Highlights from the KAM Europe Conference
David Wright, director of Imonic Ltd and conference chair of eyeforpharma’s recent KAM Europe conference, outlines the insights gained from the event
By on Dec 1, 2011The recent KAM Europe conference in London presented the very latest in KAM thinking and experience, with an impressive platform of speakers sharing their know-how and best practice.
The event kicked off with a workshop, led by Imonic, on the commercialization of pharma account managers. Detailed discussion amongst workshop participants demonstrated the need for deep understanding of disease areas to highlight potential opportunities. Participants reviewed tools and techniques and took part in an ‘issue/evidence/impact’ grid exercise to unfold what customers would value and to identify the key ingredients of a compelling value proposition. The importance of strategic challenge mapping for the wider exploration of strategic issues featured in the workshop as a means to understand and unravel the component parts of multi-layered, complex healthcare challenges, along with approaches to validate the design and robustness of value propositions from both an account manager and senior manager’s perspective. A review of ROI and various commercial metrics ensued.
Siemens and KAM
During the conference itself, delegates learned about and explored the nature of the new opportunities for pharma arising from the shake-up in healthcare commissioning across Europe. Several non-pharma industry speakers provided valuable insights into lessons of KAM from their perspective outside of pharma.
Hajo Rapp, VP account management and market development, Siemens (and a former global account manager for one of Siemen’s largest customers), talked of the importance of senior management support for the success of KAM. Peter Loscher, CEO of Siemens, understands and supports KAM 100%: “Our customers want account managers who understand their business and who coordinate the entire breadth and depth of our portfolio for them. They want account managers who won’t let them down if the going gets tough. And that’s exactly what I expect of our account managers, too.” (For more from Hajo Rapp, see What’s next for KAM?)
Contrast this approach with many pharma companies who report that KAMs become hesitant and nervous if they have to represent more than three brands! Perhaps, the issue here is one of definition: What is a KAM? The question is well exemplified by the fact that Siemens, a €75-billion business, with interests in engineering, energy and healthcare, has 151 corporate account managers worldwide, whereas a relatively small player in the pharma market reported having 250 KAMs in Europe.
Hajo gave a fascinating presentation on how Siemens has used KAM programs successfully for over 14 years and provided a very detailed review of the account management tools and processes used within the organization.
A question of trust
In contrast, Alfredo Morate, a VP with the global Schindler Group, focused on the importance of relationships for successful KAM. Most people still want to do business with people whom they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. Indeed, the importance of trust in the relationship between pharma and the healthcare sector was a recurring theme of the conference. How do you create trust? How do you become a trusted partner? What is the nature of trust? These questions were hotly debated by panelists and delegates alike.
Bernard Quancard, president & CEO of the Strategic Management Association, presented the latest SAMA research, which showed that the most successful KAMs spend their time on only three important activities—demand creation, solution shaping, and capturing value. SAMA refers to ‘strategic’ account managers, to reflect the importance of the strategic nature of their role. As they have to lead multi-functional teams and be able to follow process, SAMs often come from parts of the organization other than sales, a lesson that pharma could perhaps usefully learn. (For more from Bernard Quancard, see Transform reps into KAMs and Don't write off the sales rep just yet.)
Other speakers saw the extraordinary opportunities for pharma to deliver greater value in healthcare as a result of QIPP and the NHS-wide cost-cutting initiatives. Recent research from the King’s Fund showed how pharma can align with the principal concerns of healthcare commissioners. As Jim Easton (NHS QIPP Czar) put it: “Don’t sell us pills and gadgets. We need solutions that unlock quality and value.” (For more on QIPP and the NHS, see and How to engage with the new NHS and The 'new' NHS: What does it mean for pharma?)
A team game
Many speakers spoke about their realization that KAM is a team game and NOT the domain of a single salesperson. Successful KAM necessitates a fully integrated multi-functional approach to customer-centricity. There are, of course, many challenges in getting teams to work successfully together. This was well demonstrated in Allan Mackintosh’s very honest presentation, which included, in person at the event, the views of two of Grunenthal’s executive pain sales managers (KAMs), Rob Preece and Joanna Brown, who talked openly about the difficulties of making KAM work as well as their successes.
Selecting the right accounts for KAM was another focus of discussion and debate. Delegates were advised to start a KAM program seriously, by concentrating only on a very small number of accounts and not to be afraid of de-selecting a KAM account if necessary. All the speakers’ KAM programs demonstrated a clear direction for the account so that all functions within an organization can understand and follow that direction. Speakers also told delegates that where KAM is successfully implemented, there is an expectation (and realization) of higher rates of business growth. This is increasingly achieved by managing and targeting profitability not just revenues, something pharma is just starting to do, noted Finn Ziegler, international commercial operations, Amgen Europe.
Omar Ali, ACPP Formulary Development Pharmacist Surrey & Sussex NHS Trust, ran delegates through a well-received and highly interactive exercise, which involved a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style approach. 3 real-life ‘payers’ listened to pitches from various groups of delegates, and then selected an overall winner. An excellent and lively session of debate amongst delegates ensued.
Early feedback from the event suggests the 2nd KAM Conference was very well received, with an excellent level of debate and contribution from speakers and delegates alike. Many of the themes of the event will be further debated and developed at SFE Europe in Barcelona (27-29 March, 2012), which will also feature a very useful pre-event practical and highly interactive workshop for all delegates. I look forward to seeing you there!
For more on KAM, join the sector’s other key players at SFE Europe on March 27-29, 2012 in Barcelona and SFE USA on May 30-May 31, 2012.
For more of eyeforpharma’s coverage of KAM, see our KAM special report.
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