Three keys to success for Sales Leaders to prepare their teams to shatter the 6 month launch window.

1. LAUNCH READINESS:
3 KEYS TO SUCCESS FOR
SALES LEADERS

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3 KEYS TO SUCCESS
FOR SALES LEADERS
By: Brad Ansley, Global Healthcare Practice Leader
The importance of product launches, especially in the pharmaceutical
market, has been validated many times over. They are the life blood of the
pharmaceuticalworld. Newproductlaunchesallowpharmacompaniestoovercome
the impact of products losing patent protection and the corresponding loss of
market share to competition or generics.
In years past, companies focused on launching fewer products with higher
revenue potential – the so called “blockbuster” product. Due to multiple market
factors, the focus has shifted to more product launches into smaller markets. In
fact,theFDAapprovedarecord51drugsin2015-farmorethantheannualaverage
of 28 for the previous 8 years. Additionally, just under half of product approvals in
2015 were for products that treat rare or “orphan” diseases.
Given the product approval trends over the last two years and the robust
R&D pipeline in the industry, it is feasible to expect a similar number of product
approvals in 2016. This is great news, right? For millions of patients, the answer is
“yes.” But let’s look at it from the company perspective. Consider these sobering
statistics:
• The average cost to bring a new pharmaceutical product to market is
estimated to be $2.6 billion. i
• Only 2 in 10 pharmaceutical products return the cost of development. ii
• Two-thirdsofdruglaunchesfailedtomeetpre-launchsalesexpectations
for the first year on the market. iii
• Less than 20% of product launches make significant improvements to
the product market share trajectory after the critical 6 month launch
window. iv
If you picture each one of these statistics as a 50 lb. weight that is stacked
on the shoulders of the sales leader, it is easy to see that a product launch is a heavy
burden.
So, what can the sales leaders responsible for launching a new product do
to prepare their team to shatter the 6 month launch window?
MARKET CHANGES = MISALIGNMENT
Changes in the healthcare business and practice model have created a
new definition of customer value and new expectations of sales representatives.
Customers now expect representatives to deliver patient-focused, evidence-
based solutions that solve critical clinical and/or business issues for the whole
organization. Companiesthatsellintohealthcareorganizationsarenowrecognizing
that these changes have created a misalignment between customer expectations
and the way they sell.
While many papers on launch effectiveness focus on broad organizational
success factors, beginning with product development, we will focus on 3 key areas
that need to be aligned to enable sales teams to successfully launch a new product.

3. 3© Sales Performance International, Inc
These 3 areas are:
• Product Messaging
• Sales Competencies
• Sales Process
ALIGNING YOUR MESSAGE
For years, the pharmaceutical industry successfully leveraged the share
of voice sales model to drive market share. This was especially true during the
first year of a product launch. More product messages delivered at launch meant
higher market share trajectory in the all-important 6 month launch window. In fact,
most of the sales training and marketing collateral focused on product attributes
and characteristics. Old habits die hard. While training and marketing try to be
more customer centric, much of the launch support material produced today is still
developed from the product or company’s perspective, not the customer’s. In turn,
representatives struggle with the ability to communicate the value of solutions that
their product could deliver to stakeholders. They continue to emphasize efficacy
or mechanism of action, rather than how the product will provide value by solving
specificclinicalproblemsor helpingthe organization hit key healthcare metrics. This
is a subtle but vitally important distinction.
Especially now, product-focused messaging frustrates stakeholders
becauseitgivesthemonlypartoftheinformationtheyneedtochangetheircurrent
practice. While knowing the features of a product is important, it is not enough. In
order to feel comfortable with their decision to adopt a new therapy, stakeholders
alsodemandthatrepresentativesarticulatehowasolutionwillimpacttheirpatients,
practice, or organization, and to what degree. Specifically, they want to know what
kind of unique advantage the solution may provide and how much it will be worth to
them, before they can make a confident decision. Anything less, and it will impact
the degree of launch success.
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE SOLUTION MESSAGES
Inthebook,TheSolution-CentricOrganization,KeithEadesandRobertKeardescribe
how product marketing teams can help sales representatives articulate value by
conducting a customer-focused solution messaging exercise to develop a Solution
Messaging Card. The card consists of the following components:
• Customer Problem – a brief description of the problem, need, or
opportunity being experienced by a specific physician/organization
• Trend Relevance – key trends and issues in the marketplace that relate
to the problem state of the customer, which illustrate its pertinence and
importance
• Cause of Problem – specific causal factors in the customer’s environment
that are creating the problem situation
• Problem Impact – specific clinical, operational, and/or financial impact of
the problem on the patients or the practice – specifically, the bad things
that happen if the problem is not addressed
• Required Capabilities – capabilities required to address the specific causes
of the problem
• Clinical Evidence / Metrics / Proof of Value – clinical, operational, and/
or financial data metrics that can be used to determine if the problem is
being successfully addressed
• Solution Linkage – how the proposed solution fulfills the capabilities
required to address the problem or need

4. 4© Sales Performance International, Inc
• Differentiators – unique aspects of the product that provide an advantage
for the patients and/or the practice
• Case Studies – related case studies that demonstrate prior success in
solving the problem
Once developed, the Solution Messaging Card can be placed in the
representative’s sales playbook as a reference to insure that their discussions are
customer centric and focused on the value their solution can deliver. Additionally,
the exercise provides marketing with clear, aligned, differentiated, value-driven
messages to use in the creation of sales collateral through launch and beyond.
Download a Solution Messaging Card template here.
ALIGNING SALES COMPETENCIES TO MEET NEW CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
Many healthcare stakeholders and decision makers restrict sales
representative access. In fact, the only time they will see them is when they are
launchinganewproduct. Thisgivesevenmoreweighttotheoldsaying“youonlyget
onechancetomakeafirstimpression.” Nowthatstakeholdersanddecisionmakers
in healthcare have a new definition of value, it changes the mix and proficiency
level of sales competencies needed to successfully launch a new product. If sales
organizationscontinuetopreparerepresentativesforlaunchwithoutunderstanding
whichcompetenciesalignwithcustomerexpectationsanddrivemarketshare,then
the sales team will just get better and better at skills that stakeholders care less and
less about.
Based on our competency and assessment experience, the sales
competencies typically in need of alignment are:
• Account management
• Consultative dialogues
• Clinical selling
• Healthcare business acumen
Note: Companies should objectively seek to understand which competencies drive
their specific business outcomes. Then they should assess the proficiency of the
sales team against those competencies and formulate learning plans accordingly.
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
The era of the independent physician with great autonomy is giving way
to widespread physician employment. A recent statistic shows that up to 60%v
of physician group practices are owned by integrated delivery networks (IDN) of
some kind. This business model means centralized, multi-stakeholder decision
making. This trend prompted a recent article in Pharmaceutical Executive titled,
When Care Models Collide, in which the author stated, “In order to successfully
segment and engage customers, strategic account management capabilities need
to be embedded throughout the organization. This should be accompanied by
restructuring sales models to enable selling in a more complex environment.”
Given that the majority of calls that a sales representative makes during
launch will be on an “account” of some type, they must have the ability to sell
collaboratively in a complex environment where they understand the stakeholders
and their individual value drivers. Then by leveraging this information, they must
create a vision of the solution that their product can provide. Without account
management capabilities. representatives may miss critical steps in the sales

5. 5© Sales Performance International, Inc
process that will risk lower than expected launch market share.
CLINICAL SELLING
Many of today’s regulatory changes are focused on the use of evidence-
based medicine (EBM). This rationale is to provide consistent disease treatment
resulting in better patient outcomes and decreased cost of care. To embed EBM
skills in newly trained physicians, regulators now require medical schools to teach
five levels of competency in EBM. Physicians are now taught how to critically
appraise clinical data to look for bias, statistical significance, and clinical relevance.
This approach is influencing physicians’ expectations of sales representatives.
Research shows that EBM holds the strongest customer buying influencevi
, and
over 90% of physicians want reps to make more use of clinical studies and EBM in
their conversations with sales representatives.vii
So during that rare opportunity to access an influential key opinion leader
(KOL) as a result of a new product launch, how much value will a representative
provide if s/he can establish the validity, statistical significance, and clinical
relevance of the solution using the language of a physician? And, how do you think
that compares to a representative that shows up and begins spouting results of a
clinical study?
The clinical selling skills needed to speak the language of the physician are
based on an understanding of the principles of EBM and enable representatives to
link key clinical findings to critical clinical solutions supported by your brand.
HEALTHCARE BUSINESS ACUMEN
With the advent of multi-stakeholder decision making, representatives
musthaveanunderstandingoftheclinicalandbusinesssidesofthebuyingequation.
In the morning, they may be speaking to a clinical influencer while in the afternoon,
they may be speaking to a business administrator that sits on the value analysis

6. 6© Sales Performance International, Inc
committee. Both individuals have different value drivers but have an influence on
clinical decisions. Representatives must be able to demonstrate the value of their
product to both. That means they need an understanding of integrated delivery
network (IDN) business strategies, outcome metrics, and healthcare incentive
management.
BUYER ALIGNED SALES PROCESS
If you were to ask a pharma sales leader if they had a sales process, the
answer would undoubtedly be “yes.” If asked to describe the process, they would
typically describe the steps of the company’s sales call model. There is no doubt
that a call model or framework for a consultative dialog is a key part of a successful
sales process. However, healthcare providers are consolidating into sophisticated
IDN’s. This means that purchasing decisions are becoming centralized to
buying committees with multiple stakeholders. In order to maximize the launch
effectiveness of the sales organization, companies must align with the new
healthcare business model by shifting to a more typical B2B selling process.
A true buyer aligned sales process provides a clear path to winning – the
right things to do, at the right time, with the right people, for the right reasons. It is
inclusive from territory planning through the integration of the change in treatment
protocols in an account. Multiple sources have studied the impact of a well-
integrated sales process and prove that sales performance and sales predictability
increase as the level of sales process integration increases.
An important note here is that the sales process is more than a list of what
to do. It also shows representatives how to do it and includes tools to enable each
action. Additionally, it should include a set of stakeholder behaviors that must occur
throughout the process to validate that both parties are aligned.
CONCLUSION
Launching products in the healthcare market will continue to be a driving
force for revenue growth in the pharmaceutical industry. As competition grows,
product approval accelerates and companies launch more products per year into
smaller markets, so the pressure for launch success grows. The headwinds in
today’s healthcare market leave launch success far from guaranteed.
Just like investors that continue to adjust their portfolio to maximize their
return, pharma sales organizations must align their capabilities with the market
conditions to maximize launch success. That means developing sales messages
from the customer’s perspective, understanding what sales competencies are
neededtoalignwiththeneedsofthehealthcarebuyer,andimplementingatruebuyer
aligned sales process that fits growing complexity in today’s selling environment.
i. Introduction | PhRMA Chart Packs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://phrma.org/chartpack-2015
ii. Introduction | PhRMA Chart Packs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://phrma.org/chartpack-2015
iii. Ahlawat, H., Chierchia, G., & Van Arkel, P. (2014, March). The Secret of Successful Drug Launches. Mckinsey &
Company. Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-
products/our-insights/the-secret-of-successful-drug-launches
iv. Launch Excellence IV: A new launch environment and new challenges for success. (n.d.). IMS. Retrieved February
24, 2016, from https://www.imshealth.com/files/web/Global/Services/Services/TL/IMS_Launch_Excellence_WP.pdf
v. Making Pharma sales reps key to patient outcomes-Accenture. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from https://www.
accenture.com/us-en/insight-rebirth-pharmaceutical-salesforce
vi. Earle, K. (2015, December 1). Training the Sales Rep of the Future. Focus Magazine - Winter 2015. Retrieved January
15, 2015, from http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/LtenFocus/2014/winter/
vii. 2014-2015 What Physicians Want! Survey. Publicis Touchpoint. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from http://www.
touchpointsolutions.com/resource/

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With over three decades of experience in the life sciences
industry as a microbiologist, pharmaceutical sales and marketing
leader,andsalestrainingconsultant,BradAnsleyleadsSPI’sglobal
healthcare industry practice. He is a principal developer of SPI’s
Evidence-Based Solution Selling methodology, and has helped
dozens of companies to improve their ability to sell life sciences industry solutions
to their customers.
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