Feeling Stuck in Pharmaceutical Sales Training? Seeking Fresh Ideas and Insights!

Dear All,

Firstly, I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. May this new year be fruitful and successful for all my friends.

I have been working in the pharmaceutical industry for the last two decades, and for the past three years, I have also been involved in training. However, I have recently felt that what I am teaching may not be sufficient. If somebody can provide me with new ideas, I would be grateful.

Regards,
Prasanna Kumar

Hi Prasanna,

Wishing you a wonderful year ahead. I am not able to identify what format of trainings you are handling. We will definitely add our ideas but need a little more detail from your side.

Regards,
Allahrakha

Thank you for your email. I am primarily responsible for field training activities. In addition to that, I am also involved in classroom training for sales personnel, focusing on their job roles and responsibilities. However, I require more information on soft skills and any new trends being utilized in training, both in the field and off-site.

Prasanna Kumar
Email: gvprasanna11@gmail.com

Dear Prasanna,

The appreciable aspect of your situation is that you feel the need to raise your standard.

I understand that you possibly have 20 years of experience in Sales/Product Management & for the last 3 years, you have been in training. I had spent one decade as SMR, RSM, etc. and then ventured into training.

Training is often considered an expense; however, you have to do all to make it worthy of contributing to the bottom line.

First Things First

Clarify these Questions:

1) What role does your senior management wish to play & what are the resources committed in terms of people in training, infrastructure, outside faculty, your training outside, etc.?

2) How good are you and your team in technical knowledge? That's important. How can you put it across in a simple manner to your audience?

3) What per call return do you expect and what is the status today?

4) What and how can you add to each call? Considering that you get an average of 3 minutes with each medical practitioner and you have to work on 4 aspects:

- Knowledge of Customers, product, self-awareness of self
- Attitude: Go-getter frame of mind despite rejections
- Skills: Proficiency in handling a situation
- Habits: Good business development habits

Stepwise

1) Carry out a survey to identify the "should have" and present level of the above.
2) Map them and quantify them.
3) Most importantly, communication skills and confidence. In most cases, this is deficient, especially in non-Metros.
4) Plan individual growth programs over a time span of 3-9 months.
5) Execute at all costs.
6) Your assessment of each trainee has to be clinical, not judgmental.

I am based in Delhi. If there is anything I can do, let me know.

Regards :) :D :D

Continuing Prasanna,

For Soft Skills, work on both the scientific content and on its forceful delivery to build confidence. After all, only confidence speaks in the clinic.

1) Map the skills required (make a list of its parts and scale for each).
2) Create a glossary of medical terms expected to be used in detailing/sales talk.
3) Circulate detailing stories.
4) At your programs, insist on scientific content in sales presentation.
5) Use different games and tools like Video Recording, Just a Minute, quiz, etc., at trainings.

Communication skills can't be taught in a classroom. Give people assignments and let them come back after 2 months. Check if their supervisor has acceptable communication standards.

Hope this is useful.

Regards,
Vikas
Practeam Solutions

Hello Prasanna,

Happy New Year.

If new salespeople need soft skills training, the employee screening process is not functioning properly. Salespeople should be hired for how they'll behave during the sales process and then be trained on how to sell. Many people call it hiring for talent.

Bob Gately
gately@csi.com

I agree with Bob on the issue of soft skills. However, the issue seems to be that it's very difficult for people to work as Medical Representatives. Therefore, most companies are compromising on the quality of people.

Hi Bob,

I agree with you that the recruitment and HR sourcing processes have to be tweaked as well. However, let's look at the scenario. Medical representative (MR) is not the most preferred job destination in the current BPO/KPO landscape in India for graduates, except for the top 10-12 companies out of the approximately 1000 companies of reasonable standing. In such a scenario, it's challenging to attract top talent.

Moreover, it takes time for individuals educated in regional languages to grasp the correct pronunciation and concepts associated with medical terminology while communicating with erudite medical practitioners.

The challenge does not lie in large cities, but in 1) small towns scattered across the landscape and 2) metros where good candidates opt for well-paying and perked BPO jobs. Companies with lower employee branding will continue to face challenges until they move up the value chain.

Regards,
Vikas
Practeam Business Consultants & Recruiters

Sir,

Besides classroom training (CRT), you can also incorporate performance enhancement or on-field coaching. This way, you can provide guidance and improve performance by offering tips while working in the field.

Regards

Vikas,

I agree with you. I work as a Training Manager for an MNC and have been observing that the quality of people is poor. This is because HR often makes compromises as second-line or first-line managers want their vacancies filled at any cost. They do this because they are the ones who suffer in terms of meeting the objectives. Some of the new recruits make rapid progress, while others just hang on until they get a firm footing and then move on to greener pastures. The people who leave for Banking/Insurance are those with a fairly good standing in the company, possessing good communication skills and a focus on results.

Dear All,

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2008. I fully agree with Vikas on the number of people applying for MR positions. Apart from giving feedback, a trainer should also collect feedback from their respective managers so that it can be used in training needs analysis. In addition to planning induction programs, you can also plan refresher trainings and managerial development programs using internal as well as external faculties. For all managerial development programs for sales managers of different levels and the Product Management team, please take action plans from them, which should be reviewed in the next module.

Please brainstorm with senior management before establishing a training policy and obtain strong commitment from them to support learning and development activities. You can also create a feedback form and collect feedback from trainees on the training program, which would sometimes help us understand the improvements needed in the program.

If any of you have competency mapping forms/materials specific to the Pharma industry, I request you to share them.

Regards,

Vani

Hello Prasanna,

I worked for five years in HR in the pharmaceutical industry. What I can tell you is that medical representatives need a set of different soft skills trainings:

1. Business verbal and non-verbal communication

2. Assertiveness - in order to have the courage to knock on the door and face colleagues who might be more educated than them

3. How to deal with difficult people - in order to understand what to do with doctors who are important to them but are likely to give a hard time to medical reps

4. Presentation skills - how to deliver a good presentation in front of a large audience (e.g., doctors' morning meeting)

5. Negotiation skills - learning a win-win approach is essential in this business

And a bit of sales skills:

1. Sales process: entering the doctor's office, greeting, exploring needs, presenting a product relevant to the doctor (not the medical rep), handling objections, calling for business, and concluding the conversation.

2. CRM (customer relationship management) - importance of establishing a long-term relationship with doctors and how to achieve it

These would be useful trainings for the sales force. Please send me your email so that I could forward you a presentation that might be helpful.

Best regards,

Isidora

Hi Isidora,

Please email the presentation to this site so that it will be useful for all of us.

Regards,
Vani

Hello Vani,

Here is the presentation about starting sales conversations.

Best regards,
Isidora

Hi Isidora,

Thank you for sharing the slides. The information collected from the reference - International Journal of Medical Marketing was excellent.

Regards,
Vani

I can give you the tips provided you tell me which type of products your company makes and your objectives for training MR. :)

Dear Prasanna,

For which company are you working? I am also working as a trainer in an MNC pharma company.