Mike Allison

Founder

Stress, Anxiety, and Lack of Work/Life Balance In Medical Sales

According to Gartner's research, approximately

40% of sales people struggle with mental health issues.
90% of sales people report feeling burnt out from work.
54% of sales people surveyed are actively looking for a new job.

I've read a lot of posts written by salesrep in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries who are completely fed up with their jobs, feeling like their "passion for people has been murdered" because of the toxicity in both their companies and in the medical field.

It seems that there are a lot of sales people in this industry who are unhappy and regret that they ever got into medsales and don't know what to do to get out.

I'm really curious to see what medreps and medsales leaders here have to share on this topic.

🙏 Mental Wellness

💉 Medical

🏄 Personal Life

13 comments

Sort by:

NoToBANT

Catalyst

Senior Account Executive

I think this is the nature of sales

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Just another Friday

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

It's the life we chose

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

I can’t comment from the inside, but we’ve got a few who can. Paging @medhardwaredr @detectivegibbles Otherwise, the rest of it sounds normal.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

Director of Sales NA

Thank you for the heads up closer! This is right up my alley! Done the rep and now director side so can add input! But it’s Friday and going to meet some people for pizza I’ll hit it soon!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Figgered you’d add some gold

detectivegibbles

Politicker

Sales Director

@oldcloser appreciate the tag! Sorry for delay in reply, I totally missed this tag.

@medhardwaredr nailed it.
Great post - PS shooting you a DM, would love to connect. 100% right on all the VC/PE money flowing into healthcare. It's honestly scary and worries me for my kids future around accessible healthcare and patient care. Get second and third opinions ALWAYS.

For context, I'm in capital equipment and service sales. Regional director. Been with the same company for nearly 4 years now, in medical equipment space for better part of 6+ years.

I truly believe the number one indicator of falling into those mentioned statistics (burn out, job hunting, etc) is the culture of the company.

I can say with confidence I will never work for another company (unless I start my own biz) because of the care they give to me and my family for our overall well-being. They've built an incredible culture that prioritizes people, employees and customers both.

Anxiety is your internal smoke detector going off and likely something you're not addressing head-on. Recognize that something is off and lean into it, DO NOT AVOID IT. This leads to the mental health collapse and burn out.

If your leadership isn't willing to lean-in with you and help put you in the best possible scenario to succeed, then struggles will be inevitable.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps!

medhardwaredr

Politicker

Director of Sales NA

Ok! This one is 100% up my alley Mike! I’ve been in the medical capital equipment industry for almost 15 years now ranging from inside sales all the way to director of sales North America which I currently do.

The industry has changed. Just like our customers, our industry is consolidating. 8/10 of my competitors that are left have been scooped up by private equity’s and with that comes thinning and change. Hard change. Smaller territories, bigger unattainable quotas no budget and a marketing department that has been gutted. No innovation only thin thin thin.

The mental health is real. Myself and many others have been out for a mental health break once or twice so the burnout on between the road and watching your pay go is shitty. I now make time everyday to stop and smell the roses, walk my dog and spend time with my parents. Do I need to run to Costco? I go. Sick of working this morning? Golf. Hungry? Steak sounds good. Working out is key as well.
Do I regret getting into med sales? No way! Name a city I’ve seen it. Hotels? Lifetime diamond elite and enough points to live in the Tokyo Ritz Carlton with whatever girl I’m with for half a year. Money? I’ll be retired by 50 depending on my next home purchase. I’ve seen the industry change and hospitals are consolidating to vc’s and pe’s so it’s a challenge but it’s a significantly better spot than a lot of sales jobs out there.
Life is what you make it mentally so do your best to exercise that muscle and everything else gets easier.
You can also switch to another industry with your experience so go for it. HVAC sounds cool @HVACexpert so does raw materials.

Founder

@medhardwaredr: Absolutely agree with you that "life is what you make it mentally." You know this, but for the sake of others in this thread, here are 3 things you should be doing, if you're not doing them already, to keep your mental game as sharp as a Ginsu knife!
1. Physical exercise daily. Changing your physical state by working out, whatever that looks like for you, changes your mental state. If you want to have a the strongest mental state, you've got to be strong physically. They go hand-in-hand. For example, I've yet to meet a high-performing CEO who doesn't work out every day.
2. Diet. The ole adage that 'you are what you eat,' has never been truer than it is now. Put crap into your mouth and you're going to get a brain and body that runs like crap. If you wanna be a Lambo in sales, you've got to put the best fuel into your body.
3. Discipline. Not being disciplined is one of the biggest road blocks to sales success. And if you're telling yourself: "I lack discipline," then you're lying to yourself. There's not a person on earth who lacks discipline. People simply choose not to exercise their discipline. The more you exercise your discipline, the more disciplined you become. Exercise it like you'd exercise your muscles and you'll see how much stronger you become and how much your career in sales takes off.
Have a great week ahead, everyone.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Not in med or pharma sales, but this resonates. Sales = your employment and your compensation rely on you hitting a target set by someone else. That's just stressful. That said, it's also why we do this job.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

This resonates with outside sales in general. Burn out and company culture (or lack thereof) are real issues.

BigShrimpin

Politicker

Account executive

Sales is eternal grass is greener which is why you see so much job hopping and in most cases the grass is yellow everywhere some places just let you have more of it.

Anyone here being honest will tell you theyd rather sell the same thing for 30 years with a solid book of business than constantly restart every 2-4 years but when caught in a sales death spiral its always easier to start fresh elsewhere than pull yourself out (often with a paybump to boot) these figures probably aren't way off from the average worker of any kind we're just blessed with more mobility in the job market.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

They aren’t called the Sunday scaries for nothing