In the first of a new series, Pf’s John Pinching meets Novartis’ Senior Brand Manager and Pf reader, Caroline Armstrong. A franchise coffee house in Farnham sets the scene, as she orders an exotic latte, while he opts for an invigorating Americano (with three sugars).

When I meet Caroline – winner of the prestigious Joint Working Award at the Pf Awards 2012 no less – she exudes confidence, charm and style. Indeed, she immediately draws my attention to a famous local sculpture and points out that, viewed from a certain angle, it resembles something entirely unexpected.  I conclude that it must be ‘attention to detail’, which sets this career-climber apart.

What is your background, Caroline? I come from Newcastle and did a degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. During my time there I worked in a lab at Proctor and Gamble. After approximately five minutes I knew it wasn’t the career for me! I needed to do more than just take microscope slides out of a washing machine for the rest of my life.

How did you embark on a career in the selling side of pharmaceutical drugs?
I attended a recruitment drive, was impressed with the potential opportunities and became a medical sales representative, first at AmDel, then Altana Pharma. I know it’s a cliché, but in order to fulfil my ambitions I had to be out there, ‘carrying the bag’; it’s the best way to build a network and discover how the industry really works.

Do you remember your first gig? Yes, it was pretty nerve-wracking. As soon as I arrived at the surgery, I was taken straight to the GP, without any time to compose myself. It was a steep learning curve, but I soon gained confidence and was able to apply my personality when describing products. Showing your human side in medical sales is vital.

How did that enable you to progress further? I joined Novartis initially as a Vaccine Account Manager, before getting the chance to go on a marketing secondment. I really felt like the company believed in my ability and this ultimately led to my roles as the UK Influenza Brand Manager and Travel Vaccines Senior Brand Manager.

What were the most satisfying aspects of your new Novartis ventures?  Getting involved in really broad campaigns was very exciting. With influenza it’s not just a case of painting patient pictures, you are convincing people to purchase products there and then; sign on the dotted line. From a marketing view, delivering an effective strategy is essential, but from a sales view, you’ve effectively got twenty minutes in front of a healthcare professional to deliver, not just a generic pitch, but one that demonstrates empathy, understanding and confidence in your proposition. There’s only one chance, so you have to make every interaction count.

Does it make you appreciate the impact you’re having on society? It’s pretty amazing to think that last year the number of vaccines given through pharmacy alone could fill St. James’s Park. That really puts the number into perspective.

Do you support Newcastle United, by any chance? Yes, I used to go with my dad, when David Ginola was playing (judging by the wistful expression, I think Caroline may have been a great admirer of the aforementioned Frenchman).

I digress, what programmes are you putting into place in preparation for the dreaded reform act? We have been very passionate about implementing vaccination programmes, which enable a more community-based approach to health. We’re training pharmacists to vaccinate in local pharmacies, enabling many more thousands of people to access healthcare. It will certainly relieve some of the pressure from GPs. People will have the convenience of being able to pick up their weekly shop and a vaccine, all in one place.

How do big companies react to changes enforced by new political policies? From an industry perspective you can’t plan too far in advance because you simply don’t know what the NHS will look like in a few years. If Labour get in all the changes might be reversed and we’ll end up going round in circles.

You’re still young, but seem to have ascended up the ranks rapidly I enjoy what I do and like to do it well; then I’m ready for the next challenge. When you reach milestones in your career it’s so important that you have a story to tell, making sure that it’s as fulfilling and successful as it can be. Some people are satisfied to do the same thing for years, but I want each chapter to represent a new adventure and an opportunity to make a difference.

What does the future hold for you? I’m starting a new job in Basel! (Caroline is making the pilgrimage to Switzerland and she’ll be working as Business Franchise Manager in Novatis’ Ophthalmology business unit – which is nice).

That’ll be incredible Yes, I’m going there with my partner and it will certainly be a great experience. It’s a global role so it will be really interesting to see how other health services, like Australia and Canada, operate compare to ours. I hope they don’t have as many acronyms.

There’ll also be some cultural differences in Switzerland too? Yep, for a start, they only serve wine in 100ml measures and that will take some getting used to!

What will you miss? The higher your position, the greater potential there is for you to be removed from the ‘patient’.  I think I will miss the daily coal face interaction you get when you work in a local market, close to the actual health provision. That is why I think it is so important to remember what it is like when you are on the road, bringing products to life. Ultimately, whether you are in a local or a global role, everything you do is still for the patient.

With jobs at a premium and the cost of living continuing to rise, job security has suddenly become a main priority for employees.

The global recession has affected each and every one of us in one way or another. Sweeping job losses throughout the medical sales sector – and in the pharmaceutical industry in particular – have seen even the most experienced personnel joining the queue at the job centre. For those lucky enough to have avoided the dreaded axe, it seems to have made us appreciate our job a whole lot more.

Last year was somewhat of a breakthrough year for as far as job security is concerned. Results from last year’s Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey highlighted how job security had gone from a passing thought to one of the main motivating factors for respondents. Ranked behind salary, relationship with manager and work-life balance in the 2009 survey, job security was suddenly thrust into the top-two motivating factors last year.

It has maintained its position this year behind salary as the second highest motivating factor after pharmaceutical companies continue to introduce ‘efficiency’ plans in an attempt to sustain profits and counter bleak pipelines. During an uncertain last twelve months it would seem that satisfaction levels in job security have also improved. Job security moved from 14th position last year to 11th in the latest set of results. Are companies doing more to reassure staff their jobs are safe, or are employees learning to live with the fact that their week at work may be their last?

Moving on
Attitudes towards job security have also affected respondents’ outlook on where they’d like to be within 12 months’ time – see Figure 1. In last year’s survey, 15% of respondents indicated they were searching for a move away from their current employers with 56% content to stay where they were. However, this year’s results show a slight increase in those figures with 13% of people within the medical sales sector looking for a new job and 59% happy where they are. 

Its men that indicated a stronger desire to change companies with 17% wishing to move organisations and a further 24% saying it was a possibility. However, female respondents were less sure about joining a new organisation with only a tenth wishing to move away from their current employers.

The importance now placed upon job security may also arise from the fact that employees are still very mindful of a turbulent few years – despite a glimpse of light at the end of a very, very dark tunnel. Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) recently told a panel of directors from Yorkshire that modest economic growth in the UK would see unemployment levels stabilise this year. He also discussed the potential of a stronger recovery resulting in a sudden, sharp fall in unemployment levels and employers again going on the hunt for talented staff to meet increasing demand.

Job security works both ways. It shouldn’t be something that only staff on the ground worry about. Stability and medium to long-term assurance ensures employees are engaged and motivated enough to be committed to company goals and objectives.

Although job security may be a state of mind, there are ways of improving one’s mindset. If a company can ensure or encourage career development and progression, an employee will feel a greater sense of loyalty and commitment. With this in place a sense of dedication allows employees to focus on their individual skills and capabilities and become a consistent performer. In turn, an employer gets a happy and productive employee in the work place.

Trust levels
However, it’s not always that easy it? Memories of colleagues and friends being made redundant can last for a very long time. Geoffrey James, argues on the website inc.com, that job security is defined by who you are, what you do and who you trust. If you’re an individual who is happy going along with your job, undertaking everyday tasks and playing second-fiddle to other staff then you’re more than likely to receive your marching orders, James says. Individuals should strive to stand out from colleagues and be different to the majority of the workforce. “If you really want job security, there must be something about you that’s different, that makes you more relevant than anybody else who does what you do. More importantly, other people must perceive that difference and see it as valuable,” he says.

Then, of course, there’s the trust issue. Do you think you can rely on your boss not to put a red cross next to your name if there are further redundancies? James – who pens one of the world’s most-visited sales-oriented blogs – suggests a novel approach to assessing trust whilst at work or in the field. People that you speak with on a daily basis – be they family, friends, colleagues or business associates – should be placed into three categories: those who trust you completely, those who moderately trust you, and those who vaguely trust you. When these have been grouped together, remove the people in the final two categories – these are the people unlikely to return sales calls, James adds – and then calculate the number of people who you believe completely trust you. If, he says, you have more than 20 people on that list, then you have a greater sense of job security. If you haven’t, it might be time to start building some bridges.

So there you have it. Job security ultimately comes down to who you can trust and who trusts you. Can you hold on to trusted colleagues at work whilst the UK tries to climb out of a double-dip recession. Or, are the people who you believe you rely on merely providing a crocodile smile during work hours? It’s probably wise to start drawing up that list...

Medical sales executives continue to lead the way in the pay stakes, but how do they continue to defy remuneration odds?

A recent Channel 4 documentary exposed just how sensitive the issue of salary is in the workplace. Employees at a leading plumbing firm in London were asked, face-to-face, to reveal their salary to their colleagues. The outcome wasn’t pleasant. Employees working alongside each discovered they were, in some instances, paid tens of thousands of pounds less than the person working only a few feet away from them. Whilst employees’ pay was eventually brought in-line with their unsuspecting workmates, the moral of the film highlighted just how much people dislike being short-changed – especially in their wage packet. 
The Pf Company Perception, Motivation and Satisfaction Survey – now in its 11th year – again highlighted the importance of salary to those working within the medical sales industry. It’s of little surprise that in an era of austerity salary came out on top as the main motivating factor for respondents. While the significance of money is there for all to see, the satisfaction respondents feel when they open their wage slips is somewhat surprising – despite being paid well above UK average. Satisfaction ratings showed salary placed as the 13th out of 18 options.

Figures from the website Payscale.com show that the average salary for men in the UK is now a slightly more than £30,000. For women it’s around six thousand pound less. Short change when compared to figures from the Pf Survey where the median salary from men is £45,000 and women £40,000. Despite nearly all pharmaceutical companies announcing plans to tightening its belts, employees in the medical sales sector are clearly still extremely well paid.

Overall figures from the survey show that annual remuneration packages range from £11,000 up to a wallet-busting £107,000. The median salary for full-time workers travelling from job to job around their territories was £43,000. Even those on part-time hours earned a medium salary of £26,702 – with the highest earner working reduced hours taking home a cool 54k.

The going rate
A career in the medical sales industry pays. The median salary for respondents who have less than six months’ experience within the sector was £23,000 - see Figure 1. One individual began their career within the industry taking home £58,000 per year! The median salaries of those with additional years of experience continued to rise with those clocking up eight years or more earning an average of £45,000. 
Age also plays an important factor.  The median salaries of those aged 25 and under continue to rise to respondents aged between 45 and 54 years old. Individuals in that age bracket reported a median salary of £45,000, yet those aged beyond their 54th birthday saw their median annual wage fall by two thousand pound. With an ageing workforce, has the medical sales industry targeted this age group to make savings?
Patients may suffer as a result of the postcode lottery but it also seems that medical sales executives do as well – see Figure 2. Median salaries ranged from £42,125 in Scotland up to £47,000 in London. The south east, south west and Wales all clock up median salaries of £45,000 with the north east and Midlands/east slightly behind.

Individual roles
Pharma’s switch in methodology away from a traditional headcount approach to a key account model is reflected in the survey with the median salary for Key Account Managers being £10,500 more than that of a Primary Care Representative (£33,000). Primary and Secondary Care representatives reported a slightly better median salary at £38,880. However, that figure is almost doubled by the median salary of second-line managers at £74k. At the other end of the pay scale, nurse advisors reported the lowest median salary at 30k – as highlighted in Figure 3.

Although public sector workers may have had to endure pay freezes, the same can’t be said of medical sales executives. For the second year running respondents have again reported hearty pay rises – one lucky individual banked a £20,000 rise! Overall, the median salary increase was slightly more than a thousand pound. Key Account Managers reported £100 on top of that figure with second-line managers again enjoying the largest slice of the pie, after receiving a median rise of £2,778.

On top of generous salary increases, respondents also enjoyed bonuses the majority of workers from other sectors – banking aside – could only dream of. In total, the survey found that sales executives received a median bonus of three thousand pounds. The maximum bonus was £50,000. Key Account Managers saw their bonuses fall in line with the average median figure, primary and secondary care representatives were rewarded a thousand pound less than everybody else, and first-line and second-line managers again enjoying generous gratuity sums.

However, very much like salary, respondents were clearly unimpressed with their bonuses. In the satisfaction stakes, only share scheme finished behind bonus in the minds of respondents. It would seem, much like pharma’s shareholders, medical sales executives are a difficult bunch to please – despite enjoying above-inflation rewards.

Fearless pharma blogger Maxine Vaccine prepares for her new job with a trip to Matalan, the Body Shop and the online NHS.

Yes, it’s true. After the Bank Holiday I’m starting a new job. Those lovely people at Pharmajobs helped me look for the right role, employer and region, put me in touch with specialist agencies and companies that matched my aspirations and talents. And then my line manager at Munchkin Pharma said “Would you like a new role?”

She explained about key account management. No more sales pitch blues, no more marketing message Mondays, no more NLP courses, no more free samples. A new life of consultative selling – providing solutions – being an expert on who you’re selling to rather than what you’re selling. In short, a proper grown-up job. Finally, she asked me: “Do you have any questions?”

I said: “Will I need a new outfit?”

My manager gave me her famous tight smile. “Ah yes, that’s something else we need to discuss. That attitude of yours.”

But seriously, what is changing in my professional life is the shift from a ‘lone wolf’ approach – hitting the road with one goal in mind, only talking when there’s a product to be sold, regarding my colleagues as deadly rivals, living just to put ticks beside names on my list – to a sense of being embedded in a dynamic professional network of stakeholders across various sectors. Every day brings new people and new ideas.

I’m not just a lonely sales functionary, I’m one of many points of contact between a changing company and its changing customer base, and my role is to communicate and learn, to work out how Munchkin Pharma can meet customer needs across a local healthcare landscape that is changing so fast it feels like the NHS has become a computer game. I feel more connected to my own colleagues as well as to the people with whom I’m building commercial relationships.

Instead of the false personalisation of sales – the fake smile, the fluttered eyelashes, the lowered voice – there’s the real personal engagement of understanding what your customer wants to achieve, the customer understanding what you want to achieve, and the common ground on which you both take a step forward. That only happens when you think hard instead of just talking hard.

Farewell to the black book, hello to the iPad. And what’s commanding my attention for much of the working day is the increasingly widespread and diverse character of the NHS online. It’s not just who is commissioning and prescribing, it’s how, for whom, on what basis and according to which budget. If the NHS had a Facebook profile its relationship status would be ‘It’s complicated.’

This weekend, I’m getting my hair reshaped and my wardrobe restocked. I’m partying in my usual restrained style. Another day for rest and recuperation, and I’ll be ready for the working week. And then the real fun will start.

Maxine Vaccine pays tribute to the genius of Vidal Sassoon and gives five reasons why the legendary hairdresser is a role model for medical sales professionals.

In my late teens I worked in a Midlands hairdressing salon. Difficult customers, bitchy colleagues, hours of random chatter – it was ideal training for a career in pharmaceutical sales. Some of us were girls, some of us just acted like we were. But we all had one hero in common. And that hero passed away this week, aged 84.

Vidal Sassoon took the mundane service industry of hairdressing and made it an art, a business and a dream. His talent, energy and sheer chutzpah make him an inspiration for anyone whose work involves contributing to the well-being of the human body.

So in tribute to Sassoon’s revolutionary five-point haircut, here is a five-point guide to true style in medical sales...

1. Start in reality. At the age of 17, Vidal Sassoon joined the 43 Group, an association of Jewish ex-soldiers dedicated to fighting fascism on the streets of East London. They took on Mosley’s Blackshirts and beat them. That toughness and refusal to be the underdog stayed with Sassoon throughout his life.

2. Keep it simple. Sassoon’s trademark hairdressing style avoided elaborate treatments. He wanted to work with the natural shape and life of human hair. The iconic ‘five-point’, inspired by Bauhaus architecture, was a clipped androgynous look whose simplicity disguised its mathematical precision.

3. Care begins at home. Like a present-day GP, Sassoon thought primarily in terms of the self-care model. No more beehives that took an hour to reconstruct each morning. His cuts were low-maintenance and robust, designed for women who had lives to lead.

4. The right words. Sassoon launched his classic range of hair products with the slogan ‘If you don’t look good, we don’t look good’ – a neat play on words that linked the worlds of fashion and business. Even in his eighties, Sassoon’s language was as sharp and elegant as his haircuts.

5. Fit for purpose. Throughout his career, Sassoon remained lean, fit and immaculately dressed. Where many of his contemporaries drank like fishes, he swam like one. His salon performances were balletic displays of controlled energy, expressing his attitude towards human health.

Maxine’s views are not necessarily those of Pharmaceutical Field.

The UK pharmaceutical industry’s starring sales executives stepped up to receive trophies, applause and national kudos at the Pf Awards 2012.

The Awards ceremony, held at the Lancaster London Hotel on 22 March and brilliantly presented by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, celebrated best practice and outstanding achievement in medical sales.

The much-covered Outstanding Performer award – with a bonus of £2,000 in John Lewis vouchers – was won by Abbott’s Carsten Wagstaffe, who also triumphed in the Experienced Medical Representative category.

Abbott hit the top spot in two other categories: Alex Thomas won the Experienced Hospital Specialist award, while Mark Howard and Mark McLaughlin won the Account Team award.

MSD and Shire were also triple Pf Award winners.

MSD’s Krishna Vadkul was recognised as best Medical Representative and Seema Lakhani as best Sales Manager, while Daniel Colnet was joint winner in the Account Manager category.

Shire’s Michelle Rust and Craig Bradley won the Sales Team award, while Anthony Lamb was joint winner in the Account Manager category and Steve Wilson was joint winner of the New Hospital Specialist award.

The new Customer Recognition award was won by AstraZeneca UK, while the new Joint Working award went to Debbie Bird and Graham Thoms of Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Ltd.

Claire Jones of LEO Pharma received the Learning & Development award. Catherine Skerritt of Lundbeck Ltd was joint winner in the New Hospital Specialist category.

The award for Nurse Manager went to Sarah Frenett of Quintiles on behalf of GSK, while Nicola Edgar of National Services for Health Improvement Ltd won the Clinical Nursing award.

Maxine Vaccine, the pharma industry blogger whose body language is unprintable, issues a stern warning against pseudo-scientific cults posing as high-grade sales training.

While pharma industry professionals are usually sufficiently good judges of quality in a medication, they can sometimes be ever so slightly conned by people selling other types of product. As professionals we buy snake-oil that we would be ashamed to sell.

Years ago, I was sent by my company on a management training course. All but one of the modules on the course were relevant, purposeful and of value. The exception was a presentation on neuro-linguistic programming or NLP. The presenters advocated mimicking the speech patterns and body language of the person you are doing business with. Try that in real life, I thought, and you’ll be going home via the local A&E unit.

We were urged to ‘walk the talk’ in ways that reminded me strongly of Thunderbirds. Things got disturbing when a trainer suggested responding to a ‘dominant’ customer with a ‘submissive’ presentation, which he demonstrated on his knees. OK, he was slightly weird – but NLP is so locked into ideas about ‘personality’ that the line between practice and parody is easily crossed.

The core insight of NLP is that people have ‘styles’ of language that are either visual, auditory or tactile, and you will connect with a customer if you adopt their ‘style’. This is rubbish. What it means is that, instead of listening to what your customer is actually saying, you will listen only for those key words that give you a handle on them. Instead of doing your job, you will be indulging a power trip based in fantasy.

Medical sales is indeed about people. The people you are doing business with are intelligent experts with complex agendas. To work effectively with your customers, you need to understand their concerns, analyse their clinical, procedural and economic priorities and speak their language – not mimic their body language. NLP distracts you from doing business in an intelligent way by training you in egotistical mind games.

What’s going on here is that certain training companies know a nice little earner when they see it. Encouraging pharma firms to pay for some old nonsense that flatters their sense of being special, of having access to ‘secret’ knowledge, is both easier and more lucrative than researching and explaining how the pharma sales model needs to evolve in the demanding market of 2011.

The only thing NLP trainers are skilled in is parting fools from their money. If that’s what you think pharmaceutical sales is about, you’re in the wrong business.

Maxine Vaccine is keen to receive your feedback on these and other pharma industry issues. Be nice (but don’t be NICE)!

Sometimes, reporting on the UK pharmaceutical industry feels a bit like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day. In the late 1990s, when I edited my first title for UK pharma, all the talk was of the move from GP Fundholding and the imminent introduction of Primary Care Groups.

By 2000, New Labour’s NHS Plan promised a revolution in healthcare built around delivering improvements in ‘partnership, performance, patient care and prevention’. The politicians were about to ‘modernise the health service’.

Fast forward almost 12 years and we’re still being read the same script; new politicians, the same old lines. Four Ps – partnership, prevention, productivity and patient care – continue to dominate airtime, only this time, of course, it will be different.

Different? Some hope. This is Groundhog Day. So how is the UK pharmaceutical industry responding to change? Its customer-base, meticulously redrawn through 10 years of implementing the NHS plan, is yet again being reshaped. PCTs are on the way out. CCGs and Clinical Senates are on the way in. Keeping track of decision-makers and influencers is critical. Getting in front of them in the right volume, at the right time and with the right message is life and death.

The industry is currently pinning its hopes on Key Account Management (KAM), supported by a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) philosophy that promises to enable the field force to have a more detailed understanding of individual customer needs across a diverse and complex landscape.

The tools to support the CRM approach are impressive, established and evolving in time with the modern technological advancement. They also provide huge value to medical sales professionals, and the ability to enhance customer interactions.

But, as ever, this is Groundhog Day. Twelve months ago, Pf’s annual survey into field force attitudes revealed an apathy amongst some sales professionals towards the use of CRM. A year later and it appears that, despite its many advantages, the value message for CRM is still not being heard by all of those who can undoubtedly benefit from it.

This year, 90% of Pf’s survey respondents have access to a CRM system – but only 43% of these find time to use it in the field, and more than a fifth admit that they fail to record post-call reports accurately.

In a fast-moving, dynamic marketplace, generating, sharing and maximising real customer insight is one of the best ways for sales professionals to achieve competitive advantage. CRM tools provide the perfect mechanism for this. Only the foolish would pass up the opportunity.

I feel like I am repeating myself. But then again, this is healthcare Groundhog Day. Next month: more NHS reform.

Chris Ross
Editor

Sanofi Pasteur has invested $300 million in plans to open a new vaccine manufacturing plant in India by March 2012.

The new plant aims to help expand the company’s vaccine capabilities, following the acquisition of India’s Shantha Biotech for $784 million in 2009.

However, the deal carried manufacturing defects forced by the WHO to cancel pre-qualification of the vaccine Shan5, costing Sanofi hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Sanofi, said to the Business Standard: “We have implemented all the corrective measures. And we are quite positive about the relationship with Shantha and will be participating in global tenders once the pre-qualification process is completed for low-cost and high-quality vaccines.”

By 2015, Sanofi expects 30% of its total sales to come from the US, 33% from Europe and the rest from emerging markets.

US medical device manufacturer Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) has acquired SterilMed for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition will broaden EES’ product portfolio with SterilMed’s ability to provide medical device reprocessing and equipment repair to help healthcare providers reduce costs.

Karen Licitra, Chairman and Worldwide Franchise Chairman for EES said: “Together, we can continue our focus on developing innovative surgical solutions, while providing healthcare facilities a wider range of flexible product options to save money, reduce medical waste, and maintain quality care for patients.”

Minnesota-based SterilMed will be managed as part of the EES franchise, but will continue operations as a separate company under SterilMed.

Brian Sullivan, Chairman and CEO of SterilMed, said: “Becoming part of the Ethicon Endo-Surgery franchise, one of the largest and most respected medical device companies in the world, will have a positive impact on our business, while also expanding our product portfolio.”

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company, manufactures and markets medical devices for minimally invasive and open surgical procedures.