Optimizing Sales Force Effectiveness

Content

• Chapter 1 Executive Summary
  • Scope of the report
  • Format of the report
  • Latest developments
  • Executive summary
• Chapter 2 Changing Dynamics Of Promoting Drugs
  • Promoting branded prescription drugs has become more difficult
  • Branded drugs are facing a greater competitive threat from generics
  • Countries have been adopting measures to increase generic penetration
  • Generic drugs are posing a greater indirect competitive threat
  • Secondary care detailing is set to become more competitive
  • The industry's poor reputation is damaging promotional efforts
  • The public's perception of the industry has worsened
  • A series of negative events have driven the industry's reputation down
  • The pharmaceutical industry is trying to win back physician and consumer confidence
  • Companies are increasing the transparency of their activities
  • Companies are using sales forces to improve their reputation through comprehensive marketing codes
  • The industry continues to be plagued by sales and marketing malpractices
  • Independent authorities and organizations are taking their own steps to improve the standard of promotional activities
  • US: FDA is reviewing the use of DTC advertising
  • US: Stanford Univeristy Medical Center bans physicians accepting gifts
  • UK: The government is attempting to clamp down on promotional malpractices
  • France: New Charter restricts the number of times sales reps can visit physicians
  • Detailing is becoming more complex
  • A multi-channeled marketing campaign is important
  • e-marketing is a valuable new marketing channel
  • Continuing medical education (CME)
  • The network of prescribing decision makers and influencers is becoming more complicated
  • Prescribers - nurses are permitted to prescribe in the US and UK
  • Prescribers - UK adopts revolutionary changes to allow pharmacists to prescribe
  • Key purchasing groups - tightening of budgets increases payers' control and influence over prescribing
  • Consumers - influence has stabilized
  • Other influencers - growing influence of HTA bodies
• Chapter 3 Optimizing Sales Force Effectiveness
  • Introduction
  • The traditional sales force model is no longer effective
  • Companies need to integrate sales and marketing functions better
  • Synergies offer additional value
  • Poor communication and misaligned objectives have driven the two departments to work in silos
  • CRM systems can faciliate communication between sales and marketing departments
  • Optimizing the size and structure of sales forces
  • The use of contract sales forces can provide valuable flexibility
  • Companies can use contract sales forces tactically or strategically
  • The risks and benefits of contract sales forces
  • The size of sales forces need to be reduced
  • There are four key factors driving the reduction in sales representatives
  • Huge cuts in sales forces have yet to be seen across the industry
  • The structure of sales forces needs to be tailored to the customer
  • Multinational companies need to adopt a holistic approach to sales force effectiveness
  • The structure of national sales forces are often aligned by the boundaries of health authorities and organizations
  • Mirrored sales forces are not the most cost-effective approach
  • Companies should base the structure of sales force on customer groups
  • Productivity can be improved by increasing the number of products sales representatives detail
  • A more customer-orientated sales approach required
  • Account-based selling is set to grow
  • Case study: Takeda radically restructures UK sales force to become patient-focused
  • Case study: Eli Lilly is restructuring its US sales operations to become more customer-focused
  • Case study: Eli Lilly's UK affiliate adopts an account management approach for its customers in the NHS
  • Is total solution-selling the answer?
  • Companies are becoming more involved in disease management programs
  • The ROI of disease management programs is questionable in some circumstances
  • The role of sales representatives is changing to improve quality of interactions
  • Companies are becoming increasingly dependent on effective segmentation and targeting of customers
  • Rogers' 'Diffusions of Innovation' and Moore's 'Crossing the Chasm' theories
  • Segmentation is highly complex in practice
  • Companies need to use segmentation analysis for targeting sales and marketing efforts
  • The key to sales force compliance is buy-in
• Bibliography
  • References
  • Conference Literature
  • Publications, online articles and news stories
  • Other Sources
  • Articles
• List of Tables
  • Table 1: The characteristics of customers
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1: The public perception of the pharmaceutical industry is, overall, not favorable
  • Figure 2: Physicians are subject to a number of prescribing influences, 2005
  • Figure 3: There are four main customer segments that influence prescribing decisions, 2006
  • Figure 4: S,G&A spend has a high correlation to sales, 2004
  • Figure 5: While an effective promotional strategy used to be based on three elements, the right channel has also emerged as an important element
  • Figure 6: Key risks and benefits of using contract sales forces
  • Figure 7: R&D expenditure has increased substantially, however, NME approvals by the FDA have not kept pace, 1990-2005
  • Figure 8: AstraZeneca has mirrored territory structures in the US, 2005
  • Figure 9: Structure of Lilly's Business-to-Business Team providing healthcare services to the NHS in the UK
  • Figure 10: Lilly has a dedicated section on its UK website outlining the services it offers to the NHS
  • Figure 11: Rogers' Innovator theory of customer segmentation
  • Figure 12: A fraction of GPs account for the vast majority of prescriptions
  • Figure 13: High potential customers should be the main target of promotional efforts
  • Figure 14: Average change in sales force size throughout a drug's lifecycle