Sales Force Effectiveness in Pharmaceuticals.
Knowledge is key for pharmaceutical sales forces, who should be offered training
and incentives to increase sales and improve productivity, says a new report by
healthcare experts GBI Research.
The new report* states that the importance of internal training cannot be
understated, with the significant investments, advanced training techniques,
and use of external training consultants by major pharma companies playing
testament to this.
In recent years, the sales industry within the US and Europe has recorded sales
job reductions as a result of the global economic recession, and this has led
to a greater demand for effective selling methods. Companies forced to downsize
their sales forces still aim to secure high sales figures, and are therefore
pressurized to develop their sales people to continue to deliver profitable
sales growth.
The short term motive behind sales force training is to increase sales and
improve productivity. However, the long term motive is to motivate the sales
force, build better customer relations and effectively improve employee
retention rates. Incentive management is a significant tool that encourages
sales activities, but also helps to improve longer term sales force
effectiveness.
Incentive management has not always been implemented as a high priority, and
was not always properly integrated into the sales management process. However,
a large number of companies are now implementing incentive management solutions
that provide the flexibility to quickly adjust compensation plans in order to
improve sales force performance. This solution has the ability to adjust to
specific company needs, and allows for the integration of existing processes
and systems.
Performance dashboards are an important and powerful agent of organizational
change, translating organizations’ strategies into objectives that are customized
to every individual in the organization. Dashboards contain various performance
indicators which are used to monitor business processes through analysing the
performance of sales representatives and customer response. This allows sales representatives to compare
their benchmarked performance against peer averages, and can help shape
training and incentive schemes to improve certain aspects of sales performance.
*Sales Force Effectiveness in Pharmaceuticals - Targeted Sales Models such as
Enhanced Key Account Management (KAM) and Closed-Loop Marketing (CLM)
Strategies Drives Sales Force Efficiency
This report provides an in-depth analysis of trends and practices adopted to
improve sales force effectiveness in the pharmaceutical industry. It provides a
comprehensive insight into the strategies adopted by pharmaceutical companies
to improve their sales force effectiveness, and gives case studies and sales
force strategies of pharmaceutical companies and IT solution providers. The
report also analyzes the opportunities and challenges that could play a role in
shaping the future of sales force effectiveness. The report finishes with a
detailed analysis of 12 key pharmaceutical companies, with respect to their
sales efficiency.
This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary
databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by GBI
Research’s team of industry experts.
