Developing Effective Sales Force Training and Communications

Prepared with the right skills, and inspired to achieve market share goals. Wilson Dow Group has focused on helping pharmaceutical Clients meet this challenge for over a decade. Wilson Dow Group partners Steve Wilson and Mark Dow contribute their insights.

NGP. What are some of the challenges faced by pharmaceutical sales and marketing leadership today in preparing and motivating their sales organizations?

SW. The Clients want – and very much need - to create relevant, meaningful sales force communications and training that aligns, prepares and inspires the sales force in a timely and efficient manner. Clients have very small windows of opportunity to respond to organizational and industry changes. We also see that Client marketing, brand team and sales leadership team members themselves have very limited time and resources and face ever-expanding responsibilities.

MD. We think a good sales force communications and training partner is comprised of self starters with the experience, resources and expertise to become an extension of the Client’s team – a partner specializing in a “think/plan/do” kind of approach to the Client’s very specific product marketing and sales goals.

NGP. What might spur the need for Clients to engage a training and communications partner?

MD. Basically, change. It could be a sales force expansion, a joint venture, changes in the marketing plan, a new product or indication, a fast-tracked or delayed FDA approval… any of these scenarios will probably necessitate sales force communication and training.

SW. After years of experience, we’ve seen it all, and learned that there is no such thing as an effective one-size-fits-all solution for our Clients. Strategy, creative and instructional design all have to be customized to Client objectives and to the audience.

MD. And it has to be done efficiently and smoothly. We’ve organized ourselves to quickly model our processes to parallel a Client’s needs – so we don’t over-tax our Client’s current processes.

SW. A Client may just call us in for one piece of a program – for example, production of a national sales meeting. Even if we’re not involved in training or other elements, we ask all the right questions to make sure that the meeting is as connected as possible to training and other communications, rather than just a stand-alone event.

NGP. Most companies rely heavily on a National Sales Meeting or Product Launch Meeting to deliver most of their communications and training freight to a sales force. Are there ways to maximize impact and value after these events?

MD. Yes: Understand that it all just begins at the meeting. You need to keep the information flowing, to continue the learning and to keep the inspirational momentum going. The way to do that is with ongoing communications and training.

But “ongoing” doesn’t mean an onslaught. In many organizations the people in the field receive a cascade of seemingly disconnected materials from three major tracks – training, sales/operations and brand marketing. That can be distracting and inefficient.

SW. An integrated communications and training approach allows the brand team, sales leadership and training to speak to the sales force with one voice and one strategy under one well designed creative umbrella. This conveys to the sales force that a cohesive plan has been developed to help them develop their skills and do their job better.

MD. Many of our Clients see the benefit of doing this via a yearlong, cohesive, integrated plan for their sales force communications and training. This includes a well thought out calendar of deliverables to execute against – and one that leverages key events that are already on the Client’s calendar such as industry events, national meetings and regional meetings.
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NGP. What deliverables can Wilson Dow Group design and produce?

SW. Whatever is most appropriate for our Client’s specific situation: everything from emails, audio programs and print to multi-media and face-to-face events. A text message from the brand team can only so effective on its own, but if it’s part of an integrated plan – where media elements are cross-promoted and linked by a strategy – even something that simple can be very powerful.

NGP. Where do you start with your Clients?

MD. For starters, we ask the Client, “What are your end results, your objectives? If this is all successful, what does that look like?” We talk them through everything they need to consider, based on our experience. Then we take it and make it all work.

NGP. What trends are you seeing among your Clients besides the resource and time constraints?

MD. They’re realizing that they need to effectively reach the field sales organization first, to ensure that the information being delivered to health care professionals is timely and consistent. So they’re seeing the sales force as a primary audience who need to be approached strategically.

SW. The Client’s objective is most important. But it’s also about what the sales force wants and needs. They both impact the plan that you put together. The successful plan weds the two.

NGP. How do you work with a Client to understand their particular audience?

SW. We quickly learn about the audience’s entire world, what’s affecting them in their daily jobs; what other industry events are going on; what’s happened recently with this brand and what’s coming. We want to know all of those touch points that happen throughout the year.

MD. Also, you must know basic logistics like what kind of connectivity the sales force has, where they spend their time, how their call day is structured, whether they operate in teams. The communications and training won’t get traction if it’s inconvenient to access or utilize.

SW. We also work with our Clients to enroll key field management, for instance regional or district managers, for their buy-in and support before we roll anything out to the field.

NGP. What’s the key to creating sales force communications and training that is relevant and has staying power?

SW. One key is making things interactive, utilizing the adult learning principles, and having an understanding of what good, engaging communication is all about. And long-term programs must remain flexible. They’re not static things… they’re organic.

We might say, “Okay, we’re one quarter into the program. How does it look in terms of changing market conditions or feedback from the field? Do we need to change our plans going forward?”

MD. The whole component of interactivity is very important to successful communications and training. Whether it is a POA meeting, a national meeting or a launch event, it needs to be designed in such a way that the audience, the sales force, feels as though they’re not just being talked at, but there’s a conversation, that they have an opportunity to participate in what’s happening and really be a part of the excitement.

SW. We know we’ve hit the mark when we see the level of participation and enthusiasm for the Client’s programs increase in the field, and those are things that are tracked by our Clients and by us.

MD. We also know because we’ve gotten the field sales management team involved from the get-go, now we have a conduit of information going to and from the sales force – everything from best practices to physician objections to news about the competition.

NGP. What else should a Client expect from a partner when developing sales force communications and training program?

SW. The partner should be able to develop a project plan that has every single step outlined and detailed, identifying every single point of the Client’s involvement, so they can plan their time and they’ll know exactly what’s going to be required of them. If you have the right partner, those moments are going to be less rather than more, they’re going to be very well defined and orchestrated so that they’re efficient and effective and make the best use of the Client’s time.