Industry Insights: Sales Forces Shift to Customized Approaches to Smaller Audiences

PharmaVOICE Year in Preview

The latest issue of PharmaVOICE magazine is available and it focuses on the key issues likely to challenge the industry in 2013. The issue provides insights from more than 150 executives with experiences that span the development continuum from clinical, research and development, regulatory, to sales, marketing, and global issues.

I contributed to the section titled “Sales of the Future: New Tools, New Roles, and New Strategies”, and shared insights on the evolving life sciences sales model. In the near future, sales representatives will focus on a smaller number of customers, and will be hyper-focused on meeting customers’ needs and providing value. The PharmaVOICE article provides insights into how the role of sales representatives will change as these new models are implemented.

As new models are implemented, sales activities to lower priority audiences and prospects will require different approaches. An efficient and impactful alternative is to use teledetailing representatives to reach out to and develop relationships with these audiences.

Additionally, new options for administrative support for healthcare providers and field-based representatives will be implemented. In the future, sales teams will focus on building relationships and providing value-added consulting services to healthcare providers and health systems. Handling administrative issues is important, yet time-consuming. These activities can be cost-effectively handled through telesales representatives.

Check out the November/December 2012 issue of PharmaVOICE for insights into how the role of sales representatives will evolve as new sales models are implemented.

I’d like to hear your thoughts and ideas on how sales models are changing. Do you agree with the opinions included in the PharmaVOICE article? Is your company moving towards implementing these changes? If so, please share some of the challenges you are encountering.
Here is a link to a white paper on this topic.
Shifting Pharma Sales Models to Focus on Providing Value