A Time to Shine

A Time to Shine

As the pharma industry is experiencing dramatic upheaval, we look at how medium-sized companies are adapting to meet the needs of their customers more effectively. This month, we speak to members of the sales force to find out how working for a smaller company makes a difference to them.

In last month’s article, we looked at how medium-sized companies are reconfiguring their sales models to fall in line with changes in the NHS. We saw that the lack of ‘red tape’ and agility of smaller companies means they are able to respond quickly to their customers’ needs and be ‘agents of change’, rather than constantly striving to keep up with developments in the market.

This month, we find out how these new structures and ways of working are making a difference to sales executives and account managers out in the field. We spoke to sales professionals working for SMEs about their current role, how it is changing to meet market needs and the differences with previous roles they have held within the industry.

Less is more

It seems to be the cultural implications of working for a smaller company that make the most noticeable difference to salespeople. Everyone we spoke to said that in moving from a large pharma corporation to their current company they were instantly struck with how few people there were in comparison and how they were introduced to everybody by name.

Trudi Knight, Area Sales Manager with Napp, likens the difference to the impersonality of big city life compared to village familiarity: “I feel that working for Big Pharma is like shopping in Oxford Street in London, whereas working for a smaller company is more like going into your local village where everyone knows who you are. It’s easy to get lost in a large company.”

Simply because there are fewer people, many of our interviewees said that they felt part of the company much more quickly and also have a greater appreciation for the business as a whole. “At Napp, we know what everyone else is doing and people from all areas of the business come to the annual conference, even from the factory where the medicines are made,” Trudi adds. “Meeting everyone in this way makes you realise that the sales force is only one small cog in the machinery of the company as a whole.”

Smaller numbers also bring other benefits such as a shorter chain to management, so decisions can be made much more quickly and the opportunities for development are more transparent, more individual ownership for your achievements and targeted and personalised training.

Executive Representative Ann Murphy says that it was the training course that really impressed her when she first joined Lundbeck. “There were a much smaller number of people on the course,” she explains, “so I was able to ask questions and get much more individual support from the trainer.”

A little ‘umph’

The new sales force structures in medium pharmaceutical companies mean that sales professionals are more involved with working with PCTs and the wider NHS, and this means a wider range of customers with differing needs. In this kind of environment it is important that sales executives are able to use their initiative in how they deal with their customers and respond to their changing needs, providing solutions and new ways of working.

Ann Murphy explains why this makes such a difference to her at Lundbeck: “I now have much more accountability than I had when I worked for a large company, where there can often be several people working on the same patch. Now I have complete responsibility for sales in West Sussex and I find that much more motivating.”

For Eisai Hospital Business Manager Hilary Fletcher, moving to a smaller company allowed her to spread her wings: “I feel that I have been given a voice and a chance to make a difference,” she says. “I am a true specialist in my therapy area of dementia and I have further job satisfaction in knowing that what I do has a positive impact on patients’ lives.”

Pf research has shown, however, that greater autonomy in your daily role also means you are more accountable for the activity on your territory and that can mean hard work. An anonymous author once wrote that ‘the difference between try and triumph is a little umph’ and this is particularly true in medium-sized pharma companies.

“I find that I am a lot busier since I moved to Napp,” says Trudi Knight. “Less bureaucracy means that I am personally responsible for a lot more, but as a result I find I am more committed to the outcome and feel more rewarded when a project or meeting is a success.” “As a representative or manager within a mid-size organisation, you know and feel that you are in control of your own destiny,” Hilary adds.

Keeping it simple

For salespeople to have this autonomy – to be able to innovate and respond to their customers – it is also essential that the company is able to adapt quickly and that decision-making processes are kept to a minimum. This was another striking difference our interviewees noticed between working for a larger and a smaller company.

“What makes a huge difference is that when I need something I am able to speak directly to the person within the company who will be carrying out the action there and then,” explains Merck Serono Key Account Manager Ivan Rickard. “In Big Pharma you would have to first approach your line manager, who would then speak to someone above them, and your request could go through seven different people before it reached the relevant person. At Merck Serono, the action is carried out immediately. I know ‘joinedup working’ is a popular phrase in pharma at the moment, but I really feel that we are all working together.”

This streamlined approach also means that management are not so far removed from the people at the heart of pharmaceuticals – the patients that are benefitting from life-saving and enhancing treatments. NHS Liaison Manager James Foulger, also from Merck Serono, explains: “Too many processes result in too much ‘box ticking’ that suits the organisation but not the customer. Big companies can loose touch with the individual’s needs and hence the customer’s and, more importantly, the patient-focus, which is so critical, whereas medium pharma can remain fully focused on what really matters.”

Step into the spotlight

Whilst the industry as a whole is experiencing dramatic upheaval, SMEs are evolving to better fi t their environment and emerge successful, and these changes are continuing to benefit the sales force. Our research with executives working in mediumsized pharma companies has indicated that it is these companies that are attracting pharma’s most talented sales professionals.

Ivan Rickard describes how he didn’t initially believe a friend of his that had joined a medium-sized organisation that the “honeymoon never ends,” but having worked for Merck Serono for two years, he admits he was right: “I’m doing a similar job, but in such a refreshing way that I’m seeing it almost through different eyes,” he explains. “I certainly don’t feel like I’ve been here for two years. Everyday feels like the first day.”

It seems that when it comes to your employer, company size really does make a significant impact on job satisfaction in pharmaceutical sales. In a smaller company, not only is it is easier to get to know your colleagues, work as part of a team and be recognised for your achievements, but the agility of a smaller sized company also provides greater focus, autonomy, quick decision making and the ability to adapt more quickly to the needs of the customer. It is no surprise then that experienced representatives and account managers who want to be challenged, to fully capitilise on their initiative and skills and receive the rewards for their hard work are increasingly looking to mediumsized organisations for enhanced and more satisfying working environments.