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All the work that you put into creating and positioning the product will be of no use unless the pharmaceutical company can successfully market its products to 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. 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!” 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.

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. Within sales, the measurement of activity levels is only part of the equation. It should be remembered that sales volume by itself is not an indicator of efficient activity by the sales executive, as it must be related to value. 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. Of critical importance is the alignment between the company and the buyer’s strategy. Sales people should not be incentivised unless there is a clear gain for the company and the client achieves value, thereby cementing the relationship.

Levels of incentive must be tied to achievable and attainable levels and goals. There must always be something for the salesperson to reach and always a further incentive throughout the sales structure. 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.