The challenge to change - new approaches to sales force effectiveness
Greg Ernest of consultancy ZS Associates says that historically sales force effectiveness has really been about how to afford more.
By on Mar 9, 2006Greg Ernest of consultancy ZS Associates says that historically sales force effectiveness has really been about how to afford more.
Companies used to say if the competition is doing X, then we'sll do 2X, he says. But now, it's more about how we get better with what we'sve got.
Ernest and his colleagues at ZS Associates are helping companies analyze how the selling model might change in what he calls a more holistic way. And there are interesting examples, he says, from other sectors that pharma might learn from. One of particular interest, Ernest points out, is the life insurance and pensions industry in the UK.
Until recently, they had massive sales forces thousands and thousands of people, he says. And now, they have hardly any.
In many ways, that industry's circumstances, Ernest says, were very similar to pharma's.
The UK insurance industry's argument for its field-based model hinged on the complexity of its products, tight regulation and a focus on the quality of life much the same as pharma, he says. But now it has very few of its own field-based sales people and has cut massive costs out of its business model. It's something that begs pharma to take a careful look.
Ernest will share more about the parallels and what the pharma industry might learn from this example in Barcelona.
Many of our speakers say that sales force effectiveness experts on the cutting edge are increasingly focused on linking employee development, training and rewards to tangible bottom line outcomes.
Richard Whitehead, Global Vice President Sales & Marketing for consultancy CSL, says it is important to specifically address, through a very focused approach to training and development, a few key areas for each rep that will actually make them a more effective sales person.
You have to look at people's skills and how hard they'sre working in the context of what they are actually achieving, he says. The only other alternatives are throwing more people at it or having a new indication both of which are difficult and expensive things to do.
Whitehead's group is working with several pharmas, including Schering-Plough, on a program designed to drive quality selling among reps. The program measures and integrates coaching, skills assessment, and competencies with more traditional outputs such as sales results and achievements.
We'sre actually trying to join together people's training and development with their results, Whitehead says. Improving and ensuring quality is one of the most effective ways of improving performance.
If you'sre planning to join us in Barcelona, be sure to attend Whitehead's presentation with Lorna Passmore, Director Business Analytics & New Product Planning at Schering-Plough. Whitehead and Passmore will discuss innovative ways to integrate skills and competencies into performance management initiatives.
Industry thought leader Jean-Yves Brault, Sales Force Effectiveness Director for Fournier, also will be speaking in Barcelona.
He tells us that Fournier Pharma has taken a global approach to developing SFE tools that are both business and people oriented and can be adapted locally. But according to Brault, the success of its SFE programs relies on developing SFE strategies, best practices and guiding principles in conjunction with sales managers from its affiliates across the world that are adaptable to each affiliate's reality.
Involving actual sales managers at the early stage of the tool development process, Brault says, optimizes the affiliates's future buy-in and therefore their willingness to implement the tools.
Unless a tool developed globally is implemented locally, it's absolutely useless, says Brault.
In order to measure the actual implementation, Fournier has developed an affiliate questionnaire to evaluate which of the SFE tools that have been developed globally are being implemented locally.
It is not only the current situation that is analyzed but also the evolution over time, Brault says. And this information is used to identify specific priorities for each affiliate according to their SFE maturity level,'s he explains.
At Fournier, Brault says, one key focus that was identified through this process is flexibility.
Allowing the affiliates to adapt the tools, coming from global SFE, to their local reality significantly increases the implementation rate and the results, he says.
To learn more about next week's e 4th Annual European Pharma Sales Force Effectiveness Congress in Barcelona or to register, visit www.eyeforpharma.com/sales2006 .