Pharma: State of the industry and the future of the sales force — Amlesh Ranjan
As seen by me 10 years back. All came true and is still a roadmap for next 10 years. Insights shared as pre-conf @ eyeforpharma- SFE Europe & Commercial Excellence, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2011
In the run up to SFE Europe in March, eyeforpharma asked some of the key speakers* for their insights on the state of the industry and the future of the sales force. Here is what I said…
EDITOR: How do you see the industry changing within the next five to ten years?
AMLESH RANJAN: The post blockbuster era and post-patent cliff pharma need to-
o Urgently build interactive bridges with the end consumer, the patients.
o In an era when you cannot control communication flow and dissemination, it is prudent for pharma to adopt social media mechanisms and technologies to build speed, trust, and transparency.
o Pharma needs to draw learning from other industries, like FMCG, to be ready for a shorter marketing cycle.
o Market access, key account management, and healthcare policy and system participation capabilities need to evolve significantly.
o There will be a compulsion to create alliances with the key non-pharma players in the broader healthcare space.
o Customer relationship management must metamorphose into customer value management.
o Originators need to sharpen their R&D focus and yet acquire generic player competencies also.
EDITOR: What have been the biggest changes affecting you and your role?
AMLESH RANJAN: Genericization and commoditization of pharma brands, coupled with the Rise of healthcare consumerism of a very aware patient population, have created new challenges for marketing, but it has also opened avenues for a bigger market participation and sustainable growth.
EDITOR: What dynamics make up a winning sales force?
AMLESH RANJAN:
o A sales strategy completely aligned to business and marketing strategy
o Sales force effectiveness systems and processes well established with and understood by sales leaders
o Strategic SF deployment based on robust segmentation and through an appropriate mix of direct (geographic and key account) and outsourced sales force to optimize market opportunities in different therapy areas and segments
o Good talent management practices through right recruitment and selection and continuous training and development
o Front line manager operates completely from the paradigm of coaching.
EDITOR: How is the role of the sales rep evolving? Is it moving toward a more service-orientated approach?
AMLESH RANJAN:
o The new sales reps need to be partners to the physician.
o Their orientation should be towards creating value by participating in the patient care system around the physician.
o They need to have a strong propensity towards building close relationships based on knowledge update, information sharing, and patient-centric as well as other developmental activities.
o The new sales reps need to be techno-savvy so as to help the organization and the physician harness the opportunities in/through digital media.
Am happy, that whatever, I could fore-see, and expressed, has been coming true. The speed of transformation has been slow but we sure were moving in the direction as envisaged.
I have created an abridged version of the article, sharing the thoughts expressed by me only, and am sharing the link which will take you to the full article, having the thoughts of all the 7 key speakers, and you can see, how visionary each one of them have been.
This unfortunate pandemic has put us in the fore-front of this fight-back by the world, and we have sure lived up-to it. It has also hastened lot of positive changes within us on many fronts, also notably on the Commercial Excellence, including Digital front, let’s as leaders ensure, it is pursued in post-pandemic era also, as it makes eminent strategic sense for our industry.
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Reference: The thoughts were shared as a key speaker and for pre-conference dissemination. Including me there were 7 speakers who expressed their thoughts. I have created an abridged version, sharing my thoughts only. Also sharing the link which will take you to the full article, having the thoughts of all the 7 key speakers.
https://www.reutersevents.com/pharma/commercial/whats-next-sfe-2011
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal as an individual professional.
