Любовта е опиат

by Jamie Reidy

Историята на един търговец на Виагра

Бившият първокласен търговски представител на Пфайзер повдига завесата на фармацевтичните продажби и най-известното лекарство в историята!

"Любовта е опиат" е остроумно експозе на една индустрия, която засяга всеки човек. Разкрива съмнителните практики на фармацевтичните търговски агенти, на сестрите и дори на докторите. Райди проследява своите възходи и падения като представител на фармацевтичния гигант Пфайзер, производител на едни от най-широко предписваните и използвани лекарства, включително и "Виагра". "Любовта е опиат" е брутално искрена за това, което наистина продава лекарствата в днешния свят, а именно сексът.

Джейми Райди е модерният антигерой. Възхищаваме му се за усилията, които полага да се скатае от работа. Учудваме се на това до колко далече е готов да стигне, за да измами шефовете си. Защо? Защото Райди е умен, забавен, самоироничен и самоуверен. И изключително искрен – много повече от лекарите, които избират кое лекарство да предпишат на база на дължината на полата на търговската представителка или на мнението на сестрите, които допускат търговците само ако получават достатъчно почерпки и ухажвания. По-честен е и от фармацевтичните компании, които се интересуват само от цената на акциите си. Докато четете книгата ще се смеете много, дори когато ви се плаче от състоянието на здравната система. Така в общо линии се прави бизнес в Америка, а и по света. Влагат се повече пари в маркетинг, отколкото в проучвания и развитие на самия продукт. Успехът на един продукт зависи повече от субективни причини, като търговеца или възприятието, отколкото от качествата на продукта. И ако тази книга се отнася за фармацевтичния бранш, то тя показва, че същата схема лежи в основата на продажбата на каквито и да е продукти.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Medical, Business, Book Club

356 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1992,[2] he served with distinction as a U.S. Army officer.[3] He then spent two years in pharmaceutical sales with Pfizer and Eli Lilly and Company, ranking as the #1 salesman in the nation at both companies.[citation needed]
His first book HARD SELL: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman offers a self-deprecating look at the life of a drug rep, climaxing in his selling Viagra. Fox 2000 produced the film Love and Other Drugs based on the book. Reidy’s second book BACHELOR 101: Cooking + Cleaning = Closing is a cookbook/lifestyle guide for single guys.
On the Huffington Post, he maintains a blog that contains nothing political.
Reidy has appeared live on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” “Squawk Box” and “Closing Bell,” and on CNN’s “In The Money.”

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. This book was very underwhelming. Jamie Reidy seems like he's probably a nice enough guy, but you can tell he thinks (earnestly) that he's a much more hilarious and amazing writer than he is. Not that it's terrible, but it's like someone told him he's really funny and he's kind of not.

The thing is this:
1. Half the book is just about being a pharma rep, not about being a pharma rep who sells viagra (he initially sold zithromax and other stuff).

2. None of it is that interesting or exciting. It's like it seemed like it was a great idea - what's it like to be a pharma rep to sell viagra?!?!?! - but the reality - at least of Reidy's life - far less exciting.

3. Theoretically, this was the book from which Love & Other Drugs was adapted. I have no idea how they managed this. The only thing that is similar is that he was a viagra rep. Nothing else is the same. I don't understand how someone had to pay Reidy the rights to his book to write movie that had nothing to do with it.

Basically, I would have stopped reading the book had I not worked in pharma advertising (I wrote the stuff the sales reps used to sell). I just wanted to see if anything interesting ever happened. it didn't.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my understanding, "Love & Other Drugs" (the movie with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal) was based off this book. But while the movie was a love story (and kinda crappy) the book is all-comedy (and f*cking awesome). Seriously, it's laugh-out-loud funny. Jamie Reidy is witty, honest and well, I'll leave it up to the reader to decide if he's likable (I actually think he is). It's a damn shame that the producers took this book and made it into a dramatic/romantic movie. They could have come up with a great comedy for the history books, a la "The Hangover." But I guess someone found that was too much of Hard Sell.

[Marisa Fernandes · Rating 2 out of 5]

"O Amor é o Melhor Remédio" não foi de todo uma boa escolha de leitura que fiz. Aliás, acredito que Jamie Reidy possa ser um bom escritor, mas não me convenceu... Passei a maior parte da obra ansiosa, desejosa por chegar ao fim do livro, fim esse que parecia um destino longinquo!
Em primeiro lugar, continuo a não perceber a razão do título da obra ser "O Amor é o Melhor Remédio", já que esta se refere maioritariamente ao Zithromax e não ao Viagra (que poderia mais facilmente ser associado ao amor). O Viagra é abordado já na parte final do livro.
Em segundo lugar, o filme, com o mesmo título (trailer aqui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6w7D... ), de Edward Zwick apenas usou este livro como ponto de partida, acabando por nada ter a ver com o livro.
Em terceiro lugar, senti que o autor se esforça, em vários momentos, por parecer engraçado e isso acaba por tornar a leitura um pouco enfadonha.
À parte destas críticas menos positivas, achei interessante conhecer e compreender melhor como funciona a indústria das empresas farmacêuticas (e da sua relação com os médicos, enfermeiros e auxiliares e com as vendas), e em particular da Pfizer, empresa fundada em Nova Iorque, em 1849, por dois primos alemães, Charles Pfizer e Charles F. Erhart, que migraram para os EUA.
*
"As mulheres tinham do seu lado a reacção humana mais básica: por muito que estivesse atrasado em relação ao seu horário, ou por muito atarefado que o dia estivesse a ser, um médico punha-se logo de nariz no ar ao sentir um perfume ou ao fixar pelo canto do olho uma bela rapariga, o desejo instintivo de se reproduzir posto em acção. (...)" (p.210).

[Christine Bader · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Hard Sell" should have been a game changer: the book that exposed the endemic corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, with unethical sales reps pushing drugs into doctors' offices fully aware of their flaws.

But Reidy manages to make it a frivolous frat-boy story: how funny it is that he stole samples, collected fake signatures, fudged his expenses, and handed out drugs to friends and family.

I find it hard to believe that Reidy's shenanigans didn't cross the line from juvenile to unlawful. In any case, it is criminal that someone with enough self-awareness to pen a memoir could sustain such oblivion to how unethical and offensive he was -- not to mention life-threatening to the patients and friends on which he foisted his wares.

I desperately wanted to like this book because there are so few first-person accounts of working in big companies. (Has there been anything since Liar's Poker?)

But "Hard Sell" suffers from the same hubris as Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story: Both authors merely recount their actions without reflecting on them. They’re frivolous and self-serving, where they could have done the world a great service by doing more than trying to make chicks dig them.

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally blindsided of the fact that the only reason why I bought this book was for 2 reasons: 1) Borders was closing and I couldn't help but to buy some books in its final days. 2) It said it was based on the movie Love & Other Drugs and if I hadn't had a chance to watch the movie I love to read the book first....

Now that I've seen the movie I know....KNOW! I would've been pissed off that the book and the movie are pretty much mutually exclusive...The movie was way better and the book was dry and more factual about the underworkings of a pharmaceutical salesperson with a bit of humor here and there. If I were you just watch the movie...at least you get to see Jake's ass continuously...

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't actually read this book, my husband did. I checked it our for him out of pity: it has sat on the shelves of our library for 5 long years, and not a single person has checked it out. I brought it home for him, like a cute puppy from the pound, and hope he liked it. He did. Here's his review;

It was entertaining, an interesting story, good insight into "salesman university." Enjoyed the first half, the second half was kind of slow until the end where it really picked up, then abruptly ended. I laughed out loud at many parts.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond hilarious, and I have never rooted for a salesman like I have for Jamie Reidy - he slacks off at work, but not at his writing

I saw the trailer for Love and Other Drugs, and was expecting a tale of a money and sex-driven salesman who learns a few lessons along the away.

No - that is not Jamie Reidy.

First of all, he's not sex-driven. He barely even mentions relationships in the book, other than girls who leave him because he is transferred.

And second of all - he is not money driven. Case in point, one of his many reviews -

“I need to find a way to motivate you, Jamie, because money obviously isn’t it. You do realize that most people get into sales because they want to make as much money as they can?” I shrugged. He exhaled loudly and looked around the café as if the answer was somewhere within range of our table. “I just don’t understand how you’re not blowing out your sales. Whenever I work with you, Jamie, the nurses make sure you get to see the docs, and you always give a solid detail and close them for the business, so I can’t figure out why you’re not doing better, let alone not number one.”

Jamie is motivated not by money, but by figuring out how to take a vacation.

He has chapters and chapters of how to figure out how to get supervisors to think you are in the field, when you are on vacation somewhere.

He repeatedly shows how to get up at 10am and get people to think you got up at 7am.

He is lazy, but in the best way

He is not in it for himself per se - he visits friends, helps them out, and tries to do right by everyone.

He just likes to sleep late, and have more than 10 days vacation per year.

And honestly - if the world was a little more like Jamie, we'd still work out well - and we'd just have a bit more free time.

How much time do you spend in the office actually working? I'm guessing for most people - half at most. The other half is just you showing up.

Jamie works the half he has to, and then has elaborate schemes to pretend he is working the other half.

He's an ok salesman, but a great writer

He cuts corners around the edges of his work, but there aren't any cutting corners to this book. Every paragraph has either humor or something that moves the tale forward, and usually both.

This is a memoir that tells all without making you feel bad. You don't even feel bad about the Pharmaceutical industry - they make pills we need, and just have to meet a few sales quotas along the way. There are no bad guys here.

In any case - it is great.

In short - if you want something light in these times - but with substance - I would recommend this book.

It is incredible.

[Casa · Rating 3 out of 5]

THe book was a good book, regardless of the fact that it seriously had nothing to do with the movie...I mean If you were reading this book because you wanted to before the movie came out, do not waste your time...but if you enjoy pharmaceuticals and learning about ones mans journey through the ever so impressive world of Pharm sales then have a read. But I can honestly say that the movies trailer made me want to read the book before hand so in that aspect I was sorely disappointed. But its a good read.

[Mary K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wonder if this author couldn't have made the book interesting by taking himself out of the story, doing additional research into drug reps, and giving us something informational?

I skimmed the first 30 pages - who cares about the conversation with your parents? Then skimmed the next 30 (beers and babes while training), then skimmed the next 50 pages, then quit.

I love memoirs but this was unbearably poor writing by a seemingly self-absorbed man

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A limp and dry book that's supposedly about Viagra but is mostly about the unethical and illegal practices of a pharmaceutical rep. The first two-thirds are about how Reidy got his job (through going to Notre Dame and being in the military), cheats his employer on expense accounts, and essentially lies to doctors in order to push product samples. The entire system is rigged, with sales reps paying to follow doctors around and the medical offices going along with the charade by letting the salesperson have a lab coat and claim to be a "medical student."

All that you've heard about inflated prescription prices can be blamed on the ridiculous system in place where salespeople are given over $20,000 a year to wine and dine and bribe doctors to overprescribe name brand medications. And that doesn't include the hundreds of thousands of free drug samples that office workers can abuse as they like. The sad part of the book is that there are no apologies for being such disgusting people and corporations, always pretending they're working to help patients' health but in truth just simply wanting to make money and beat the competition.

As the author writes in what becomes a manual for how to be a bad employee: "Being a team player wasn't nearly as important as SEEMING to be a team player." So Reidy admits to going off on vacations while pretending to work, rigging the system that requires three phone calls a day and time stamped work receipts. He also admits to flirting, and notes that it's no myth that female drug reps sleep with doctors to get their numbers up.

Speaking of something going up, the relatively short section on Viagra is a bit disappointing. It's mostly obvious stuff, other than the admission that the company's miracle erection drug was approved so quickly that they made stuff up not knowing the side-effects or implications of something as simple as splitting a pill in half. The corporate big wigs come across as military march commanders and the salespeople as the uneducated buffoons who are not medically qualified to give doctors advice on medication. You already knew salespeople were self-centered jerks, but this book should make you see medical staff as being totally untrustworthy--including doctors who take advice from people who never took a college medical class!

This would have been more penetrating focused on the supposed topic (Viagra!) and much less on the lazy, sloppy loser of a salesman. The book's cover and title are deceptive--and if you end up reading it you'll discover that Jamie Reidy has again been successful at another fake hard sell.

[Цветелина Езекиева · Rating 1 out of 5]

271 страници скука, еднообразие и монотонност. Ако очаквате да се случи нещо между тях- е, няма да стане. А ако сте гледали филма (като мене) - няма нищо общо, женският образ дори не е споменат в книгата. 271 страници на лентяйство и мрънкане от страна на главния герой, ето това ще получите...

[Manja W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hab mich super amüsiert beim Lesen.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I added this to my list of to-read books during my short stint working for an organization that trained people working in the pharmaceutical industry. Ultimately, it was in large party my ethical incompatibility that drove me from the pharma industry, so I was curious to see what Jamie Reidy had to say.

Reidy exposes the pharma sales sector to be a profit-driven manipulative environment, and that doesn't surprise me. His writing is quick-witted, spare, and clever. The only problem I had with him as a narrator was not being able to like his character enough to fully care about his story. Although he admits it openly, he was a cunning and dishonest person. Even if true, for the sake of good writing, this should have been downplayed to keep the focus of story not on what a jerk the narrator was but rather on what a twisted business pharmaceutical drug sales is.

Overall, I recommend it to anyone interested in sales, pharma, or memoirs!

[Liliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este livro é bastante leve e engraçado. Escolhi lê-lo porque nesta altura precisava de algo assim e serviu perfeitamente o objectivo. Tem momentos de entretenimento puro.
Acabamos por ter a certeza de que, nas vendas farmacêuticas, existem muitos esquemas e o autor (visto que é uma biografia) é uma personagem bastante caricata que arranja forma de ter um bom ordenado sem fazer quase nada... Enfim, é um bom vivant...
Confesso que enquanto li o livro invejei bastante a sua profissão... :)

[Lesley Albers · Rating 1 out of 5]

My intention was to read this book before I watched the movie but yikes...read the first 41 pages and already this guy annoyed me. I think he thought of himself as a comedian...I kinda envisioning himself laughing over his own anecdotes as he writes this book but just wasn't for me. Gave up.

[Martyna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to find something that would be a sort of a strength of this book. After a long reflection, I can only congratulate the author for his courage. While the story is not addictive and we struggle to turn the pages, we cannot forget that this is an autobiography.

I am not only convinced that the knowledge contained in the book has not been described to us in too detailed way. Although the author tried to depict the events as objectively as possible, he probably did not quite manage to achieve the intended effect. On several occasions it seemed that his jokes were out of place. They didn't make me laugh, quite the opposite. Perhaps the case would have been completely different were it not for the fact that I had set myself up for positive reading.

Reidy shows what is happening behind the medical/pharmaceutical curtain, how corrupt the doctors are and what tricks the representatives of pharmaceutical companies are willing to do to issue prescriptions for the drugs they are advertising. We can only feel ashamed that we often fall prey to their sinister marketing.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir, not an expose, so let's get that on the table. It's also not a rom-com, which I guess the movie adaptation is. Jamie shares how he sort of fell into the job of drug rep and then went to great lengths to make it appear as though he was working hard when he wasn't. I found that laughable along with some of the tales he told. His epilog and epilog, continued really wrapped up the book nicely. It was a fun read.

[Cristina Sousa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bastante monótono, centra-se nas actividades de um delegado de vendas da Pfizer que acabou desiludido e saiu da farmacêutica. As más práticas são uma constante.
Confesso que quase desisti desta leitura, especialmente quando percebi que o filme (que eu vira há uns anos) nada ou muito pouco tem a ver com o livro.

[Veselina Bakalova-Mihaylovska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Четеше се бързо и имаше някои интересни факти по темата за фармацевтичната индустрия. Не мисля, че разкрива нещо чак толкова скандално. Спокойно може да се пропусне. Не мисля, че гледната точка, макар и на вътрешен човек, е толкова интересна и разкриваща ни нещо ново.

[LaWanda Booker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meeeehhhhhh

Disliked this book. I finished it and at times I thought it to be funny. However, my dislike is in the form of the terrible representation of a company Jamie did. To publish such terrible work ethics and seemingly boast about being promoted baffles me.

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[Nadia Aguilar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una “divertida comedia” que nos lleva a reflexionar sobre el entorno laboral, el compromiso y el saber enfrentar las vicisitudes de la vida en el ámbito laboral. En un tono irónico y autocrítico se abordan varios temas. Me gustó pero es un tanto superficial

[Deyth Banger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing more than another enjoyable journey!

[Noe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waitaminnit! This did NOT have Anne Hathaway in it! I've been robbed, lied to, I tell you!

But the book was funny and very entertaining, none-the-less. :)

[Dimana Peycheva · Rating 1 out of 5]

След страхотния филм, уж по книгата, тя си е направо разочарование. Голямо при това!

[Madison]

read this years ago and still remember it. adding it now because I couldn't remember the title

[Lauren Ofl · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there is absolutely no linkage to Anne Hathaway’s character in ‘Love and Other Drugs’, this was a humorous non-fiction account of the world of a sales rep. Would definitely recommend for anyone in the sales business and for all compulsive procrastinators and slacker-offs, so much to relate to and make you giggle.

[Andrew Shine · Rating 3 out of 5]

HARD SELL is one interesting book and kind of a fascinating study. I, for one, feel a lot more informed about the world of pharmaceutical sales. Prior to reading this, I hadn’t the faintest idea how a company like Pfizer sold their drugs. The book does do a great job of clearing up any questions an outsider might have. Plus, the book will leave you with a number of surprising facts regarding drug reps, the offices they serve, and the drugs they sell. Also, as someone who has worked in sales, it’s interesting to see how similar (and more so different) a drug rep is. Now, here’s the big problem – Jamie Reidy, the author, is kind an entitled asshole. He’s funny and charismatic, don’t get me wrong, which makes the book fun to read. However, it’s mostly an autobiography so he trashes Pfizer often and complains of work. Um, I don’t know, Jamie, maybe your sales suck because you’re lazy and only work 20 hours a week? I just don’t think that lifestyle should be rewarded and championed. But still, it conflicts me; just because I don’t agree with a certain lifestyle doesn’t mean it’s not a good read – and HARD SELL is a good read. It’s slightly deceiving from the title and buzz about it. Viagra doesn’t really play a role until maybe three-quarters of the way through and I also think he’s a little unfair to Pfizer and their training. I think he’s critical of their way of doing business because he’s not quite used to the real, working world. Still, since he is an entertaining writer and the world of pharmaceutical sales is so compelling to me, I found the book still to be worthwhile.

[Joana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este livro não foi uma boa escolha, foi tão agoniante lê-lo!

Primeiro porque eu vi o filme e é um dos meus preferidos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCas_...) mas não tem nenhuma analogia ao livro. Estava esperançosa quanto ao livro, mas nada tem a ver com o filme, sem ser a parte de Jamie ser um vendedor farmacêutico e falar sobre o Viagra. Este livro nunca mais terminava, foi uma desilusão! O autor não me convenceu com esta autobiografia! Não tem lição de vida nenhuma, não cria empatia com o leitor... nada ..!

Segundo, porque ainda não consigo encontrar a analogia do título - "Amor é o melhor remédio" !? Amor? Só se fosse amor próprio e o egocentrismo dele próprio, uma vez que ele pensava que era o melhor.. e afinal, não o era. Amor pelo quê? Pelo trabalho? Ele não o tinha! Ele um completo desorganizado, sem métodos de trabalho, só queria festa e descanso. E não se importava com isso, recebia milhões na mesma!! Só consigo encontrar uma analogia e mesmo assim não sei se estou certa: amor pelo seu sonho ser concretizado - ser autor. Mas, para mim, não acertou! Pelo menos com este livro não.

Ao filme dou umas grandes 5* (como já referi em cima, é um dos meus preferidos!) mas ao livro, apenas dou 1*. Não consigo dar mais porque não me cativou nem me despertou sentimentos.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always want to see more good books out there that explore what it's like to be in the early post-college career-building days as a young single man. So I give this one credit for using that subject matter. As a fellow Domer, I gave it a lot of patience.

Jamie himself in the epiloge talks about how he failed readers in his book b/c he didn't invite them into his hopes, fears, dreams, etc. He's absolutely right. I give him credit for that insight too.

As a pharma sales rep, he seems to have believed that the route to sales success involved building rapport and anything but discussing the drugs with doctors and he's then surprised to get such poor sales results. As an author, he makes the opposite judgement call, dwelling instead way more on the where what how when of his time in pharma sales and gives shallow gloss to his personal story.

It's his personal story that would have been more interesting to me, for my time. The best part of the book may be the epilogue where he discusses his quitting Pfizer, severance negotiations with Lilly, and family's interactions.

3 Stars for good important subject matter, and good insights at the end. Anyone in pharma or medical sales especially may enjoy it.