eyeforpharma editor Lisa Roner recently spoke with Dr. Christoph Schmidt, senior director for selling excellence for Nycomed, to ask him about SFE trends for pharma in 2008. Schmidt will be speaking at eyeforpharma’s 6th annual Sales Force Effectiveness Europe 2008 congress in Barcelona, April 2-4.
eyeforpharma: What did the pharma industry achieve when it comes to SFE in 2007?
Schmidt: We saw big improvements globally in targeting and sales force allocation. There is more focus on identification and understanding of your customer and focus on ROI in terms of people investment and advertising & promotion investment. There are a lot of common activities like sponsorships, investment in congresses, congress delegations that have been checked in most of the companies for ROI and that insight has companies looking for alternative channels, perhaps smaller CME programs or branded activities that are really unique to a company.
Following improved targeting strategies and a more rigid customer selection process, we’ve consequently seen downsizing and restructuring, a trend which also was driven by rapidly changing healthcare and health politics environments, as well as stronger generic competition due to product loss of exclusivity. Typically GP organizations are scaled down, going back more to a one-to-one relationship to physicians rather than going for internal co-promotion, meaning hammering the same message with multiple sales lines. So there’s not only a downsizing trend, but better relationships rep-to-physician with value added selling strategies is becoming more and more important.
eyeforpharma: What SFE challenges does the pharma industry face in 2008?
Schmidt: There are increasing pressures for cost containment measures and therefore, a possible adaptation of the sales model, taking us in the direction of a key account management model. This will lead, in my opinion, to a more integrated approach between sales and marketing, breaking down any silos that are still left. This also will lead to a new type of sales rep, who will need beyond their scientific skills more business skills, and will probably lead to more companies competing in niche markets characterized by high price and innovation.
Reps will need to be highly skilled scientifically and in economics and you will, of course, have to pay them more, fueling a fight for talent in this area. On the other hand, we’ll probably also need more GP or primary care focused reps with slightly less sophisticated skills. I’m not sure if companies will maintain both kinds of sales forces or if in primary care there is a big opportunity for contract sales organizations.
However, in the future the big diseases areas everybody is suffering from – like cardivascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal disorders and things like that – will still need promotion with GPs. So while we focus on the challenges that will come with cost containment pressures, we’ll also need to come back to the basics of managing GP sales forces even more, driving their effectiveness and efficiency.
To learn more about or to register for eyeforpharma’s 6th annual Sales Force Effectiveness Europe 2008 congress in Barcelona, April 2-4, 2008, please visit http://www.eyeforpharma.com/sales2008.
