“Excellence in Pharma Sales Management”TRANSFORMING HUMAN POTENTIAL INTO PRODUCTIVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE.

SOHAIL RIAZAuthor. Presenter

s_riaz2016@outlook.com

How many squares you can see?

At first glance, most people see 16 or 17. By continuing to look at the image, you’ll see the potential of 30 squares. At first glance, you may recognize only small percentage of your potential as a manager. With commitment, training, persistence, and little help you’ll be able to reach to the potential of “Excellence in Sales Management.”

SYNOPSIS

The Job REGIONAL SALES MANAGER’S STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

(SOP)The work manual below is designed for a

Pharmaceutical Regional Sales Manager (RSM) .He carries out personal selling .All deadlines and job expectations are real. •PLANNING

•FIELD WORKING

•ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL

•KOL COVERAGE

•REPORTING

•RECORD KEEPING

•DEADLINES

•MEETINGS

1: PLANNING1.All planning work should be done in the field off time (before the start of day’s work)2.All Sales Executives (SEs) are required to submit monthly work plans in accordance to the sector wise planning. 3.Summarily RSMs shall prepare their monthly planners considering the need for team and sales development. 4.Deadline: 20th of every month for the following month. 5.Outstation towns should be covered for minimum 6 days in a month.6.Changes in planning should be avoided; in unavoidable circumstances, Sales Manager (SM) should be informed before hand.

At the start of each month every RSM is required to spend some time on sales planning. This planning should be documented after seeking consent of respective team members and later forwarded to SM

2: FIELD WORKING:a) 90 % calls with Sales Executive (SE) should be coaching calls

b) Independent calls should be no more than 10% and shall be done

on special Assignment s only.

c) RSM should work with the SE for at least two consecutive

days. Working should be continuously from first call to the last call.

DO NOT LEAVE THE SE, DURING WORKING, whatever the

reason may be.

d) New and weaker SE should be given more time. Similarly

weaker territories should be visited more frequently.

3: ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL:Field Operational Manuals (FOMs)

a)The RSM has to ensure that the reporting SE fills out the

FOMs, especially the Customer coverage on regular basis.

b)The daily field work must take into consideration the

FOMs, i.e., the SM check the FOMs of an FE before

starting the days’ calls, so that to ensure that the listed

customers are being met according to the sector wise

planning.

•Horizontal and Vertical analysis:a)Customer coverage must be analyzed by the RM on a weekly basis

from the FOMs, horizontally and vertically.

b)Horizontal coverage will give an idea of the coverage of the

required number of calls to a specific customer, for obvious reasons

this is going to impact the business development from a customer on

long term basis.

c)Vertical analysis will give an idea of overall coverage of the total

target audience of a SE .For obvious reasons this gives the RSM an

idea of sales on short term basis, for example a month’s time.

d)After analysis, the RM should give feedback to MM and the

respective team member.

Continued

C: In-House assignments:

a)The RM must respond quickly to any assignment given by the HO.b)Any new material received from HO, must be discussed with the team within three days after receiving the said material.

D. Vacancies:a)Every RSM is expected to fill any vacancies in his team within a fortnight.b)In this respect every RSM is expected to keep an eye on the better performing SEs from other companies.c)In this situation the RSM is expected to cover all the KOL calls in the vacant territories.

Continued

E: Distributors:a)The RSM is required to ensure that the distributors in his territory have

the required inventories to avoid shortage.

b)In such cases, the RSM is required to inform MM immediately.

c)The RSM should not be visiting the distributor during the field visit

hours.

d)The RSM should not force the distributor to supply products on

discounts or credit that conflict with the company’s policy in this regard.

e)Once a month the team should visit the distributor and have a formal

meeting with their sales team to discuss territory sales related issues and

resolve the matters at win-win situation.

Continued

4. KOL COVERAGE:

a)KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) selection must take into consideration the specialties

covered.

b)KOL selection should have a high degree of influence on the local peers.

c)The number of KOLs is 15 for each RSM.

d)All KOLs need to be covered on a weekly basis, to start with.

e)Technical references, gifts, giveaways invitations, correspondence to and from HO to

the specific KOL should ONLY BE DONE BY THE RM.

f)KOL coverage report should reach HO by 7th of every month.g)RSM should prepare the profile of each KOL mentioning basic facts, like age, date of

birth, like and dislikes and the data should be sent to the HO every month till the

customer’s profile is complete.

Continued

5. REPORTING: a) Sales Executive (SE)•SE is required to prepare daily report on the prescribed format.•Later the Management is planning to introduce the CRM forms.•SEs will be provided with the customer tracking sheets on their FOMs to fill, them out on the daily basis.•On monthly basis the RSM is asked to send the special report based on the analysis of SEs reports on customers and competitor’s feedback to HO, on a regular basis.

b) Regional Sales Manager (RSM)•RSMs are required to prepare monthly reports to be sent to the HO to the MM latest by 7th of every month.c) Sales:•RSMs are required to fax / E-Mail weekly sales reports on the prescribed Performa for weekly sales, on every Saturday afternoon after compiling sales from the distributors.•Similarly monthly sales should be sent in the similar pattern on 1st of every month.•RSM should compile SE wise performance comparing sales with his monthly target of his respective territory and calculate variance (QTD & YTD achievement).

d) Traveling and expense claims:•Duly checked and signed traveling and expense claims must reach HO in time, to ensure on time dispersal, Deadline: 7th of every month.

6. RECORD KEEPING:

a) All the pertinent record of field operations and sales should be kept in separate files.Data should be easily accessible at all times.

7. BUSINESS MEETINGS: a) Weekly Meeting: - Time : Afternoon, 1-2 hours

- When : Every Saturday- Participants : RM and local SE’s

- Budget : Rs: 50.00 per head - Objective: Discuss weekly area wise sales,

prepare weekly planner for the following week, discuss customer reach out. RSM to ensure to complete FOMs. Half an hour should be allocated to product discussion and any specific developmental area to standardize.

-Objective : RSM to present their district and distributor wise sale, KOL coverage against plan, SE to present their product wise and area wise sales, customer reach out, activities organized against plan.

b) Monthly Meeting:- Time: Afternoon, 4 hoursWhen : First Saturday of every month. - Participants : District Team- Budget : Rs: 150.00 per head

c) District Cycle Meeting: - Time: Morning till afternoon, 6- 7 hours- When: First Saturday after RMs cycles Meeting- Participants: District Team- Budget: Rs: 550.00 per head (Lunch)Objective: RSMs to present their cycle strategies, activities plan for the

quarter, presiding district over all sales, activities organized against plan, KOL coverage SE to present their product wise and area wise sales, customer reach out. Reasons for achieving or not achieving targets (WHY / HOW?)

SECTION II- INTERVIEWING & HIRING THE TOP PERFORMERS

In today’s competitive job market, hiring the right person for the job is critical for success. There are many variables that can have a major impact on hiring:

1.Time constrains that force hasty decisions

2.Informal or incomplete hiring process

3.Unstructured interviews

4.Novice or improperly trained interviewer

5.Decision based on intuition, assumption,

snap judgment and gut feelings

Resource needed

Participant’s handout, flip cards, Multimedia, computer, speakers.

Duration- 7 hoursVenue CIRIN Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd Head office, Conference RoomParticipants Regional and Sales Managers

Aims Opening Remarks ,Training Objectives & Methodology / Sales Management Prospecting Strategies Behavioral hiring techniques Induction of newly hired employee Coaching Model

ProgramLearning Objectives

Understand the Pharmaceutical Sales Management process Learn Prospecting strategy for on time hiring of new employee in case of vacancy. Learn Behavioral hiring techniques to standardize interviewing process. Understand the process of Induction of newly hired employee. Understand the Coaching Model to train & develop employees.

ProgramLearning Outcomes

Manager would be able to apply the Sales Management skills on his team to enable them achieve the desired sales goals and ensure customer satisfaction.

Manager would be able to implement the Prospecting Process to find best persons to fulfill future vacancies.

Able to execute Behavioral hiring techniques to interview& select most suitable candidate to fulfill the vacancy (ies).

Able to apply Induction process on newly hired employee and ensure he feels that he has taken a right decision to join your company.

Able to implement Coaching Model to train & develop employees to enable they can perform their duties effectively to achieve require objectives.

Behavioral Hiring Skills

Definition: Is a statement or series of statements that:

1.Describe the Actions performed

2.Under specific Circumstances

3.And the Outcomes of the action.

If the response… Then the response is …

Contains:CircumstancesActionOutcomes

A complete behavioral response

Is missing:Circumstances or Actions orOutcomes

An incomplete behavioral response

1. A Complete behavioral response2. An Incomplete behavioral response3. and A Non-behavioral response

KEY BACKGROUND REVIEW Oral communication / impact

1.Work background:

2.Job Experience:

3.What were/are your major responsibilities? Any change in

duties?

4.What did/do you like best about this position?

5.What did / do you like least about this position?

6.What did you (are you planning to) leave?

7.What did / do you like best about this position?

8.What did / do you like least about this position?

9.Why did you (are you planning to) leave?

1. BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY: Modifying behavior to reach goal.

Possible questions:

1.Describe a sale in which you had to use a different approach or

perhaps several approaches because your initial approach failed.

2.Describe a situation in which your first attempt to sell an idea to

your (boss, subordinate, etc) failed. Did you try again? What

approach did you use the second (third, fourth) time?

3.Give examples of two of the most different sales approaches you have

ever used. When did you use each?I. Circumstances

II. Actions

III. Outcomes

2. TENACITY: Staying with a position or plan until the desired objective is achieved or is no longer reasonably attainable.

Possible questions: 1.Have you ever submitted good ideas to your superior and he or she did not take action on them? What did you do?2. Can you relate some experiences in which you felt you gained something because you persisted for a length of time?3. What is the biggest sale you didn’t make? What did you do?4. What are some big obstacles you had to overcome to get where you are today? How did you overcome them?

I. Circumstances

II. Actions

III. Outcomes

3. PERSUASIVENESS: Utilizing appropriate interpersonal styles and method of communication to gain agreement or acceptance of an idea, plan, activity, or product from clientele.

Possible questions:

1.What are some of the best ideas you ever sold to your peer / superior? What was your approach?2. What are some of the best ideas you tried but failed? Why did it failed?3. Tell me about your toughest sales experience?

I. Circumstances

II. Actions

III. Outcomes

4. INITIATIVE: Active attempts to influence events to achieve goals, self-starting rather than passive acceptance. Taking action to achieve goals beyond what is necessary called for, originating action.

Possible questions:1.Tell me about new ideas and suggestion you’ve made to your manager in the past six-month. Which were accepted? How did you get them accepted? 2. Describe a situation in which you found your results were not up to budget or company expectation. What did you do to rectify the matter?

I. Circumstances

II. Actions

III. Outcomes

5. JOB MOTIVATION: To extent to which activities and responsibilities available in the job overlap with activities and responsibilities that result in personal satisfaction.

Possible questions:1.What do you like best about your job as a _________________?2.What do you like least about your job as a _________________?3.What were you reasons for leaving _______________________?4.Why did you choose the (career, type of work)?5.What are some recent responsibilities you have taken on? Why did you assume these responsibilities? Circumstances

Actions

Outcomes

6. PLANNING and ORGANIZATION: Establishing a course of action for self and /or others to accomplish a specific goal, prioritizing one’s activities and planning needed resources.Possible questions:

Describe a typical day, a week (listening for planning)1.How you determined what have constitutes top priorities in scheduling your time? Give examples.2. What are your objectives for this year? Who else knows them? 3. What are you doing to see them achieved?4. Can you walk me through last week and tell me how you planned the week’s activities and how the schedule worked out?5.What are some of the recruiting problems in your area of responsibility? What have you done about them?6. What were your objectives for last year? Were they achieved? How? Circumstances

Actions

Outcomes

7. STRESS TOLERANCE: Handling disappointment, rejection, work pressures while maintaining effectiveness.Possible questions:

1.What are the highest pressure situations you have been under in recent years?2.How did you coup with (follow-up on one)?3.Give me some examples when your ideas were strongly opposed in a discussion?4.What are some of the biggest disappointment at5.How did you coup with them?6.What kind of pressures do you feel in your job? Tell me about them? How do you deal with them?7.Have you ever had a feeling of frustration and impatience when dealing with customers? What was the frustration?8.What percentage of you calls result in some kind of sale? How do you feel when someone turns you down? How does that affect you?

Circumstances . Actions . Outcomes

8. ANALYSIS: Relating and comparing data from different sources, identifying issues, securing relevant information and identifying relationship.

Possible questions:

1.Describe the biggest problems you have faced in the last six months. How did you handle them?2.What problems you are currently working that came as a surprise to you?3.What sources of information do you keep aware of problem within your territory?4.Have you ever recognized a problem before your boss or other in the organization? Explain? Circumstances

Actions

Outcomes

9. JUDGMENT: Developing alternative sources of action and making timely decisions which are based o logical assumptions and reflect factual information.Possible questions:1.What are the biggest decisions you have made in the last year? Tell me how you went about making them? What alternatives what alternatives did you consider?2.What was the biggest business decision you faced? Explain. How long did it take for you to decide what to do?3.What kind of decisions you tend to take rapidly? And which ones do you take more time on? Give some examples?4.Give me two examples of good decisions you have made in the last six months. What were the alternatives? Why were they good decision?Circumstances

Actions

Outcomes

10. PRACTICAL LEARNING: Assimilating and applying new, job-related Information in a timely manner.Possible questions:1.What did you have to learn to be effective at ________________?2.How long did it take you? Which parts took the most time? Why? Which parts were hardest?3.Did you take any course in __________________in College? What grades did you get?4.What formal training did you receive at _____________________?5.How did you go about learning the technical knowledge needed to sell ________________? 6.How long did it take you?Circumstances

Actions

Outcomes

Section 3

Coaching and Counseling“Everyone’s different, so don’t treat everyone alike.”Coaching: A directive process conducted by a Manager to train and orient an employee to the realities of the workplace and to help the employee remove barriers to optimum work performance.

Counseling: “A supportive process conducted by a Manager to help an employee define and work through personal problems or organizational changes that effect job performance”.

Coaching and Counseling share many of the same skills, such as listening, showing empathy, asking questions providing information, and creating action plans. At time they seem overlap.

Root Causes of Performance Problems:

There are generally three root causes of performance problems of

employees:

•Skill Deficits – They don’t know how to do the job

•Motivational Deficits – They don’t want to do the job

•Resource Deficits -- They may not have what they need to do the job.

DEFINE DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVE (1)

OBSERVE (3)

ANALYZE Behavior (4)

Standards Consequences

P L A N (5)

M O N I T O R (6)

REINFORCE

C H E C K WITH STANDARD (2)

COACHING MODEL

1: Define Developmental Objective:

There are two things both manager and the employee need to reach agreement:

1. The subject and purpose of the discussion

2. The structure of discussion.

Example: Manager: “ Waheed, before you go to the next call, let’s take a few minutes to discuss what behavior you want to examine during the next call”.

Employee: “ Yes, good idea. I’d like to focus on the actions I take that Seek Commitment from my client.

Using Questioning technique to seek information about employee’s developmental need.

There are three categories of questions:

1. Open (Expand the conservation)

2. Closed (Limit the conservation)

3. Assumptive (Requiring confirmation or

consideration)

Open-ended Questions: Open questions allow people to respond in a verity of ways.

Open questions keep the conservation flowing. They encourage

comments from listeners.

Example:

Manager: What ideas do you have?

Employee: Well, I thought perhaps it might be better to leave

information for the client to review before I schedule a call. And

for those who seem to need more research perhaps I could prepare

a more detailed packet for them.

Remember Open question begin with:

How? What? When? Who?

Where?

Closed- ended Questions:Closed –ended questions limit the options given to the

representative when responding to you.

Example:

Manager: Did using Open questions produce the results

we anticipated?

Representative: Yes.

Assumptive Questions: Assumptive questions are closed questions that deal with a broader base of knowledge and call upon the representative to confirm or consider an assumption related to the discussion objective. Example:

Manager: Am I right in assuming that you

would be willing to work on structuring your

open questions to gather information to improve

your sales dialogue?

Sales Executive: Yes, I did.

Listening Techniques:There are two listening techniques: Paraphrasing and

Summarizing.

The appropriate use of above approaches is useful for an

effective coaching or counseling.

According to Robert Bolton: “A Paraphrasing is a

concise response to the speaker which states the essence of

the other content in the Listener’s own words.”

“A Summarizing is the presentation of a shortened version of

the representative’s conservation in point form, using the same words

spoken”.Purpose of Summarizing: 1.As a bridge into the current discussion from a previous one.

2.To organize the information which the representative is giving

you.

3.To focus your discussion with the representative.

It should be born in mind that you should use paraphrasing no

more than 2 to 3 times during conservation. Summarizing should be

used only once during a conservation.

2. Check with the Standards:

The approach to this phase of the Coaching & Counseling process should be:

1.What are the Company’s standards for this performance? OR

2.What did we agree were the characteristics of ……

Characteristics of Behavioral Standards.

1. Action (What is to be done?)

2. Condition (Under what Circumstances)

3. Unit of measurement (Quality or quantity- how well or how

often)

3.Reinforcement:The reinforcement phase of Coaching & Counseling Model

to ensure that the manager and the employee:

Highlight desirable behavior and positive outcomes .The

manager should not reinforce and support the employee’s

behavior until the employee indicates that he is pleased.

Reinforcement is always positive.

4.Analyze:

Phase involves the following components:

1. Behavior:

The employee’s behavior is observed or recalled.

2. Consequences:

The outcome or results of the behavior are noted.

3. Standards:

The employee’s behavior is compared to company

behavioral standards for the activity.

5. Plan:It is strongly recommended that the employee should be

reinforced to write his or her own Plan. It can be done in

format prescribed by the company and both manager and the

employee are agreed to implement. This formalizes the type

of contract for performance and also serves as a reminder to

both the parties.

6. Monitor:

Monitoring is the act of follow-up on a regular

basis to see how the activities agreed to the plan phase are

progressing.

The purpose of the Monitoring phase is to ensure that all

steps outlined in the employee’s Plan, or

“performance Contract” is being carried out by the

employee.

The Employee’s Plan should include Objectives

that are well stated, should contain three essential

components of well stated objectives:

Follow-up Methods: Call the employee to ask how they are progressing with the plan. Send a memo informing the employee that you would like to hear about progress Drop by the employee at a convenient time.

The Benefits of Counseling

COUNSELING CONFLICT PROCESS:

STEP ONE: Focus on Behavior.STEP TWO: Discuss impact of behavior on his Colleagues.STEP THREE: Discuss present consequences to Employee based on present behavior.STEP FOUR: Discuss manager’s Alternatives.STEP FIVE: Conclusion: No basis to continue relationship.

Decision Phase:At each phase you have to Assess and Decide:Does the employee recognize the problem?The manager must resist the tendency to say, “You have a problem””

COUNSELING CONFLICT

Step One: Focus on Behavior

Possible questions you may ask during this step:-- “I noticed that I have not received the report I asked for (Date). What is the reason that I do not have it?-- “ How often does this occur…(Wait for answer) … (Provide specific overtime to document behavior)-- “ What can you say in light of this? ”

Step Two: Discuss Impact of Behavior on Colleagues.

During this step you want the employee to recognize the impact of his undesirable behavior on others.Possible questions:-- “Do you know what happens when your work is late?” (You must be prepared to wait for the employee to think and answer.)--- “What reaction would you expect from other who send their reports on time, if they knew what you have been doing?”

--- “ What consequences do you think occurs when I am able to report to (name of your superior) of my division, because your report doesn’t get to me?”--- “ What you can say in light of this?”

Step Three: Discuss present consequences to Employee based on present behavior:

If the employee still does not recognize that there is a problem, you must begin to focus your question to the employee on the personal consequences that will follow to him if the negative performance continues. The employee needs to recognize the impact of the undesirable behavior on himself.Possible questions:-- “What might happen if you continued to send your reports in late?” (In addition to the Employee’s Answer/S, the manager should be prepared to realistic consequences of continued negative behavior if the employee does not know.)-- “ What can you say about your behavior in light of all this?”

Step Four: Discuss Manager’s Alternatives:if the employee does not agree that their behavior is a problem, your question must begin to focus on the alternatives, which are available to you. You should attempt to encourage the employee to assist you in identifying your alternatives.

At this point, through the input of the employee, consider all available Alternatives including termination of the employee.

Possible Questions:

-- “Can I allow you to send in your work late or not at all?”

-- “If my manager has given me a set of items that I must do and

what you are doing keeps me from doing What I Must Do .

What alternatives do I have available to me?”

-- “ What Options do you think exist for me, as your manager?”

-- “ If all these things happen as a result of your behavior, what

can you say about it?”

OPTION STEP—ONE LAST STEP BEFORE TERMINATION.There are times circumstances , Policies , organizational regulations or even personal preferences indicates that you should give your employee one last opportunity to improve performance to a level which you can accept.

You may wish to proceed directly to consequences or you may wish to make one final attempt to “ rehabilitate “. The consequences must be real and dealt with on time. These may include such things as :•No merit•Restricted participation in otherwise desirable activities•No preferred assignments•Final terminationThe chances that the behavior will be changed are good if, and only if, the employee recognizes a problem and the consequences of the problem.

Step Five: TerminationPossible questions:

-- “ What did you say would happen if the report did not come on time?”

-- “ You said that your behavior was in disagreement with the standards. You told me how you would correct it and I agreed .You agreed that I should be able to rely on your word., Now I note that the original behavior continues. What happens next? … (wait)-- “ You leave me no choice but to find Someone Who Can Do the Job.”

Section 4Empowerment

Building a Committed Workforce Empowerment is a fundamentally different way of working together.

1.Employees feel responsible not just for doing a job, but also for making the whole organization work better. The new employee is an active problem solver who helps plan how to get things done and then does them.2.Teams work together to improve their performance continually, achieving higher levels of productivity.3.Organizations are structured in such a way that people feel that they are able to achieve the results they want, that they can do what needs to be done, not just what is required of them and be rewarded for doing so.

The Empowered workplace is characterized by:1.Enhancing the contents of the work.

2.Expanding the skills and tasks that make up a job.

3.Liberating creativity and innovation.

4.Greater control over decisions about work.

5.Completing a whole task rather just portion of it.

6.Customer satisfaction.

7.Marketplace orientation.

You

Them

Them

You Them

Them

Them

Empowerment is not just a set of techniques but rather a way of constructing an inner understanding of the relationship between yourself and the people you work with..

One way of understanding this is to notice the difference in attitude between a person

who says “ I do what I am” and a person who says “ I am what I do “The person who says that

“ I am production manager” derives identity from external cues such a job title, or a

company. The person who says “I manage production” finds identity

from cherished attitudes, beliefs and values.