Jaimie Bartlett, MBA
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
*The views and opinions expressed in this profile are those of the professional and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of their employer.
What made you choose this career?
While in my MBA, I wanted to see how I could use my scientific background to incorporate science and business in the same role. In my MBA, there were a couple of pharmaceutical companies that came and gave presentations for students about what having a career in pharmaceuticals would look like. This really intrigued me because it was an opportunity to use my science degree while using my business degree. In fact, the first job I got was through a school job site where I landed a head office role in marketing and business development. I then realized that I wanted to get field experience to become more well rounded. I wanted to get some experience in sales to get a better understanding of how our products are actually used by customers and what conversations really look like.
Jaimie is a charismatic and dedicated pharmaceutical sales professional that is not afraid to think outside the box. She leverages her ability to create professional goals, solve complex problems, and work independently to excel in the pharmaceutical sales landscape.
What does a typical day or project in your role look like?
I’ll start my day by going through my notes to plan out where I will be within my territory, what customers I would like to see. Once I have my schedule for the day organized, I’ll travel throughout my territory to see my customers and attend my appointments. Through experience, I’ve found that there are frequent schedule changes because conversations can last a few minutes or can last a whole lunch hour. In between appointments, I assemble my call notes and I’ll maintain a dialogue with my colleagues to inform them of how my conversations have been going. I’ll finish my day off by completing my administrative tasks such as assembling expense reports and documenting mileage information.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards with your current role?
A big part of sales is the little things in conversations. Things like remembering people’s names, asking how their day is going and remembering what was said in a previous conversation can go a long way in building rapport with customers.
It shows that you’re a real, authentic person that is focused on understanding their practice and bringing an insightful perspective and appropriate product knowledge to the conversation.
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Sometimes, it’s difficult to get access to people in order to book appointments with customers to affect positive change. In pharmaceutical sales, you don’t necessarily have specific tasks on a list that you check off at the end of a day. A lot of my success comes with the gradual progression of customer relationships over a long period of time. I would actually say that my biggest reward goes hand in hand with my biggest challenge. The biggest reward for me is when I’m able to have positive conversations with customers. I love being able to see the positive impact that these conversations have on peoples’ lives. These conversations really solidify why I do what I do.
What advice would you give to graduate students who would like to pursue careers in this industry?
Take advantage of resources that are available in school to help you hone your resume and cover letter writing skills. On your resume, be sure to include tangible examples of what you did, why it was important, and what difference you made to contribute to any objectives. Additionally, when you’re currently in a job, write down examples of tangible accomplishments as they take place because this makes it less likely that you’ll forget about them.
Find out what you can about different companies, especially if they plan on coming to your school for an information session. Reach out to sales professionals to see what you can learn about the industry. This helps you get on peoples’ radar and allows you to determine what you can do to become a more attractive candidate. Moreover, these discussions can really help you understand what area within sales you would like to work in.
What differentiates junior and senior sales representatives?
In more senior sales positions, you’re typically taking on more of a leadership role in your territory and you’re also mentoring up-and-coming sales representatives. As a senior sales representative, you’ve been able to hone your craft because you’ve had a longer amount of time to build deeper relationships with customers. In essence, you’ve become more of a resource to everyone in the area and in the salesforce.
Describe your work-life balance
In normal, non-pandemic times, balance is pretty good when I’m working in the field. Some days can be longer than others; a huge determining factor is the amount of individuals that I have to visit on a given day and whether they are in the same geographic region. When it comes to the amount of travel required, it really depends on how big your territory is. Some territories are relatively small (ie sections of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)) whereas other territories are larger (ie Northern Ontario).
This really dictates how much time you’ll need to spend on the road and how often you’ll have overnight trips. Moreover, I actually live in my territory in the Greater Toronto Area, which cuts down my commute time. Lastly, it depends on your specific product area and company you work for, as you might have a larger territory if you have a more specialized, or niche, product area, or if the company you work for has larger territory area for their sales professionals.
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