High Sales Force Effectiveness Requires The Correct Methodology

A sales force must be incentivised if it is to be truly effective. This must be correctly approached however, as it is often poorly thought out or even bypassed, leading to lacklustre results, a reduction in morale and the inefficient use of a key resource. The pharmaceutical company may be a leader in its field, be very creative and with cutting-edge solutions, but the organisation will only be truly effective if its sales and marketing team is well prepared and trained. Such a team must be comprehensive, well balanced, able to employ different strategies and techniques and perform to a high-level of efficiency within a tough commercial field. The sales team must be well established and managed and pharmaceutical consultants have the experience, knowledge and background to enable this objective.

The achievement of the sale is not the end of the story. It is true to say that without sales nothing happens, but many different factors must be used to judge the absolute value of a sale. However efficient the executive, without the creation of a good relationship between both parties, the long-term baseline value of the transaction is questionable. As such, it is important that the company applies incentives very carefully and selectively, so that a “win-win” situation is always achieved.

It is human nature for an individual to likely be more productive if he or she is incentivised. This will require the creation of sensible goals related to existing benchmarks. Correct incentivisation will enhance the effectiveness of the sales force, but the opposite is also true. The goals set should represent a journey rather than the destination and multi-tiered targets should encourage, but always lead to a “carrot” which is just out of reach. This will ensure that the sales executive is constantly engaged.

In most cases, pharmaceutical consulting firms tell us that sales executives spend the majority of their time on ancillary and sometimes mundane administrative work and a minority of their time in direct communication with prospects or engaged with client management. Due to this amazing statistic, time management should be a top priority and executives should do whatever they can to cut down on the ancillary or administrative work necessary. Creativity and enthusiasm can be stifled within certain outgoing personality types, through the imposition of onerous or even boring demands.

A sales force will only be really effective if a comprehensive training process is in place and the team member must feel that he or she is part of a dynamic organisation. While administrative burdens should be kept to a minimum as we have said, training must nevertheless be prioritised. Generally, pharma consulting firms can help to roll out the latest in procedures, educate in technical issues and methodology and focus on product awareness. These companies can bring a lot to the corporate table, using an extensive industry background, a variety of different perspectives, pep talks and rallies at just the right time to eliminate even the traces of negative emotions.

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.