Sales

Once the size and structure of a Sales Force are defined, a critical success factor that positively impacts productivity is the distribution of territories across the team.

Once the size and structure of a Sales Force are defined, a critical success factor that positively impacts productivity is the distribution of territories across the team. This should involve better resource allocation and taking maximum advantage of all opportunities through local presence. It is also important to balance the workload among Sales Reps fairly to avoid an impact on motivation, and the conditions for receiving a bonus should be as similar as possible for all reps.

There are good tools available on the market to help companies redeploy their Sales Forces. TMS (from IMS) and MAPS (from ZS) make the process easier by taking an objective approach, with the ability to deal with multiple variables (key variables are: market size, product demand/sales and number of high+medium potential MDs) that can be balanced according to the situation. Additionally, TMS and MAPS allow the user to visualize the areas (and bricks, of course) through maps, and to build the ideal itinerary for each Sales Rep.

Depending on the product mix, some variables are given more importance than others. Lets consider some scenarios:

1. Product mix Retail market driven by new products

In this case, market size and the number of high/medium potential MDs must be attributed greater weight, once product sales have not achieved stability (sales are growing above market). A good ratio considering those three variables could be:

- Market size: 40%
- Number of high/medium potential MDs: 40%
- Own Products Demand/Sales: 20%

**Within any variable it is possible to attribute weights. Every product in a mix can have a weight according to the importance such as every MDs specialty or market for instance.

2. Product mix Retail market driven by mature products

Having mature products driving a mix doesnt mean that there is no chance to grow, but its crucial to defend sales that have already been achieved against new products that are coming to the market. Based on that, the variable product demand/sales is very important in this context, so a good ratio in this case could be:

- Market size: 20%
- Number of high+medium potential MDs: 40%
- Current prescribers : 70%
- Potential new prescribers : 30%
- Product Demand/Sales : 40%

3. Product mix Retail market driven by products with 3 to 10 years in the market

Working with products with potential to grow above market but are not considered as brand new means that defense and attack have similar importance. In a scenario like this, all the variables must be considered as fundamental in a Sales Force deployment, so a good option would be:

- Market size: 33.3%
- Number of good potential MDs: 33.3%
- Product Demand/Sales: 33.4%

Each scenario may demand different variables or ratios, so a thorough analysis must be done before beginning. In non-retail markets, obviously, other components will be part of the game. In Hospital channels, the value of institutions regarding purchasing power and number of patients is crucial. Having OTC/OTX products in a mix means the number and quality of POS (points of sales) must be considered in context.

Another important issue is the involvement of the Sales Force in the process, validating and fine tuning the deployment based on real life, adding and considering details that the tools have no ability or expertise to evaluate adequately. If sales people are not involved, the credibility of the process faces serious risk and the entire effort can quickly be lost, negatively impacting motivation (and sales, as a consequence).

A deployment conducted in a rational way will bring at least a 2-5% increase in sales compared to one conducted without a consistent methodology. Depending on market dynamics, yearly revisions are required or opportunities will be lost or, the worst scenario, there will be market share erosion and sales budgets will not be achieved.
A good balance of effort among Sales Reps (and Sales Managers, of course) and smart resource allocation are critical success factors to ensure sales growth and an increase in market share.

This a cheap way to maximize productivity, because the only investment required is the time of Sales Managers and the SFE Manager to optimize the deployment and operate as productively as possible to outpace competitors.