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Pharma Sales World 2007: Advanced Sales Force Remodelling Strategies in a Multi-Channel Environment
An in-depth report from the Worldwide Business Research conference, held in Prague 5-6 November 2007. Written by Andree Bates.
The pharmaceutical market is rife with change, and much of it is a direct threat to the longevity and bottom lines of individual companies. However, out of this shifting market comes opportunities for valuable adaptation, better processes and enhanced productivity.
Pharma Sales World 2007: Advanced Sales Force Remodelling Strategies in a Multi-Channel Environment, organised by Worldwide Business Research, not only reminded attendees of the significant challenges the industry faces today, but also introduced new ones. It described declining sales, the changing influence of customers and the deteriorating reputation of the industry. It also detailed many of the industry’s attempts at fixing these problems while introducing new complexities, particularly with sales force effectiveness (SFE) programmes.
So how are pharmaceutical companies responding? This conference demonstrated how sharing best practices can provide the inspiration to meet and overcome these challenges. Presenters with experience at Astellas, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Bayer Schering Pharma advocated new methods for improved productivity that may, in the process, increase sales, satisfaction and synergy.
Collectively, speakers proposed a number of potential solutions. They showed how the integration of processes can eliminate many problems within sales and marketing, and how simplicity of activity, measurement and strategy can remove headaches and increase sales. In addition, they highlighted how effective training built on true motivation and proper measurement can provide a leaner, more productive sales force, and how multi-channel methods can reach an evolving customer base with more appropriate and targeted messages.
Presentations also focused on the use of data in effective change and the need for partnerships with customers, branding and evolved sales models that create what we all seek: accountability and responsibility in productive representatives.
CONTENTS
Pharma Sales World 2007 Programme
Introduction
About the author
Changing market dynamics
Sales force remodelling
Using information to generate customer insights
Sales force training and development
Sales force performance measurement
Multi-channel strategies to optimise face-to-face time
Conclusion
Further reading
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Andrée Bates is the Managing Director of Eularis, a company that applies sophisticated analytical processes to quantify the sales impact of specific marketing programmes for pharmaceutical brands. These analyses determine the financial return for individual sales and marketing activities, as well as the optimal synergistic combination of activities (and budgets) to have maximum market share growth. Eularis offers brands and their agencies the bottom-line facts: what messages, what activities (and what budgets) - in what combination - will provide what market share for your brand.
Andrée’s career has encompassed academic, clinical and pharmaceutical positions internationally. She has gained wide recognition within the healthcare industry internationally for ROI and marketing effectiveness measures in pharmaceutical marketing. She is the author of many publications on this topic in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, Andrée has been invited to lecture on e-detailing ROI in the Pharmaceutical MBA programme at INSEAD Business School and on marketing ROI at the Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing Studies, Erivan K. Haub School of Business, St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.
The current environment for pharmaceutical companies can seem a hostile one, with major declines in sales, industry reputation and customer knowledge. However, to tackle these challenges, pharmaceutical companies are developing better processes, enhancing productivity and increasing sales force effectiveness.
The Worldwide Business Research conference, Pharma Sales World 2007: Advanced Sales Force Remodelling Strategies in a Multi Channel Environment, held in Prague on 5-6 November 2007, focused on best practices within the industry, providing examples and inspiration for companies struggling with the status quo. The conference looked at the changing market dynamics, potential methods of sales force remodelling and the use of data in effective change. It also explored innovative training and development, performance measurement and multi-channel strategies.
This Conference Insights review looks at how the pharmaceutical industry is responding to increasing market pressure and changing customer influence. The report uses case studies and industry leader recommendations to examine the means and methods of success in today’s pharma industry. It also outlines the practical advice and insights offered by the presenters at the conference, and provides a glimpse of the future, with details on and discussions of the most effective systems for representatives and sales. The report concludes with an outsider’s view of the market, which illustrates how other industries faced similar roadblocks but found their way to the other side.
PROGRAMME
Day one
Chair: Martin Fagan, CEO, Infozyme
CHANGING MARKET DYNAMICS
Integrating your sales and reputation management strategies to ensure long-term profitability Dudley Ferguson, MD, Astellas Pharma Ltd
Maximising the effectiveness of your asset in an increasingly competitive pharmaceuticals market Ian Talmage, VP Marketing, Bayer Healthcare
SALES FORCE REMODELLING
An update on global pharma and the continuing role of ROI Stewart Adkins, Director, Stewart Adkins Advisors
Reshaping essential practices to increase the strength of your sales force model consistently across the globe David De Vidi, Head of International Sales Force Excellence, Business Planning and Services, Almirall
Managing the migration to a key account model to drive relationship-based selling Esther van Hulten, Senior Director Global Sales Development, Cegedim Dendrite
How can you right-size your marketing promotional resources to effectively drive market share in a changing pharma environment? David Gascoigne, VP Global Promotion Management, IMS Health
USING INFORMATION TO GENERATE CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Extracting the right data from a range of sources to build in-depth customer insights Stefan Langthaler, Head of Business Systems, Actavis
Generating effective customer insights in emerging markets to deliver added value to stakeholders and drive revenue Piotr Markiewicz, Head of CV Risk Management Group, Bayer-Schering
Day two
Chair: Stewart Adkins, Director, Stewart Adkins Advisors
SALES FORCE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Driving the development of the first-line sales manager to maximise productivity in a constantly changing healthcare environment Mirek Lubecki, Marketing and Sales Director, Astellas
Effectively up-skilling your sales force to ensure your business thrives within a highly competitive, multi-stakeholder, multi-channel environment Martin Symons, General Manager, Recordati UK
Panel session: Developing a high-impact training programme to maximise results and ROI Panellists: Mirek Lubecki, Marketing and Sales Director, Astellas, Martin Symons, General Manager, Recordati UK, Jason Stone, Sales Operations Manager, Wyeth
SALES FORCE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
Mapping out an appropriate set of KPIs to measure the performance of your sales force in a multichannel multi-prescriber environment Damian Colehan, SFE Director, Actis Sales Technologies
Panel session: Leveraging increased competition in the market to drive innovation in sales force development Chair: Damian Colehan, SFE Director, Actis Sales Technologies Panellists: Stewart Adkins, Director, Stewart Adkins Advisors, David De Vidi, Head of International Sales Force Excellence, Business Planning and Services, Almirall
MULTI-CHANNEL STRATEGIES TO OPTIMISE FACE-TO-FACE TIME
Exploiting online techniques to boost the effectiveness of face-to-face time - e-detailing, e-visits and other online approaches Bart Vannieuwenhuyse, Executive Director, CRM, Janssen-Cilag
Driving creativity and innovation in the use of multichannel strategies - drawing from experiences in FMCG Isabell Remus, Head of Therapeutic Franchise, Novartis Pharma AG
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