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.