Assessing Sales Force Effectiveness

By Gary Schwebach

Physicians are increasingly inaccessible to pharmaceutical sales reps, so it is more important than ever to understand what physicians value and to deliver what matters—quickly. But how does a pharmaceutical company determine what its customers want and how to provide it?

It’s not easy, especially with the traditional way of measuring sales force effectiveness. This approach typically consists of looking at how many sales calls a rep makes to detail a certain brand and that brand’s change in market share over time. Obviously, these figures overlook the most important part of the story—the customer, which is the only source for real-world insight to sales force effectiveness.

For instance, if sales call volume and market share show an upward slope, does that conclusively mean that increasing the number of details is the best—and only—way to increase market share? Of course not. Sales management also needs to consider the quality of the sales call and how to get various physicians to respond to them.

Today’s healthcare marketplace is fiercely competitive. Companies must stay tuned to what drives prescribing decisions among various physician segments and monitor how its reps—and its competitors—are performing on these measures. While there are core behaviors that correlate with all sales performance, behaviors that drive prescriptions in one practice aren’t necessarily going to be successful in another. Sales management needs to understand what really influences different types of doctors to prescribe one brand over another. In other words, what works and what does not during sales calls?

The best way to find out if a rep is effective is to find out what physicians think are behaviors that provide value to them. This will vary by specialist and therapeutic category, so what matters most at the end of the day is finding out how a rep can provide value and thus ensure continued access to key physicians.

Researchers can uncover this information by asking physicians what traits of sales reps are are valuable (e.g., knowledgeable, honest, responsive) and then determining the impact of these traits on the physicians’ prescribing. Then, they can drill down to find out what behaviors lead physicians to perceive a rep as having each of these desired attributes. For example, what specific behaviors lead a physician to think a rep is responsive, and what can reps do to communicate and prove they are responsive?

By identifying what rep behaviors equate to a desired attribute in the minds of physicians and which attributes lead to prescriptions, sales management can provide targeted training and development programs for the sales force. This information can improve sales rep performance by helping them understand how different practices respond to various behaviors. These front-line professionals can then adjust their technique for various segments by honing in on behaviors that make the strongest positive impression on different types of doctors.

In the end, a sound sales force effectiveness research program can help companies increase sales and market share. Limiting this important effort by measuring only call volume and market share also limits the benefit a pharmaceutical company can get from its sales force.

About the Author
Dr. Gary Schwebach co-founded G & S Research in Indianapolis in 1997 after serving as a market research and strategy consultant to Eli Lilly and Company. In 2005, he spearheaded the development of a new business unit focused exclusively on thought leaders in the life sciences industries.

Currently, Dr. Schwebach is overseeing corporate operations in the areas of medical meeting research and sales effectiveness services. His professional expertise lies in the areas of business and marketing strategy and research methodologies, and he has extensive experience in moderating medical meetings.

Dr. Schwebach received an undergraduate degree in political science/Chinese language from the University of California, Riverside in 1977. He spent seven years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy and earned a Master degree in public administration from Virginia Tech in 1982. Following military service, he held an account executive position with Merrill Lynch.

Dr. Schwebach received a Juris Doctorate from University of California, Davis, in 1990 and practiced with the international law firm, Latham & Watkins. He received Master and Doctorate degrees in business administration from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1998, where he taught marketing strategy and market research.

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