Programs For Determining Sales Force Effectiveness With Skilled Pharmaceutical Consultants

No amount of creativity or product superiority will be advantageous unless the pharmaceutical company is able to get its product to the market and into the hands of the end user. It is so important to choose a top notch sales and marketing team, training them in the overall benefits and value of the products, as well as the fundamental strategies necessary to be able to achieve a desired result in the market. Despite its importance, the effectiveness of the sales force is often given poor attention. Invariably, pharmaceutical consultants are highly skilled in training and motivating and can bring a company's sales team up to a high level of effectiveness, with considerable potential gain for the organisation.

Have you ever heard of the saying, coined by a famous football coach – “winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!” This is a mindset that a sales and marketing executive should retain at all times. After all, a sale is either won or lost and a lost sale is of no value whatsoever, experience gained and contacts made notwithstanding.

It is essential to correctly motivate a team and one of the first things that a pharmaceutical consulting firm will help initiate is the creation of meaningful measurement tools. It is important to remember that activity levels are not the “be all and end all” of sales. A sales executive is not necessarily highly efficient, even though his or her volume of sales may be high, as ultimate value must be assessed. If a valuable relationship is not established between all principals concerned, then the account may not necessarily be seen as successful, as we need to judge more than the actual dollar amount involved. It is important to align the buyer's strategy and position with the company's. A correct level of incentive is very important and sales people must clearly understand that both the client and the company must achieve value before any deal is consummated.

Levels of incentive must be tied to achievable and attainable levels and goals. There must be a tangible carrot at the end of the road and achievable targets should lead to further incentives on a structured basis. In other words, there should never really be an “achievable” end result for the sales executive, or a target that, once achieved, promotes a lack of further engagement.

Time management is essential and while a sales manager will undoubtedly have administrative elements to take care of, the company should make sure that he or she is able to complete these as efficiently as possible, using provided, high-efficiency tools as needed. It is sobering to realise that on average, sales executives can spend only one quarter of their time communicating directly with clients.

In summary, a sales team can only be highly effective if they have been trained well and are involved in an ongoing process of training. Such training will include education in the products to be sold, latest sales techniques and delivery processes in addition to management of time and the vital elements of interpersonal communication. Bring in pharma consulting experts to get the mix right.

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.