Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

I spent more than 16 years as a pharmaceutical salesman, trainer, and sales manager. In fact, I spent more of those years training and equipping others to be successful salesmen than doing the job myself. I missed selling personally so much, that on rare situations where there was a particularly difficult client, I would ask my salesman if I could make the presentation to possibly demonstrate alternative approaches.

Now for everyone who is not familiar with this line of work, it could take on a different character depending upon the landscape. For country doctors or those in small towns, the Detail Man, the colloquial term for a pharmaceutical salesman, because his job was to fill in the medical profession on the latest details, claims, effects, and side effects of his company’s products. He would pack his bag, go into the doctor’s office, give his calling card to the receptionist and would then be told when the doctor would see him, or when to come back. Depending upon the company and the effectiveness of the salesman or the company’s latest product might get him in sooner. Often, for major companies, the receptionist would send the salesman on to the doctor’s private office to wait.

I believe it was about my second or third year in the business, I was due to return to New York for a refresher course. It is possible an assembly of salesmen can learn as much from each other as they can in a formal classroom, and it was certainly true on this visit. There was a Cannuk, or a salesman from the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The unique thing about him was he did not travel around by car to see his doctor/clients. He took a ferry or flew to all the cities that made up his territory. He then would take a hotel suite. Next, he would call the doctors’ offices and inform the receptionist or head nurse he was in town and the name of suite at the best hotel.

After work, the local doctors who wished would come to his suite and have a cocktail and a light snack and chat with him and the other physicians. Now, this guy could have gone on the stage and held his own as an amateur comedian, and perhaps with more experience, be a headliner at comedy clubs.

He was not only good, but he was outstanding, the entire week was one where he kept us rolling in the aisles of the bus, at breaks in classes, at every opportunity and no one else could top him. It got so bad, we finally begged him to quit because we had laughed so much our sides hurt!

I certainly would have h**ed to have had to compete against him as a salesman. Now, I admit that a lot of the physicians in the territory I worked did expected to hear a current joke and I tried to present a story or yarn that had some meaning, or a point I wanted to stress. Just Sayin…RJS

BadFisherman Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people." -- Victor Borge.