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MANAGEMENT Leaders of the pharmaceutical


company weren’t happy with the sales of the oncology products, but they recognized the division was caught in a sort of catch-22. Oncol- ogy needed resources to grow; but, since dermatology brought in the lion’s share of sales, it received the lion’s share of the resources. Their solution was to split the dermatology and oncology divisions into separate organizations and grow oncology as an independent unit. The company brought in a management consulting practice to help undertake the spin-off, launch a new oncology product, grow oncology sales, and examine the “people” factor as it related to these goals. Here’s a look at the process.


TWO DIFFERENT SALES The consultants began their work by taking an in-depth look at the pharmaceutical company’s business. Immediately, they noticed something striking: Since dermatology and on- cology fell under a single organiza- tion, the company’s hiring standards, compensation structure, and incen- tives were the same for all sales reps – yet the type of sale required for each of those products was dramati- cally different.


For the dermatology products, sales


reps primarily needed to keep the company’s name and drug samples in front of doctors. Physicians knew about the drug and its capabilities – and they had no problems getting it reimbursed through insurance com- panies. As long as reps made regular calls on physicians and followed their standard scripts for those calls, sales pretty much took care of themselves. “It was very classic, very scripted,” said the vice president at the consult- ing group. “Reps followed a defined selling process and didn’t deviate from it. And it was working for them.” Oncology drugs, on the other hand,


required a much more in-depth, clini- cal sale. Reps needed more product and technical knowledge than their dermatology counterparts. They


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VIDEO: SALES ENABLEMENT AND CONTENT BEST PRACTICES


needed to sell to a wider variety of people – not just doctors, but nurses and administrators at hospitals and medical centers. And they had to play an active role in getting the drug reimbursed by insurance companies since physicians were often frustrated by the drug’s lack of coverage. As the VP explains, “It was a much more complex, challenging sale.” Yet the oncology reps had been


hired by the same profile as the dermatology reps. Interestingly, that profile demanded that job candidates have sales experience, but not in the pharmaceutical field. And the compa- ny wanted mid-level performers – not superstars – so the company could mold and shape their team to follow a very detailed script.


The strategy was working for dermatology; but, as the VP and his team quickly discovered, it was crip- pling the oncology division. Sales growth was simply not going to be possible with reps whose experience and skills did not match up with the highly technical, detailed nature of the sale. Thus, the consultants set out to define a new model of selling suc- cess for oncology reps and to begin hiring people with competencies that matched the model.


THE “PEOPLE” FIX One of the first standards the con-


sultants established with the new oncology recruiting guidelines was a requirement that candidates have at least five years of pharmaceutical experience. The VP argued that, to successfully navigate the intricacies of the oncology healthcare system, reps needed to be well grounded in the structure, administration, and termi- nologies of the medical field. Successful candidates would also


require at least two years of experi- ence in specialty products – prefer- ably with an oncology background or with a specialty targeted to difficult or seriously ill patients. They would have experience launching and/or turning around a product. And, ideally, their resumes would include a Bachelor of Science degree.


Consultants worked with recruit- ers to find reps who met these basic requirements, then drilled down into each candidate’s abilities – scoring them on nine competencies. Those nine competencies fell into three key areas: • Building the business – business planning and problem solving, information seeking, achievement orientation, and collaboration


• Leveraging core personal strengths – self confidence and flexibility


• Creating customer impact – influence, customer relationship


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