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. We have relied on conventional methods of approaching a client for far too long, expecting a sales representative to “detail” with a certain number of healthcare professionals, during a certain time and within a certain geographic region, dictated by particular rules of measurement. We would look at measurements such as a particular percentage of penetration and would be far too focused on products and income, rather than a particular client’s needs and wishes. 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. Conventional approaches to pharmaceutical marketing training are becoming increasingly outdated.
While a pharmaceutical consultancy can help the client organisation to develop a new approach to the challenges ahead, it’s at the sharp end that the majority of changes need to take place. In short, the sales representative, him or herself, needs to be reinvented. Can this be accomplished with the existing staff 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. Indeed, the sales representative will now have to take on much more of an independent role, at the very least in the way that they approach their income generation motivators.
An entrepreneur finds a solution and does not take the word no for an answer. This person needs to be an innovator and be prepared to dig into the problem to find out what needs to be done, really getting to know the client. The entrepreneurial sales rep should dig deep to find out what drives the buyer, generate more workable intelligence and then be encouraged by the pharmaceutical consultancy to bring this intelligence back and share it within a newly created “think tank.” For the sales rep, this will require a huge change in the traditional way of thinking, as they now need to pool all this intelligence in order to give everyone the ability to grow, understanding the market much better and leading to a sharply elevated sales potential all the way down the line.
There was a time when hunger was created among the sales force by comparing peer performance. 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 CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.
