MedicinMan

~ FIELD
|

A BroadSpektrum Healthcare Business Medias Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative

TM

FORCE
DE VICES

E XCE L LE N CE
DIAGNOSTICS |

PHARMA
Vol. 2 Issue 11

MEDICAL

SURGICALS
November 2012

www.medicinman.net

Editorial

HURRICANE GENERIC HITS INDIAN PHARMA

n recent times no other issue has ruffled Indian Pharma as much as the generic vs. brand issue. At stake are millions of jobs and revenues. But we forget that serving the needs of patients through the physician community has created these jobs and revenues. When commerce triumphs at the expense and not at the benefit of consumers, then sooner or later these storms are certain to strike like Hurricane Sandy. Remember, consumers are the ultimate drivers and shapers of markets whether through social activism or by influencing government policy. Industry leaders and associations should put their heads together in enlightened self-interest and become active players in reforming healthcare to benefit patients their ultimate payer. We have an insightful article by Salil Kallianpur on the generics vs brands issue on page 18; as well as links to articles by Prof. Vivek Hattangadi and Gauri Kamath both of them are well known pharma industry commentators. On the positive side, we have an excellent addition to the learning and development of pharma professionals by way of a new book by Prof. Vivek Hattangadi Pharma First-line Leader to CEO. This should serve as valuable guide to those who aspire for career growth. Prof. Vivek Hattangadi also assumes additional responsibility as Dean Professional Skills Development of MedicinMan Academy. K. Hariram, our Chief Mentor continues his series on Coaching for FLMs. We also have insightful articles by Dr. S. Srinivasan, Dr. Amit Dang, V. Srinivasan adding to the skill development of field force. The article, KAM Is it a New Sales Model? by international team of authors, Ralph Boyce, Ken Boyce and Tony OConnor will add to our understanding of this new emerging area in Pharma Sales. LinkedIn is emerging as an important learning platform for pharma professionals and I invite all our readers to connect with me on LinkedIn. Please send an invite to http:// in.linkedin.com/in/anupsoans. We have featured two Hot on LinkedIn discussions for the benefit of our readers. Digital Dose by Dinesh Chindarkar is especially useful for those who want to use Social Media to further their professional interests. We believe in lighting a lamp instead of cursing the darkness however clichd that might sound given the decline in skills of the Indian Pharmas field force (see page 8 for my article). But unless we take remedial actions, how can we expect a turnaround? A Medical Reps skills can be only as good or bad as his trainers ability to equip and motivate Medical Reps with knowledge, skills and attitude needed at the workplace. MedicinMan Academy will conduct a 3-day Pharma Sales Trainer Certification Program in December 2012 (for details see page 5) to bring about uniformity in the training of Medical Reps and FLMs. The program is ideally suited for those who are working in training departments as well as senior professionals in Sales, Marketing, HR, SFE and related areas who wish to move into training. The program will cover all essential areas of adult learning and development relating effective development of Medical Reps including psychometrics. In the future MedicinMan Academy will also conduct various other programs for the development of Front-line Managers, SFE, SFA and related areas. We invite senior managers in Pharma to connect and offer your suggestions. anupsoans@gmail.com - Anup Soans, Editor

MedicinMan welcomes Prof. Vivek Hattangadi as Dean Professional Skills Development at MedicinMan Academy.

Contents
CLICK
4. Customer Targeting for High Impact Sales. Regularly updated customer lists are key to high ROI on sales efforts.
V. Srinivasan

TO

NAVIGATE.
18. Indias Health Policy - flip flops and policy shifts. What the recent DGCI order on generics means for Indian pharma & healthcare
Salil Kallianpur

6. Making Calls Effective Making joint-work with Medical Reps productive through coaching.
K. Hariram

20. Digital Dose - Part 1 A regular column on social media for pharma by leading experts.
Dinesh Chindarkar

8. You Matter Most in Getting Repeat Rx In the sea of generics, you are a key differentiator for your brand.
Dr. S. Srinivasan

21. Pharmacology Essentials - Pharmacokinetics Parameters Concepts of bioequivalence, steadystate, leading dose, maintainence dose and others explained.
Dr. Amit Dang

10. Field Force Excellence: Are we kidding ourselves? Is Field Force Excellence attainable in this era of hyper-competition?
Anup Soans

22. Key account Management - a new sales model? Key Account Management is a distillation of existing strategies & approaches
Ralph Boyce, Ken Boyce, Tony OConnor

14. Hot on Linkedin 1. How to make productive field visits. 2. What are the key drivers of SFE? Discussion seen on Indian Pharma Connection and SFE respectively.

25. Book Preview: Front-line Leader to CEO

What it takes to move up the ranks written in a simple, conversationalist style.
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi

Editor and Publisher: Anup Soans CEO: Chayya S. Sankath COO: Arvind Nair Chief Mentor: K. Hariram Advisory Board: Vivek Hattangadi; Jolly Mathews Editorial Board: Salil Kallianpur; Dr. Shalini Ratan; Shashin Bodawala; Prabhakar Shetty; Varadarajan S; Dr. Mandar Kubal; Dr. Surinder Kumar MedicinMan Academy: Dr. S. Srinivasan, Dean, Medical Education Prof. Vivek Hattangaadi, Dean, Professional Skills Development

Now Available as an Ebook on

Repeat Rx
Calling Connecting Consulting Collaborating
REPEAT Rx is the first-of-its-kind skill certification and competency building program for creating trust and building relationships with Doctors leading to lasting relationships and generating Repeat Rx. REPEAT Rx is conceptualized and developed by Anup Soans who is the Editor of MedicinMan and author of the widely read HardKnocks for the GreenHorn and SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager.

Visit: http://amzn.com/B009G3SJ1Y
Repeat Rx can be read across devices such as iPad, Kindle, Android, MAC and PC. Download the appropriate reading app for free HERE.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Customer Targeting

Customer targeting for high impact sales.

V. Srinivasan
ustomer list is the foundation upon which the building called Sales is built. If the foundation is strong, and maintained properly, then the building will also remain healthy and strong. Let us see below how to keep the customer list strong and active by periodical pruning, cleansing, and updating so that it remains active and healthy at all times, and yields the best possible results to the business. First and foremost: the total number of customers, as well as specialty-wise composition/ break-up of the same, should be exactly as per Sales & Marketing strategy. The selection of customers must be done only after thorough RCPA to ensure right customers for right products are chosen. The Line Managers and Product/Brand Managers must ensure this, because there is a tendency at the lower level to include customers who are easy to call on, irrespective of whether they are the right customers or not, and whether they have potential to prescribe the products being promoted or not. Having prepared the customer list as per strategy, the next step is to give visits to each of the listed customers strictly as per desired number and frequency. Having ensured both the above, the next, but important step is to ensure that we get business support from each customer on whom we are investing efforts and resources, even though the quantum of support may vary from customer to customer. This can be ensured by periodical auditing and cleansing of the customer list, as per following procedure. Let the Medical Rep makes at least 6 calls, i.e. if 2 calls are slated for a customer every month, after 3 months of visits and promoting the identified products to the Doctor by the Medical Rep and at least two more visits by any of his superiors like Area Manager, Regional Manager, Zonal Manager, Sales Manager, Product Manager, if no support has come from the customer, then such names may be deleted from the coverage list. After a total of 8 visits (6 by Medical Rep & 2 more by any higher officials) decide whether to retain or not. In that vacancy, another potential customer from the same locality from the same specialty who has the best potential to prescribe our products, based on RCPA already conducted, may be included. While doing this exercise, side by side, we can also plan for improving the business volume from customers from whom we are getting very low volume of business support. If it is very clear that irrespective of any further efforts, the business volume may not improve, then we need to decide whether such customers can also be deleted, and instead, new but potential customers from whom we can get better business support can be included in the coverage list. A similar exercise with other customers like stockists and retailers can also be conducted, and wherever necessary, dead wood can be removed, and new but potential ones included. Such an exercise will ensure that we remove dead wood, and the customer list (i.e.foundation) is very active, and we get support from all the customers in the list. It also ensures that we focus all our efforts, activities, and resources on the potential and right customers only, thus avoiding wastages of promotional efforts and field working. Many organizations do not do this activity sincerely, and leave it at the discretion of the Medical Rep and the Line Manager concerned. Once we ensure active and updated customer list, besides number and frequency of visits as per strategy, we should also ensure proper detailing of the products being promoted (i.e. communication) which can have the desired impact for conversion of identified customers. The whole exercise is aimed at keeping the business tree free of dead wood, and dried leaves, and keep it hale and healthy. If Organizations ensure the above in all sincerity, the results will be highly rewarding.

V. Srinivasan has headed Sales

Administration & HR functions in reputed Pharma Companies, with over 325 published articles in India and abroad. He can be reached at shridhar1956@rediffmail.com Mob: 8056168585

Become A Certified Pharma Sales Trainer.

17th, 18th & 19th December, 2012 at Mumbai Fee: ` 22,500/- per participant. Early bird fee: ` 19,500/- (for registrations before 10th November 2012) To register, email: anupsoans@gmail.com

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Coaching

| Page 6

Making calls effective.

K. Hariram
uring joint working by the FLMs with their sales people, post call analysis is a common practice. Mostly it ends up as a post-mortem, or after-action call discussions. Generally you will look at what went well and what could have gone better. But how many of the FLMs have considered conducting 'advance-action sessions'? Can the earlier experiences of the 'calls' be reflected? Can the communication required to make the call be articulated and practiced? Look at this as 'pre-mortem' activity. Prepare this by asking these 3 questions : 1. 2. 3. What worked well in previous calls that is worth considering for this call? What could have been done differently in previous calls that should be kept in mind now? What new things should be considered for trying on the new calls ?

To create a high-performance climate at work follow these 4 steps: 1. Spend one-on-one time with each member of your team. 2. Coach them on-the-job. 3. Make their work interesting. 4. Let them know you trust them.

Take these 4 steps : 1. Spend one-on-one time with each team member. Spend time with each person and know how the individual is doing on both personal and work level. Provide feedback promptly. 2. Coach on the job. Show them how to do even better. Help them in finding solutions to job-related problems. Support them in finding alternate resources for solving personal problems, without becoming too much involved in the details of their personal lives. 3. Make their jobs more interesting. Build variety in their assignments and challenge them positively. When they demonstrate their competence, recognize and share it with other team members. 4. Let them know you trust them. Clarify and explain what you want them to do and allow them to suggest ways. Set boundary lines and parameters and monitor the same. Help them to learn from past mistakes.

Lessons from the past is very helpful during ON THE JOB coaching and helps find newer solutions. It also breaks falling into the rut of the routine.

Creating a "high performance" climate.

When you are dealing with 5 to 6 people in your team, building the team's morale is your important responsibility. You can do this by ensuring that each of your team member is engaged, enthusiastic and ready to make positive contributions.

K. Hariram is the former MD of Galderma India. This article is fourth in a series on Coaching authored by him.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Personal Success

| Page 12

You Matter Most in Getting Repeat Rx.

Dr. S. Srinivasan
hen I moved from 1st MBBS to 2nd MBBS, the initial excitement of bedside medicine was understandingly a bit too overwhelming, given that I was all of eighteen going on nineteen at that time. The burden of the white coat was getting somewhat bearable but not the over-bearing presence of our medicine professor who prided himself on not only superlative clinical knowledge but impeccable Queens English as well. His favorite question was, what are the three most important things in clinical medicine? After we would hazard one wild guess after another for ten minutes or so, he would make his pronouncement in a triumphant voice from a puffed up chest: diagnosis, diagnosis, diagnosis. At that, our awe for him would go up three notches: wow, how clever! Never mind what todays professors and students think about the disposable commodity called diagnosis! azithromycin is still posing formidable challenges across the board and up and down the hierarchy of most marketing organizations. And this started applying not only to small molecules but also large ones like insulins, monoclonal antibodies and so on. There was a phase when the original MNC marketer of a molecule would attack the copies on quality issues to justify his higher price. But this didnt last long as Indian companies surged ahead with good quality products at lower prices, not only in India but even in sophisticated markets. On expiry of the patent period for a block-buster, the original discoverer would argue that his generic is superior to the lesser mortals generic but that argument too does not wash any more as seen in recent examples of lipid lowering and other types of drugs.

3 Ps
A decade and a half later, my first sales promotion manager (yes, marketing manager came later) with a similar personality trait would ask a similar question: what are the three most important things for a medical rep to succeed in his career? Assorted sound bytes would come from different corners of the room, to which the manager would only shake his head slowly and then pronounce in a serious voice, product knowledge, product knowledge, product knowledge. And we would go, wow, how clever! Mind you, it worked. And still does. Your display and dissemination of razor sharp product knowledge would surely get you the doctors ears as well as admiration, often culminating in that vital document called prescription. But when the landscape of products underwent a sea change with more and more branded generics flooding the market, there came a time to re-think strategies.

You matter
So, where do you stand in a crowded bazaar where you have to out-shout the other guy selling the self-same medicine at crazy prices with bizarre messages? Well, there is no magic wand that would save you here save your own self. By that I mean, when product knowledge alone wont take you far, you wear one of de Bonos hats, or make your own, and showcase yourself in clever ways. There are doctors who would / should be asking for / thinking of YOU when it comes to writing a prescription. Your command over the product, your communication skills, your sense of anticipation of the doctors thinking, your unique value systems that make you what you are.these are the things that somehow create a bond between you and the prescriber and clinch the sale. In short, YOU should start mattering more than the product. Sounds odd? Think about it anyway.

Half - dollar
A standard challenge in selling/marketing was, is and will be, how to promote your half dollar over the other guys? The art and science of making a doctor prescribe your generic (forget the branding faade) version of say azithromycin in preference to your competitors generic version of

Dr. S. Srinivasan is former Sr. VP at Aventis. He is currently a lifecoach and Dean, Medical Education at MedicinMan Academy.

Vacancies
brought to you by Kingpins Management Consultancy
Position / designation Area Business Manager (Rachi & Aurangabad). (MNC, Diagnostics) Essential qualifications: B. Pharm/B.Sc in Bio Science/Chemistry Critical attributes / qualities: Good communication and Negotiation skill, good team player, Fast learner, Good relationship with Diabetologists/Physicians and Cardiologists of the area Brief Job Description: 1. 2. 3. Promote the products to Diabetologists /Physicians/ GPs / Laboratories Procure institutional business Visit retailers to make the product available and collect the information on competition. Arrange for product displays at retail chemists. Conduct diabetes awareness programmes Attend to the product complaints. Train and guide salesmen of the distributors who supplement the sales efforts of the company sales staff. Appoint distributors as per the business need Organize CMEs for doctors Organize training for the Nursing staff on the handling of our products in institutions who use our products Job Description Medical Business Manager (Jaipur, Bangalore & Mumbai) Experience: Fresher / 1.5 4 years Qualification: B.Sc (minimum) CTC Offered: Rs. 1.50 Lacs Rs. 3 Lacs Reporting: Zonal Manager Job Description Retail Business Manager (Mumbai & Chennai) (MNC) Qualification: B.Sc. (minimum) Experience: 1.5 4 years CTC Offered: Rs. 1.65 Lacs Rs. 3 Lacs Reporting: Zonal Manager Team: Marketing Associates (3 6 people as per the location / market requirement) Responsibilities: 1. 2. 3. 4. New business development & maintenance of existing accounts. Meeting up with chemists, retailers (medical shops) for Glucometer. Managing the marketing associates & motivating them for higher turnover, better productivity. Organizing promotional events in banks, corporate offices as well as relevant exhibits. Contact: Balraj Chandra Mob: 91.9769058671, +91.9833580904 Email: balraj@kingpinsindia.com Website: www.kingpinsindia.com Responsibilities: 1. 2. 3. Generating new business leads &taking care of the existing clients. Meeting up with doctors, nursing homes & various hospitals for Glucometer sales & getting prescriptions. Actively participating in the special activities conducted by the doctors. 5. 6. 2. 3. 4. Job Description District Manager (2 PositionsNasik & Mumbai (Thane down & Central Mumbai) Job Title: District Manager Span of Control: 5 Medical Representatives (outsourced 3rd party payroll) Business Potential: 30 lacs / month Salary offered: up to 5 lacs Key Skills: 1. Candidate must be working on field as a First Line Manager, in a Pharmaceutical company featuring in TOP 50 Companies rated by ORG. Candidate must have a good command over English language Conversational & Written. Candidate must have a good clarity of the role of a First Line manager. Must have good management skills. Candidate must be achievement oriented. Please provide data of previous 2-3 years target achievement. Candidate must have a passion to excel in Pharma Sales. Candidate must have basic knowledge of MS Office.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Preferred age group: 24-28 years. Compensation package: Rs 1.5 lacs- 2.25 lacs.

Attention HR and Placement Agencies! MedicinMan reaches over 40,000 pharma professionals. 50% Discount of advertisement rates for Sales and Marketing and related vacancies i.e. Rs. 15,000/- for full page color advertisement instead of Rs. 30,000/- for all other advertisers. anupsoans@gmail.com

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Field Force Excellence

| Page 8

Field Force Excellence:

Are we kidding ourselves ??
This article was first published in Pharmaphorum. FFE 2012 hosted by MedicinMan, saw intense discussion on the feasibility of field force excellence in the current business environment.

Anup Soans
ield Force Excellence (FFE) can be defined as field force doctor engagement wherein: 1. The doctor experiences tangible value in their interaction with pharma field force leading to better patient outcomes. 2. The field force experiences satisfaction with their career and meaning in their daily work. 3. The field force doctor engagement results in increased productivity for pharma companies. Field Force Excellence - are we kidding ourselves? This remark by a senior SFE professional from a reputed MNC summed up the thoughts of some of the delegates at the first ever Pharma CEO Roundtable on Field Force Excellence on June 16, 2012 at the JW Marriott, Mumbai. In response, veteran CEO, Narayan B Gad of Panacea Biotec took the question head-on by saying Excellence might seem like a utopian idea, but we can certainly move forward from efficiency to effectiveness, which together will take us closer to excellence as envisaged by MedicinMan, the organizers of FFE 2012. FFE 2012 was conducted in the backdrop of deteriorating quality of pharma field force in India. On stage and in the audience were senior Indian pharma industry professionals including CEOs, who had risen from the ranks of field force in the preceding 25 years. Where had the Indian pharma field force gone wrong so dramatically that it was now struggling to find quality people to shore up the everexpanding front-lines and sales leadership positions?

The Indian IT and BPO sector gave Indian professionals an opportunity to build careers at a hitherto unknown pace and had a cascading effect on Retail, Insurance, Finance and Banking and a host of other Greenfield sectors. Pharma became a laggard in attracting talent at the entry level and this has had a negative effect in building a sales leadership pipeline in an industry that was growing at thrice the speed of Indian economy.

The rise of Indian pharma both in India and globally is matched only by the Indian IT and BPO sector, which gave the Indian professionals a great opportunity to build careers at a hitherto unknown pace. Twenty somethings were becoming General Managers and VPs and acquiring houses and cars within 5 years of working. The rise of IT and BPO had a cascading effect on the increase in job opportunities in Retail, Insurance, Finance and Banking and a host of other Greenfield sectors. Pharma became a laggard in attracting talent at the entry level and this has had a negative effect in building a sales leadership pipeline in an industry that was growing at thrice the speed of Indian economy. Feet-on-street was the logic of many Indian pharma companies that were growing at a break-neck speed from the 80s and forwards. MNCs and many Indian companies tried

MedicinMan November 2012

Field force excellence - are we kidding ourselves?

| Page 9

swimming against the prevailing trends by recruiting and training people to perform at earlier levels of competence. But it was a losing battle the fast-growing Indian pharma companies were liberally poaching from the MNCs and other well-managed Indian companies instead of nurturing their own field force. Medical Reps in MNCs who had to wait for 10 years and more for promotions now found themselves moving up the steep ladder at the rapid pace of IT companies. Just as prosperity comes with a price of obesity and a host of related lifestyle disorders, the price of rapid growth in the Indian Pharma has been the decline of quality of field force people. Indian Pharma companies not only reverse engineered and copied IP products of MNCs, they added their own jugaad in creating rational and irrational combinations that had the doctors reeling from an overdose of too many branded generics (60,000) and their combinations. Along with jugaad drug combinations, came the jugaad promotions that did not need much talent. Carrying expensive gifts and booking exotic tour locations required as much talent of a street-smart pizza delivery boy. Irrational drug combinations, irrational copycat promotions nobody questions the sanity of methods when the growth is assured. Ethics went for a toss as MBAs competed with veteran field sales leaders to prove their worth through get-rich-quick MLM like strategies, which unfortunately led to decline of field force poor quality recruits, little training, promotions without development and high pressure management.

Along with jugaad drug combinations, came the jugaad promotions that did not need much talent. Carrying expensive gifts and booking exotic tour locations required as much talent of a street-smart pizza delivery boy.

Talent fled the pharma industry in large numbers and mediocrity ruled the day. No wonder veterans look at the present scenario and remark: Field Force Excellence - are we kidding ourselves? But the darkest night is also just before the dawn. The declining productivity of field force, increasing social activism against pharma-doctor nexus, governmental regulations and an uncertain global economy are forcing Indian Pharma to rethink their way of doing business. The transactional relationship with doctors has run its full course and the returns are diminishing steadily. To reverse these negative trends and bring about a transformation in the relationship with doctors, Indian Pharma will have to reinvent its field force again. The new generations of students coming out of campuses are coming equipped with some unique skill sets they are the digital natives. The rise of technology enabled doctor and social media will provide Indian Pharma with unique ways of engaging the doctors from fatigue to fun. Both doctors and field force have been experiencing a high level of dissatisfaction in their interactions. While field force will remain the lynchpin of doctorpharma equation, it will be the technology enabled Medical Rep and Front-line Managers who will recreate trust and build relationship by understanding the doctors business and adding real value. The repositioning of Field Force has to be well thought out and must address the needs of patients and doctors and not just the promotional interests of Pharma companies. There is a lot that pharma field force can do in this

Jugaad - the Indian approach to skirting obstacles.

MedicinMan November 2012

Field force excellence - are we kidding ourselves?

| Page 10

regard as they are on the field where the action is. Social media has the potential to engage, build trust and communicate effectively in a media format that already has the patients and doctors tuned in. Gadgets like iPads have the potential to take CRM and other customer engagement models to effectiveness levels not possible earlier. These gadgets also have the potential to make learning an ongoing practice instead of periodic events. iPads have the potential to transform the Medical Reps learning process and make them more knowledgeable about the therapy areas in which their customers operate. A seamless loop that connects Medical Reps, Front-line Managers, Training Managers, doctors, chemists and other stakeholders has the potential to go beyond the present silo approach and bring HR, Sales, Medical Affairs, Administration and other function including finance on the same page. It can bring about beneficial changes in neglected areas like ADR by systematic reporting and response in real time, adding much value to medical practice. In short, the scope for field force excellence is enormous if Indian Pharma takes the leap and reconfigures its field force strategy from recruitment to management. The results of a MedicinMan Poll with more than 400 respondents on LinkedIn are instructive of the aspirations of employees. Learning and Development was the No.1 job satisfier for employees in the 1829 age group (for details and comments of the poll: http:// linkd.in/MDfstI). This is very heartening indeed. Entry-level employees are aware that Learning and Development is the key to success in their career.

The scope for field force excellence is enormous if Indian Pharma takes the leap and re-configures its field force strategy from recruitment to management.
Presently most Indian Pharma companies pay scant attention to learning and development needs of Medical Reps and Front-line Managers. The high attrition rate serves as a dampener on investing in people. This has led to the entire ecosystem of field people being ill equipped to handle the new challenges of healthcare marketing. With the advent of Cloud Computing and the high involvement of Gen Y in social media and the emergence of cellphone as an ubiquitous device, it is possible for pharma to engage its field force on a regular basis and bring about field force excellence in the near future. Anup Soans is an author, facilitator and the Editor of MedicinMan. Connect with him on Linkedin (linkedin.com/in/ anupsoans) or write to him at anupsoans@gmail.com

MedicinMan poll on factors influencing job-satisfaction. Bringing about employee engagement by taking these factors into account is a key part of Field Force Excellence.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Hot on Linkedin

| Page 14

Field Managers are going blindly for their co-visit in the market with their field staff. FLMs are going for fieldwork with medical reps blindly just to show to the top management that they have done their job. They visit the areas and doctors from whom medical rep is already getting prescriptions. They visit the stockist to get the order to achieve the budget through their visit influence. FLMs visit cannot be called productive till the time they follow these guidelines: Ajay Kumar 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. Do a survey with chemists regarding Doctors that can prescribe products of the company. Who are prescribing the competitors brand? Managers visit can be called productive if he has been able to convert the doctors with his visit. He should ask the medical rep to follow up with doctor for Rx in the subsequent call by medical rep. Manager should check with chemist and stockist regarding any distribution problem. He should solve problems being faced by the medical rep. During the next visit FLM should find out the from medical rep regarding the outcome of his last co-visited areas and he should give some time to the last visited area. Manager should cover the complete territory of medical rep in a year. Manager should give preference to territories from where sales are low to check what the reasons for low sales are and give guidelines to medical reps on how to increase sales. Manager should use his strengths to strengthen the medical rep.

The entire industry is afflicted with the free radical syndrome (high attrition), largely due to poorly empowered, uninformed and ill equipped FLMs, who come on board with limited knowledge of managerial competencies - namely decision making, delegating, problem solving, team work, etc. In the earlier days, the selection process used to be elaborate, comprehensive and tested a potential candidate from multiple perspectives, through group discussions, case study presentations, interviews. Candidates who came out successful from such intense screening were found to match the rigors & demands of the managerial job.

Sankaran SS

The immediate need today therefore is to identify the potential in the system, not just in terms of sales performance, but in terms of overall potential to succeed at the next level. This obviously requires mapping FLMs against well defined job related competencies, investing time and effort to nurture & develop them on these competencies. Then put them through a robust assessment process and put them on the job. The process is certainly time consuming, will not show immediate visible results. However it is bound to pay rich dividends in the long run. For people don't leave organizations, they leave their bosses.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Hot on Linkedin

| Page 15

During the 1st week & last week of the month, the Area Manager is found running from pillar to post to close sales in order to fulfill sales commitments given in the monthly meeting. Once sales are closed, he has to do preparation for presentation, compilation of secondary sales and deficits. For this he requires time and nearly 1/3 of the month is lost in this process. What is the need for these monthly meetings? Manoj Singh This is a disincentive for carrying out productive joint in-clinic work. I have also observed higher management of some companies speaking late at nigh - at 10 PM or later - or in early morning, without any concern about what time the AM / RM was back from tour or what time he has started his work.

These are the reasons for high attrition rates and the need to fill vacancies by compromising in the selection of MRs / AMs. I can only say there should be come code of conduct, work norms, discipline in talk & clear communication especially during month-ends, when the standard of talk goes down drastically. (paraphrased)

As long as 'come what may, get numbers by month end' approach continues, merely criticizing FLMs or for that matter, even SLMs will only add to the problems. Sales force cycle meetings should be for renewing, refreshing & rejuvenating the sales team and not merely to take out their frustrations and demoralize the team. Create an environment where people have inner motivation. Do not simply throw motivating words which are manipulative. Let the sales team get involved in their budgeting process. Yesterday's work force swallowed the Top Down approach; certainly the current generation may not...unless convinced. Focus on FLMs development; the multiplying effect will be beneficial. At each level avoid K. Hariram BLAME game; build a TAKE CHARGE attitude. Do not compromise on basics and fundamentals. Treat the FLMs with respect and anything critical, discuss separately - in short, protect his self respect in front of his team. Right from top to bottom, let every person ' walk the talk'. (paraphrased)

Jyoti Jain

FLM should spend good and quality time in field with MR. He should go in the field after doing proper home work. Now, just imagine the situation we offer to FLM in most of the companies: with fixed days for meeting and travelling, how much time do we give to him for his analyses / homework? Beside time, what are the tools which we give to him to do analysis? Even in today's hi tech world, many of the companies are working on ghostly looking excel sheets / pivot table, having lot of data but nothing obvious ACTIONABLE shown. (paraphrased)

In order to bring about the role transformation from M.R to A.S.M. specific programs are needed to consciously build the confidence of the A.S.M. as an observer and then a solution provider to the problems faced by a M.R. An A.S.M. has to differentiate between product training (hard skills) ROLE training (soft skills) to add value to joint work. This can be achieved by periodic induction. (paraphrased) Deb B.

It has been my personal experience that it is the FLM / SLM ( 8020%) responsible for a company's fate. In every cycle meet, I personally allot a day for product knowledge developmental activity. Accordingly, each FLM/SLM has to come fully prepared with presentation on assigned ONE product each, and take class in detail. It works wonderfully. All FLM, SLM, ZSMs are made to mandatorily visit and work along with subordinates on permissible regular intervals. The visit plan must include Dr's (at least 2 of each specialization, so as to ensure promotion of maximum available/ stocked products), C&F, Stockists Pramod Sharma and Retail visits. Besides, even senior managers should follow the laid guidelines during their visits, so as to set examples and help take appropriate decisions if problems exist. (paraphrased)

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Hot on Linkedin

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R. Shetty

A Field Manager, before going to field work with medical rep, should visit the stockist/super stockist and find out the product movement. Examining the medical rep's tour program he must find out which areas have poor performance. Then the Manager should visit the poor performing areas with the medical rep and analyse the reason for poor sales. After that he should find a solution for the problem and hand over the area to MR. In his next visit again he should visit that area and see the results. With this exercise the sales will increase and MR will be happy because AM has solved his problem. Also AM will build a personal bond with MR.

The basic objective of the FLM is to develop his MR, be it by demonstration, direction (training if required), observation and delegation once ready. I would be a little concerned if the FLM is sorting out problems of the MRs regularly, he should not be a solution provider but a solution facilitator.
Kultaran SS

Its true that the field managers go to field without any preparation and just become passengers on the bikes of medical representatives. They go to doctors along with the medical representative and hijack the call, become a super representative, try to boss over the poor Medical Representative and go home with false satisfaction. This is true, not only for the line managers, but also most of the bosses of the medical representatives. They feel delighted in doing super-MR's job. As a result, a good MR, who may need coaching or support or Manas Dash delegation, feels depressed and remains disengaged. He simply waits for his so-called bosses to return to do his job after 15 days or a month and does all the manipulations to achieve numbers. Finally, getting disappointed, he leaves the organization with a hope that, someone, somewhere will take care of him. But it remains same across the companies and across the management community. It can only be changed if, the bosses change their mindset from doing to observing, giving proper feedback and caring for their subordinates.

- Krzysztof Lasocki
Hanno Wolfram

What are the priority areas? What do you think an SFE Manager/Analyst should focus on first? Is it segmentation and targeting? Or maybe call frequency optimization? Or maybe the sales incentives program?

The starting point always is the company's objective. Then you analyze and look into the sales process: from targeting to segmentation to segment strategies to execution. Once these details are all coherently driving and pointing towards the company objective, you look into the call process. (Re to "objective" please look here.) The effect of incentives (in mature markets) in any case is disputable. In general anything you measure must match and drive objectives. SFE in this context should be defined as getting more for the same or the same for less.

James Buck

In my experience the Key Driver of any SFE initiative is communication and buy in. If the field sales force does not understand the objective of the initiative then the data captured (if using a CRM system) can be manufactured to "Hit the Number". As stated in Hanno's post the Objective must align with the process but the understanding of the Value must be communicated and all stakeholders in agreement.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Hot on Linkedin

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Assuming that we are leading a start up organization and the primary objective is to generate productivity from the budgeted resources from day one, then applying the 4S principle will help. 1. 2. 3. 4. Structure - Deployment of field force on the basis of customer, coverage and competition . Also consider their alignment basis channel of distribution. Systems - set clear KRA, KPIs, sales targets, daily/weekly reporting formats/CRM. Skills - KAM, multi stake holder selling. Spirit - Reward/incentive and recognition.

Finally lot of discussion is happening on CLM and if implemented correctly the yield could be above average. - Arupendra Das

Govindrajan D.

Prescriptions are not only the reflections of one's sales behaviour but the reflections of one's beliefs. One of the main drivers of SFE sould be to address this belief. High technical skills and conceptual skills are always imparted. But what is neglected is the human part. In a highly competitive environment it is important that people should be made to believe what an organization considers as "Effectiveness". If the indicators are "profitability & target achievement then we are missing the core of SFE. Many universities teach subjects ranging from history to economics to Marketing but only few are really coaching people for "Sales. The curriculum should be focused on "Communication & Sales Behavior.

I like that Govindaraj has mentioned "profitability and target achievement are not the key indicators of effectiveness". This would bring us to the question of what is meant by "Effectiveness". Would you consider a field force person who has very good knowledge of the product and can communicate with the doctor very well, but cannot get the extra prescription that his manager demands as effective or would you consider a street smart rep who can discuss everything under the sun with the customer and get the extra prescription? I think before we even discuss the drivers of effectiveness we should understand what effectiveness means for various levels of hierarchy in Pharma. For the frontline manager who has to keep his teams commitments it is totally sales and target driven, for the brand manager it is totally strategy and campaign management driven and for product manager it is by the feedback on the key messages that he creates every cycle. And the one person who has to keep everyone plus his doctors satisfied is the poor rep. - Venkatesh Annadevara

Following Venkatesh's request let me quote Peter Drucker, THE Management Teacher of the last century: Effectiveness = doing the right thing. Efficiency = doing things right The problem in pharma is to know what is "right"!
Hanno Wolfram

1. I fully believe that "right" varies by company, by product portfolio and even by market place, There is nothing like an interchangeable "best practice" (another one of those buzzwords) like a "one size fits all".

2. 3.

If "right" at all is defined in and for a company it is defined "inside-out": right for our revenue, right for our bottom line or our fame etc. The client perspective, be it prescribers, be it nurses or even patients is widely neglected.

In our daily life we are offered perceptions, solutions, concepts, feelings, ideas and not (no longer) products! (e.g. iPad, Coke, BMW or Viagra). We are asked and offered to make our individual choice and no one "sells" something to us. All products we ever buy or purchase meet our expectations and we have a preference, which was triggered by the marketing efforts of the respective company. SFE in pharma at the end of day could mean: Change perspective and look at your company (brand?) or product outside-in, acknowledge what you see, hear and feel and then decide what is the right thing to do. Once this is done, identify the right way doing it.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Industry Insight

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Indias Health Policy: Flip-flops

and opaque policy shifts.
Salil Kallianpur
he directive from the Drug Controller General of Indias (DCGI) office to all State Drug Controllers to issue trademarks for generic names instead of brands even if it was just to resolve trademark issues - is yet another display of confounding decision making by the Union Government that has been plaguing the country in general and the health care sector in particular. Over the years despite knowing of its multiplier effect on GDP, India never attached great importance to the improved health of its population. Policy lapses witnessed the private sector stepping in to address a fast rising demand for health care, creating one of the most privatized medical systems in the world. As a consequence, India is confronted with the problem of meeting growing expenditure on health care which is heavily skewed towards out-of-pocket expenses for its citizens, driving large sections into poverty. Indias future lies in its demographic dividend the advantage of having a young, healthy and productive work force. And to reap the benefits of this work force we have to achieve decent health and education outcomes for the majority. India averaged 8% p.a. GDP growth rates over the 11th Plan period. And yet, its public spending on health has hovered around an abysmal 1-1.2% of GDP, one of the lowest in the world. The Approach Paper to the 12th Plan declared an increase to only 1.58% by 2017. And how is this possible, given the governments recently vocalized desire to move towards universal health care (UHC) for not just its citizens but its residents that include millions of illegal immigrants as well?

Indian Health Care

Over the years despite knowing of its multiplier effect on GDP, India never attached great importance to the improved health of its population. Policy lapses witnessed the private sector stepping in to address a fast rising demand for health care creating one of the most privatized medical systems in the world.

India chose to begin its journey towards UHC with one step - to provide free medicines through its public health system. The Centre released approximately Rs. 30,000 crores to the States to fund the procurement of medicines over the next 5 years (2012-17) under the ongoing NRHM. After the Supreme Courts intervention and with the five public-sector pharmaceutical companies lying in shambles, the government quickly approved the new drug pricing policy that led to the inclusion of 348 medicines (approximately 30% of medicines and 60% of the market) into the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and effectively under a price controlled not by the market, customers and competition but by the government.

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Indias Health Care - flip-flops and opaque policy shifts. | Page 19

Simultaneously, in an ostensible effort to make medicines affordable to its residents (not citizens), the government did two other things: 1) allow foreign direct investment into brown field projects in the sector with caveats such that foreign companies who invest in India will produce stipulated quantities of essential medicines and invest in local manufacturing and R&D 2) demonstrate that it will use compulsory licensing more as a weapon of choice than as one of need. Both these steps make sense in the short term thus providing political capital to the government for the upcoming general elections in 2014, but harm the future of India as a preferred destination in the long term, thus depriving the opportunity to create economic capital. What vindicates this point is that to this date, there has been no effort from the government to invest in creating the infrastructure required to deliver superior health outcomes to the population despite it being the root cause for the inflow into the private sector despite all its societal evils. However, all this pales in comparison to the DCGI directive to state drug controllers to not issue marketing licenses for trademarks or branded drugs but in their generic names alone. While the technicality of this decision alone warrants a separate column, it suffices to say that this makes no sense whatsoever. Authorities are expected to regulate or legislate to help either the industry, traders or end consumers. This decision helps none of these groups or anyone else. All it does is commoditize the industry thus threatening to wipe out small and medium players who lack the financial strength to compete with MNCs who despite severe pressure on profit margins will survive. The consumer has little or no knowledge of the brands of medicines and therefore is unlikely to benefit from the decision. The only group that will benefit are the middlemen the traders who will control the supply of medicines and make unholy profits in the bargain. Under harsh criticism, the DCGI recently clarified informally that this directive was more to resolve trademark issues. Apparently, too many similar sounding trademarks confuse doctors and retailers. If it really is the reason, the decision is laughable. Isnt it easier for similar sounding trademarks to be denied by the regulators, thus pushing the onus back on the industry to decide on clearly differentiated trademarks?

The only group that will benefit (from the DGCIs recent directive) are the middlemen the traders who will control the supply of medicines and make unholy profits in the bargain.

On one hand, India signals that it will welcome much needed FDI into the sector. But on the other it threatens to disregard product patents, invoke compulsory licensing, discontinue issuance of marketing licenses to trademarks while controlling prices on essential drugs and also considers controlling prices for patentprotected innovative drugs as well. Such indecisiveness about policy bodes ill for a country that faces the daunting challenge of enrolling, financing and providing acceptable health outcomes for 1.2 billion citizens and millions of other residents, illegal or otherwise. For such largesse, it could actually do well with help it can garner from all quarters. Why then is the government alienating itself both from the domestic industry as well the international society? These policy flip-flops are confounding! Why would the Indian government risk global criticism by openly demonstrating clear indecisiveness? Is this driven by an argument about poor public sector performance in delivering health care? Undeniably, it has been lacking, which reflects in the dismal health outcomes in the country. Or as noted academic scholar, Kaveri Gill wonders in a blog post, is this seemingly open decision -making process merely a dangerous opaque shift in policy, which has very little to do with evidence and even less to do with broad-based consensus?
Salil Kallianpur is a health care marketing professional based in Mumbai, India. He is an avid reader and follows the health care industry, its politics, strategy and current affairs and writes on the intersection of health care and life in general at his blog My Pharma Reviews. The views in this article are his own. His twitter handle is @salilkallianpur.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Social Media

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IS IT THE END OF THE ROAD FOR THE INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY? By Vivek Hattangadi Is it the end of the road for the maturing pharmaceutical industry in India? The signs are ominous. If the DCI goes ahead with its plan, (as reported in Times of India of 16th October) to have only generic drugs in India, it will sound the death knell of the industry. The market than will be dominated by the militant middle men who already enjoy very high profit margins over 35% - much higher than any other industry. The middle men are already sucking blood from those who need blood transfusions the critically ill! Read the complete article HERE.

INDIAS MOVE TO VANILLA GENERICS: DONT HOLD

YOUR BREATH

By Gauri Kamath (apothecurry.wordpress.com) By now, the news that India wants to move away from branded generics and encourage vanilla generics to bring down drug prices has gone around the world. But all those who think a structural reform of the Indian drug industry is around the corner : stop. And breathe. Read the complete article HERE.

Digital Dose
For Natives and Immigrants

Dinesh Chindarkar
We are living in the Tech Age. The world is changing every second. The quest for faster, better, more and beyond is reverberating throughout the globe. We are breaking barriers, reaching across borders and exploring new dimensions in every field, be it medicine, space travel, communications or entertainment. Going Digital is the new mantra. In this rapidly changing world, the concept of marketing is rapidly undergoing a paradigm shift. The emerging digital media has not only attracted many marketers but growing number of consumers are also getting hooked onto it. In developed markets, even Pharma marketing is following the techno path. This pattern is also being replicated in India as increasingly aware patients are seeking more information. Indian medical community is fast climbing on to the digital & social media bandwagon apart from just browsing through studies on the net. Hence, Digital marketing opens up a Pandora's box and also throws up newer opportunities to marketing & sales to connect with the customer & the consumer. Hence we are initiating this series of articles Digital Dose for Indian Pharma. Digital Dose for Indian Pharma is a series that will take you step by step through the varied properties of Digital and Social Media world. We understand that social media is not just about Facebook or posting Videosits much more than that.

This series will help you gain an insight into social media and will help you get comfortable with new media trends, identify various opportunities in this segment and inform you about some successful digital media strategies in the Pharma space. In this part we are going to understand the term Social Media.

What is social media?

To put it in simple words Social media is an interactive means of social communication with the world. Newspapers or TV are also informative medias but are not interactive channels it is a one-way communication. So these traditional media are like a one way lane, an article can be read but your views on it cannot be expressed simultaneously or a television programme can be viewed but not influenced in any way. On the other hand, social media is like a two way lane in which information is given and feedback is taken simultaneously. It is both informative as well as interactive. At the core of Social Media lies instant gratification. The next part in this series will cover Facebook. Dinesh Chindarkar is Co-Founder & Vice President - Operations at MediaMedic Communications and is Country Head for Global HealthPR.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Pharmacology for the Rep

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Pharmacology essentials: pharmacokinetic parameters

Dr. Amit Dang
ontinuing with the topic of Pharmacokinetics, this section covers some of the remaining important definitions. As mentioned in the earlier sections, liver is the major site of drug metabolism, and the initial metabolism of drugs in the liver is referred as Hepatic First Pass Metabolism. When a drug is absorbed across the gastro-intestinal system, it enters the liver before entering the circulation. If the drug is rapidly metabolized by the liver, the amount of unchanged drug that gains access to the systemic circulation is decreased. Many drugs like propranolol undergo significant biotransformation during a single passage through the liver. The drugs given by the oral route undergo significant hepatic first pass metabolism whereas drugs given by parenteral route (e.g. intravenous or intramuscular route) do not undergo hepatic first pass metabolism, thus achieve a higher a bioavailability. So, certain drugs which are efficiently inactivated in the liver like lidocaine cannot be given by oral route and have to be given parenterally. Another concept about the metabolism and excretion kinetics is the order of elimination i.e. first order or zero order kinetics. Most of the drugs demonstrate first order kinetics in standard therapeutic doses, i.e. the amount of drug that is metabolized or excreted in a given unit of time is directly proportional to the concentration of drug in the systemic circulation at that time. On the other hand, a small number of drugs e.g. phenytoin and aspirin demonstrate zero order kinetics or saturation kinetics in which the clearance rate remains constant despite increasing plasma drug levels. This can result in dangerously elevated plasma concentrations of the drug with a small increase in the dose of the drug. Some other clinically important definitions include bioequivalence, steady state, loading dose and maintenance dose. Bioequivalence: Two related drugs are said to be bioequivalent if they show comparable bioavailability and similar times to achieve peak blood concentrations. Two related drugs with a significant difference in bioavailability are said to be bioinequivalent. Steady state: Immediately following the initiation of drug therapy, the rate of drug entry into the body is much greater than the elimination rate, therefore the drug concentration in the blood increases. As the plasma concentration increases, the rate of elimination also increases, because this rate is proportional to the plasma drug concentration. Steady state is reached when the two rates are equal. Loading dose: After administration of the drug, plasma concentration increases, but distribution of the drug leads to a decrease in the concentration. This decrease can be significant for the drugs with high volume of distribution. So, it takes four-five half-lives to achieve the therapeutic concentration. Sometimes, a loading dose or a higher dose is administered (or injected) as a single dose to achieve the desired plasma levels rapidly. Maintenance dose: The loading dose is followed by an infusion to maintain the steady state and this is referred as the maintenance dose. All these parameters are important while deciding the dosing schedule of drugs.

Figure 1: First order kinetics and zero order kinetics

Dr. Amit Dang is Director at Geronimo Healthcare Solutions Pvt. Ltd. This article is 3rd in a series of pharmacology for the Medical Rep.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Key Account Management

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Key Account Management

Is it a new sales model?
any people think of key account management (KAM) as a new sales model, developed as a strategic solution to the changing business needs of the healthcare market. Do we restructure our whole organisation around some new grouping of customers and move completely away from the favoured coverage and frequency model, which increasingly is being shown to no longer work? KAM is more of an evolution towards a more appropriate sales approach and does not require radical change to be effective. Perhaps, more accurately, KAM can be viewed as a distillation of the various aspects of the promotional mix. While the pure academic theory of KAM promises one account plan per key account regardless of therapy area, brand or service, is this feasible (or even sensible) within the pharma industry structure?

Ralph Boyce, Ken Boyce, Tony OConnor

KAM is more of an evolution towards a more appropriate sales approach and does not require radical change to be effective. Perhaps, more accurately, KAM can be viewed as a distillation of the various aspects of the promotional mix. Account identification
The first stage of the KAM process is account identification, profiling and segmentation. Who or what is our customer and what is a key account? This is a familiar question because, as an industry, pharma has been profiling, segmenting and targeting its customers in various ways. All that the KAM approach seems to add is the need to break these customers down into account groupings and then designate some of them key to the business. For some industries, identifying the customer is a straightforward task. However, in pharma, the question of who is the customer always meets with the answer it depends. For pharma, the first step in the KAM process is to agree to the mission and purpose of the required KAM implementation and accept that different therapy areas will probably require

The KAM process

According to Dr Brian Smith, Open University Business School, KAM is a contingency model, which means that there is no single best way of doing it, but rather a number of ways which work best in different circumstances. Whatever your approach, it is important to accept that KAM is a process and not a simple one-off exercise. In order to implement a KAM strategy, the process must be clearly identified and metrics put in place to monitor progress, success and what remains to be done to achieve defined objectives. In simple terms, KAM can be considered in three basic steps, each of which requires further subdivision to suit specific circumstances.

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different but philosophically aligned KAM processes. Once what needs to be achieved has been established, we can move on to defining what constitutes an account or core unit. This can be almost anything depending on the objective, ranging from a Cancer Network and linked primary and secondary care bodies for an oncology sales team, to a purchasing group of pharmacies for a commercial sales team. A pharma company that correctly identifies the account or core unit it needs to influence and then segments the most important ones as key accounts will greatly increase its chances of success. The familiar Pareto/80:20 rule is once again an important factor in determining the actual number of accounts that should be considered as key.

and plans. There are many experts who can help with producing meaningful, relevant and actionable key account plans. An individual customer contact plan will also need to be designed to achieve objectives within the existing financial, legal and operational constraints. Once this is done, the structure to deliver on the plans will be ready for implementation.

Implementation
The ability to successfully implement a KAM approach depends upon the company fully understanding its situation, developing a relevant proposition and process for achieving its objectives and supporting the implementation with the appropriate business tools. Analysis of different therapy areas will produce completely different key accounts. Correctly identifying the account/core unit and applying realistic metrics to determine its importance are critical first steps. There is no one size fits all solution in the implementation of KAM. Another major driver for a successful KAM implementation in the pharma industry is the seniority/ maturity of the key account managers responsible for the implementation.

Strategic and tactical planning

The next step in the process is to identify the individuals in the various parts of the key account and assess how they interrelate. Often these individuals will work in different locations within the key account and have specific but related roles, such as financial, advisory and clinical. There is then a need to repeat the profiling and segmentation process at an individual level within the key account, and construct the required processes

Key Account Management Implementation Process in Pharmaceuticals

Purpose & Mission
Key Account Planning

Profiling & Segmentation

Key account Selection

Organisation Structure Recruitment, Allocation & Training of KAMs

Key Account Plan

Key Account Execution

Information & Intelligence

Resources Management

Process Implementation

Relationship Development Process Performance Monitoring Process

Process Implementation Tool

Pharma MI 2008

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The old sales model of simply selling products to customers no longer applies. In a successful KAM approach developing a win-win proposition for the key account, where the key accounts see the value of working with pharma, will be a critical success factor. However, KAMs are commercially astute people who have the companys objectives at the forefront of their minds and who can interact persuasively and credibly with the customers identified as key accounts. It must also be accepted that the KAM approach is a sales process that has logical, time dependent, sequential steps which, if followed correctly, will lead to success. Following and tracking progress through the process with appropriate KAM business tools is another critical success factor. However, it is evident from practical experience that many of the CRM tools pharma companies are familiar with are no longer appropriate as they cannot adequately support the implementation of KAM.

The KAM approach is a sales process that has logical, time dependent sequential steps.

Operational Performance Indicators:

The following are important indicators of performance, i.e. they show the direction of the business as opposed to what the business has done, such as other systems like corporate dashboards and the balanced scorecards do. Activities report - shows the current status of a key account plan or opportunity as compared to plan Late task report - shows the current status of all tasks as compared to planned completion Key account relationship index report - tracks the status of the supplier / client relationship over time Key contact relationship index report - tracks the status of the KAM / client contact relationship over time Decision making unit (DMU) report - tracks the status of the DMU status and relationship over time Key account sales tracker - tracks sales by key account.

Measuring KAM effectiveness

Implementation of any KAM process requires the capture and review of a number of performance indicators. These fall into two categories: operational performance indicators (OPIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs). It is important that they are indicators of the direction the business is moving in and not measures of what the business has done. This becomes crucial at the KPI level. From a performance management perspective, in order to measure effectiveness it is essential that OPIs and KPIs are derived together. KPIs must represent a summary view of OPIs in order to maintain continuity of measurement. KAMs mainly use OPIs to support their actions when seeking to achieve high performance. They allow the individuals concerned to record the achievement of the various stages in the implementation plan and flag areas that still need to be improved. KPIs pull these OPIs together and are used by the KAM management team to monitor the performance of the business unit as a whole.

Key Performance Indicators

Time allocation analysis - tracks time allocation by category over time Key account relationship tracker - summary of equivalent OPI Key contact relationship tracker - summary of equivalent OPI Decision making unit - summary of equivalent OPI Key account sales tracker - summary of equivalent OPI.

Conclusion
KAM is not as revolutionary as some suggest. Yes, it is a departure from the traditional sales model, but it is only evolving away from an approach that is failing. The pharma industrys traditional relationships with its customers are changing and, in response to this, progressive companies have adopted and successfully implemented KAM . If the healthcare market continues to change as predicted, the companies that are waiting and watching may find that not only are their multiple sales forces no longer required, but that they are unable to put a meaningful proposition to their customers.

Ralph Boyce, Ken Boyce, Tony OConnor are Directors at Pharma MI This article was previously published in Pharmaceutical Marketing May 2008. Published in MedicinMan with the permission of authors.

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Book Preview

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Book Preview: Pharma Front-line Leader to CEO

by Vivek Hattangadi
The ost exciting characteristic of the pharmaceutical industry in India is that many CEOs have started their careers as humble medical representatives. By the time they became first-line leaders, the ambitious amongst them dreamt of reaching the top. This book is a guide for such forward looking people! The book has been written in a unique style the entire book is in the form of a conversation between a budding First-line Leader Vinod Kamat and his Mentor. The lessons which the Mentor gives are the take-home messages for the reader.

Prologue to the book.

We all know that in 1999 India won the Kargil war against Pakistan. The sacrifices of the jawans and officers set many a young heart on fire. One of them was Vinod Kamat, the only son of his parents. Vinod, who was then barely 13 years old, declared his intention to join the armed forces via the National Defence Academy route and serve the country. His mother was in a state of shock when she heard this. She spared no efforts to dissuade him from taking up this risky career. However Vinod was firm; nothing could shake his determination. He studied hard for the entrance examinations and passed with flying colors. No sooner had he received a call for an interview than his mother went on a hunger strike to dissuade him from attending it. After she went for three days without food or water, Vinods stand softened and he bowed down to the wishes of his mother. He joined Bhavans College, Andheri, Mumbai to pursue B.Sc., but his heart was not in studies. He scraped through B.Sc. examinations with just 37% marks. And who would give him a decent job with this brilliant academic record? His first job was as a shop-to-shop salesman selling medicated cough drops introduced by a well-known FMCG. His customer audience included retail chemists, general stores, grocery shops and even pan-bidi-wallahs. Selling the stuff packed in polythene bags, he was accompanied by a cycle-rickshaw puller carrying the wares. A chance encounter with the regional manager of Capella Pharmaceuticals changed his destiny. While in the field and working at retail chemists, this gentleman spotted his

talent and invited him to join Capella Pharmaceuticals as a medical representative; he was offered Ahmedabad as his headquarters. Vinod was delighted and accepted the offer. Capella Pharmaceuticals was a very fast growing organization which had acquired licenses to market some of the top brands of various MNCs. Vinod decided to excel in this company with an ambition to reach the top and become a CEO one day. Unfortunately for Vinod, his district manager at Ahmedabad was a new incumbent. His behavior was more like that of a super-medical representative. Vinod could neither get any guidance from him nor learn anything from him. Day in and day out he bragged about his success stories as a medical representative. Vinod and his colleagues often heard him saying, If I were you, I would have done this, and I would have converted this doctor to our brands. I converted a key opinion leader, Dr. Sharma, to our brand within three visits. Instead of leading the team forward, he was boasting about his successes all the time!

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MedicinMan November 2012 >>> Book Preview

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Vinod realized the limitations of his immediate superior. He was career conscious: I couldnt join the armed forces; I will make a career in selling, which is also tough and challenging, he said to himself. Capella Pharmaceuticals was growing rapidly and his growth prospects here appeared very bright. Instead of leaving Capella Pharmaceuticals, he began searching for someone who could guide him as a mentor and found one in his fathers friend, who was the National Sales Manager of a large Indian multi-national pharma company based at Ahmedabad. We shall refer to him as Mentor (with a capital M) here. Mentor became his constant guide. Vinod sought Mentors help and advice frequently to help him excel in his chosen profession. Mentor taught him many things and the most important one was on his accountability as a medical representative. Said Mentor to Vinod, As a medical representative you have many roles and responsibilities; but you are accountable for results: to achieve value-wise, brand-wise targets every month, month after month. Accountability, explained Mentor, means being liable for rewards or punishments for the tasks assigned to you. Some of the responsibilities can be shared even with your district manager, but accountability can never be shared. Time and again Vinod continued to get guidance from Mentor. Despite having a weak superior, he worked on sharpening his skills. He worked very hard and displayed his leadership qualities during cycle meetings, new product launches and other developmental programs. He came into the limelight and within four years was called for an interview for the position of district manager, as the first-line leaders in Capella Pharma were designated. After a grueling four hour interview he was selected and posted at Pune. Vinod went to share his success story with Mentor. It was then that Mentor said, The job of the First-line leader (FLL) is the most important position in the hierarchy of any pharmaceutical company, whether in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal or the USA. A company is as strong or as weak as its First-line Leaders (FLLs). Over 95% of the time of a First-line Leader (FLL) in the pharmaceutical industry is spent in working along with medical representatives. This also means that a pharmaceutical company should invest substantially to make joint field work effective and thus develop his team of medical representatives. Paretos Principle is highly visible here, went on Mentor. If 95% of the time of an FLL is spent in joint field work, then 95% of the investment on an FLL should be for making joint field

Over 95% of the time of a Firstline Leader (FLL) in the pharmaceutical industry is spent in working along with medical representatives If 95% of the time of an FLL is spent in joint field work, then 95% of the investment on an FLL should be for making joint field work effective. If this is not happening, it needs immediate attention. Mentor continued to coach Vinod. The lessons Mentor gave Vinod are narrated in this book.
work effective. As a corollary, 95% of the training efforts by an organization on an FLL should be to develop him to make effective joint calls. If this is not happening, it needs immediate attention. Mentor continued to coach Vinod. The lessons Mentor gave Vinod are narrated in this book. After reading this, todays FLL should be able to spend his time very constructively during joint field work which eventually will be the roadmap to success.

Prof. Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma Brand Management and Sales Training at The Enablers. He is also visiting faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar University) for their MBA course in Pharmaceutical Management. To find out more about the book write to Prof. Hattangadi: vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

What do you expect your FLMs and SLMs to be good at? What are you doing to ensure that they gain proficiency in the desired skills?

The Half-Time Coach

A Psychometric Assessment-based Feedback and Feed-forward Program for FLMs and SLMs

1. Management Games

Relearning by Reflection, Feedback by Observation

2. Case Studies 3. Movie Clippings The Half-Time Coach is delivered by Anup Soans, Editor MedicinMan & Author of SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager, HardKnocks for the GreenHorn and RepeatRx
Contact: anupsoans@medicinman.net Ph. +91 93422 32949