Life Science Tools of the Trade

Tamara Zemlo’s interesting perspective on the life-science sales force can be found at http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2007/070510/full/nj7141-230a.html. In it she examines the ever changing world of e-commerce and its impact on sales and sales reps in the life-sciences. The internet has changed how we interact with both vendors and sales reps. Information can be found on-line and orders placed without speaking to another human. Are sales reps becoming obsolete? Maybe they already were? I’ve never met a sales rep from New England Biologicals so I guess you can argue a company can survive without a sales force if they market quality products.

According to a survey what we appreciate most is “the rep’s ability to show them how to use new products or to provide assistance in trouble-shooting”. I don’t know if I saw the survey but I view that more as a hypothetical appreciation than actual goods delivered. I know this sounds cynical, I don’t remember ever getting helpful trouble-shooting advice from a sales rep. In fact, I don’t think I have ever received useful advice from tech services by phone or on-line but tha tis anpother complaint.

What do I want from a sales rep? Fair prices and I expect them to troubleshoot any problems with shipping, receiving, etc. If they take care of that, I’ll take care of the science. Anything else is gravy.

The phone rings in the lab. Some woman is on the phone, with a bad connection, asking for me by name. “Hello, Hal….this is  mumble mumble from Stratagene. Do you do any cloning?”

Immediately I’m annoyed. A cold call in the middle of an experiment. Yes, I do cloning. I’ve literally made thousands of clones and no, I do not want to have an informal meeting with your “cloning expert (failed scientist)” when he comes to Duke University.

 I asked “Do you want me to train your expert?” and hung up as she thanked me for my time. She didn’t apologize.

I’m sure I filled out a factoid postcard for Stratagene with details about what techniques I do, what products I use, etc. I guess all that was lost except the phone number……………Do you do cloning?  Moron.

Okay.  I didn’t think about it.  I guess nobody did.  Since when do you have to specify inside delivery on an order?
The other week, I ordered a fair bit of pipet tips.  Turns out, the order turned out to be a pallet worth of tips.  The company shipped them freight from California.  Probably cheaper shipping costs for them and it doesn’t matter to us how they’re shipped.  What does matter to us was that they were delivered to the lab.  They were dumped on the loading dock.
The truck driver actually came up to the fourth floor to inform us that he didn’t have orders to make an inside delivery.  All he had to do was leave them at the loading dock.  Okay.  Not thrilled about it but not a big deal.  We could go down and get them.  The irritating part of all this was when he offered to deliver them upstairs.  With the use of our cart and for an additional fee, he’d bring the order upstairs.   WHAT?!?

I still can’t figure it out.  Was this a way for him to make a little extra money?
Needless to say.  We didn’t pay him to bring the tips upstairs.  Three of us went down with a cart, pulled the pallet apart and *delivered* the tips the lab.  One cart, one trip, no extra delivery cost.

I had a make it or break it day in the lab. If this works I’m home free. The purified proteins are in the freezer with enough to do hundreds of binding experiments. As Joe Ely sang “I had my hopes up high”……………..

I should know better. The film churns out of the developer with a long dark line the entire width of the gel. In the red light I can tell I’m screwed. I don’t need to turn on the light to know this was a bust. Every fourth lane should be negative. Total non-specific binding.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back at it…..throwing rocks at the moon.

Unlike the traditional pair of gloves or three pipet tips in a bag useless “free sample” I usually get from vendors, the Bio-Line sales rep stopped by and offered to send me a 5ml sample of their Glutathione-beaded cellulose.  I’m currently using Glutathione-agarose from Ge/Healthcare. The last time I order fit rom GE the prce was $220 for 10 mls. The Bio-Line reagent is $295 for 25 mls!  The free sample is enough for multiple experiments. If it works as well or better than GE’s product, I’ll switch to the Bio-Line reagent and save some money.  I appreciate a company that gives you enough of their reagent/product to actually see if it works in an experiment! Maybe they actually believe it is better?!