The Fundamental Importance Of Effective Implementation For A Sales Force

Effective marketing begins with the initial action. In a ballgame, you will be unable to score a goal if you don't take a shot and in marketing parlance this can be compared to actually going out into the marketplace and putting theory into practice. Within the pharmaceutical industry, effective marketing is more than just making professionals aware of the products available, it is about a host of other objectives as well, including reputational management, education and positioning. Often, sales and marketing is involved with stating a case and protecting a position, rather than achieving the results in terms of dollar revenue. This subtle interaction of skills makes the selection of a core sales and marketing team very important, and because of this, many forward-thinking companies engage the services of a pharmaceutical consulting firm to help them implement.

Management is all-important and all those supplemental activities must be brought together to make the whole more effective. As such, implementation includes measurement and control, as well as overall co-ordination of daily and weekly activities. This is a team operation and all members must know what is required of them and how each is important in the achievement of the overall corporate goal.

Most pharmaceutical consultants will confirm that the heart of any plan implementation is in the execution, and no amount of paperwork, charting or spreadsheet construction will be of use unless things actually get done. All activities must first be co-ordinated, indicating who, what, when and where and the sales force must be conditioned to eliminate any potential distractions or objections that they may face. They must be adequately coached and aware of any loopholes and obstacles that they will undoubtedly encounter. They must be able to focus without distraction if need be and single-mindedly concentrate on the task in hand. Time management is another important element of education and the sales team should ensure that they are able to prioritise. This does not mean ignoring the less important elements of their jobs, but it does mean that they need to be very careful with the allocation of time to non-core tasks.

Effective implementation requires attention to detail and an ability to be thorough. Every member of the sales team contributes to the whole objective and other members must be aware of each contribution. Assumptions should never be made, as vital tasks or elements could be missed in this way and procrastination should be viewed as the enemy of efficiency.

While detail orientation is very important, as is time management, this level of implementation should not stifle the creative powers of the salesperson. He or she must understand that one of the obstacles ahead is the threat of becoming overwhelmed. This is where this person can set him or herself apart and really go the extra distance for the company. Through prioritisation, primary tasks are always achieved. Delegation is fine if it helps with the overall goal, but no assumptions should ever be made.

Generally, pharma consulting organisations are well trained in the keys to effective implementation and are more than capable of training a sales and marketing force to take on the complex, challenging yet rewarding role of marketing within the pharmaceutical industry.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.