Shadowing Assignment
Jillian Ayd
MKTG 451.001
Renee Karl, Sales Representative for Vertical Pharmaceuticals, INC
10/26/2012
Renee Karl has been working for Vertical Pharmaceuticals since 2005 as a Sales
Representative. Vertical Pharmaceuticals has been in business since 2003 and is located in
Sayreville, New Jersey. The primary focus of Vertical Pharmaceuticals is in women’s health,
pain management, and cold and cough. Miss Karl covers half of Maryland and some of
Delaware.
Currently, Vertical Pharmaceuticals is representing four different medications: ConZip,
Lorzone, OB Complete One, and Zonatuss. ConZip is a pain medication that is FDA approved to
provide pain relief for moderate to moderately serve chronic pain in adults whom require
treatment. Lorzone, which is also known as chlorzoxazone, is used as a muscle relaxer for
patients who are currently receiving physical therapy. Lorzone works by blocking nerve
impulses that are sent to the brain. OB One Complete is a prenatal vitamin offered to women
who are interesting in conceiving, in the process of conceiving, currently pregnant, or currently
breastfeeding. The prenatal vitamin provides a combination of different vitamins usually present
in foods and other natural sources. The vitamins included in OB One Complete are: A, D, E, and
K. The last medication that is being represented and the newest by Vertical Pharmaceuticals is
Zonatuss 150mg. Zonatuss is a non-narcotic oral antitussive agent. The medicine is used by
doctors and patients to control cold and cough symptoms.
Target customers for the medications include a different variety of doctors. While
shadowing with Miss Karl, we visited OB/GYNs, podiatrist, internal medicine doctors, pain
management specialist, and regular doctors such as the ones inside of Patient First or Doctor-onthe-Run.
Renee Karl graduated from Salisbury University with a double major in Marketing and
Biochemistry. Miss Karl grew up around the Bel Air, Maryland area and attended Mount
Carmel High School. Miss Karl informed me that she always wanted to be a plastic surgeon but
did not like the idea of continuing school for another five years. She laughs, “I get to be a doctor,
without being a doctor.” She states she still gets to talk to doctors every day and gets to put her
input in about what medication she believes is best. Her experiences in sales include working at a
spa/ recreation center. She states that her first interview after college she got the job and it was
working for Vertical Pharmaceuticals. She is appreciative that Vertical accepted her due to the
fact that she is little to no experience in sales. Now she is one of the top sales professionals in
Vertical Pharmaceuticals.
On October 12, 2012, Miss Karl and I met with eight doctors, visited three pharmacies,
and held one conference call. When I first met up with Miss Karl, she was just starting a
conference call with all of the representatives for Vertical. The call lasted around 30 minutes and
talked about how the company should start considering the upcoming holidays as a way to get
closer with the pharmacies and doctors. Also, the conversation talked about how to get past the
gatekeepers to see the doctors, especially when they are busy with patients.
Our first stop after the conference call was to Dr. Katz, a podiatrist. Miss Karl informed
me that they have such a good relationship that he takes her to occasional Raven’s games. Dr.
Katz was interested in hearing more about ConZip, which Miss Karl gave him all the information
for. He claimed that he was about to go to surgery and he would write the patient a prescription
(script) for ConZip instead of another pain medication like Percocet. Dr. Katz also gives his
patients other medications that Vertical offers including: Lorzone and Zonatuss 150mg.
After visiting Dr. Katz, Miss Karl and I went to the office of Dr. Herptz, who is an OB.
Most OB’s will get only OB One Complete from Miss Karl, but she states that her OB/GYN are
her best doctors because they write so many scripts. After stopping at Dr. Herptz, Miss Karl and
I stopped at Target to get gift baskets for clients for Halloween and drop off a prescription that
would allow for Target Pharmacy to stock up on OB One Complete. She says she wants to make
sure that she covers everyone from chocolate lovers to sweet candy only eaters.
Next we stopped by Dr. Rahanma, who is with internal medicine. He asked Miss Karl
about more information on ConZip also. Dr. Rahanma receives ConZip, Lorzone, and Zonatuss
150 mg samples to give to patients. After Dr. Rahanma, we visited with Dr. Suter who is also
with internal medication. He just like the other doctors receives the three prescription samples of:
ConZip, Lorzone, and Zonatuss 150 mg.
After meeting with those doctors, Miss Karl took me out to lunch and we stopped by a
Patient First in White Marsh to drop off samples of Zonatuss 150 mg. I was unable to get all of
the doctor’s names who we spoke with at Patient First. Around 2pm, we made our way to Holy
Brown, who specializes also in pain medication. Dr. Brown, just like the other doctors, received
samples of ConZip, Lorzone, and Zonatuss 150 mg.
We were able to see two doctors who share a facility in Towson around 2:30pm. Dr.
Daya and Dr. Nauman are both OB/GYNs who are Miss Karl’s favorite doctors. She likes the
fact that both are in the same office building and both are very sweet. To finish off our day, Miss
Karl and I stopped by CVS on York Road and Rite Aid on Timonium Rd to make sure that all
the medications are available to patients who bring in prescriptions.
Working as a salesperson, especially in the Pharmaceutical field, has its ups and downs.
For example, Miss Karl loves the fact that she is in a job that she gets to go and do different
things every day; however, she hates the fact that she is always driving. Other downfalls about
the job include constant rejection. Miss Karl says that not everyone will use or like you;
however, you have to take it with a grain of salt. She says that if you are persistent and don’t give
up, people most of the time will come around. She says she is always a chameleon. She says that
some doctors she can be relaxed and laid back with, while others she is upright the most
professional salesperson you will ever meet. She states that it takes time to get to know who you
can act a certain way with.
When sales training occurs, there is a one month period that the potential salesperson has
to study at home then they are to complete test for each product with deadlines. Then there is a
two and a half week, twelve hour training workshop in which the salesperson has to pass the test
with no lower than 85%. Miss Karl says you just have to memorize the sales messages for all the
seven products Vertical offers. Then you get started by yourself for two weeks and then you will
shadow with another representative to give you ideas on how to make your connection with
doctors stronger. For example, Vertical Pharmaceuticals introduced Zonatuss 150 mg in January
of 2012 and each salesperson had to complete a two day meetings to learn about the medication
and had to complete and pass two different tests in order to start distributing the product to
doctors.
The company has a “POA” (Plan-of-Action), in which they all discuss ways to prepare
for sales meetings. Each month Vertical will have a conference call with all salespeople and also
every few months, the company will get together and talk about strategy in sales. Other forms of
preparation that occurs include materials that are handed out, home studying, having a
photographic memory, keep going over detail over and over again, and taking doctor’s questions
to sales meetings and going back to the doctors with the answers.
Vertical Pharmaceuticals ranks the doctors from 1-10. This scale is used to show that the
doctors who write the four medications the most are considered the doctors that are most
important to the salesperson. For example, both Dr. Daya and Dr. Nauman are considered 10’s
due to the fact that both OB/GYNs are constantly writing prescriptions for OB One Complete.
Top doctors are seen at least once a week while lower rated doctors are seen once every other
week.