September 25 , 2004

Making the Transition from Sales Effectiveness Project to Process:  Eyeforpharma Briefing

The September 21st issue of the Eyeforpharma Briefing featured an RMCI article on institutionalizing sales force effectiveness efforts.  In a recent RMCI survey, more than 90% of senior managers indicated that less than half of their sales forces' calls were effective.  Yet many remain uncertain as to how best to implement effective solutions.  Click here to read about a practical framework for increasing sales by improving sales force effectiveness.

August 15, 2004

Improving and Sustaining Sales Force Effectiveness:  European Pharmaceutical Executive article

The July/August issue of European Pharmaceutical Executive features an RMCI article on improving sales force effectiveness.  For sales managers facing a mandate to more with less, this article offers an overview of major barriers to sales effectiveness and a robust process for making sustainable improvements in sales productivity.  Click here to read the article in pdf format.

 

You will need the Adobe Reader in order to view this article.
If you do not have Adobe Reader, click the button to download it for free.

 

June 11, 2004

RMCI Presents to the Eyeforpharma Sales Effectiveness Conference USA 2004

On June 11th RMCI presented "Diagnosing and Improving Sales Effectiveness for Sustained Results" to the Sales Effectiveness Conference USA in Philadelphia.   The conference brought together senior level pharmaceutical and biotech sales executives with a focus on how to implement the latest targeting, sizing, and performance measurement strategies to increase sales results.   You may request a copy of the presentation outlined below by clicking here:

Critical success factors for improving sales effectiveness

 

•  High-level sponsorship

•  Cross-functional cooperation to identify best practices and key improvement opportunities

•  Detailed action planning to leverage organizational strengths and address weaknesses

•  Willingness and ability to break through cultural inertia to implement effective change

 

Common sales effectiveness gaps

 

•  Poor call execution including pre-call planning and reporting

•  Limited buy-in to or poor execution of the profiling and targeting processes

•  Limited or inadequate district manager coaching

•  Limited focus on frequency attainment

•  Organization structure or metrics that inhibit sales effectiveness

Practical tools and techniques to drive positive change

May 10, 2004

HIPS Newsletter:  May 2004

Welcome to the May 2004 quarterly High Impact Pharma Sales newsletter.   In this edition, we continue our focus on improving sales force productivity with two new articles on sales effectiveness that we hope will help you improve top-line performance.  We'll also let you know about a new product we've introduced to help life sciences sales forces build internal sales force sizing and strategic planning capability.

Click on the links below to read the articles in this edition of HIPS.

Sales Effectiveness in Account Settings -- Many principles of sales effectiveness apply to all sales forces.  But sales representatives who work in account-based settings like hospitals often lack the precise customer data that their physician-office-based counterparts enjoy.  This article describes techniques for improving sales effectiveness when the sales force must develop as well as consume most important customer data.

Case Study:  Increasing Sales by Improving Sales Effectiveness -- During our corporate history we've helped sales forces around the world improve their productivity.  We know from experience that improving sales effectiveness is not easy.  But it's not impossible.  We're sharing one client's success story to help motivate you to stay focused on sales effectiveness.  Real sales growth will be the result.

Building Internal Sales Planning Capability -- This article describes how life sciences managers can build internal sales force strategy and sizing capability with RMCI's new desktop sales force sizing tool for non-US markets.

Co-Promotion vs. Co-Marketing:  Which Strategy Generates Greater Sales? -- Presentation to the Pharmaceutical Marketing Science Association (PMSA) annual conference

In April, RMCI presented innovative research on pharmaceutical co-commercialization strategies to the Pharmaceutical Marketing Science Association annual conference in San Francisco.  The study examines whether co-marketing or co-promotion strategies yield greater sales over time.  RMCI analyzed six years of sales data across 24 countries for four products selected from among hundreds for their suitability for the study.  The analysis concluded that in most cases, co-marketing strategies generated higher sales than co-promotion strategies.  If you would like more information about the study, please click here.

Diagnose, Improve, and Sustain Sales Force Effectiveness:  Presentation to the 2nd Annual Sales Force Effectiveness Conference in Barcelona

On March 1st RMCI presented "Diagnosing and Improving the Right Sales Force Effectiveness Levers for Sustained Results" to the Eyeforpharma Sales Effectiveness Conference in Barcelona.  The presentation provided RMCI's experience and views on:

Current trends in sales force effectiveness

Tools for diagnosing and tracking sales effectiveness

A process for implementing sales effectiveness improvement

Click here to request a copy of the presentation.

January 19, 2004

HIPS Newsletter

Happy New Year, and welcome to the January 2004 quarterly edition of High Impact Pharma Sales.  To kick off the New Year, we are introducing a new feature -- the Expert's Corner -- which will appear periodically in this newsletter.  We'll invite industry experts to share their perspectives on trends and innovations in life sciences sales.  To inaugurate this feature, we've invited Jean-Yves Kainic, Director of Client Solutions for the TerrAlign Group, to contribute an article on Innovations in Territory Alignment.

Improving Customer Targeting -- This article concludes our series on targeting by describing a process to improve targeting in any market -- whether data rich or data poor -- and provides examples of innovative approaches to customer profiling in markets where third-party customer data is not available.

The Expert's Corner:  Innovations in Territory Alignment, by Jean-Yves Kainic, Director of Client Solutions, the TerrAlign Group  -- Maintaining balanced sales territories is critical to maximizing sales productivity.   Mr. Kainic describes new techniques to significantly increase flexibility and reduce the administrative burden of maintaining territories. He also discusses recent innovations to help improve territory design.

Challenges to Implementing Best Practices in Sales Effectiveness -- This article concludes our series on best practices with a discussion of common challenges to implementing best practices and a process to sustain best practice for long-term success.

December 8 , 2003

Improving Sales Effectiveness:   The RM Consulting International Presentation to the Life Sciences Sales Forum

On November 18th, RMCI presented Improving Sales Effectiveness, A Process to Align the Sales, Training and Recruiting Functions at the Life Sciences Sales Forum in Philadelphia.  The presentation provided an assessment of

The current state of sales effectiveness

Key performance gaps that impact sales effectiveness

A process and tools to improve sales productivity

Click here to request a copy of the full presentation.

October 21, 2003

Let Them Fly:  Trusting Your Least Experienced Employees with Your Best Customers

The October issue of Pharmaceutical Representative includes an RMCI article describing how to prepare the sales force -- typically the least experienced employees -- to effectively handle key customers.  Over the last 10 years the sales representative's job has become more difficult and complex at the same time that average rep experience has declined.  This article explains how to coordinate the hiring, training, sales, and marketing functions to ensure that new reps produce good results quickly without alienating key customers.  Click here to read how to

Coordinate hiring practices and training with key sales force needs
Implement a sales development continuum to get maximum results from new reps
Align marketing strategies with sales force capabilities

 

You will need the Adobe Reader in order to view this article.
If you do not have Adobe Reader, click the button to download it for free.

 

September 11, 2003
Coach, Coordinator and Strategist:  District Sales Manager Best Practices

The September issue of Pharmaceutical Representative features an RMCI article on the best practices of district sales managers (DSMs). As the pharmaceutical marketplace has grown more complex, and the number of reps competing for doctors' attention exploded, the DSM has become the critical driver of sales success. Read about

Why the DSM is the key to unlocking productivity gains
How to clearly define the DSM role
Skills that distinguish exceptional DSMs from average ones

You will need the Adobe Reader in order to view this article.
If you do not have Adobe Reader, click the button to download it for free.


September 9, 2003
HIPS Newsletter

Welcome to the second quarterly issue of the High Impact Pharmaceutical Sales Newsletter (HIPS). Thank you for your feedback on our last issue. We continue to look for ideas to make this newsletter even more valuable, so your continued feedback is welcome.

This issue introduces a new feature - RMCI's Instant Survey. In each newsletter, we will include a link to a quick survey (ten questions or less) on a current industry issue. The initial Instant Survey is on sales force metrics and will take less than 5 minutes to complete. When you complete the survey, you will be able to review a summary of responses-to-date, and we will send you a survey summary once the survey is complete. We hope you participate.

Identifying and Improving upon Best Practice -- The best sales forces develop and continuously improve the best practices for selling their products. This effort requires teamwork by the sales force, marketing and sales training. This article identifies five key steps to executing a "best practices" approach to continuous improvement.

Sales Force Automation: Keeping the Focus on Sales -- Today, good SFA systems can do just about anything a manager wants them to do. That's a problem. Firms are implementing systems that do many things poorly rather than doing a great job on what really matters. Sales reps and managers end up with too much data at their disposal when what they really need is to manage their information more effectively. Focused SFA system implementation can help firms do exactly that.

Measuring Execution of the Targeting Strategy -- Our April newsletter highlighted targeting strategies and tactics. This month, we describe a simple metric that measures how effectively the sales force executes the customer targeting strategy. In our next issue, we will complete this three-part customer targeting series by describing a process for using the targeting effectiveness metric to improve customer targeting and increase sales.

HIPS Instant Survey -- There is one constant in consulting - clients always want to know what others are doing. With the introduction of "Instant Survey" we will provide you with timely insights on how the pharmaceutical industry is addressing key sales force topics.
Measuring sales force effectiveness is a hot topic and this is our first survey subject. Click on the link above to participate in a short survey (nine questions) on sales force metrics. Your confidentiality is protected and you will receive a report that summarizes what the industry is doing.


August 3, 2003
Life Sciences Sales Forum

RMCI is sponsoring the 2nd annual Life Science Sales Forum in Philadelphia November 17-18. Top pharmaceutical industry speakers will present new approaches to recruiting, training, and retaining high quality personnel. For more information, click here to view the conference web site or contact us.

April 30, 2003
HIPS Newsletter -- New Format

This month we complete the transition from a monthly to a quarterly newsletter format. Starting with this issue, each newsletter will contain three to five articles on sales force strategy and effectiveness topics. The new format allows each newsletter to cover both general interest topics as well as "special interest" topics written for specific audiences or geographies. We welcome your comments on the new format.

Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness -- This month we conclude our four-part series on Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) with an article on measuring effectiveness and monitoring performance. Prior articles in the series described a process to diagnose and identify improvement opportunities, prioritize opportunities and develop solutions, and implement change. Measuring and monitoring performance is a critical component of this process that helps sustain effectiveness gains.

A Coach's Guide to Field Days -- Tiger Woods may be the greatest golfer of all time, but even Tiger attributes much of his success to having a great coach. Butch Harmon has coached Tiger for more than a decade and has helped him to consistently improve his performance. In many sales organizations, District Sales Managers (DSMs) spend two to four days a week in the field "coaching" their sales teams. This article describes how sales managers who implement a coaching process similar to Butch and Tiger's can significantly improve the performance of their reps.

Targeting with Imperfect Information -- Anyone familiar with the game of darts knows how difficult it is to hit the bull's-eye -- even from a short distance. Now imagine trying to hit the bull's-eye while blindfolded. In the US, pharmaceutical sales reps and managers have extensive customer information on which to base customer targeting decisions. In many overseas markets, however, regulatory and market restrictions limit the information available to firms to assist the customer selection process. This article outlines a process for developing the information you need to effectively target customers when "perfect information" just isn't available.

February 28, 2003
HIPS Newsletter -- Implementing Change

Our February High Impact Pharmaceutical Selling (HIPS) newsletter continues the RMCI series on improving sales force effectiveness. This month's issue focuses on Realizing Change: The Real Work Begins. Learn how top firms use the TRACK principles to effectively implement sales effectiveness improvements.

February 28, 2003
Targeting Strategies for Europe, Latin America, and Asia

Click here to request a copy of RMCI's recent primer on customer profiling and targeting strategies for pharmaceutical markets where universal physician level prescribing data is not available.

February 4, 2003
Lessons from Asia -- 2002

Click here to request a copy of RMCI's recent primer on key trends and issues in Asian pharmaceutical marketplaces. Based on 2002 work in 9 markets including Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand, this short paper identifies key challenges for 2003:

Effective customer targeting
Leveraging daily sales data
First line manager capabilities
Achieving customer frequency

January 31, 2003
HIPS Newsletter -- From Diagnosis to Solutions

Read RMCI’s latest High Impact Pharmaceutical Sales (HIPS) newsletter “From Diagnosis to Solutions” on a process to develop solutions to sales effectiveness challenges that increases the chance of successful implementation. Future newsletters will cover:

Implementing Sales Force Effectiveness Change
Key Metrics and Monitoring Sales Force Effectiveness
Sales Force Strategy -- Lessons from Europe and Asia

December 11, 2002
HIPS Newsletter -- What's Your View of the Elephant?

Read RMCI’s latest High Impact Pharmaceutical Sales (HIPS) newsletter “What's Your View of the Elephant” on how a unique diagnostic process can help jump start sales by identifying opportunities to quickly improve sales force effectiveness.

December 4, 2002
RMCI presents at BPSF

On December 3, 2002 senior managers from RMCI presented “Sales Force Strategy – Key Lessons and Practical Insights” at the Belgian Pharmaceutical Sales Forum. Click here for the table of contents and a quick diagnostic quiz. Click here to request the full presentation.

November 23, 2002
HIPS Newsletter "Fundamentals Win" -- Inaugural Issue

Read RMCI’s latest High Impact Pharmaceutical Sales (HIPS) newsletter “Fundamentals Win” on how getting back to basics can improve sales force effectiveness.

 
© 1996 - 2011 RM Consulting International
|
contact: info@rmcionline.com
|
site map