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. The selection of a productive sales and marketing team is critical to the survival of the company and this team must be adequately trained in not only the value and benefits of the product, but the techniques, initiatives and strategies necessary to go out into the marketplace and actually sell. Sales force effectiveness is of such critical importance, yet it is often poorly reviewed or supervised. Generally, pharmaceutical consultants have the desired levels of training to be able to motivate the company sales force, resulting in considerable financial gain due to elevated efficiency.

Have you ever heard of the saying, coined by a famous football coach – “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!” Remember to keep this mindset engaged 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.

Motivation is so important and a pharmaceutical consulting firm will help create an array of appropriate measurement tools. Within sales, the measurement of activity levels is only part of the equation. 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. The creation of the account must foster a value relationship between all the principals, quite apart from the raw dollar amounts involved. It is important to align the buyer’s strategy and position with the company’s. Sales people should not be incentivised unless there is a clear gain for the company and the client achieves value, thereby cementing the relationship.

Incentivisation requires the creation of meaningful benchmarks 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. If the sales executive is able to “get” to an end result, then he or she will not be adequately motivated to reach even further and keep working.

The adoption of time management cannot be underestimated and the company should strive to ensure that the sales manager is not bogged down with too many administrative elements, through the provision of the latest, cutting-edge tools to streamline work. Did you know that many sales executives actually spend less than 25% of their time in direct communication 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. This will include not only product education but also sales technique and delivery elements as well as time management and application theory, with the science of personal inter-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.

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