That was the week that was, let it go, it's over
That was the week that was, it started way on top and it finished way below
That was the week that was, let it slide
That was the week that was, I took him at his word, he took me for a ride
Like Tuesday we met up at Vegas you know, it was SAS and we all had to go
Globus was there attempting to make a big scene, a new copectomy device a secret that's keen
Don't have an invitation, can't see our creation, that was the week that was.......
No fellow bloggers, TSB is not singing the opening song to the 60's satirical television show hosted by David Frost. It was another ho-hum meeting at SAS, or is it now called IsASS? It seems that Globus "when are they going public" Medical, was attempting to one up the meeting by launching a highly classified device by invitation only. TSB was impressed that they hired some mercenaries from Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. As Peggy Lee once sang, "is that all there is David Paul?"
In addition, rumor was circulating that Centinel Spine was facing some liquidity problems...again...
only to be informed that John Viscogliosi is back on the Bar-B-Q Trail in Memphis,Tennessee from May 12-14th in a World Championship competition, and on May 29th-30th, he'll be at the Rock City Rib Fest in Rochester, NY. On June 11-12th you are all invited to the Big Apple Bar-B-Q Party. Will the Purple Pork Master bring his sidekick Sancho Panza? You know what they say about the color purple, it is continually associated with suffering and pain.
The J&J acquisition of Synthes has led Larry Biegelsen, an analyst for Wells Fargo to state that this acquisition would lead to some disruptions in the spine market that could benefit Zimmer. You know what the great Jimmy Durante once said, "everybody wants to get into the act." Come on Larry, we know you get paid by Wells Fargo to make these observations, but can you get serious, there isn't anything in Zimmer's spine portfolio that would be worth maximizing on.
With Medtronic initiating layoffs, its only a matter of time before the Synthes and DePuy sales force is faced with the reality that two's a crowd and three's a party. Regardless of what the powers to be are telling you, there will be collateral damage. It's management's job to feed you propaganda (everybody is safe, at least for the time being) in an attempt to preempt any moves that you may be thinking about. TSB's advice, start shopping your relationships around, the only loyalty you have is to your customer and yourselves. If you're not looking at your options, there's no time like the present to begin your search. You know what Arnold use to say "listen to me now, or hear me later."
I'm so glad I got out of the runt race that is operating room sales. I'm now in management for a device company and I love to hear you young whipper snappers and old farts make excuses as to why you cannot flip medtronic business. I love when you say you are making progress on competitive consultant surgeons. That is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteCentinel is definitely facing liquidity crisis.
ReplyDeleteTheir President Michael Will has been interviewing for a new job the past few months.
Speaking of "shopping relationships", lets talk about the reps out there that have shopped phony relationships in order to get high-paying jobs that they don't deserve.
ReplyDeleteWe had an associate rep (J.P.) in Austin, TX jump ship at the end of last year for a sales rep position at NuVasive in the same geography. Word is that he told NuVa that he had worked for us (aka the evil empire, inc.) for 3 years, and that he was "like, best friends" with one of the docs that he was responsible for covering. Neither of which was even close to the truth. Including his time working for us, this guy had only been in the medical device biz for about 1.5 years TOTAL (worked for some student travel agency before us), and had absolutely no sales experience whatsoever (he basically ran trays and covered simple 1-level TLIF type cases).
Is this what our once proud industry has come to? A little over a year in the biz and BOOM...you're a rep? I honestly feel bad for the reps at NuVasive who got duped into believing that this guy is legit. The real kicker in all of this is that my distributor vehemently enforces non-competes (to deter the rest of the associates from following suit) so this guy is just sitting back collecting checks until his guarantee expires. Sucka'!!
TSB is Michael Will Sancho Panza acting as a squire to his purple massa
ReplyDeleteWill Depuy enforce the Synthes non-competes against the Synthes reps they cut? How many Synthes reps will be forced out of spine.
ReplyDeleteAny Synthes rep worth his salt will take his relationships and get moving.
Synthes management wants to keep their paychecks going as long as they can before they are cut. It's all based on how long they can continue to keep the reps in place and maintaining the business. Whoever is telling you to keep doing what your doing is looking out for them, not you.
God Speed.
ok whats up with the Zimmer Spine comment? While I DO NOT work for ZS I know many of thier reps and distributors and they are solid guys. While your comment was not geared towards their reps. Lets not forget that ZS was at the forefront of motion preservation when all the other reps/comp was knocking them. Now every company other there is trying to piggyback on the success of Dynesys. With them purchasing Abbot Spine last year, their bag is pretty complete. Yes, its true that they cant keep a President any longer than 2 quarters...but hey its the biz.
ReplyDelete4:12pm, we aren't dumb. You work for Zimmer Spine. Who else, besides somebody that works for Zimmer Spine, knows more than one Zimmer Spine distributor? I'm referring to your comment about knowing "many of their reps and distributors".
ReplyDeleteAnd while we're on the subject, ZS reps and distributors--for the most part--are not "solid guys". The ZS reps making money are sleeping with surgeons, and the ones that aren't just suck and can't get a job anywhere BUT ZS. Sorry buckaroo...you shouldn't have called attention to yourself and left well-enough alone.
What's Zimmer Spine?
ReplyDeleteyou can always sell facet screws. i eat them for breakfast.
ReplyDelete3:42
ReplyDeleteYear and a half apprenticeship? Hell, when i started with the Evil Empire, i was hired and was in the OR covering a case by myself a week later. I didnt know jack. Trial by Fire.
Went to official training at Fogleman a few years later.
The Globus launch by invitation only is probably a weak attempt to delay the litigation
ReplyDelete3:42. So why did you hire the guy "with like" no sales experience? I thought MDT made better hiring decisions then that.
ReplyDeleteI walked by the Alphatech booth at SAS and swore I heard crickets. What happened to that company?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I have to respond to 3:42pm response.."with like no sales experience". First off, you're real professional, Congratulations. Way to call him out as he tries to break his way into med devices..Maybe working under a bitch like you giving him sh*t- like cases, while not developing his experience/knowledge as a respected Sales Rep SHOULD DO ...he said SEE ya, and was D-O-N-E.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I dont understand hiring a professional who said they had 3 years of experience and turning out they only had 1.5 yrs of experience? What kind of company do u work for? Do they not believe in background checks??
I have to agree w/ 4:29. Zimmer spine could F up a wet dream. They don't even exist in my territory anymore. They had one customer who the rep whored himself out to. It was actually quite pathetic to watch, but you just couldn't look away. Every patient who came in for a decompression got the old Zimmer 1-2 punch (AKA screws and rubber bands). Despite have the "most innovative" products around, the rep quit when the Doc moved. Guess nobody else thought much of it, or the rep. Stuff is antiquated and nobody like s the look of a giant hunk of trabecular metal on their x-rays. Afraid they are headed the way of the Dodo.
ReplyDeleteMDT has initiated there demise. Da King has no close!
ReplyDeleteRemember:
ReplyDelete"Next stop, CafePharma! Whoot! Whooot!!"
April 25, 2011 12:21 PM
Well I think we've arrived. This anonymous 'am not / are too!' rep banter is about as enlightening as an episode of 'The Kardashians'.
TSB, Get back to your mission:
"The people's blog site where news, ideas, job opportunities and what's been heard on the street can be discussed in a professional manner."
Hell, I'll forego professionalism for new news or ideas. I'm starting think those birds at the top of your page have the right idea: time to get the !@$# out of here.
READERS POLL: Has TSB 'Jumped the Shark'?
AYE or NAY
@6:14pm
ReplyDeleteWhat in the hell are you talking about? Did you even read 3:42pm's post or did you just skim it? It doesn't say, "with like no sales experience" anywhere in his/her post. Your last paragraph makes absolutely no sense either. READ THE COMMENT BEFORE RESPONDING!! Are you retarded?
6:14pm, since when did it become a rep's job to "develop an associate's experience/knowledge" by giving them really cool/complex cases (or in your words, by not giving them "sh*t-like" cases)? This is the business world pumpkin. You have to earn your own way to the top. Nobody is going to hold your hand, and baby you like you're doing some sort of summer internship in college. Grow up!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Globus "By invitation only party" at SAS was actually an opportunity for them to tell everyone when they'd be going public,,
ReplyDeleteNOT.
Sorry David, I meant to stop by to hear your news but I was too busy at the Paradigm Spine Cigar party at the Las Vegas Country Club,, PLEASE.
Seriously, what the hell has happened to this industry?
I heard there was a breakout session on PODs held at the Spearmint Rhino,, now we're talkin'.
6:51, ever think that's why this guy left?! To get experience and opportunity he wasn't getting running trays & being a case bitch for MSD. Makes sense to me.
ReplyDelete3:42, you sound bitter. I'd imagine most at MSD have similar reaction when someone leaves. Kudos to this rep for leveraging himself and improving his situation. I hope he steals all your business!
@651
ReplyDeleteHow do you earn your way to the top when you think you are being mentored but you are being used like a slave for 50K a year? I was once an associate covering cases, actually growing business well the core rep did the same. I was paid a quarter of what he was.
Good for that guy for leaving. At the end of the day he prob would have been worked into the ground and forced to leave a few years down the road or forced into a BS expansion territory.
Ok, let me clean up my language a bit so my post doesn't get removed. I just think it is in very very bad taste to call someone out by name on this board when all this person was trying to do was further his career and move up in this industry. Isn't that what we are all trying to do?
ReplyDeleteGetting back to the bloggers post- Synthes reps "start shopping your relationships." You will be a casualty of integration, whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. The Depuy reps are drooling over your ProDisc already.
ReplyDeleteHow could the bella legosi bros. be facing a liquidity problem? Didn't they host a huge cigar and champagne party again at SAS. "And the band kept playing..."
ReplyDeletethis is why this business is a mess right now so I guess the guy that started this blog has accomplished his goal. All you guys do here is bitch and one up each other. This should be about how to make this business better or to help others learn. But what you have done is bash each other and made your own beds...please remember that its just not reps that read these blogs. Very enlighting it has been. Way to call yourselfs professionals you should feel ashamed.
ReplyDeleteHey 4:29 get a pair and blow on this. I know agents for zimmer spine and they are doing well. And I do WORK FOR ZIMMER on the ORTHO side. So bring it one...bitch!
ReplyDeleteWhat is despicable about this business is that guys like Tom Erricco, among others, can be elected SAS president while being implicated for ethics violations in the ProDisc study. The news yesterday that NJ had fined three surgeons for wrong-doing was awesome, but what is really the best is that they are mandated to take a medical ethics course. Should be mandatory every year!
ReplyDeleteHow can these guys like Erricco, and Zdeblick, Wang, etc., (all of whom were busted) be so respected by their peers when they are guilty of dishonesty. Isn't honesty and integrity a virtue of leadership?
11:00pm, I must say you have some strong points. The attacking done on this blog is read by more then just other reps. Our surgeon customers read the comments and correlate that to their local reps (general statement I know).
ReplyDeleteThis industry is not dead, just in transition and we need to stay sharp even with our anonymous comments. I'm not saying this because I act all high and mighty, I get fired up just like the rest of us. Hell, I enjoy some of the fun comments too, but when it gets beyond poking a little fun and the nastiness comes out, well, nobody looks good.
Sorry for sounding preachy, there are way too many good people in our industry and I don't want our customers to get the impression through this open forum that we are the ruthless jackasses that all the hospitals make out to be.
The Viscogliosis are running a ponzi scheme. No one will see returns from any of the companies.
ReplyDeleteLet's change the subject!
ReplyDeleteWhat are everyone's opinions on Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusions? You think surgeons are actually going to switch over b/c it will "save" the hospital and patient time/money ??? Are they gaining any significant popularity in anyone's territories out there??
Getting a little traction on MIS TLIF's, biggest concern I have heard from surgeons is the inability to fuse out laterally. Valid Objection.
ReplyDeleteWow. Guys. This is a very impressive website. I was directed here by one of the implant reps we use, to read some feedback on physician owned distributorships. Unfortunately, half my office is now crowded around my computer, and we are stunned by the horrible things you are all saying about us as customers, not to mention each other! Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteWe have a good deal of respect for all three of the implant reps that work for the companies our group uses the most, and have a great deal of trust in them as well. Maybe our view of them as reps is inaccurate? It would be if they are involved in the postings here...
T. I am down the hall with a room full as well. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteThe name calling and uninformed speculation? Very amazing to read. You all sure clean up well and put on a good face before coming in here. We will all be more sensitive to our comments to you folks after reading this. Will be passing this site on to colleagues for their amusement.
To all of you reps. I am in the front office here and I would like to ask of you: Please don't bother to ask constantly to bring lunch in anymore. We will do without. Now that we have read that WE are the ones constantly DEMANDING that lunches to be brought in? Amazing. No thank you.
ReplyDeleteWell, it is understandable that you would feel the way you do. Just try remember that not everyone comes here to take a jab at the customers or competitive reps. Occasionally, there is helpful info available.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy doing lunches with the offices. Some of us still respect the field of which we work in, and the people in it. Including the surgeons whole team. Most surgeons will tell you their success lies in the team, from the office to the O.R.. We respect that.
ReplyDelete8:27--you must be in the only offce that does not require lunch be brought in. I have even been told what pizza joint to go to and what dessert to bring. Doctors blame the staff and the staff blame the reps for this little 'tradition'--that is what I think is amazing!
ReplyDeletehey Drs and staff, it's the ones you would least expect that talk the most trash about you. The fun, sharp, charming salespeople you give most of your business to. They work for the big companies and make 400K-500K a year. They are the ones who are so caught up in their own success and are the most jaded. It's frustrating when small company reps like me who cannot even get past your front door, listen to their derogatory comments about you and what you tell them in private. They boast to us "small timers" how they have you locked up and to not even bother trying to get a case. Your so called close friends.
ReplyDeleteHey 10:53, Nice try! Your pathetic.
ReplyDelete10:57 must be a doc--he can't even spell!
ReplyDeleteNo, 10:57, You're.
ReplyDeleteTSB should start a sister blog called The Staff of the Spine Surgeon similar in appearance to the website People of Wal-Mart. That way we could submit pictures of all of those self-entitled fat a**ed moo cows that come charging into the break-room, salivating like Pavlov's dog when the first whiff of free chow meanders through the office, as us reps are bringing in the 4th free lunch of the week. And start leaving some scraps for the thin cute ones that have kept themselves from ballooning up like most of you have. Now that would be website to visit!
ReplyDelete12:39 NOW THATS SOME FUNNY SHIT!! SOOOOO TRUE MAN!!! SO TRUE.
ReplyDeleteTo 5/3 4:12 --- The Abbott purchase by Zimmer was not "last year", it was completed in October 2008. Believe me when I tell you that nobody worth a damn is pursuing dynamic stabilization after the FDA said NO to Dynesys. Dynesys, along with all current "dynamic" offerings on the market, is dead on arrival at the FDA and the payers.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Zimmer's recent Q1 report they were down another 5.6% in Q1 2011 over an already anemic Q1 2010 sales number. Reporting negative sales in a market growing in the low single digits tells me this division of Zimmer continues to lose market share at a rapid clip. The only analysts pumping Zimmer Spine are the ones being asked to pump Zimmer Spine.
Someone put it best that their bag is full of antiques. There is nothing innovative, unique or cutting edge. It really makes no sense why Dvorak hasn't spun this division off to a VC or Private Equity firm or sold it off to another similar sized player. Just take the money and run.
You touched on "leadership" ... there is none at Zimmer Spine. Just a bunch of also-rans and has-beens that were ALL fired or passed over at other companies. Don't even get me started on the Abbott AVP holdovers who just can't seem to write the same $$ checks they wrote in the good 'ole Abbott days.
The cushiest position in the world is a half assed Zimmer distributor sitting around waiting to collect his buy out check from the big Z while all of his people get shafted. It's happening all over the country because I see their resumes and hear the same stories. What a bunch of losers when a "rep of the year" sells a whopping $1M.
2:52 was fired from Zimmer for failure to perform. His wife left him for the same reason
ReplyDeleteOh no he didn't! Snap!
ReplyDelete2:52 obvious axe to grind but interesting points nonetheless. There was a time when we thought the Blue Z was going to make a big splash, but that time was long ago and their way past the point of meaningful action.
ReplyDeleteIf I owned a spine company and Zimmer approached me about an buyout, I'd increased the price 35% because those folks are desperate.
2:52 had the axe to grind,
ReplyDelete7:47 is his shoe shine boy, now go get your shoe shine box and get shining son
7:47 didnt I see you handing out paper towels in the men's room at NASS?
ReplyDeletefunny this blog degenerates into "Globus going public" or bashing of Z Spine/Amedica/Centinal or "fill in the blank" no market share company.
ReplyDeleteSince Z Spine is the only one that has to reports numbers, it would be real interesting to see out of that $56 odd million in sales > how much of that was in the USA.
Orthofix posted 14% sales gain in implants over a strong quarter last year. I'd wager that Orthofix will soon pass Z Spine in implant sales.
Why should OR staffs even be asking reps to bring in food in the first place? Is business really gained or lost over some free food? I think lunches should be outlawed and may the best, most qualified rep win. After all, the doctors are relying on the expertise of the rep and the quality of the implants not the toppings on the pizza. And for the record...not all reps have expense accounts these days. When was the last day we had "rep appreciation day?" I cant even begin to count the number of times people have come up to me in a hospital and asked for something? and i dont even know who they are! I take great pride in my job and respect those who i work with. I expect the same in return. Im not a caterer.
ReplyDeletenot so much the OR staff--but the office staff!! these are people you rarely even see.
ReplyDeleteAs history has it, the color purple is associated with Royalty, and both nobility and spirituality.Purple is also the oppisite of hot red and cool blue, and it sounds like some of you have blue balls which could lead to a red ass, you guys are not even in the same league go purple.
ReplyDeletei saw the movie "The Color Purple"
ReplyDelete8:23
ReplyDeleteWe are thankful that we are not in the same league as "purple" since purple is at the very bottom.
8:43 Right on sista!..or brotha!
ReplyDelete