Pharmaceutical Sales Force Management: Strategies for success
Strategic Management
This invaluable report is essential reading for anyone involved in product marketing or the planning, implementation and evaluation of pharmaceutical sales force strategies.
Scrip's Pharmaceutical Sales Force Management: Strategies for success is the authoritative review of the vital strategic role played by the sales team in today's pharmaceutical industry.
Written in association with ZS Associates, a management consulting firm with a world-leading reputation in pharmaceutical sales force management, this report contains illustrative case scenarios and exercises. It assesses the impact of a successful sales team, allowing you to answer your questions, including:
With Customer Relationship Management (CRM) increasing in commercial importance, the first point of contact within any pharmaceutical company is critical. This is the comprehensive guide to ensuring your company is utilising its 'front-line' to maximum effect.
Published: May 2001
Pages: 139
Ref: BS1093E
Price: £995/$1,995/¥239,000
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CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER 1 MARKET IMPERATIVES FOR MANAGING A SALES FORCE STRATEGY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Importance of the sales force to the pharmaceutical industry
1.3 Fundamental changes for the pharmaceutical industry
1.3.1 Impact of managed care
1.3.2 Impact of DTC and the Internet
1.4 New business models
1.4.1 Solution managers
1.4.2 Low cost suppliers
1.4.3 R&D specialists
1.4.4 Sales skill specialists
1.4.5 Full-service pharmaceutical companies
1.5 Conclusions
CHAPTER 2 PHARMACEUTICAL SALES FORCE ISSUES: AN INTRODUCTION
2.1 Role of the representative
2.1.1 Variations in the representative's role
2.1.2 A day in the life of a specialist pharmaceutical sales representative
2.1.3 Detailing and call rates
2.1.4 Incentives
2.2 Role of the first-line sales manager
2.3 Conclusions
CHAPTER 3 PLANNING A SALES FORCE STRATEGY
3.1 Integrating sales force plans with an overall marketing strategy
3.2 'Triangle' of sales force strategy: size, structure and allocation
3.2.1 Sales force size
3.2.1.1 Key concepts: sales response and carryover
3.2.1.2 Sales force sizing: three traditional, but flawed, methods
3.2.1.3 An integrated alternative: sales and profit response
3.2.1.4 Additional factors to consider when sizing a sales force
3.2.2 Structure
3.2.2.1 Structure: geographical, therapeutic, customer-based or a mixture?
3.2.2.2 Devolving responsibility
3.2.2.3 Regionalisation: a discredited trend?
3.2.3 Allocation
3.2.3.1 Customer resource allocation
3.2.3.2 Product resource allocation
3.3 Options for sales force alliances
3.3.1 When to consider an alliance
3.3.2 Co-marketing or co-promotion?
3.3.2.1 Co-marketing
3.3.3 Contract sales forces
3.3.3.1 Syndicated teams
3.3.3.2 Dedicated teams
3.4 Conclusions
3.5 Case study
CHAPTER 4 IMPLEMENTING A SALES FORCE STRATEGY
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Potential pitfalls of strategy implementation
4.3 Implementations sometimes overlook the important softer issues
4.4 Recruiting new reps and managers
4.4.1 How to recruit
4.4.2 Training and development
4.4.3 Compensation
4.5 Geographical deployment of reps and managers
4.5.1 Mirrored teams
4.5.2 Re-evaluating alignments
4.5.3 What is a balanced territory?
4.5.4 How to carry out a fair and transparent alignment
4.5.5 Data dependency
4.5.6 Span of control
4.6 Activity planning/targeting
4.6.1 Reach and frequency
4.6.2 Customer segments
4.6.3 Why can targeting be sub-optimal?
4.6.4 Identifying the best targets
4.6.5 Variation in targeting approaches
4.7 Monitoring the success of a sales force strategy
4.8 Conclusions
4.9 Case study
CHAPTER 5 MAINTAINING SALES FORCE PERFORMANCE: INCENTIVE COMPENSATION
5.1 Role of incentive compensation in the pharmaceutical industry
5.1.1 Setting sales targets
5.1.2 Turnover
5.1.3 Risks and potential pitfalls in the incentive compensation design
5.1.4 Problems of compensation plan design: a simple example
5.1.5 Problems of compensation plan design: a more complex example
5.1.6 Designing an effective incentive compensation plan and avoiding pitfalls
5.1.6.1 Process to follow
5.1.6.2 Types of incentive compensation plans
5.1.6.3 Other compensation issues to consider
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Case study
CHAPTER 6 DATA AND TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Sources and limitations of sales data
6.3 Internal data on sales force effort
6.4 Making use of the available data
6.4.1 Data warehousing
6.5 Data and technology for management
6.5.1 Information technology cascade
6.6 Managing internal data
6.6.1 Electronic territory management systems
6.6.2 Customer relationship management systems
6.7 Managing external data and incorporating it with internal data
6.7.1 Data warehousing
6.7.2 Designing a data warehouse
6.7.3 Data warehousing as part of everyday business
6.8 The Internet and the pharmaceutical industry
6.8.1 Virtual detailing
6.8.2 E-detailing case study
CHAPTER 7 PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETS: COUNTRY-SPECIFIC ISSUES
7.1 UK: GP access, cost pressures and parallel imports
7.1.1 Healthcare system issues
7.1.2 Sales force issues in the UK
7.2 France: greater choice of doctor, cost containment, increasing pharmacist influence
7.2.1 Healthcare system issues
7.2.2 Sales force issues in France
7.3 Germany: pricing changes and compensation controls
7.3.1 Healthcare system issues
7.3.2 Sales force issues in Germany
7.4 Italy: price pressures on the horizon, generics unusual
7.4.1 Healthcare issues
7.4.2 Sales force issues in Italy
7.5 Spain
7.5.1 Healthcare system issues
7.5.2 Sales force issues in Spain
7.6 US
7.6.1 Healthcare system issues
7.6.2 Sales force issues in the US
7.7 Latin America
7.7.1 Healthcare system issues
7.7.2 Sales force issues in Latin America
7.8 Japan
7.8.1 Healthcare issues
7.8.2 Sales force issues in Japan
CHAPTER 8 RESPONDING TO CRITICAL CHANGES
8.1 Mergers and acquisitions
8.2 Effects of downsizing
8.3 Conclusions: the way forward
REFERENCES
Executive summary
Sales representatives are the most powerful and most expensive marketing tool of a
pharmaceutical company. When a company is planning a new product launch or a sales alliance,
or simply reviews its performance, a rigorous approach is required, designed to maximise the
return on investment.
This report seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of all aspects of sales force strategy. It combines a theoretical discussion with real-world detail, examples and case studies.
Chapter 1 looks at the new environment in which pharmaceutical companies are now operating. It considers the major trends that are affecting the process of selling pharmaceuticals, such as direct-to-consumer advertising and the Internet, and shows how a sales force is still central to pharmaceutical marketing strategy.
Chapter 2 sets the scene for the rest of the report. It gives a basic overview of the role of the pharmaceutical sales rep and first-line manager.
Chapter 3 considers how to go about planning a sales force strategy. This chapter deals with the three major aspects of sales force strategy: size, structure and allocation. It explains the concepts associated with each of these aspects, which can be used to design the best sales force strategy for a company's particular circumstances. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the various forms of sales force alliance.
Chapter 4 goes on to consider how to implement a sales force strategy once it is drawn up. It covers sales force alignment and targeting, and discusses the 'softer' management issues associated with implementing significant change.
Incentive compensation, one of the most important ways of directing and motivating a sales force, is the subject of Chapter 5. This describes the common symptoms of an inappropriate compensation plan and issues to consider in improving compensation. The chapter concludes with a case study of a fictional company, Ethitex Pharmaceuticals, to help illustrate the complexities involved.
Technology issues are increasingly important to a pharmaceutical sales force strategy, as described in Chapter 6. Companies must integrate their own data with external information from a variety of sources. Meanwhile, the sales process itself has the potential to be affected by new technology with the arrival of 'e-detailing'.
Up to this point, the report considers issues that apply to all major pharmaceutical companies. However, national markets are still very different. Therefore, Chapter 7 considers the healthcare systems of the largest economies in Europe, in addition to the US, Latin America and Japan. It highlights the ways that these national differences affect the process of selling pharmaceuticals.
Finally, Chapter 8 identifies two situations where particular attention must be paid to managing sales force strategy: mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. It concludes with a list of suggestions for maximising sales force success.
© PJB Publications Ltd. 2001
All rights reserved.