B2B Markeplace

A pharmaceutical company can spend a considerable amount of time and effort developing and bringing new products to the market and be rightfully proud of its contribution to the healthcare industry. The company can invest huge sums of money and spend many weary hours going through a process of consultation and lobbying and in dealing with the ultimate in bureaucratic red tape. At the end of the day, effective implementation of the sales level is what will really makes a difference and dictates success. This is why senior executives of a pharmaceutical company should allocate resources to employ a pharmaceutical consulting firm to help them focus on implementation and results at the sharp end. The senior executives of the parent company are much better off allocating their precious time to product development and legal issues, leaving pharmaceutical consultants to help with specific training and methodology.

One of the primary reasons why a sales team member may fail to consummate a deal with the prospect is due to a lack of understanding of the potential client’s problems, issues and concerns. The financial repercussions of a sale should be almost last on the list, yet it is often the principle concern. Today, the marketplace is very competitive and it’s not realistic to assume that a product will be sold just because it is available. On the contrary, many questions arise and all issues must be dealt with before the front-line professional will be at all ready to even trust the business, let alone engage and move forward. A hard approach to selling will definitely not work in this arena and any sales executive who comes to the business from other industries should be given specific attention by the pharmaceutical consultant.

Client interaction must go through a series of phases, and product presentation and the explanation of benefits must await a certain time and place. Due to unwelcome hard sales tactics deployed by old style salespeople, a certain lack of professionalism and the emergence of years of distrust, a degree of hostility can be expected in any potential relationship at a primary stage. This is a significant barrier to overcome and the establishment of trust is one of the primary keys to help build the executive’s ratio of effective implementation.

These days, pharma consulting firms are well versed with the difficulties ahead, have considerable practice in the industry and know how to overcome the expected barriers. Without a very focused approach to time management, territorial application and the training of sales techniques, to say nothing of product education, the company’s sales closure ratio will be inefficient. Against all these difficulties, margins are still narrow and so the company must ensure that its pharmaceutical sales team is as ready as possible to get out in the market and bring results, with little margin for error.

A sales force must be correctly motivated, but a significant part of that motivation must be the dedication to the job and the satisfaction of actually performing, rather than any kind of financial remuneration or fancy bonus structure. The sales executive must clearly see that a deal consummation represents the beginning of a two-way and dynamic relationship with a new client and must not view the task ahead as a means of amassing financial gain alone.

Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.