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Does the pharmaceutical industry face the perfect storm in the foreseeable future? By all accounts we are entering a period of regeneration, a very unusual situation during which we will have to completely re-evaluate the way that we focus on our daily problems. The pharmaceutical industry is not alone here, as many other industries are also set for a quantum shift in the way that they do business — just look at the auto industry, as an example. The pharmaceutical consultant has his or her work cut out as they approach the issue of educating the client and whilst these issues will be very challenging, they should represent a potentially exciting time for the consultant willing to go the extra mile. As everything must change, it seems that these are not good times for those who are ill-prepared for the challenge.

Looking into the future, what can we see? First of all, the “patent cliff” is almost upon us and this is likely to unleash market forces that will completely redefine many different areas. We also know that the market itself is shifting in favour of niche solutions to increasingly complex issues, instead of the previously predominant “blockbuster” product approach. The United States Congress laboured for many a day before passing a highly controversial health-care reform bill and we are yet to see how this will slowly unfold as it will introduce tens of thousands of people to healthcare products, many for the first time, due to insurance overhaul. Markets around the world are feeling the financial pinch and this is especially so in the United Kingdom, where budget deficits are completely unsustainable; this is almost certainly going to lead to a significant reduction in health care spending. Little wonder that the share price of leading pharmaceutical companies is taking such a battering.

The heady days of the past have come to an end and the pharmaceutical consultancy must adapt to survive. When it comes to sales and marketing, it’s time to shift away from sales and more towards marketing, as we cannot rely on all the traditional methodology anymore. Not surprisingly, pharmaceutical marketing training must be reinvented, to reflect the pressures of the New World. Add an increasing trend toward the regulation of pharmaceutical marketing in the US and you can argue that this industry will be difficult to recognise, as compared to its former self, within a few years time.

So where should the pharmaceutical consultancy start? It will be necessary to reconsider all the emphasis that is being placed on sales and come up with innovative strategies instead. It seems certain that the traditional army of sales representatives will be much smaller, more targeted and the focus of niche related pharmaceutical marketing training. Certain regional markets may have more problems than others, but we will see changes everywhere during this process of reinvention. As such, the changes in the US market and the significant budgetary cuts in the government led UK market will redefine the playing field. Pharmaceutical consultants must be able to drive the pharma company forward with different approaches to marketing, focusing on niche markets and above all else, ensuring that more meaningful relationships are developed with end-users. In short, the business relationship is likely to become far more personable, and far less number oriented.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

It’s going to be difficult to survive in the pharmaceutical sales industry. Hardly the same approach to the role of sales and marketing “at the sharp end,” and more than likely a complete re-evaluation of the way that pharmaceutical marketing training is structured. For far too long now, conventional methods of engagement have been celebrated, where a sales representative is expected to “detail” with a set number of healthcare professionals in a certain region, over a set period of time and according to given parameters. Success was often measured in terms of percentage of penetration and the focus was product-centric rather than client- or problem-centric. The pharmaceutical consultant has been waking up to the fact that the industry is changing significantly and we need to change our approach to business tactics and methodology, or we will be left behind. All that traditional pharmaceutical marketing training will become increasingly irrelevant.

A pharmaceutical consultancy can certainly help to develop new tactics and methods for the client in the workshop, but most of the attention needs to be paid on how changes are implemented in the field. This will require reinvention of the very make-up of a sales representative. Is it possible to achieve this with an existing team of reps? It might be difficult for some to overcome the entrenched attitudes that have been “baked in” over the years, but they will nevertheless require a far more entrepreneurial approach to the way that they operate. In many respects, the sales rep should be treated as if he or she was a purely independent contractor, at least in terms of the way that they motivate themselves to generate income.

The very definition of an entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to go the extra mile and not be easily disheartened. This will often involve innovative thinking and will require a greater understanding of the problem and, indeed the client. The new entrepreneurial sales representative will be far more engaged with the buyer and will be able to reveal intelligence that can be of great value to the company, so the pharmaceutical consultancy should develop the concept of a think tank to correlate all this new-found data. This may also require a fundamental change in thinking, as the entrepreneurial sales rep should begin to understand that a pooling of intelligence resources could only help everyone to explain and understand the market better and in turn focus on enhanced sales potential.

All the methods of motivation revolve around a comparison of peer performance to push the sales force forward. The most productive representative was often elevated to a certain position, which was then used to motivate others within the workforce to work harder. The pharmaceutical consultant today must realise that this is counterproductive in the long run and that an entrepreneurial sales rep must be trained to contribute to the overall goals of the sales team, in order to be more successful. The issues of motivation and remuneration must be approached from a completely new angle, but when all is said and done this entire process is far more likely to result in a much more fruitful relationship between the end-user and the rep. It is definitely time to employ this kind of new approach, as we certainly know that the typical practitioner is far from happy to see the sales rep today, as it is perceived that there is no real feeling of apathy or understanding, anymore.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

As the industry changes in shape and size, the pharmaceutical consultant is developing a new role. Recessionary forces have caused some significant developments in almost every major industry and the healthcare business was certainly not immune. Indeed, the recession has forced pharmaceutical sales companies to change the way that they approach their clients. Budgets were coming under increasing scrutiny and this meant that there was a trend away from hiring sales representatives. The pharmaceutical consultancy business recognised that innovation was necessary and that healthcare professionals were beginning to turn to other ways of educating themselves and reaching out for their pharmaceutical needs. The major companies needed to understand the social media revolution, at the same time as they found less expensive ways to pitch their products.

The market research firm Cutting Edge Information tells us that a quarter of all healthcare professionals are really interested in pursuing the concept of e-detailing. This result has increased dramatically from just four years ago. It’s possible that doctors could be far more accessible this way, and that they could be less resistant to communication, consequently.

Pharmaceutical marketing training needs to change in line with the media revolution and the outgoing effects of the great recession. Indeed, they may well need to focus more on training and education based around social media and the Internet and less on hiring and training of new sales representatives.

In the past, it was not uncommon for a typical doctor to be inundated with communications from sales reps, often from the same company. When you think how different reps may have different levels of training and may not all be able to communicate as effectively, it’s easy to understand why the average doctor would become overloaded. This approach to communication was, after all, far from efficient and we can now see why there has been so much backlash. Doctors have started to retreat into their offices, especially as sales representatives seemed to grow in number. If you add into the mix the slowdown in the number of products on the market, it’s quite easy to see why we are now seeing a reduction in the number of sales representatives. Indeed, it is estimated that in the last three years, the total number of pharmaceutical sales representatives in the United States has shrunk by 20% or more.

Not surprisingly, pharmaceutical marketing training must recognise that the newer sales representative is far more likely to be in touch with his or her generational approach to communication. They are likely to feel far more at ease with modern Internet-based communications technology. As these new reps infiltrate the company, the pharmaceutical consultancy should help company bosses to change the way that they approach their marketing, so as to not fight this ever emerging trend.

Considerable challenges face the industry as we all know, and we’re yet to see how the US federal health-care changes shake out. There are certain to be more pressures on companies to cut their overheads and as such, we can expect the pharmaceutical consultant to concentrate more and more on “e-detailing” and the way that this wave of the future can help to restructure pharmaceutical sales.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.