| Training has always been an integral part of a strong | | | | the payout will only be that much (the capped figure). |
| Pharmaceutical company. More so to thecompany's | | | | And to qualify for maximum incentive takes more |
| field force or sales force. Since pharma sales force | | | | than basic foundation training. |
| will be responsible to turn solid marketing ideas into | | | | I have made a remark previously that many new |
| flowing revenue, training becomes even more | | | | Pharma sales reps are motivated by money. Thiswill |
| important. | | | | work for the company because now, all the |
| But unfortunately, Pharma Companies face big | | | | company had to do is to train these highly motivated |
| dilemma when come to training the sales force. | | | | sales force with some extra skills. |
| Here's the dilemma: What if we trained them and | | | | It could be as simple as grooming skills. |
| they leave, and what if we do not train them and | | | | With an added skills and competencies, the sales |
| they stay? | | | | force is directly empowered to produce more results |
| So, which dilemma is bigger...training or not training? | | | | and perform better. For the company, that means |
| I'll go with the 'train-but-leave' Pharma sales rep and I'll | | | | more revenue into the profit column of the Profit |
| share with you my argument forthat in this article. | | | | and Loss Statement. |
| Pharmaceutical Companies experience one of the | | | | Money somehow had the power to cause |
| highest turnover-rate for their sales force. Even | | | | dependency. The more the new pharma reps get |
| though Pharma Industry offers high basic salary and | | | | hold of it, the more they want it, and that will cause |
| attractive perks, they are not enough to keep Sales | | | | them to add few more days, months or years with |
| Reps forever. They will leave eventually, and the | | | | the company. All because of add on training. |
| reasons for that are many, which include: | | | | If they decided to leave after that, the company had |
| . Better job offer | | | | already recouped it's investment in providing the |
| . Dissatisfaction with overall working condition: | | | | training. Possibly more. Look at it this way. The |
| managers, peers, workload, etc. | | | | company spends maybe a few hours (training can be |
| . Personal reasons e.g. marriage, parenting, move to | | | | very fast and effective these days) training the reps |
| new areas, further study. | | | | and in return, the reps provide it with months and |
| In short, leaving a company is natural. | | | | years of optimum revenue. |
| Now training comes into the picture. | | | | Optimum because, for a motivated Pharma rep to |
| A new sales rep will at least get a basic training after | | | | get maximum incentive, he had to be a high achiever. |
| joining the company. Generally, the basic training | | | | And that's easily translated to 15 to 20% more than |
| covers basic foundation for products training, sales | | | | the basic budget requirement as discussed before. |
| and marketing, and personal role or administration. | | | | This scenario happens only with trained Pharma Sales |
| The goal for this basic training is to prepare the | | | | force. |
| Pharma rep to do the job right, and instill a good | | | | For the untrained sales force, they will only do the |
| 'come-to-work' behavior. | | | | necessary to hit the budget, just enough for them to |
| If we run a simple survey to a new Pharma rep to | | | | keep the job. They might be motivated but their |
| know the reason for choosing the job, 9 out of 10 | | | | motivation is different. They just want to keep the |
| people will say because of the money. And this is a | | | | job and enjoy the perks e.g. company car, mileage |
| very important piece of information as you shall see | | | | claims, travel allowances, etc. Period. |
| later. | | | | The longer they stay with the company, the bigger |
| It is not a secret that a good Pharma Company | | | | the loads the company had to carry. By load I mean |
| offers high incentive payout to motivate its sales | | | | the compensation if let say the company decided to |
| force. One company I used to work for had the | | | | cut him loose if the need arises. |
| salary to incentive ratio of 40:60. It simply means | | | | It is not a surprise to see some company still keep |
| that total incentive annually is higher than the total | | | | certain people even though it is more profitable to |
| annual salary. | | | | just let them go than to keep them. |
| But there's a catch... | | | | There is too much at stake. |
| To earn maximum incentive, a Pharma rep has to | | | | And this sums up my argument to why I prefer |
| achieve, typically, more than 100% of the allocated | | | | 'trained-but-leave' Pharma sales rep |
| budget. Usually it comes within the range of 115 to | | | | than'untrained-but-stay' rep. I simply choose short |
| 120% of the total budget. Some companies even put | | | | term high profit over long term high liability. But that's |
| a 'cap' to this figure, and after the cap, the incentive | | | | just me. |
| payout is 'flat'. No matter how big the extra figure is, | | | | |