We scour the dusty Pf archive vaults to find out what was happening in the pharma industry and wider world beyond five years ago.

April 2008

One of the most shocking stories in a generation made front page news around the globe when details of Josef Fritzl’s incarceration of his daughter for 24 years were reported. Fritzl had built a cellar under his home where he kept his daughter, raped her and fathered seven of her children – three of whom were also held underground.

In politics, Harriet Harman became the first Labour woman to answer Prime Minister’s Questions. Bertie Ahern announced his resignation as the Irish PM, whilst Silvio Berlusconi celebrated with a bunga bunga party after he was re-elected as the Italian PM for a third time.

Comply or Die won the 2008 Grand National, Trevor Immelman beat Tiger Woods by three shots to win the 72^nd Masters and Liverpool and Arsenal played out a thrilling 4-4 draw at Anfield – Andrey Arshavin scored all four goals for the visitors.

Future pharma reps studying at universities around the world rejoiced as Grand theft Auto IV was released and quickly became the fastest selling computer game within 24 hours after more than 609,000 copies were sold. But it was not a stellar month for either film or music. Madonna’s 4 minutes stayed at the singles chart for a month – ironic really when the record lasted four minutes too long – and the ‘comedies’ Leatherheads, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay were released in UK cinemas. Hollywood mourned the death of legendary actor Charlton Heston.

The April issue of Pf was as relevant then as it is today with reps questioned on whether they had the skills to succeed in a rapidly evolving customer environment. Other features provided an insight into commissioning on a national and local level. Readers also found out how their customers viewed salespersons. In news, research by the ABPI found the majority of pharma companies had no confidence in the UK market and 83% expected the situation to deteriorate further. However, the ABPI did have reason to celebrate as it marked the 50^th anniversary of the ABPI Code with its ‘Still nifty at fifty’ campaign. 

 

 

Despite huge investments into CRM systems some pharma companies still struggle to get all of their staff to embrace and fully interact with them. Pf’s Iain Bate explores why, and what the future holds for technology in the industry.

There’s no doubt that technological developments have changed the way we live and work from year to year – maybe even from month to month in the 21st Century. But has the world of healthcare been travelling in the slow lane of the intergalactic highway?

The potential that technology offers to pharma, and the general world of healthcare, is enormous. But is the pharmaceutical industry, and its staff in particular, using it to maximise the returns of billion-dollar investments?

It would seem that technology is the ‘buzz word’ on the lips of a few of healthcare’s major players at present. The DH recently invited people to nominate their favourite health-related mobile phone ‘app’ – be it for keeping fit, to locate a hospital or chemist, or helping to manage an illness. Creative minds were also asked to design their own health app with a panel of DH judges deciding on their favourite from the most popular entries.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley says it’s the Government’s intention to give people better access to information using modern technology and the exercise is a “unique opportunity for the NHS and those who develop apps to not only showcase their work, but to bring to life new ideas and realise true innovation in healthcare”.

As part of the DH’s technology revolution, patients may also soon be offered online consultations with their GPs using programmes such as Skype. Clearly the Government is embracing the convenience technology offers to patients, but are other sectors in healthcare as interested? It would seem there is still some way to go.

 

In two minds

Pf ’s 2010/11 annual Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey suggests that not all respondents are completely convinced by the power of technology in the workplace. Although the Survey – which relates to 2010 and the early part of this year – found that nearly 90% of respondents have access to a CRM system, only 43% find time to use it in the field and more than a fifth of people fail to accurately record post-call reports with important clients.

Questions have to be asked as to why, despite multimillion pound investment and training by pharma companies, there remains a percentage of staff that still ignore the power and potential of the technology at their finger tips.

Results from the Survey reveal there’s no difference in uptake by key account managers, primary and secondary care representatives, those in primary care roles only, firstline sales managers and secondline sales managers and the use of CRM technology between differing age groups – although surprisingly 10% of respondents in these positions with less than two years of experience said they did not have a CRM system, compared to just 5% more experienced colleagues.

The launch of the iPad in March 2010 promised to revolutionise the way sales representatives, and those in similar roles, use CRM systems in the field. However, nearly three-quarters (70%) of respondents from the Survey are still presently sent out with laptops containing their customer-relationship systems.

When quizzed on what they’d change about the hardware which houses their system, the majority of respondents said that their CRM was too awkward to carry, with poor running systems an issue and that batteries ran out too quickly. Apple claims its second-generation iPad now enjoys ten hours of use away from a plug socket in the field.

Yet the switch to the latest convenient tablet devices may not necessarily be about high levels of investment, it may be down to maximising value for money as Paul Shawah, Vice President, Multi Channel Strategy, Veeva Systems explains. “I would say the life cycle of devices within the industry is generally about three years, sometimes a little bit longer,” he said. “When a company invests in new technology they typically depreciate that over that period, so they don’t want to replace it in the field for that time to maximise their investment.

“However, with the introduction of game changing technology like the iPad, this has changed. We see a number of our pharmaceutical customers are justifying the business case to move to the iPad even before their tablets are fully depreciated. This speaks to the business benefit that pharma expects to achieve from the iPad and the related applications only available on that device.”

A convenient shield

Despite technology eliminating mundane process in the workplace and offering the potential to assist employees and improve their efficiency at work, it has historically been used as a shield to mask poor performance and abused as a means to waste company time – a recent online survey by AOL found that nearly half of Americans (44.7%) rank surfing the web as their primary activity during the two hours they ‘waste’ each day at work.

But it would seem that a high number of respondents do value the opportunities CRM offers. Almost two-thirds (64%) said they always enter correctly the amount of customer sales they make into their CRM. But 21% admitted they fail to always report face-to-face meetings with clients. More surprisingly, over a fifth of participants said they do not always record the number of products they had sold to clients.

The lack of honest accuracy is surprising considering the amount of time spent using CRM systems each day. A third said they spend between one and two hours a day on their system with a fifth spending three hours or more on their CRM. During their time using the management system, more than half (55%) said that call reporting was the most useful feature.

Although respondents were less impressed with the KAM abilities of their software with only 19% believing it to be the most useful facility. When questioned about what they would change given the chance, 45% said they wanted an improved database, over a quarter (28%) called for their system to be overall more useful, and 18% said they would prefer their CRM to be easier to use.

 

The next level

But what of the future of CRM systems? Will they be easier to use and have improved customer databases? David Round, General Manager, UK, Cegedim Relationship Management, says the regular interaction we now have with technology means we’ve all come to expect the latest developments.

“End users are significantly more ‘technology-savvy’ than their counterparts of even five years ago,” he explained. “If anything, the challenge for companies is to ensure that they provide their end users with the types of technology that they use as consumers. It’s also important to focus on the usability of your software to ensure maximum use. Technology companies – and pharma – must work together to develop a better understanding of the interaction, to ensure it meets users’ needs in the field.”

One main reason that users have become more ‘savvy’ is down to the use and interaction with social media. Whether at home or at work, websites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and most recently Google+ have driven an increased use of various forms of technology – especially on devices such as smartphones or tablet devices which reps are calling for in the field.

Pharma companies, both in the US and UK, have flirted with the idea of fully embracing the power social media harnesses, but at present are restricted by the PMCPA’s Code of Practice and by the FDA – who has again delayed the publication of its guidance.

The FDA says it is “difficult to provide a timeframe... due to the extensive work and review process, or ‘Good Guidance Practices’, which ensures that FDA’s stakeholders are provided well vetted guidances articulating FDA’s current thinking on a topic”.

Although the FDA may be unsure on how to direct healthcare companies, David Round believes the introduction, both professionally and personally, of social media has had an impact on staff and their expectations.

“For the modern professional person, much of their everyday life is conducted online – for example on shopping, utilities, insurance or booking a holiday – and many users then want the same level of capability from the tools they use in their job,” he added.

Dan Goldsmith, General Manager, Veeva Europe, agrees there has been a significant shift in the way we operate and interact due to our experiences online through tagged posts or hash-tagged searches. But although the 800 million users on Facebook – more than half which ‘log-on’ every day – and 175 million people on Twitter have no problem saying hello to friends, pharma finds it more difficult reaching out to people.

“Social media create a new avenue for healthcare dialogue and will only continue to pervade our lives,” said Dan. “Consequently, I believe that pharma faces two challenges. The first is to decide how to participate in the online dialogue with stakeholders and then to create those interactions through the channels we’re all familiar with, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The second is to figure out how to leverage the model of social dialogue internally to support stronger collaboration and more focused communication among employees. Already, we see some companies taking advantage of the latest social business tools to connect employees with one another and to access and share information in real time.”

Clearly CRM solution providers understand the potential modern technology and social media platforms offer to companies. Whether pharma and its workforce get fully up to speed on the intergalactic highway sooner or later remains to be seen.

It’s long been said that men are from Mars and women from Venus. Iain Bate explores the findings from the latest Pf survey to establish if, in pharma at least, the sexes really are worlds apart.

For decades studies have been evaluating whether men or women make the better boss or employee. Questions have also been asked time and again about who works harder or more efficiently with the resulting arguments commonplace in boardrooms, bedrooms and everywhere else in between. And, like every other industry, the world of pharma has not been immune from the debate. Now in its tenth year, Pf’s annual Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey provides a confidential way for medical sales professionals to express what they really think of working within the UK pharmaceutical industry, and provides a useful benchmark of field-force remuneration. Once again, this year’s survey shows that the difference between men and women is not as clear as the X and Y chromosomes that separate us.

In 2007, Total Work, Gender and Social Norms, a study from the US National Bureau of economic Research, by Michael Burda, Dan Hamermesh and Philippe Weil, aimed to put an end to the age-old argument of who actually works harder. Although on the surface the majority of respondents claimed that women work harder than men, the survey found that across northern Europe and America the total workload – combining activity at work and at home – is now shared almost equally.

There are reportedly just 78 genes that separate men from women. But the feedback from the Pf survey would suggest masculine and feminine thinking is far closer together. Women slightly outnumber men in the survey accounting for 53% of respondents. They also outnumber male counterparts in almost every age group as well – a surprising statistic considering it’s usually females who sacrifice, or at least put their careers on hold, when starting a family. This social norm is reflected with the only age category in the survey where men outnumber female counterparts by almost 2:1 is those aged 55 or over.

The pay gap

Pay discrimination has always been a major issue and one which campaigners have tried to balance for decades. On the 1st October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 came into force. The brainchild of Harriet Harman and one of the Labour Party’s 2005 manifesto commitments it was supposed to finally bridge the gap in salaries between men and women. Forging together nine different laws, including the Equal Pay Act, the legislation gives the Government the power to require large private sector companies with more than 250 staff to establish whether there is a pay gap and to publish their findings.

But so-called ‘gagging clauses’, which stopped people from discussing their salary with colleagues, remained and several other provisions were left out of the Act, including the gender pay audit.

The Act was supposed to finally end the years of discrimination women have faced – particularly in respect to pay. However, if anything, the survey reveals the pay gap is actually increasing. In last year’s survey, the pay difference between the combined median salaries of medical representatives, hospital specialists, NHS liaison officers and first-line managers was £1,539. But that figure has now leaped to £4,000 in the space of 12 months See figure 1).

Despite the pay gap increasing, women are again more satisfied with their salary than men with more than half (51%) of female respondents admitting to being happy with their remuneration. Needless to say the amount of men who said they were satisfied with their annual remuneration increased from 46% to 49%. But more surprisingly is that 61% of women believe they are on an appropriate salary, compared with 57% of men – maybe the Government’s ‘gagging’ clauses remained for a reason…

Experience and expectations

Although there are more men within the medical sales industry aged 55 and over than women, it is the fairer sex that has more experience within the industry in the early stages of their careers (see figure 2). More than double the amount of women (14%) have up to four years experience in the trade. Women who have worked within the sector for between four and eight years also marginally outnumber men. But more than three-quarters of male respondents said they have eight years of more total experience, compared with 67% of women.

When analysing the amount of time in a person’s current role, it would suggest that the Equality Act is bridging any divide or favouritism towards a certain sex. Exactly a quarter of men have been with their current employer for less than a year with women only one per cent behind. Results also found that employers would now seem to favour an evenly balanced workforce of men and women. In fact, more than a third of both men and women (37%;35%) have been in their current role for between two and eight years. Over that, 17% of men and 14% of women say they have been employed for nearly a decade by the same company.

Often accused by women as having commitment issues, it would seem men do have itchy feet after all with 40% admitting to wanting to move company or position within the next 12 months (see figure 3). More than a third (35%) of women also admit to considering a change of employer or role by this time next year. But a higher number of women (59%)compared to men (53%) said they were happy to stay with their employer and within their existing role.

What really matters

In the current economic state it’s no surprise that both men and women claimed that their salary was the main motivational factor whilst at work (see figure 4). With pharma companies still content on cutting budgets and wielding the axe on sales teams it’s also of little shock that job security is now the second most important factor for employees within the industry. Interesting when you consider in the 2009 survey job security just managed to make the top-twenty motivational factors. The number of redundancies has obviously taken its toll on all respondents within the last twelve months with more people than ever keen to hold on to their job.

Women put a greater emphasis on work-life balance than men who said the relationship with their immediate manager was of more importance. This opinion again may reflect a more maternal instinct and a willingness to find the right balance between time spent with the family at home and at work. Men also said that company culture was of more importance than women with females having a greater belief in products than male counterparts.

Where satisfaction within the workplace is concerned there is no separating men and women. Both sexes said that a belief in products, relationship with manager, accountability, autonomy and pension scheme were the top-five satisfying factors. As the survey suggests, men and women have never been more similar…

Modern business now places a heavy reliance on the concept of outsourcing. Strategists across all sectors have recognised the potential for third-party organisations to manage key business functions, find efficiencies and drive growth. The pharmaceutical industry has been an active participant in the trend towards outsourcing services – not least in the key areas of sales and marketing. Pf’s Iain Bate looks at the global phenomenon of outsourcing.

The concept of outsourcing is not a modern ideology. The approach first came to prominence in the 1950s when specialist functions, such as advertising and legal services, were outsourced to third-parties by organisations large and small. From little acorns… In today’s business environment, as companies assess their core competencies, anything from research and development, manufacturing and marketing services to IT, Human Resourcing, accounting and supply chain activities are considered fair game to be outsourced.

Lift-off came during the 1990s, when rapid technological change and an increased sense of competitiveness saw companies take note of the flexibility, cost-saving potential and reduced risk in operations that contract organisations could offer. This quickly led to outsourcing services becoming widespread in developed economies.

The pharmaceutical industry has contributed heavily to the growth of outsourcing – in particular in the areas of Contract Research and Contract Sales. Contract Sales Organisations (CSOs) are now a major player within pharma. They manage a growing proportion of sales in the sector and, according to research by the Kalorama Information, the CSO market has been forecast to exceed $5bn by the end of the year. Of course it’s not just in pharma where CSOs have become popular, but without the pharma sector as a whole, it could be argued that the global market for contract sales would be nowhere near as significant as it is today.

Leading the way

It was largely the pharmaceutical industry which pioneered the use of CSOs and began outsourcing tactical sales effort. The provision of flexible and, in many cases, short-term resource to augment the efforts of the in-house sales force proved popular among many pharmaceutical companies. Since then a growth in the principle of outsourcing sales has seen CSOs develop their portfolios to offer a wide range of services beyond the tactical ‘share of voice’ model.

Beth Rogers, Principal Lecturer of Sales Management at Portsmouth University – and the former Chair of the UK National Sales Board and Research Director of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management – says it was, and still is, this variety of services and the opportunity to trim costs which makes CSOs appealing.

But, certainly in a cold economy where finding efficiencies and delivering return on investment have become imperative, perhaps the biggest draw is flexibility.

“From my research, flexibility has been heavily emphasised by people I’ve been talking to who use CSOs – both providers and users,” says Beth. “It’s about effective sales resourcing as well as being efficient. Contract sales absorb some of the risk when you’re trying to be speedy to market with something which may have a relatively short life span. I think for pharma companies, it’s not so much that they’re gaining on operational costs, they’re certainly avoiding fixed costs, and that’s a factor.”

Modern day CSOs now get called upon for a variety of projects. Product launches are a common area in which they are used, but beyond this they are increasingly being asked to provide more specialist expertise for longer periods of time; clinical audits, nurse advisor programmes, Key Account Management, healthcare development and payer engagement are all areas where CSOs are being used to provide services. In some companies, contract resource is the only sales resource deployed. This represents a much more sophisticated use of contract sales than in many other sectors. “In some industries, CSOs are used for part of the sales process,” said Beth. “For example, it might make sense to have CSOs focused up to a certain point, until a degree of in-house expertise is needed to be applied. So you can get a hand-over from a contractor to a permanent employee once a lead has been developed.”

Past reputations

But despite the efficient and cost effective services CSOs are known to offer there still seems to be a reputation they have found difficult to shake off in some quarters. A study by Health Strategies Group in the US reported that contracted representatives had more difficulty accessing health professionals – doctors in particular. The study showed that in-house reps had more than a third (33%) more ‘sit-down’ visits than their contracted counterparts. But Beth believes that any former interpretations of CSOs that may still linger today are eroding, if they haven’t already.

“It may be a hangover from history – the kind of rent-a-rep image,” she added. “In fact, a lot of doctors are looking at e-detailing or telephone-detailing, so they’ve probably got a lot of choices on how they receive details. So, when they do want to see somebody personally, maybe they have got to a stage of knowledge where they want to see somebody with in-house expertise. I think CSOs are so widely accepted in the sector that there’s no real acute difference anymore. Ultimately there’s CSOs reps who have worked in pharma and vice-versa, so it’s probably a bit of a hangover from history which is on a downward trend.”

But not all companies have bought into the CSO model. Why is this? “I suppose it’s probably a cultural differentiation,” explains Beth. “Obviously some pharma companies have a very long history and perhaps were founded by philanthropists who had a paternal approach to staff and that remains today. That’s one possible reason. Another may be that a specialised firm with a particular medical specialisation might feel that, with the amount of training that staff would need, they would prefer to have them on a long-term contract.

“Beyond pharma, what tends to make the difference between high and low levels of outsourcing is to do with ‘cultural difference’. Differences in products/service and also sometimes variations in who in the customer organisation you are dealing with is, or whether you’re dealing with multiple people. Wherever selling has a high proportion of non-selling activity it could be a case of, ‘this could be a long sales cycle and it’s difficult to predict’, and therefore a permanent employment arrangement seems to have more advantages.”

The next generation

Yet there can be no mistake that the future is a bright one for CSOs. As the economy continues to bite and more business look to trim their wage bills, Beth believes that it won’t be just pharma that will come to rely on their flexible friends more often – especially with the potential, and promise in some cases – of new multiple models.

“I think for most sales managers in the sector it might be unpleasant. For many years there seemed to be a clear correlation between market share and feet on the street – particularly if you look at the past information from the US,” she said. “The reason that’s changing is partly because Government policy is creating some ups-and-downs in the market in terms of listing. There’s also general economic uncertainty, which means that shareholders are jumping up and down, and so, consequently, depending on history and specialisation, and decision makers that you’re working with, it’s probably more important than ever for sales managers to have choices and perhaps mix-and-match the way they use employed and contract staff.

“As it is there’s syndicated, dedicated, short-term and long-term contract models and that’s also happening in other industry sectors as well. I think we can trace the disintegration of the ‘feet-on-the-street’ equals market share model to about 2005/06. That was when it really started to look like we were going to have to do something differently. Now, five years later, the industry is testing out new models which are going to suit new circumstances. That’s where CSOs have an advantage being able to upscale and downscale quickly.”

CSOs are by no means an easy fix to problem solving. There is a risk and companies should study the history of outsourcing core and noncore function if they are to avoid making mistakes. But with convenient, flexible and adaptable teams of experienced staff able to transform performance it would seem CSOs look set to continue their close association with industries across the globe.

A lot can happen in a year – especially within the medical sales industry. The Pf Survey offers the opportunity for pharma’s workforce to have their say about what means the most to them, and give their opinion on who they perceive to be the best employers. Pf’s Iain Bate reveals some interesting results.

This year marked a decade of The Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey. For the past ten years the Survey has been providing an annual temperature check of the pharmaceutical and medical sales industry; giving respondents an opportunity to air what they believe are the good, the bad and the ugly sides of working within the sector, behind the shield of confidentiality. The Survey focuses on essential components of everyday working life for employees gauging opinion on everything from their annual remuneration, future career plans and their daily use of technology.

Results from the 2011 survey, which relates to 2010 and the early part of this year, show that although the pharmaceutical industry is recovering slowly from years of job losses, individuals still fear the axe and are becoming ever more motivated by job security and the assurance they still have a role to return to on a Monday morning.

Respondents also crowned Boehringer Ingelheim as the company they’d most like to work for as the coveted Employer of Choice – the fourth consecutive year the company has claimed the top accolade.

The workforce

There was a slight increase in the number of respondents than the year before. However, the number of primary care and primary and secondary care representatives, hospital specialists and first-line managers all dropped.

Despite this, there is an indication of continued stability in the age of employees within the industry as, for the fourth year running, those between 35 and 44 outnumbered younger and more senior counterparts.

This consistency – as shown in Figure 1 – is highlighted with 70% of respondents now having more than eight years of experience within the industry. Even more assuring is that a remarkable 93% now have more than two years’ experience within the sector, with more than half (54%) being in their current role for two years or more.

It would seem that although there have been job losses in the past, the majority of experienced professionals have retained their positions and have been joined by a batch of new recruits now forging their own careers within the industry. A fact highlighted by the number of respondents that have been in their current role for less than a year now outnumber those who have stayed with their employer for more than twelve months.

The chosen one

The Employer of Choice (EoC) section – see Figure 2 – asks respondents to rank companies – with the exception of their own – on how desirable they feel they would be to work for. Boehringer Ingelheim again took the crown as the most admired employer, closely followed by Roche. In fact, the two companies have held the top-two position since 2005. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly also cemented their places within the first four positions.

Arguably the most-improved performer in this year’s results is Leo. The company was voted a respectable ninth in last year’s EoC guide but has moved up four places and into the top-five. Lundbeck also had reason to celebrate as they were voted the seventh most desirable company to work for, alongside Bayer Healthcare and Janssen, and claimed a place in the top-ten for the first time.

Astellas enjoyed one of the biggest leaps from 2009 as it jumped ten places to 14th in the rankings, with Reckitt Benckiser also registering in the top-twenty for the first time.

Of greatest importance

Money makes the world go around and it’s no different in pharma. With the UK still gripped by the affects of the credit crunch and the recession it is of little surprise that salary remains the main motivating factor for respondents – see Figure 3. It’s the increase in an awareness of job security though that is one of the main changes in the motivational ratings. Previously ranked behind salary, relationship with manager and even work-life balance last year, respondents placed a greater emphasis on ensuring their job is safe within the last year.

Although this may reflect on the economy as a whole and a fear of not being able to find a new position if made redundant or when choosing to leave, an increased awareness in job security may be linked the batch of ‘newcomers’ to the medical sales industry who may see a prolonged career within the industry as a wise choice.

The most satisfying aspect of working within pharma is again the belief in products held by staff. Closely followed by the relationship shared with those in senior positions, the freedom to work without being shadowed by bosses has also been recognised and welcomed as autonomy has moved within the top-three positions for the first time in the history of the survey.

But at the other end of the scale, respondents voiced their lack of satisfaction with their company’s share scheme, the bonus they receive and, more worrying, their fear of being made redundant.

On a personal level, it would seem that employees are far from happy with their own personal development in their role, and the state of their worklife balance. Results from last year’s Survey placed personal progression within the top-ten satisfying factors for respondents. But this year it has fallen to the 12th most satisfying aspect. Work-life balance fares slightly worse a place behind – despite various initiative created within the last year by pharma companies to address this.

Despite the shoots of revival, it would seem that pharma still has a long way to go until it creates a harmonious workforce.

The Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey has been conducted annually by HSP, publishers of Pf, since 2002. It provides a benchmark of field force renumeration, motivation, satisfaction, perception and recruitment. As the Survey is managed by Dr B Payne of Conker Statistics – a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society – and respondents are anonymous, it is able to provide a unique and impartial snapshot of workforce attitudes at the time the research is conducted. These latest results were gathered in early 2011, but relate to 2010 and the early part of the year.

Capturing and interpreting customer insight is the bedrock of success in modern sales and marketing. In a customer-centric world, the development of tools that can help companies better understand customer need has been vital. Pf’s Iain Bate charts the evolution of data capture – from paper to cloud-based CRM.

There was a time when sales representatives across most business sectors used pen and paper to document call activity. Rumour has it that some pharmaceutical companies were still operating such primitive paper-based systems as the millennium approached – though that’s most likely an urban myth. By then, the revolution had already happened. Using new-fangled Electronic Territory Management Systems, companies could monitor the interactions, communications and movements of their staff as and when they wished – though in many cases, sales representatives were only encouraged to log their call activity sporadically whilst continuing their daily appointments with clients. But as the digital age gained speed and the thirst for data capture increased, companies began to recognise the need to improve their customer insights – to develop a deeper understanding of customers’ needs. The introduction of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems in the early 1990s took data capture to a new level, changing the way representatives reported the outcomes of interactions with customers, and, in turn, providing greater opportunities for companies to use such data for competitive advantage.

Unlike the early database marketing systems, modern CRM is designed to support an integrated approach and offers the opportunity to share information across a number of departments without trailing through reams of information. In short, if used correctly, it is a convenient tool and an essential component for Key Account Management (KAM). Like any technology, modern day systems have been development to be used on a variety of platforms and versions of popular hardware. But this wasn’t always the case.

Early CRM systems were hindered by the bulky hardware they were programmed to run on. Laptops or similar hand-held devices were not always as light and convenient to carry as they are today and sales representatives were often off-put or embarrassed to set up these systems in front of clients and make idle talk for a few minutes while the software loaded.

The stigma of the old CRM systems may still linger today with mixed adoption results across all industries. In last year’s Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey, only 51% of respondents who said they have a CRM system actually use it in field. But it’s not all bad for pharmaceutical companies that have invested millions of pounds in an attempt to understand their customers better. A fifth of sales representatives said they used their system for more than three hours a day with more than half (51%) saying that call reporting was the most useful function and 17% said it was an effective component in KAM.

The overall CRM goal is to identify, attract, and win new clients, and to nurture and retain those already on the books. CRM can help entice former clients back, luring them away from competitors. And, used effectively, it can reduce the costs of marketing.

The benefits are there for all to see. Systems can drive quality and efficiency, decreasing overall costs, whilst at the same time improving decision support, enterprise agility and, more importantly, customer attention.

Richard Boardman, who has been involved in the CRM industry since 1995 and is the founder of UK-based independent CRM consulting firm Mareeba, has always been in favour of their use in sales teams. “I’ve been a fan of CRM technology from the early days,” he said. “As long as you could get people to use the systems they were always going to make for a more successful selling organisation. If organisations get it right, CRM technology can be a big source of competitive advantage.”

But what is the best type of system to use? Companies currently integrate a variety of ‘programmes’ within their systems providing wide-ranging functionality.

Sales force automation (SFA) is the most commonly used type of CRM system. The software efficiently streamlines all phases of the sales process, reducing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase of their daily jobs. At the heart of SFA is a contact management system for tracking and recording every stage in the sales process for each prospective client, from initial contact to final disposition. Many SFA applications also include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and workflow automation, quote generation, and product knowledge.

Marketing CRM systems help companies identify and target potential clients and also generate leads for sales teams to pursue. A key marketing capability is tracking and measuring multi-channel campaigns where users can view emails, social media websites and telephone calls.

Customer service and support programmes – an important factor in attracting and retaining customers – often include appointment, analytics and social media tools.

Social media is the latest tool used by CRM systems and one currently with the most potential for development. The likes of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook provide the opportunity for individuals and companies alike to have their voice/product heard across the globe at the click of a button. Customers can research products or companies online then seek recommendations or advice through social media channels. While a good reputation is essential in the world of business, a poor one online can have a devastating effect – even if a potential client has never heard, visited or spoke to a representative of a company. More and more companies are now attempting to gain access to these conversations and take part in the dialogue to sway opinion.

It’s the importance of social media and the ease of how it can be accessed through mobile devices which Richard predicts will bring about the next developments in CRM systems after a relatively slow start.

“I think if you analyse the history of the market it’s amazing how slow change has actually been in the last ten years,” he said. “I can’t think of much in the way of dazzling new functionality in that time, but I think that will probably change. I’m sure mobile access will be a growth area, and I think we will see a lot more functionality to tap into what’s happening in social media.

“I think we will see suppliers who specialise in particular vertical markets come under more pressure given the ease of development of some of the more popular generic applications. We will also see open source or very aggressively priced products really start to change the dynamics of the market. This will again put pressure on suppliers to show the added value of their offerings.”

But despite the proposed advancements and new functionality, it’s the low adoption rates which still haunt company executives who spent large sums on CRM investment. In 2003, a Gartner report estimated that more than a billion dollars had been spent on software that was not being used. While the problem of adoption may have become less severe after the ‘Facebook generation’ entered the workforce, in 2007 a UK survey revealed that four-fifths of senior executives reported their biggest challenge was getting staff to engage with the systems they had installed.

Richard, who himself worked for a number of major UK CRM vendors, says the issue around adoption may not necessarily be with the hardware of software, but with the sales instinct of the person using it.

“Some salespeople really don’t like sharing information,” he said. “They feel their contacts are their contacts. Others feel they are too busy to update the system. Some are simply uncomfortable with technology. A lot of times though it’s because supporting infrastructures aren’t in place to maximise usage. We may have progressed some way with the technology side of CRM, but we’re still pretty much in the dark ages in respect to user adoption. In principle mobile usage should take off, but then we’ve had mobile solutions for the last decade or so, and they haven’t really taken off, so I’m not sure it will be as fast as some people think.”

So there lies the challenge. Since their inception, CRM systems and technology have developed from paper, through to electronic databases to become an important component of a Key Account Management approach in little over twenty years. But getting staff to engage with them and fulfil their potential still remains an obstacle not even a CRM system can solve.

Pf Assistant Editor Iain Bate asks how having the right negotiation skills can make the difference in all areas of life.

Dr Ravi Powar’s recent article in the March issue of Pf raised some interesting questions. Focusing on the art of negotiation, she highlighted that all of us in our everyday lives encounter some sort of ‘give-and-take’.

On the surface it would seem that negotiations only take place during contract discussions or sales meetings at work and on a car forecourt. However, Ravi explains that almost every aspect of our daily tasks involves some sort of bargaining.

Be it arranging a time to meet a friend for lunch which is convenient or trying to close an important deal at work, improving our negotiations skills is something well worth focusing on. When you consider that even the smallest of agreements are made by negotiating, finding a style that is effective could be the deciding factor in whether you close that important deal at work, or have to watch the eighth soap opera of the evening at home!

But for any negotiation to take place there must be a variable which both parties are happy to settle for. Of course in the business world one party will be interested in obtaining a cost-effective price whilst the other will aim to maximise their returns or order. This is often where stumbling blocks occur.

Ravi says that negotiation is a “form of Alternative Dispute Resolution”. Whether or not clients or friends are actually in dispute when discussing potential deals or arrangements is questionable; but by using the tips she has acquired through her years in the pharmaceutical industry, realising the right time to commence discussions on important decisions or understanding the difference in being an accommodating or competing negotiator could be the deciding factor between success and failure – in everything you do.

 

Contact the author: iain.bate@healthpublishing.co.uk

Pf’s Iain Bate looks at recent protests against the Health Bill and asks whether the reforms are inevitable.

The imminent arrival of spring was supposed to bring an end to the ‘winter of discontent’ in the UK. However, deafening messages of opposition from the Liberal Democrat’s recent conference and now the BMA’s special representative meeting against the Government’s much criticised NHS reforms show the period of discontent is far from over. This continued period of criticism is quickly turning into ‘seasons of discount’ as the arguments rumble on.

It seems that not a week goes by without Prime Minister David Cameron, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, or this week Nick Clegg, coming under fire from those against the proposals. But is the message getting across to the Government? Is it really worth wasting time and effort in campaigning against the Bill’s radical reforms?

When the White Paper was released in July, it would seem the Government intended to implement its proposed changes to the NHS – regardless of the outcomes of the ‘consultation period’. Since then more than 140 GP consortia pathfinders have been created as the move away from SHAs and PCTs gathers serious pace. It would seem there’s no turning back.

Lib Dem leader Clegg may have told delegates in Sheffield he would look “in detail” at concerns raised by party members, but in reality he was simply paying lip-service to those already unhappy with the direction the party has taken since joining the coalition.

Regardless of what his final decision may be, should there be a realisation from those against the reforms to end their campaigns and accept change is on its way? Surely their energies spent on discussing the reforms should be switched to how they can succeed in the NHS mark II – with private providers and all.

 

Contact the author: iain.bate@healthpublishing.co.uk

By Iain Bate, Pf Assistant Editor

In almost every aspect of daily life we’re influenced in one way or another by convenient gadgets. During time spent at work, whether in the field or office, and then unwinding in front of the TV, technology dominates every day routines. In reality, there’s no way of avoiding it, and nor should there be.

However, when analysing the results from the 2010 Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey, there were some interesting statistics that not only surprised myself but also Graham Jones, a technology expert.

The fact that a quarter of sales representatives did not always enter the number of products sold accurately into their ETMs raised eyebrows. Even more alarming for pharma companies that have spent thousands of pounds integrating top-of-the-range systems into the sales force, nearly 20% said they do not record pre-call objectives and 7% failed to enter post-call outcomes.

There’s no obvious reason either why workers wouldn’t use technology to their or their company’s advantage. Graham explained that one widely accepted notion that age and technology do not mix is simply a myth. He also dispelled trust issues.

Whether the ‘Facebook generation’ will in the future wholeheartedly embrace technology in the workplace remains to be seen. But, as the Pf Survey has shown, technology is not seen as the great enabler by all employees.

 

Contact the author: iain.bate@healthpublishing.co.uk