Diagnosis
Changes in the healthcare industry have endangered the role of reps.

Prescription
Training and understanding will keep them as essential as ever.

There are constant changes in businesses and marketplaces. As conditions change, ways of doing business evolve (for example, big-box retailers, on-line sales, just-in-time manufacturing). New and more efficient methods arise – some companies adapt and thrive, others die off. Today's pharmaceutical companies have inherited a sales model that has evolved somewhat over the years ... but will it survive or become extinct? And how can we train our reps for the future model?

Some feel that the value of pharmaceutical sales representatives has run its course and that now it's just a matter of managing complex distribution channels. The most stern detractors simply view the entire process of seeking to influence physicians' prescribing habits as inherently corrupt. On the other side of the discussion we find constituents from virtually every group involved who feel that effective sales representatives bring value to the process and, more importantly, to patient outcomes. Pharmaceutical companies invest millions of dollars every year to ensure that their sales representatives not only deliver on market-share goals, but also provide valuable information to doctors that help them treat patients more effectively.

Part of the conflict stems from the debate between profitability and improving patient care. Invariably the notion that people can profit from misfortune or illness is very off-putting to many consumers. But the reality is that the free-market forces that are fueling the debate over the role of sales representatives in the pharmaceutical industry are the very same forces that have brought some of the most dramatic improvements in healthcare. Without the possibility of significant return on investment, it's unlikely that we would have seen such innovations as MRIs, advanced cancer treatments or endoscopic procedures. Of course, these technologies and therapies didn't find their way into the market on their own. Not only did some forward-thinking group have to design and create them, someone had to convey how they worked, that they were safe, what the risks were, how much it cost, and, ultimately, what the value would be to the doctor and how his patients would benefit. Basically, someone had to sell it.

Start of the race

Marketing executives say that there are three primary variables in a go-to-market strategy: reach, frequency and impact. Reach deals with the ability to add new customers by extending the sales effort over a larger universe of potential customers. Frequency is the number of touches or impressions a product or message has with a customer over a defined period of time. Impact is essentially the quality measure of the message. Is the message having the desired effect on the customer? As pharmaceutical sales and marketing executives evaluated the changing market and available strategies to grow sales, some realities emerged that were the seeds for the dramatic market expansion. In looking at the three variables that a sales force could impact, increasing reach within a sales organization has inherent challenges. Growing market share in the pharmaceutical industry by increasing reach could increase sales marginally, but in terms of market share and return on investment, that model reaches its limit quickly.

Significant impact is the gold ring for marketers and the ultimate objective for training teams. Training often plays the role of interpreter between marketing and sales, and has the responsibility to enable representatives to increase impact within regulatory guidelines. But as doctors felt the pressure to increase the number of patients seen in a day and at the same time saw their reimbursement rates decrease, time for representatives decreased, which decreased the opportunity for impact. Naturally, that left frequency as the solution. Increase the number of calls on the highest potential prescribers, overlap territories so multiple representatives are communicating the marketing messages, provide more samples and stay in front of the doctor to create top-of-mind position. And so the race began – more and more reps trying to crowd sales messages into smaller and smaller windows of opportunity.

However, there are a number of market factors that suggest the current model is becoming less and less effective.