Pharmaceutical sales representatives seeking to enhance their survival capabilities and more effectively standardize their career paths should adhere to the following survival principles:

Persistence is paramount.

Pharmaceutical sales representatives must be prepared for long-term engagement. Many newcomers, after a period in the role, find their greatest challenge is "enduring hardship but not humiliation." The marketing experts' concept of "equal exchange and mutually beneficial transactions" only materializes after solid relationships are established. If sales representatives lack persistence, how can they expect to see the dawn?

Integrity enables long-term success.

Sales representatives primarily interact with pharmaceutical companies, handling contracts, supplementary agreements, orders, and related expenses. Commercial personnel often hold the entrenched mindset: "I represent the pharmaceutical company; I am merely a messenger." When the company defaults on commitments to clients, they entirely shift the blame. In reality, commercial managers function as higher-level negotiation experts. Communicating with integrity is essential to gain client recognition.

For instance, a pharmaceutical company verbally promised a rebate of 0.1 yuan per box for a certain product before the new year. After the new year, due to rising raw material costs, the company ceased mentioning it. However, a sales representative had already notified a client, who subsequently procured the product. A quarter later, the client inquired about the rebate. The sales representative communicated earnestly, committing to remit the quarterly rebate on time. Subsequently, the representative negotiated with the company to potentially offer the client preferential terms through other products. The outcome satisfied both parties.

Navigate relationships with grace and equanimity.

Personnel within pharmaceutical companies' operational departments hold diverse positions and varying levels of seniority. Roles include routine sales representatives, regional managers, marketing directors, as well as personnel from management departments such as Marketing, Finance, and Human Resources. Every department is intricately connected to the sales representatives. As some lament: "External parties are challenging, but internal colleagues are equally difficult to manage."

Some pharmaceutical sales representatives become deeply troubled by issues like sales targets and territory allocation, suspecting conflicts with colleagues and making a significant issue of it. Astute sales representatives, however, adopt the right attitude, communicating with colleagues assertively yet respectfully, and channel their energy into market development.

Create your own opportunities.

While commerce is indeed akin to a battlefield, being overly contentious reflects less on a sales representative's "candor" and more on a lack of magnanimity. Sales representatives inevitably face rejection and disdain, but these are not justifications for retaliation.

For example, a promotion manager from a pharmaceutical company visited the pharmacy director of a county hospital. The director immediately confronted him: "Years ago, I brought cash to your company to procure goods, only to find all the high-demand products allocated to your connections..." The sales representative remained unprovoked, communicating calmly, though no agreement was reached. A year later, upon being transferred, this representative still visited the director before leaving. Five years later, returning to the same area for sales, the representative revisited the hospital. The former pharmacy director, now the director of a primary care hospital, actually apologized during the meeting.

Maintain original aspirations and commit to continuous learning.

Life entails not only earning a livelihood but also planning for the future. How can one effectively elevate oneself? Through learning, and more learning.

Sales representatives constantly interact with people, making effective communication ("knowing how to speak") crucial. Superficial dialogue fails to capture attention. Therefore, representatives must engage in continuous learning, encompassing not only professional knowledge but also literature, medical sciences, and popular science.

Excel in your designated role.

Sales representatives brave wind and rain, operating in a field characterized by relatively high risk and high reward; it is unsuitable for the indolent. Automotive sales master Joe Girard exemplified excellence in his role. His "250 Rule" ("Never offend a single customer") and adage "Every customer who buys a car from me becomes a salesperson for me" demonstrate that those who diligently study customer psychology and the market are destined for success.

Consider the overall picture and strategize each move.

Sales representatives should avoid excessive self-interest. Instances include negotiating with clients privately to circumvent company involvement, relying more on verbal promises than written agreements to facilitate self-serving mid-contract changes, or privately diverting goods for personal profit. Such behavior, focused on petty gains, often leads to significant losses.

Consider this: no client desires partnership with a petty individual. Self-serving schemes that disregard the broader picture will eventually be exposed. Furthermore, other companies are unlikely to welcome such employees. Pharmaceutical sales representatives who remain loyal to their company and conduct sales methodically can avoid unnecessary risks while enhancing their own capabilities.

Emulate the survival strategy of a tree.

Sales representatives would do well to learn from a tree's survival strategy: without soil, it cannot grow – the soil being the company; without wind, rain, and sunlight, it also cannot grow – these representing the inevitable challenges sales representatives face. Another implication is that representatives need not exhaust themselves constantly; sometimes opportunities arise naturally. Efforts invested earlier may yield returns later, or over an extended period.

A fundamental survival principle for sales representatives is to live well, then focus on work, and then on earnings. Pharmaceutical sales representatives should particularly understand: health comes first. Echoing San Mao's sentiment: "I wish to be a tree, half dancing proudly in the wind, half resting serenely in the earth." Sales representatives traversing dusty paths should grasp this wisdom.