Rejection
Webster, a boy from orange farm, Joburg South, successfully completed his matric in 2012 as one of the top 3 students in science and in the school. After the matric results were released, Webster was called by the teacher and informed that there was a government programme where the top 3 students were offered a bursary to further their studies from the department of Gauteng. However, upon going to the Gauteng Department offices, Webster was told that they could not award bursaries to science students only, and, because his results ranked 3rd, was replaced by the 4th student, who was doing Commerce.
Having lost out on that bursary, Webster decided to take a gap year and worked in retail. During this gap year he also applied for funding as he wanted to further his studies. Having struggled to get the funding, Webster turned to his father for financial assistance as he was accepted to study Mechanical Engineering at UJ in 2014.
However, after no longer than a month into his studies, Websters father had returned home and broke the news that he had been retrenched. “I will never forget this day”, he said, “he told me on my birthday, 12 February 2014”. Webster knew that his father, being the sole breadwinner in the family, would not be able to cover his tuition fees, and took it upon himself to head to the administration office and deregister the next day.
He was offered a refund and counselling, and tried to get back into the workforce with his head held high.
Resilience
It was during this time that Webster had learnt about the medical sales rep field, oddly enough, through the movie – Love and other drugs. He felt a personal connection to this movie as the main character had similar circumstances: i.e., he worked in retail, then got fired, and he didn’t have any medical background. “His brother, who was a doctor, referred him to a pharmaceutical company, where he started his career as a medical sales rep,” Webster recalls.
After seeing how successful this character became, Webster thought “I can also do this,” and searched for opportunities, where he found the Diverse Conversations Health Product Sales Rep learnership listing on Indeed. He applied, and had a successful interview, and so kicked off the beginning of his Medical Sales Rep career with his learnership at Boehringer Ingelheim.
Webster was well aware that his school peers were at university furthering their studies. “I wanted to make sure that this learnership worked for me,” he says. So he set out to put in 110% in learning and doing his best to complete the tasks that were given (e.g. POE’s, assignments, etc). His goal was to gain a certificate that would help him launch his career as a medical sales rep.
“I’ve learnt a lot of things through the learnership,” Webster reflects, “the professionalism of our facilitators really stood out to me”. He comments on how they made it possible for the learners to understand the different concepts and the different disciplines of the modules easier. He still uses a lot of the principles today, and he believes that Reinet had chosen the right facilitators to carry the programme. He is also grateful to Luella who made the process run smoothly, and Dora who helped him better understand the coursework.
- Among his favourite teachings were Anatomy and Physiology, the Time Management modules, and especially Social Styles. “Learning the Social Styles of customers is so critical, I think,” he emphasises, “I learnt to engage with customers and even today I make use of them”.
- Webster recalls what an amazing job the facilitators did at teaching them the 80/20 principle as part of the Territory Management program, and believes that when applied correctly, it really works for him.
- Now that he is in the pharmaceutical field, he remembers what was taught in the Clinical trials modules and believes it helps him to study the articles on the efficacy of specific active ingredients.
He emphasises the importance of taking the learnership seriously. “A lot of people think that the learnership is just there for you to get a stipend,” he says, “but the modules that are taught have a lot of information that is useful in the industry in order for anyone to excel.”
Results
A month before the end of the learnership, Webster started applying for jobs, and only stayed home for under 2 months when he finally got the opportunity to work in the Medical Sales field:
- He first worked for Smart Pharmaceuticals marketing front shop & OTC products.
- After close to 2 years, he moved on to work for Kenza Health with the aim of growing in the industry. “That is the company, I think, that really groomed me to excel,” he says. It was there that he managed to get ‘rep of the month’, or sometimes the runner up of the month, and had the opportunity to interact with the Pharmacies in the Joburg North area.
- Webster was then given the opportunity to join BSM medical (which is now called Essity), where he worked on strappings, acute wound care products and incontinence in Joburg North and the North West.
- After 2 years and 8 months, Webster got the opportunity to join Tara Healthcare to further his knowledge in the private and state hospital field. This is where he learnt about Point-of-Care testing devices and medical consumables, where he was able to work in 5 provinces alone. “I think that is where I basically started to stretch my knowledge,” he says, “and also make an impact in the industry.”
- Today, Webster works at Cipla, where he can specialize in a specific territory and is back in the pharmaceutical field. He intends on staying at Cipla for the foreseeable future, due to his growing family. He has a 4-year-old son and recently they have been blessed with beautiful daughter, so he had to take into consideration that all the traveling results in more time away from home.
He’s aware that as we grow older, we tend to want to be at one place and not hop around as much. “Hopping around gets to a point where it has a negative impact,” he warns. He believes that potential employers will think that you will not commit to the company and are therefore not worth the investment.
“I’m happy with the company that I’m with,” he shares, “it’s a company that invests a lot in their beliefs, and currently have graduate programmes that helps with employee development.” Webster encourages other companies to invest in the development of students because they are the future of the industry. “Getting the right people to train, starts with the interviews,” he says, “so, interview them correctly to ensure a successful investment.”
Reflection
For someone who didn’t go to university to do any BSc, he knows that he has levelled his life to push and challenge himself to be competitive in this industry. “I am one guy who is resilient, and I’m not scared of trying new things,” he reflects, “I’d say that the foundation of this is education.”
He believes that his high school science background helped him to get the learnership. “Fortunately, for me, I took advantage of the opportunities I’ve had,” he says, “and the thing is, this learnership basically paved the way for me to ensure that I excel in everything that I do.” He is aware, however, that the selective criteria required for most opportunities are reserved people with BSc degree or a diploma.
In 2020, Webster started his BCom in business management, which he had to put on hold due to Covid19, where finances were not making sense at the time. However, with his resilience, he is going back to further his studies in 2023, and encourages others, “go to school and get that BSc or any related sales and marketing degree in order for you to do your best in this industry.”
Websters mentions his list of characteristics for someone that he thinks would succeed in the Medical Sales Rep industry:
- they need to be dedicated and they need to love selling
- they need to also be open to new possibilities in terms of learning new things
- You need to have passion for customer relations or dealing with people. It takes skill to not only sell to a customer, but to also learn about the person and be able to uncover their needs by asking the relevant questions.
- You must be a solution driven kind of person. You must understand the demand and you must be able to provide the solutions.
“Make sure you absorb as much information as you can when you’re doing a learnership,” he pleas. “Let’s invest in ourselves and be resilient, so that we can become better beings. Being resilient is the best thing you can ever do for yourself, because even when there are storms you will be able to rise above it.”