Incredible Suggestions On Sales Force Effectiveness And The Planning Stage

March 31, 2010 | By admin In Business and Management | Comments(0)

There is far too much at stake to take a passive approach to the organisation of a company’s sales force, and senior management should ensure that they are well aware of the effectiveness of the operation and are adequately placed to make changes as and when necessary to improve. It is said that the actual cost of a sales call is in the region of $400 or more and as there’s so much at stake, the sales executive must be fully efficient in everything they do, without question.

While it goes without saying that the sales executive should be a highly skilled individual, trained in the intricacies of closing sales, a first-class communicator and people person, if poor methodology is used by the pharmaceutical company, all his or her skills could be wasted. Look at what’s at stake – poor deployment could mean the difference between merely surviving or enjoying the many benefits of the company’s ongoing endeavours.

The good news for the pharmaceutical company is that by leveraging existing assets, a significant difference could emerge. Indeed, it’s amazing how even small improvements, when made in significant areas, can reap amazing dividends. To the untrained eye, the sales force may appear to be effective, but highly skilled pharmaceutical consultants will be able to see how inefficient they really are and can advise the organisation in all the various areas necessary for improvement, helping it to move forward.

Sales force effectiveness is about many different facets. This requires a focus on optimisation – of the workforce, of individual efforts, of sales territories, altogether, as one whole. The pharmaceutical consulting firm can draw on experience gained from many different case studies over the years, first-hand experience “on the streets” and constant reviews of policies, procedures and the latest technical help. No longer is sales force optimisation an exercise to be conducted with pen and paper, but rather digital products and software solutions should be engaged with potentially powerful results. While plans are being incorporated, internal intelligence should be brought in and everything incorporated prior to the actual launch.

Looking back, workload allocation data from previous seasons and historical performance charts can help to reveal the optimum size of the sales force. This historical analysis should be matched to current market conditions, projected into the future and fine tuned according to product roll-out plans and expansion needs.

Generally, pharma consulting covers many different facets and, of particular interest to the company, should help to reveal the best time management practices for the freshly optimised sales force. Schedules must be optimised as keenly as possible and each individual within the sales force should be trained to ensure that they take advantage of every block of time available, while supervisory staff are able to track, compare and advise accordingly. Once the company can be sure that it has eliminated travel overlaps and balanced its workloads, it can be ready to send out its focused sales team on the road to best effect. The cost of a sales call is only going up, so it only makes sense to rein in these costs as much as possible.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

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