing this.

In the qualitative part, you are evaluated on the way you do things. This is based on the concept that if you do what is expected of you better than the standards set, the result will be positive. Written examinations and detailing exercises are recorded and improvements or lack of it are included. The quantity and quality of prescribed marketing and promotional activities compared to the standards are also reviewed. Your behavior is also reviewed by means of your 201 file.

The ratio or percentage between the quantitative and qualitative parameters may differ from company to company. In a sales-oriented company, they put more weight on sales performance, say 70%-30% in favor of sales. In other companies, they tend to have a balance between the two.

Outside the company, the recipient of your products and services, the patients, are the most important. At least in the true sense of the word ethical marketing is concerned. Since we are dealing with lives, our job is to provide the decision makers (physicians) with accurate information about the drug that we promote so that they can properly administer it to their patients. Back then, the power of deciding which medicine to take rests on the Physicians. But now, with the advent of patent expiration of most popular drugs and the introduction of its generic
yet equally potent copies, patients can choose which brand suits to their needs.

Before you get to the doctors, you will encounter them. They are the Medical Secretary. Their job is to facilitate doctor-patient consultation. And yes, they serve as your gateway to your customer. Sometimes, they have can decide who to cover and when to cover. It is much better to establish a good rapport with them because you may need their help in the future. They might give their boss, the doctor, a good word or two about you. Some Med Reps gives a gift, token or gimmicks to these secretaries. That is one good strategy to win their hearts.

Out in the field, you will encounter other Med Reps from other companies, local and multinational, that may be your direct competitor. As with this business, interpersonal and relationship skills plays a big role. It is not just you are competing with the product that they are carrying, you are competing with the doctor’s attention as well. Allowing Med Reps to cover the physicians in between patient consultations allows the physicians to vent some stress by taking their minds off momentarily from what they are doing. What do you think will happen if the next Med Rep that covers him has no pleasing personality?

Whenever you visit a drugstore to check the movement of your products, the people you will encounter are the pharmacy assistants or clerks. Relationship skills are important when you deal with them. They may choose not to entertain you if you have no pleasing personality at all. They have the right to discriminate; after all, they have better things to do. But they are very important. If you have established a good relationship with them, they may help you push your product or exchange the brand of your competitors to yours. The same thing with their supervisor, pharmacist or owner: these are the decision makers. They decide if they will order from you and what quantity.

As a Professional Medical Representative, your immediate superior is the District Sales Manager. District Sales Managers usually handle about three or more territories. Their job is to manage you to perform your best and deliver the sales.

Salesmen are your counterpart in the field. You create the demand; they will deliver the products and collect the payments. Some companies outsource the sales part and some don’t. The popular sales business outsourcing companies are ZuelligPharma and Metro Drug.

But you must not rely totally on your salesman. Some salesmen have other principals or companies that they serve. When I was a Medical Representative under Merck Sharp and Dohme, my salesman has more than twenty principals! The salesman cannot give preference to all of you at once. Just like you, he has his own monthly quota. He or she may prioritize fast moving products and those products are not necessarily yours.

The District Sales Managers are the mini-bosses. They have a team of Medical Representatives working for him. They do mostly coaching and support in order for each of their people deliver the sales. District Managers report to the Regional Sales Manager (if it is a large organization) or directly to the National Sales Manager (in the case of a small organization).

Product or Brand Managers are the brand champions. They provide the whole marketing strategy for the assigned brand. They plan and strategize the whole marketing concern: from the number of MedReps needed, how many doctors to cover and what type of promotional tools to use in order to achieve the target. After all, the sales target for the whole brand is on his shoulder. In a complex organization, Product Managers report directly to the Marketing Manager or Group Product Manager.

In some companies, training is also handled by Product Managers. But with big companies, there is a specific group that handles it. The training and development group is a collaboration of Human Resources, Marketing Department and Medical Affairs which makes sure that the field force, from line managers to reps, has adequate training in the field of business and medical science.

There is a special position that specifically handles Continuing Medical Education. They are called CME Managers. They facilitate the planning and implementation of scientific lectures and roundtable discussions. They also coordinate with key medical societies when it comes to participation to some of its programs such as regional or national conventions.  The CME Manager may advise people who are interested in continuing education to find out more about Healthcare Degrees on Guide to Healthcare Schools.

Local companies have a far simpler structure. Usually, the owner sits on the top, juggling General Manager, Sales Manager and Marketing Manager functions, where District Sales Manager, and sometimes Professional Medical Representatives, report to them.

Many Filipino companies today have changed the title of Professional Medical Representative to Territory Manager. Is there a difference or is it just a title? Being the manager of your territory is no joke. In the true sense of the word, what happens in your territory is your full accountability. You cannot blame anybody if the results go ill, but you can congratulate yourself if the performance is spectacular.

Territory Management is the utilization of industry factors that directly and indirectly affect your business in your area of assignment where time, effort and resources are maximized to arrive on a result that meets or exceeds the qualitative and quantitative standards of the company.

On your first day in the territory, you will be given with a list of customers that you will visit. The list may contain a structure already that you may choose to follow. But the question remains: Is the process involved in that hand-me-down territory plan accurate?

Territory Management starts with a thorough understanding of the territory. There is a progressive pattern to follow in order to arrive at a workable area plan. First, you start with the Scanning Phase. Prepare a list of all the doctors in the territory regardless of any parameters. Once you have the list, you can proceed with the Assessment Phase. You will assess the physician’s potential using various parameters which includes but not limited to:

1. Area of specialization
2. Patient profiling
3. Practice volume
4. Influence
5. Current relations to your company

You would first group the list on the first parameter. This will satisfy a key marketing question: Are the cases encountered relevant to your promoted product? Then, after keeping this list and eliminating the non-relevant specialties, you will have to rank them by means of their patient economic class. You would then have to answer the next question: Are the patients encountered able to comply with the dosage regimen? Practice volume denotes the number of consultations per day. You will then have to rank them according to patient volume.

Influence is another key factor. Influential doctors maybe an established Key Opinion Leader or any person of authority that can influence the prescribing decisions of his or her peers. Last but not least are doctors who have an established relationship with your company. If they enjoy a continuous beneficial relationship, they will reject your competitors. These are the customers you may not want to upset.

The third part is the Recording Phase. In here the data were to be sorted out and analyzed, leaving relevant customers to be targeted. You will then have to assign frequency of visits, the primary, secondary or tertiary product to promote, as well as the type of promotional message per specialty. You will also design your daily, weekly and monthly itinerary or routing plan. The routing plan allows your manager to immediately ascertain your whereabouts.

The fourth the series of steps is the Planning Phase. This pertains to the utilization of marketing strategy or directions brought down by the company, via its author, the Product Manager, to the field force. In here you will identify which specialty deserves the promotional mileage based on the guidelines.

In the Implementation Phase, you will adopt the plans that you have laid down. You will follow the routing plan and sampling schedule that you have set, as well as the frequency of visits to physicians. The process does not end in this phase. The plan has to be evaluated for flaws so that corrective measures can be put into place. The whole process is an unending cycle and plans are to be revised regularly to be viable.

Presentations are an opportunity for a Professional Medical Representative to communicate the features and benefits of the product they are promoting. An effective presentation should elicit attention and should leave a mark on the audience psyche. At the end of the presentation, doctors usually ask the speaker, in this case, you, for additional information that they may have missed, or clarifications in some part of your presentation. As the one promoting the product, you are expected to know more about it than the doctors. The presentation is your opportunity to educate your doctor about your product.

Speaking in public ranks as the number one fear-inducing activity, and the answer to overcome this is to practice a lot. To help yourself conquer this fear, you can start practicing in front of the mirror, or in front of your colleagues. Usually, companies do initiate training sessions to enhance their people’s presentation skills. The Training Manager, Product Manager or District Manager role plays the presentation and the Professional Medical Representatives take note of how they deliver the presentation. Then each of the Professional Medical Representatives will present and are rated by the managers accordingly. After each presentation, the managers give constructive feedback to better help you to develop that skill.

Presentations should be planned and the structure should be well organized in such a way that you can provide very effective yet concise communication. In organizing your presentation, it is better to start with an outline. Outlines are the structure of the presentation. The objective here is to create a structured presentation with a unifying thought.

A typical presentation structure is composed of three parts: the Opening, the Body and the Close. Although just a couple of minutes will be spent for Opening and Closing, it should be planned because you can win or lose the audience with your Opening and can make a good or bad impression with your Closing. Don’t worry about the Body of the presentation, it is usually provided by the company, but you have to study and master its entirety.

George W. Merck once said: “We never try to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear.” The statement was made more than 60 years ago and it should still be applicable today. But the market is changing, and it challenges the dynamics of ethical marketing.

A large number of pharmaceutical companies, mostly those who emerged from the public’s clamor for “cheaper” medicines, have engaged in the trading of essential drugs. They have implemented a pushing campaign wherein they have bypassed the physicians in terms of decision making on what a patient should or shouldn’t take for their illness. This has led to self-medication and eventually substance abuse or overdose. No wonder most bacteria are immune to present-day antibiotics.

Ethical marketing is a factual and truthful representation of a drug, delivered exclusively to healthcare decision makers: the physicians. The pharmaceutical industry faces challenges with respect to ethical marketing and other promotional practices. The conflict of commercial interests with adherence to ethical practices has been a subject of much deliberation. The degree of concerns and issues varies depending on the laws of various markets. Responsible promotional communication informs healthcare professionals and their patients about the benefits and risks of new treatments for diseases.

In the Philippines, there are laws that govern how companies market their products to physicians and one such provision coming from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discourages misrepresentation or over claiming and such violation (yes, even done by Med Reps) carry stiff penalties. There is also an organization that monitors industry practices and that is PHAP.

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines or PHAP is an organization of select local and multinational companies that engage in active promotion of medicines. Monitoring of members or non-member’s marketing practices is rigorously monitored by PHAP. Unethical practices in marketing are reported by the member’s themselves to PHAP as well as the Philippine FDA. PHAP had also provided specific marketing guidelines that are embraced by its members.

PHAP also launched the Medical Representative Accreditation Program (MRAP) to enable Medical Representatives to be accredited professionally and to establish the acceptable standard for professional competencies, including training on ethical marketing practices. The MRAP accreditation allows the Medical Representative to be a competent individual who has a deeper understanding of the disease and the products and bringing it to the needs of the physicians and their patients.

Your initial contact with the recruiter can be by phone or email, and shortlisted applicants will then be invited for an initial interview. You should carefully prepare for the initial interview because it may spell winning the job or lose it.

Before going to your interview appointment, you should first research the company you’re applying for. Yo need to learn about its history and business. The internet provides tons of information to help get you started. How you present yourself to the interviewer is part of your overall package. Remember, you’re selling yourself here, and you want the other side to buy, thus you should work to present an attractive side of you. Wear something respectable. Go buy some new pants, long-sleeved shirts, and a necktie. Keep in mind that the interviewer wanted to know if you are fit for the job, hence, you should appear that you own the job.

In the interview proper, you should anticipate some of the questions the interviewer may throw at you. The interviewer may start with general questions then proceed to specific ones. Your preparation and research from the day before should help you with this. The trend nowadays is to ask applicants questions that will show their competencies. If you are asked with questions that sound like they want to uncover how you react or what you did in certain situations, you may want to follow the S.T.A.R.s pattern.

S.T.A.R.s or Situation, Task, Action, and Results aims to let you explain in detail your accomplishments, whether from schools or from previous companies, from each key competencies. As part of the interview process, interviewers wanted to have a deeper understanding of your competencies by asking you to provide a couple of past scenarios where you perform a function that suits some key competencies. You can start by describing to them the scenario back then (situation) and relay to them a set of strategies you have planned to pursue (task). Then, explain to them the detailed steps of how you accomplished the task (action), and provide the interviewer with the outcome (result).

Sometimes, interviewers throw some difficult and stressful questions. They may also throw some morally challenging questions to test your resolve, such as: “What if a doctor asks you for a date in return to helping you achieve your quota, will you accept it?” I myself had asked this many times to numerous applicants. Most applicants, eager to get the job, answered yes thinking that I will appreciate their show of eagerness. They are dead wrong!

The interview is only the first step. Other processes may follow, depending on a company’s program. If you have passed the initial interviews, they may subject you to an individual or group dynamics. With this, potential employers would want to know how you react in a simulated real-world scenario. They may also want to know how your mind works. They may ask you to sell a random and obscure item and test how creative you are. They may also subject you and the other applicants in a group activity to know who has what it takes to be a leader or to know if you assert yourself to others or not.

An applicant’s first tool to get the potential employer’s attention is the resume. Any job hunter knows a good resume is a key to an interview invitation. Aside from the chronological listings of experiences and achievements, resumes should contain a unique selling proposition to entice headhunters to contact you.

There are various types of resumes that you may use. There are simple and complex ones. The best resume should get the message across at a glance. The ideal thing to do is organize each item under specific categories, such as employment history, education, training, skills or other activities.

There are three types of resume: chronological, functional and combination. The chronological format is ideal for those who have experience working with other companies because it is organized by employment history. The functional format lists skills into categories and accomplishments over dates. The combination format merges the chronological and functional styles through the presentation of skills and abilities gained from work.

Your address and phone number are the most likely means of contacting you. Nowadays, email addresses and mobile phone numbers provide a much faster way of facilitating communication.
Placing an objective is optional. Some argue that objectives only provide obvious information. But those who favor the use of objectives reason that it helps the recruiters quickly identify if the applicant is fit for the company. Objectives may make a good initial impression, but being able to fit-in depends upon you, the applicant, once you’re in.

You should exercise good judgment on whatever information you place on your resume. You will want to put all relevant information to enable recruiters to judge your potential for the position you seek. Your job experience should completely reflect the jobs you had. Information such as the company name, company address, positions held, inclusive dates, responsibilities, and accomplishments should be included.

Any other information such as training, skills and organizational memberships should only be included if they relevant to the job applied. If not, you might as well omit them.

When you include anyone’s name as your reference, you should ask their permission first. We all know that you only want to put names as reference those who think highly of you. To avoid embarrassments, you should inform them so that they can prepare for it.

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A high-performance sales force is a strategic asset in a competitive market such as the Philippine pharmaceutical industry. The right people, promoting the right product, and armed with the right message, is a crucial component of the marketing mix. They identify the customer’s needs and act on it. They also provide information about the competition in order for the management to plan ahead.

Medical Representatives play an important role in the successful execution of marketing programs and strategies, new product launches. Rigorous training programs in various competencies are used by companies to enhance their people’s competitive level, and these same competencies are the basis for performance appraisals.

Different companies have different approaches, but typically, competency parameters in the pharmaceutical industry can be made up of five key attributes, each divided into several job competencies. Key attributes may include working effectively, the pursuit of customer satisfaction, establishing partnerships, building talent and taking ownership.

While competencies vary from jobs, levels or industries, they can be broken into two: professional competencies and behavioral competencies. Individual competencies include skills and behaviors that are expected of all sales representatives. It may include decision making, communication skills, customer focus, sales ability, teamwork, people development, and leadership.

Behavioral competencies, on the other hand, are the specifics behind the individual competencies. Examples may include: building relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs) to help facilitate productive interactions; Understanding the sales and buying process as well as the product; territory management; planning and forecasting; teamwork and collaboration; influencing others as well as exhibiting leadership; and implementing solutions to overcome obstacles and accomplishing key objectives that have been set.

Pharmaceutical companies in the Philippines come in all shapes and sizes. And they have different approaches in how they operate their respective businesses. There are four types of business concepts that you may encounter: the Production Concept, the Sales Concept, the Trading Concept, the Accounting Concept and the Marketing Concept.

In companies who unknowingly adopt the Production Concept, they tend to focus more on their ability to produce many products without really understanding what the customer really wants. In the pharmaceutical industry, they may bombard the marketing and sales team with lots of products without understanding their limitation in delivering the products to the market.

In a company where the salespeople have more influence, the profitability suffers. Why? It’s because for salespeople, the higher the marketing support, the higher will be the sales. Or that’s what they claim they will produce if the management gives them more money to buy the demand. If a Sales guy runs the company, he may want more products to offer the market in order to drive sales. The success is short term because there is no brand focus. In the end, he may run out of new products to offer.

Companies who started the business with sub-distributors (Trading Concept) have a tendency to minimize expenses in order to maximize profitability. They don’t care about marketing or product development. They are happy and contented with buying a little, selling a little and making a little.

In an accounting-controlled company, the finance guys are in charge. The accountants are in control of the marketing and selling process, even though many of them have no actual field experience. They are more interested in numbers and not the product. If the activity does not immediately help the bottom line then it is not worth doing.

Many experts say that the previous four business orientation is inferior to the Marketing Concept. Identifying customer needs and satisfying those needs through product development is the focus of a marketing-oriented company. The buying process is thoroughly analyzed to identify the best course of action in delivering the product to customers more efficiently and effectively.

Multinational companies, having long years in the business, understand this, and so are few emerging Filipino companies. They have been able to balance all aspects to be able to support their marketing efforts and they have transcended from being a mediocre company into a great one. The problem with some start-ups is that too many opposing forces wanted to be in control.

So, the take away here is for you to find a company that has been in the industry long enough that it has found balance in its operation. Chances are, management is stable, they already have a great relationship with customers, and the brands are trusted. If you finally found one and you got accepted, it will be much easier to promote your products to doctors compared to companies who are just starting out.