Elizabeth See

I truly credit my mother. She absolutely guided my career and mentored me. She was a manager herself, not in pharmaceuticals, but worked for a man for 40 years and had 100 people under her - maintenance people, housekeepers, managers, assistant managers. Two things I picked up from her just in watching her as a younger person: she always treated everybody the same no matter what the title, so the manager she treated exactly the same as she treated the housekeepers and the maintenance men. She had such long tenure, and everyone wanted to work for her as long as they could, and they did. I feel like I've had that as well - I have a rep that had been with me 22 years, and a lot of them have been with me 10,14, 16 years. Just watching what she did is how I wanted to treat people, and I think it's what has kept people wanting to work hard for me. The second thing my mother taught me was know your product and trait - so when she had to deal with electricians and plumbers, she took two courses so that she could understand their jargon and terminology so she didn't appear clueless when having a conversation. I think that's what pushed me, when I knew in college I didn't get what I needed computer-wise, to seek out MTI (Microcomputer Technology Institute) so that I could be proficient in computers and software. I attribute my success to knowing my products, leading with intigrity and professionalism and creating an environment that is collaborative, nurturing and inspiring.

My first sales job at Wakefield, I walked into an office completely nervous because this was my first time trying to sell a product to a doctor. I laid all 15 products out on the desk, and when the doctor came in, he said he liked me and was going to give me a piece of advice. He told me that when you get into pharma sales and you call on physicians and nurses, ask them about their patients. Ask them who they see, because most of these drugs have decongestants in them, and he commented he only saw geriatric patients, so he didn't prescribe decongestants. He said had I asked him that, I wouldn't have put all 15 products down, just the 5 that don't have them. I love that he shared that with me because number one, he didn't have to, but number two, it made sense that I went in there with my agenda, and I should have went in there asking more questions of his agenda/practice. Then, I could have come back and said, okay, based on what you've just told me, you only see geriatric patients, so I'm guessing you probably don't want products that have decongestants that are going to raise their blood pressure, so I'm going to talk about the 5. I will always remember him. To put it in a nutshell, it's don't go in an office with our presentation, go in an office and ask questions, and then tailor it to what they tell you.

If they're trying to be in management, I would say number one, treat everyone equally. Number two, know your stuff. Work as hard or harder than your reps, and prove to them that you're going to have their back, that you're going to work hard for them. And lastly, put together a collaborative environment where reps don't feel afraid to maybe fail doing something a different way, that we can all share successes, and sometimes having a failure helps us, right? It helps us pick a better way to do something. Collaboration and teamwork, truly having each other's backs and sharing successes and failures, to me, is what builds the strongest team. Having the courage to have a crucial conversation when need be was probably what I struggled with initially as a new manager years ago because I didn't want the sales rep to get discouraged or de-motivated. But I have learned over the years, when done correctly, it increases engagement and at times, repairs strained relationships. It shows the rep that you value them enough to invest in their growth. I had a sales rep tell me a long time ago that he never wanted to disappoint me. I felt at that moment, I had his respect.

Setting yourself apart is the biggest challenge. There are so many sales reps out there, and if I'm a doctor, I may see 30 in a day. What is going to make Elizabeth stand out when she leaves that office? Is it that Elizabeth came in with a solution for the type of patients? Is it that Elizabeth asked, when you have patients coming in with this, what do you do? You need to be that person that comes in with a solution that is good for that doctor and his/her patients.

Clearly, family is first and foremost, but I think having a good work-life balance is important. I strongly push integrity, honesty, professionalism and teamwork in both. Marriage is a team, right? and you work with a team. But kindness goes a long way and if we can be a little kinder to the staff, be a little kinder to that front office person, we might be pleasantly surprised. Kind of back to my mother - don't worry about their title, treat everybody the same.