Wyeth will use inside, part-time sales representatives to complement its full-time sales force, which is being reduced by about 25 percent to 30 percent, the company said.
Adding the part-timers will result in a net sales force reduction of about 15 percent, said Bernard Poussot,
Wyeth executive vice president.
“We think we’ve found a way to cut the waste, the wasted energies of sales reps calling on doctors [and finding it difficult to] get quality time with physicians,” he said.
By trimming its full-time ranks, Wyeth aims to reduce the number of reps targeting the same doctor. Sales personnel will be assigned to detail multiple products.
As for part-timers, Wyeth has deployed them in its consumer division for the past few years. As reported in MM&M, the drug maker began piloting them in its pharmaceuticals division in July and said it will fully implement them by year’s end (MM&M, July 2005).
