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. The selection of a productive sales and marketing team is critical to the survival of the company and this team must be adequately trained in not only the value and benefits of the product, but the techniques, initiatives and strategies necessary to go out into the marketplace and actually sell. 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.

It is essential to correctly motivate a team and one of the first things that a pharmaceutical consulting firm will help initiate is the creation of meaningful measurement tools. Within sales, the measurement of activity levels is only part of the equation. A sales executive is not necessarily highly efficient, even though his or her volume of sales may be high, as ultimate value must be assessed. The creation of the account must foster a value relationship between all the principals, quite apart from the raw dollar amounts involved. It is important to align the buyer’s strategy and position with the company’s. A correct level of incentive is very important and sales people must clearly understand that both the client and the company must achieve value before any deal is consummated.

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. Did you know that many sales executives actually spend less than 25% of their time in direct communication with clients?

We can see that for the sales team to be effective, each member must be adequately trained and furthermore must engage in a process of ongoing 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 CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

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. There is a complex understanding and relationship between all the main players and pharmaceutical consultants help to emphasise these individual roles, as they disseminate information to help oil all the moving parts of this complex machine.

FDA regulations require pharmaceutical companies to be in strict compliance, make use of established practices and all safety criteria as they produce products for final use. Marketing plays a critical role in this arrangement and is far more than just a means to an end. 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.

If the patient is to be adequately catered to, it is important that lines of communication between pharmaceutical companies and professionals are open and clear and this is where marketing is so important. 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. The company must not only communicate the benefits and risks of its product to the professional, the reasoning and science behind its introduction and instructions for its use, but the professional must give real world feedback and crucial data to the company.

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. There is no guarantee that such amazing products may even find their way into the hands of the sufferer. As such, marketing is pivotal in helping to relay this information from the manufacture, through the professional to the end-user.

As more and more information is revealed through scientific study, product creation and government rubber-stamping, more of a spotlight is turned on the need for treatment of chronic diseases. For example, certain side effects or by-products of a critical element may not have been apparent, or the link between illness and cure revealed, unless and until adequate marketing channels are open between the researchers, producers, professionals and patients.

Generally, pharmaceutical consulting firms are highly skilled at developing communication between vital parties and educating all players. 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.

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. Faced with so many pressures on a daily basis, business executives would do well to seek out the services of pharmaceutical consulting organisations, offering direct assistance, know-how and experience to form an essential backup or safety net.

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. The patient may never get to know that such a product even exists unless the pharmaceutical company’s marketing initiatives are top-notch.

A pharma consulting company is fully aware of the complexities of the industry and has a significant background. Consultants will have hands-on experience, not text book smarts and be very aware of the loopholes and pitfalls that a company may face ahead.

The biggest monetary investment a company makes is generally in 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. The consulting firm is poised to take on the responsibility of training and motivation within the fields of sales and marketing, and to help ensure that the pharmaceutical company achieves its goals.

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.

Planning is an essential part of a sales and marketing strategy and much attention should be given, but while this may look good on paper it will result in no revenues unless it is put into action. They say that you cannot win the lottery without buying a ticket and this essentially means that you cannot land meaningful sales and revenue unless you engage in the marketplace. Selling within the pharmaceutical business is much more than inking contracts and exchanging products for cash, it is also about management of reputations, the education of professionals and end users and corporate positioning. 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.

Each sales executive must be a team player and top management must ensure this is the case. From an overall perspective, effective marketing requires good management of this team and this is where pharmaceutical consultants are worth their weight in gold. 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. Although you cannot underestimate the importance of planning and preparation, sales executives must now venture into the real world. No matter the amount of experience, the healthcare industry is particularly complex and all these intricacies must be part of an ongoing education. 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. To be effective, the sales team member must be fully aware of the cohesive importance of a true team. Celebrate the contribution of each team member and make sure that it is completely visible to all concerned. Once again, the overall goal is to engage and not to procrastinate. Three critical components make up an effective salesperson – creativity, assertiveness and flair.

Out in the market, a salesperson must be completely educated in all the benefits, solutions, finer details and product availability, while also being able to think quickly, reschedule and meet 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. Invariably, pharmaceutical consulting organisations are primed and ready to take on these 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.

Our healthcare system is extremely complicated, with a lot of moving parts, but is nevertheless one of our most important economic drivers. There are many different incentives and restrictions governing the use of an individual pharmaceutical product and many different agendas along the way. Before a pharmaceutical products can be brought to the market, it faces a difficult road from the desk of a scientist to the hand of the consumer. Invariably, pharmaceutical consultants are critical to this journey, as they help all those involved to understand the situation, disseminate the information and make decisions.

A pharmaceutical company is far more than just a manufacturer of health products and solutions. The pharmaceutical consulting firm helps the company understand how it needs to educate the consumer. 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.

While regulators will ultimately determine if a pharmaceutical product may be made available and will confirm the associated claims, the pharmaceutical company must be able to market itself, its reputation and its products within the ultra-competitive and distracted healthcare industry. 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 have a clear incentive to trumpet the benefits of their wares in such a noisy marketplace and help to create a dynamic and forward thinking mindset.

Sometimes, the vested interests are very powerful and do not serve the ultimate client best. In popular opinion, healthcare reform is always controversial and the pharmaceutical company would do well to accurately and forcefully communicate its position. 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.

Many of the most striking advances in the dissemination of medicine in recent years have been a result of work by pharmaceutical companies. 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 CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

The 80/20 rule is a metric used within the business world which reveals that fully 80% of all business can be attributable to only 20% of the actual 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.

A pharmaceutical company has many different stakeholders and must satisfy a number of different “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 a lot to take on, from a daily and weekly perspective and company executives must ensure that they do not try and address too many complex issues while diluting their overall effectiveness. 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? Communication must be full and constant and all parties must be able to achieve a “win” no matter how complex this is to achieve. 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.

A comfort zone must be the desired result, for if the client senses this, then a continuation can be expected and an expansion possible. Trust is everything and the establishment of a comfort zone promotes the client to relax many of the resources it may engage to control the associated activities, marking the relationship as efficient in its eyes.

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 requires a constant review of the client’s interpretation of the relationship. Satisfaction is paramount and should the company and its executives go the extra distance, an enhanced relationship and additional revenue opportunities are very likely. Satisfaction is top priority, according to pharma consulting firms.

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.

Proper incentivisation is critical to the effectiveness of an organisation’s sales force. This must be correctly approached however, as it is often poorly thought out or even bypassed, leading to lacklustre results, a reduction in morale and the inefficient use of a key resource. The pharmaceutical company may be a leader in its field, be very creative and with cutting-edge solutions, but the organisation will only be truly effective if its sales and marketing team is well prepared and 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. Most pharmaceutical consultants have a wide range of experience themselves and know full well how to motivate, manage and process a sales team.

The achievement of the sale is not the end of the story. 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.

Productivity generally increases if an individual is incentivised, as this is within our nature. Create sensible goals to move the sales force forward. Correct incentivisation will enhance the effectiveness of the sales force, but the opposite is also true. 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. In this way, the sales executive will be always focused.

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. Creativity and enthusiasm can be stifled within certain outgoing personality types, through the imposition of onerous or even boring demands.

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. These companies can bring a lot to the corporate table, using an extensive industry background, a variety of different perspectives, pep talks and rallies at just the right time to eliminate even the traces of negative emotions.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.