Need Help Creating a Sales-Boosting Training Module for Marketing Executives – Any Resources or Templates to Share?

I am working as a Training Coordinator (Marketing) for a pharmaceutical company. The task I have been assigned is to develop a training module for marketing executives that will lead to an increase in sales. Could anyone please share resources with me to assist in creating the training module or provide templates that have already been developed for reference?

Thank you.

Regards

Dear Naveena, It's easy to build a generic module on selling skills for your executives with low ROI. To start with, I would like to know the profile of these people. Are they freshers or experienced? Are they experienced but freshers within the organization? What level are they at, viz. Executive, Sr. Executive, Area Manager, etc.? I would like to know what kind of products they are marketing, what kind of communication strategy they use, who the competitors are, and their current performance as well as the performance expected. If you have done a T.N.A., then what are the findings and on what criteria are they based?

Regards, Tarun Salwan

Thank you for your response. Let me brief you: at this point in time, I am concentrating on marketing executives and area development managers. These people hold bachelor's degrees (from various backgrounds); some have experience and some don't, mostly they are freshers to the ophthalmic industry. We are producing intraocular lenses, sutures and needles, equipment, and pharmaceuticals. The communication strategy we follow is direct selling.

At present, training is done once a year. Here we cover everything from the organization, management team, ophthalmology, their role and responsibility, to product details. We found that it was not up to the mark and not giving the desired result, so we are planning to build a new training module that should give maximum yield.

I have covered the details. Based on the above information, please guide me.

Thank you, sir.

Regards, Naveena.

Dear Naveena,

You mentioned that the communication strategy you follow is Direct Selling. Is it Direct to Retailers, Hospital Pharmacies, Nursing Homes, or the Traditional ways of Pharma Marketing, such as Promotion Primarily with Doctors of the territory? You also shared that you conduct training once a year, yet the performance is not meeting expectations. What does your team feel are the reasons for this lackluster performance? Is it that in the Ophthalmology space, the competition is very tough (where isn't it?), and your Brand Positioning, Communication, Customer Base, or Pricing needs a re-evaluation? You must have an On-the-Job evaluation of these people; any insights from their reporting managers? How about the attitude of your people? Are they aggressive enough, considering Pharma selling is a highly specialized job requiring a different mindset than usual selling jobs? Have you ever spoken to them about their set of hurdles? What do they say, and to what extent are they right? What about the attrition rate among these people?

To make an effective Training Module, we need to address some issues as stated above. Please conduct thorough research before coming up with any solution. I would recommend a few field trips to understand and identify Training Needs.

Hope this will help. You can reach me at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] for any further deliberations.

Regards,
Tarun Salwan

The points discussed by you were very useful. As you mentioned, it will be better to conduct research among marketing executives to clarify the path to proceed. I will get back to you soon.

Thank you,

Naveena