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It’s going to be difficult to survive in the pharmaceutical sales industry. Hardly the same approach to the role of sales and marketing “at the sharp end,” and more than likely a complete re-evaluation of the way that pharmaceutical marketing training is structured. For far too long now, conventional methods of engagement have been celebrated, where a sales representative is expected to “detail” with a set number of healthcare professionals in a certain region, over a set period of time and according to given parameters. We would look at measurements such as a particular percentage of penetration and would be far too focused on products and income, rather than a particular client’s needs and wishes. The pharmaceutical consultant has been waking up to the fact that the industry is changing significantly and we need to change our approach to business tactics and methodology, or we will be left behind. Conventional approaches to pharmaceutical marketing training are becoming increasingly outdated.

While a pharmaceutical consultancy can help the client organisation to develop a new approach to the challenges ahead, it’s at the sharp end that the majority of changes need to take place. In short, the sales representative, him or herself, needs to be reinvented. Can this be accomplished with the existing staff of reps? Certainly, entrenched attitudes and approaches need to be overcome and the rep encouraged to develop a more “entrepreneurial” approach to doing business. Indeed, the sales representative will now have to take on much more of an independent role, at the very least in the way that they approach their income generation motivators.

The very definition of an entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to go the extra mile and not be easily disheartened. This will often involve innovative thinking and will require a greater understanding of the problem and, indeed the client. The entrepreneurial sales rep should dig deep to find out what drives the buyer, generate more workable intelligence and then be encouraged by the pharmaceutical consultancy to bring this intelligence back and share it within a newly created “think tank.” For the sales rep, this will require a huge change in the traditional way of thinking, as they now need to pool all this intelligence in order to give everyone the ability to grow, understanding the market much better and leading to a sharply elevated sales potential all the way down the line.

There was a time when hunger was created among the sales force by comparing peer performance. The most productive representative was often elevated to a certain position, which was then used to motivate others within the workforce to work harder. The pharmaceutical consultant today must realise that this is counterproductive in the long run and that an entrepreneurial sales rep must be trained to contribute to the overall goals of the sales team, in order to be more successful. This may certainly require a new approach to the process of motivation and remuneration, but if handled correctly would almost certainly result in a better personal relationship between the rep and the end-user. Goodness knows that any improvements here would be welcome, as the typical practitioner has been ready to turn away from the attentions of the sales rep, due to a perceived lack of care or even apathy.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.