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Detailers

Posted by Bob on March 18, 2002

In Reply to: Detailers posted by ESC on March 14, 2002

: : : DETAIL MEN - Pharmaceutical salesmen. Wall St. Journal headline, March 14, 2002: "More Than Ads, Drug Makers Rely on Sales Reps: Known as 'Detail Men,' They now Hawk Harder, Earlier; Allergy Drugs in January?"

: : : I've seen this phrase twice in the last couple of days (the other use was in the Ann Rule true-crime/Perils of Pauline book, "Every Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder") so I was compelled to post it. I'd never heard this before. I thought detail men had something to do with cars.

: : Detailers give cars a thorough cleaning--take a toothbrush to the chrome, vacuum the upholstery, and so on. They may sometimes be called detail men--I wouldn't know. I barely know what detailers are.

: Dirt is what holds our cars together.

Pharmaceutical salespersons are, indeed, called detailers, and the job is called detailing. And yes, complete get-the-junker-ready-for-sale car cleaning goes by the same nomenclature.
Detailers (the drug pushers who meet with doctors) were once called detail men, but the field is now more than 50% female.

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