While straightforward economics may dictate that a pharmaceutical company’s bottom line is really driven by the need to sell its products for monetary gain, a more holistic view should be taken. The company occupies a key position, from a marketing perspective, between the government and other regulators and ultimately the patient. This dynamic environment is sometimes difficult to understand and pharmaceutical consultants can definitely benefit the company as it struggles to remain competitive.

Pharmaceutical companies must conform to strict FDA regulations, best use practices and study scientific benchmarks to provide products and services for ongoing use. The importance of marketing in this environment should never be underestimated. The physician or pharmacist has to juggle a lot of information, much of it based on older science, together with the wants and needs of the patient and budgetary restrictions applied by insurance companies or individual positions.

The direct communication between health care professionals and the pharmaceutical companies through various marketing channels ultimately dictates the efficient delivery of products and services to the end-user, the patient. It follows that the standard of this marketing and its effectiveness directly contributes to the patient’s ability to live a longer, healthier and more productive life. Marketing in this environment is most certainly a two-way operation. In addition to the company’s communication with the professional about the benefits and risks associated, the science behind the introduction of the products and ways for dissemination and consumption, the professional also communicates back to the company with feedback, real-time findings and data.

The fact that pharma consulting can provide cutting-edge information about conditions and treatments, spotlighting certain illnesses which may not have received much attention, should not be underestimated. Where treatment gaps may have previously existed, the research and work done by the pharmaceutical companies can also raise awareness and enable treatment for patients who may not have realised the treatment was available. Just because the pharmaceutical products may exist, it does not mean that these products will find their way into the hands of the consumer. Marketing plays a critical role in disseminating the information from one end of the chain to the other, into the hands of the professionals for communication with the patient.

Scientific breakthroughs enable the creation of products which are subsequently sanctioned by the government and this whole process focuses on the need for treatment of chronic illnesses. As such, any by-products or side effects of new solutions may not become known, nor the link between cure and original illness exposed, unless strong marketing channels are open between all concerned.

In most instances, pharmaceutical consulting firms can also play a critical role in educating clients, producers and users. Their experience, knowledge and enthusiasm can really help to turn the wheels of the marketing machine, continuously engaging all key players and producing incredible results in such a competitive environment.

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.

Proper incentivisation is critical to the effectiveness of an organisation’s sales force. However, the methods of incentivisation are often misinterpreted, poorly devised or glossed over, ultimately leading to low levels of efficiency and morale, poorly motivated individuals and lacklustre results. It is not good enough for a pharmaceutical company to rest on its laurels when it comes to its creative ability, as it will be judged by the effectiveness of its sales and marketing team, which must be well trained. Such a team must be comprehensive, well balanced, able to employ different strategies and techniques and perform to a high-level of efficiency within a tough commercial field. The sales team must be well established and managed and pharmaceutical consultants have the experience, knowledge and background to enable this objective.

Far too often the act of a sale is construed as a perfect result. It is true to say that without sales nothing happens, but many different factors must be used to judge the absolute value of a sale. However efficient the executive, without the creation of a good relationship between both parties, the long-term baseline value of the transaction is questionable. In this analysis, incentives must be prepared and deployed selectively, with the aim of achieving a “win-win” solution all around.

It is human nature for an individual to likely be more productive if he or she is incentivised. Create sensible goals to move the sales force forward. If this is handled correctly it will create a volatile and effective environment, but it can also be detrimental if handled poorly. Rather than setting a goal, the incentive path should be a journey with multiple tiers and an endpoint that is always just out of reach. This will ensure that the sales executive is constantly engaged.

In most cases, pharmaceutical consulting firms tell us that sales executives spend the majority of their time on ancillary and sometimes mundane administrative work and a minority of their time in direct communication with prospects or engaged with client management. This is why time management should be considered as a top priority and company executives should never put onerous administrative and accounting burdens in front of their productive sales team. Indeed, if these boring tasks get completely out of control, certain personality types can rebel and this can have a serious, knock-on effect on creativity and achievements.

A sales force will only be really effective if a comprehensive training process is in place and the team member must feel that he or she is part of a dynamic organisation. Do not confuse administration with training – training is a priority, while administrative burdens should be minimised. This should include product awareness as well as methodology and techniques, and the latest procedures can be implemented through pharma consulting firms. Such companies have been proven to raise morale, cut out negative emotions, inject just the right amount of enthusiasm and draw on their extensive industry background.

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.

The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are subject to extremely high levels of competition and significant complexities. The pharmaceutical company must be at the top of its game constantly, as it strives to attract and keep the best minds in the business, as it pushes the boundaries of discovery and development, as it conforms to governmental restrictions or as it seeks to survive economically within a very competitive environment. These are significant and daily pressures, which senior management should realise and bring on board the services of pharmaceutical consulting firms, who have experience in all the essential areas.

The population relies on the advances made by pharmaceutical companies as health levels improve, but these companies are facing a lot of challenges nonetheless. Through cutting edge developments, a company may create products able to make a significant difference to the health of the nation, but may yet face considerable obstacles before such products could be brought to market. The creative brains at the top must be backed up by experienced lobbyists and by first-class sales and marketing teams. While the company should concentrate on its core values, it could enlist the services of pharmaceutical consultants to ensure that sellers and marketing teams are fully trained and ready to hit the ground running.

In healthcare, there are a lot of moving parts in between the creation of a pharmaceutical product that could have life-saving capabilities for its end-user and the delivery of said product to the patient. At the beginning of the line, investors and regulatory authorities must be on the same page before the product may be created, made available to marketers, sold to healthcare professionals and pharmacists with the blessing of the financiers. This is a difficult path and the patient may not even get to know about the option unless the pharmaceutical company has a first-class marketing set up.

A pharma consulting company is fully aware of the complexities of the industry and has a significant background. Every consultant will have real life experience, earned “on the Street” and be fully aware of all the hurdles a company will encounter.

One of the largest costs for a company is usually its workforce. Without proper incentives, the best tools and knowledge base, the workforce cannot be of best value to the company. Sales executives must be instilled with the ability to bring the company’s product to the attention of the buyer and must be ready to counter all obstacles that will undoubtedly be put in their way.

It makes sense from every perspective for a pharmaceutical company to engage with a top-notch consulting organisation. Without such help, the company may find itself stretched very thinly and be unable to focus on its core needs. A consulting firm will train and motivate the sales and marketing team so that they are perfectly placed to be of service to the host organisation.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

Our healthcare system is extremely complicated, with a lot of moving parts, but is nevertheless one of our most important economic drivers. Within this industry, a new product must face complex restrictions and the attention of a variety of different parties. Before a solution to the patient’s problem may be presented, it has to face a complex path from the scientist at one end to the sufferer at the other. In the dissemination of information, pharmaceutical consultants help to ensure that all those who have an input into the decision-making process are fully aware of all the repercussions.

A pharmaceutical company faces many challenges, quite apart from the manufacture of its products. As a pharmaceutical consulting firm stresses, the company owes the consumer in general a debt of revelation. Pharmaceutical companies regularly operate on the sharp end of discovery and their revelations may be truly ground-breaking. If they have not paid sufficient attention to marketing, all the exploratory work may fail as the path through the regulators to the professionals may seem unclear. Those with a financial interest, especially the all important insurers, will also benefit from a good marketing approach, as they will be made aware of the positive features and benefits associated.

Before a new product may arrive on the desk of the regulators, who determine its future, the company must have marketed both its products and its history within a very competitive and busy environment. It should be noted that certain principals within the industry have an incentive to steer healthcare practitioners and their patients toward older, or generic medications and that these agendas may not be in the best interests of the sufferer. Pharmaceutical companies must create a position within such a difficult marketplace, in order to push science and discovery and their own significant position forward.

It is unfortunate that the ultimate care of the patient is very often not the ultimate goal of certain vested interests. While healthcare reform and especially its associated finances remain a hot button issue, the pharmaceutical company must do everything in its power to ensure that its lines of communication are open. The physician takes input from many different sources before he or she makes the decision as to final care, including experience, peer input, education and training, patient history, formularies, techniques and benchmarks – all play their role. If you consider that nine out of ten most frequently prescribed drugs are generics, it should be clear that far from being in a position of dominance, pharmaceutical companies must make every effort to ensure that their marketing messages are heard. In most cases, pharma consulting firms are used to this difficult environment and can certainly help to open channels and engage practices.

Pharmaceutical companies have been responsible for many of the most amazing discoveries in the world of medicine. Previous generations would surely marvel at some of the cures available today. Much emphasis must be put on marketing “the word” to ensure that our health care continues to improve.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

If organised properly, planning is all very well and good with an adequate marketing strategy outlined on paper, but it’s essential to remember that nothing happens unless action is taken. No one ever wins a lottery prize without buying a ticket and in business terms, revenues may not be realised unless action occurs in the marketplace. Within the pharmaceutical industry, there is much more to be gained than the simple consummation of a contract and the exchange of products, as reputations must be protected, end-users and professionals educated and company position satisfied. To set up a client account takes a lot of interaction, before the objective can be satisfied and real value established. This is where team training comes in and a pharmaceutical consulting firm can be engaged to offer comprehensive knowledge and experience to the sales and marketing program.

Senior management must ensure that all members are team players. To ensure that the ultimate marketing results are achieved, the team must be effectively managed and pharmaceutical consultants are fully positioned to do this. The team members must be able to quantify and visualise and objectives must be controlled and measured at all times. Day by day programs are part of an ultimate and achievable goal and when a team works together as one, good results can be anticipated.

After planning is complete, the sales force must put it into action. There is a time and a place for the planning and charting of the program, but no sales are made until executives interact in the real world. While a sales team may be composed of experienced players, there is nevertheless a lot to learn about the health care industry in particular and training is an essential part of staff handling. Without adequate coaching and being unaware of potential loopholes ahead, time can be wasted and worse still, clients can be overlooked or lost in such a competitive marketplace. In most cases, pharma consulting firms fully understand how important time management is and how effective implementation is not possible in the wider scheme without strict adherence and application.

Never assume, as this inevitably leads to confusion and poor productivity. Effective implementation requires a level of awareness that comes as part of a true playing team. Each member has a significant contribution to make and these contributions should be visible and not opaque. Once again, the overall goal is to engage and not to procrastinate. An effective sales person must be assertive, outgoing and creative.

When in the marketplace, the salesman or woman must be fully up to speed on product details, benefits, solutions and item availability, but must also be an effective manager, able to prioritise and still achieve stated benchmarks and goals. Effective implementation requires core skills, but also ongoing training and perfect management, both for the individual and for a marketing force as a whole. Generally, pharmaceutical consulting organisations are by far best positioned to take on these critical challenges.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

Some business practitioners use a metric termed the 80/20 rule, which dictates that 80% of an organisation’s business comes from just 20% of its clients. Whether this is essentially correct or not, it is certainly true that some clients take on additional importance in the eyes of the pharmaceutical company, whether this is from the point of view of transactions, their market dominance or other more strategic elements such as the provision of a gateway to other segments and markets. In these cases, key account management strategies must be established by the company and must be adequately communicated and implemented within the sales and marketing team as a core priority.

The pharmaceutical company has to answer to a number of diverse stakeholders and demanding clients. The company is always involved in industry positioning, political lobbying, public relations and media, as well as the fundamental issues of sales, marketing and financial measurements. There is so much on the plate, be it daily or weekly and there is always a danger that senior management may take on too many issues and end up being less effective overall. As key account management is only as effective as methods and levels of communication and the efforts of the sales and marketing team, a pharmaceutical consulting firm should be engaged to help the company process.

Following the appointment of a specific account to the role of “key,” the pharmaceutical consultants should help in composing a concerted plan of action. From the client perspective, what value do they gain from the relationship with the pharmaceutical company and vice versa? There should be an interactive approach to communication here and the goal should be to create a “win-win” scenario at all times, regardless of complexity. While attention to the essentials is of course important, the key account would be more likely to continue the association if additional value is perceived.

If the client enters the comfort zone when dealing with a pharmaceutical company, it will be more inclined to not only continue the relationship, but also to enhance it or to expand it. When trust is established, the client will often not have to engage so many of its resources in trying to oversee and control the related activities and will foresee the relationship as an efficient one.

It has been said that account management is often one of “damage control.” Every now and again problems and issues will undoubtedly arise. It falls to the company to try and understand how a client works and to do its best to anticipate any problems or objections before they occur. The more educated the sales and marketing team and the better the training levels initiated, the more likely it is that any potential stumbling blocks will be easily resolved.

Key account management calls for a highly intelligent assessment of the client’s interpretation of any relationship. As always, a level of satisfaction is at the top of the list and when senior management goes overboard, a long-term relationship is likely, with great potential for additional revenues. In almost every instance, pharma consulting firms practice the art of delivering satisfaction.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

No amount of creativity or product superiority will be advantageous unless the pharmaceutical company is able to get its product to the market and into the hands of the end user. It is so important to choose a top notch sales and marketing team, training them in the overall benefits and value of the products, as well as the fundamental strategies necessary to be able to achieve a desired result in the market. Despite its importance, the effectiveness of the sales force is often given poor attention. Generally, pharmaceutical consultants have the desired levels of training to be able to motivate the company sales force, resulting in considerable financial gain due to elevated efficiency.

Have you ever heard of the saying, coined by a famous football coach – “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!” Remember to keep this mindset engaged at all times. After all, a sale is either won or lost and a lost sale is of no value whatsoever, experience gained and contacts made notwithstanding.

Motivation is so important and a pharmaceutical consulting firm will help create an array of appropriate measurement tools. Within sales, the measurement of activity levels is only part of the equation. It should be remembered that sales volume by itself is not an indicator of efficient activity by the sales executive, as it must be related to value. If a valuable relationship is not established between all principals concerned, then the account may not necessarily be seen as successful, as we need to judge more than the actual dollar amount involved. It is important to align the buyer’s strategy and position with the company’s. Sales people should not be incentivised unless there is a clear gain for the company and the client achieves value, thereby cementing the relationship.

Incentivisation requires the creation of meaningful benchmarks and goals. There must be a tangible carrot at the end of the road and achievable targets should lead to further incentives on a structured basis. If the sales executive is able to “get” to an end result, then he or she will not be adequately motivated to reach even further and keep working.

Time management is essential and while a sales manager will undoubtedly have administrative elements to take care of, the company should make sure that he or she is able to complete these as efficiently as possible, using provided, high-efficiency tools as needed. It is sobering to realise that on average, sales executives can spend only one quarter of their time communicating directly with clients.

In summary, a sales team can only be highly effective if they have been trained well and are involved in an ongoing process of training. This will include not only product education but also sales technique and delivery elements as well as time management and application theory, with the science of personal inter-communication. Bring in pharma consulting experts to get the mix right.

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.