Abstract
Abstract
Study Background
Internal communication can make or break the productivity of a direct sales
force. If properly used, email and voicemail can quickly disseminate
educational, tactical and motivational information. However, when district
managers and sales reps find their email and voicemail boxes filled with
poorly prioritized or even unnecessary communication, personal productivity
and work-life balance suffer. More than any other industry, sales reps and
managers in the pharma industry often experience the highest levels of
internal communication. Reps not only work in highly matrixed environments
with internal and external copromote partners, they also have to stay
abreastof regulatory changes and scientific developments for drugs in and out
of themarket. Although much of this communication is necessary, reps and
managers also experience a significant level of "noise" as colleagues in the
field or at corporate send communications that are poorly targeted, redundant
or inappropriately timed. When managers become overwhelmed with internal
communication, they often reduce the amount of time they spend coaching in the
field in order to keep up with all of the communication they receive that is
self-labeled "high priority."
When reps receive high levels of unnecessary communication, one of the
following three effects often occurs:
- 1. Reps reduce the time spent in the field with physicians in order to
keep up with internal communication received.
- 2. Reps put in extra hours in the evenings or over the weekend in order to
manage communication, cutting into their work-life balance and potentially
leading to a fast burnout.
- 3. Reps begin to self-select the communications they wish to read,
oftentimes ignoring critical information because it cannot be distinguished
from non-critical information.
Study Objective
Best Practices, LLC launched this research study exclusively for the
pharmaceutical industry to help companies build more effective communication
practices in the sales force.
Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Biotech; Health Care
Companies Profiled:
Pfizer; Sanofi-Aventis; Purdue Pharma; Janssen; Merck; Lilly; Johnson &
Johnson; Ortho-McNeil; Genentech; Allergan
Introduction
Executive Summary
- Research Approach
- Participating Companies
- Figure S.1-Participating Companies
- About the Benchmark Class
- Figure S.2-Sales Territories Represented
- Figure S.3-Therapeutic Areas Represented
- Figure S.4-Total Number of Products Supported
- Figure S.5-Number of Co-Promote Products Supported
- Sample Key Findings
Assessment of Internal Communications
- Introduction
- Figure 1.1-Hours Spent Managing Internal Communication
- Figure 1.2-Hours Spent on Unnecessary Communication
- Figure 1.3-Unnecessary Hours by Communication Type
- Figure 1.4-Over-Communicated Content
- Figure 1.5-Under-Communicated Content
- Analyzing Communication Flows from Regional vs. Headquarters Sources
- Figure 1.6-Average Weekly Rep Communications Volume: Region
- Figure 1.7-Region vs. HQ Breakdown of Communications to Reps
- Figure 1.8-Average Weekly DM Communications Volume: Region
- Figure 1.9-Region vs. HQ Breakdown of Communications to DM' s
- The Cost of Poor Communication.
- Figure 1.10-Annual Cost of Poor Communication
The Role of the District Manager
- Filtering, Prioritizing and Synthesizing Field Communications
- Figure 2.1-District Managers' Screening Role
- Figure 2.2-Breakdown of HQ Communications for DM' s by
- FYI vs. FYA
- Figure 2.3-Breakdown of Regional Communications to Reps
- By FYI vs. FYA
- Figure 2.4-Breakdown of Regional Communications to DMs
- By FYI vs. FYA
- District Managers: The "Air Traffic Controllers" Who Direct
- Field Communications in a Team Environment.
- Figure 2.5-Effective Communications Management Grid
- Communication Effectiveness Techniques
- Best Practice Sharing Etiquette
Training Reps to Communicate Effectively
- Overview
- Figure 3.1-Internal Communication Tracking
- Figure 3.2-Unnecessary Communication.
- Figure 3.3-Filtering/Prioritizing Internal Communication
- Figure 3.4-Making Email Messages more Concise and Effective
- Figure 3.5-Effective Tools for Communicating
- Figure 3.6-Message Prioritization.
How Corporate Can Make a Difference
- Overview
- Redirecting Information Delivery
- Figure 4.1-Volume of Direct Mail Communications to Reps
- Region vs. Headquarters.
- Figure 4.2-Volume of Direct Mail Communications to DMs
- Region vs. Headquarters.
- Headquarters Coordination Role to Reduce Redundancy
- Planning and Coordinating Information Delivery and Requests
Technological Support for Effective Communication
- Figure 5.1-Technology & Media Appropriate Uses
- Sources of Communication in the Field
- Figure 5.2-Communication Access in the Field
- Aligning Technology, Training & Messages for Communications Effectiveness
- Email: Managing a Powerful Tool that Can Steal Time from Field Activities
- Phone, Voicemail, and Conference Calls: Orchestrating
- Effective Voice Communications
- Web, Web Access, and Webcasting
Appendices
- Figure A.1-Communication Frequency by Source
- Figure A.2-Misdirected Communication
- Figure A.3-Redundant Communication
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