Field Force Excellence: Empowering Frontline Managers
1. TM
MEDICINMAN
January 2013 | www.medicinman.net
FIELD FORCE EXCELLENCE
Guest Editorial
“Year end is neither an end nor a beginning but a
going on, with all the wisdom that experience can
instill in us.”
– Hal Borland
K. Hariram
s we enter into the New Year - 2013, everyone around us may start asking
„what is your new year resolution?‟ Do we really need to wait till the beginning
of the year to make resolutions and commitments?
Think of a ship which has decided to go on a new course but is still anchored in
the shore. Will it be able to sail? Definitely, not. Think about it – are we behav-
ing like the ships in most cases? We make resolutions but forget to free our-
selves from the shore. We are still tied to our limitations.
Can we change our limiting beliefs? Making resolutions are important. What is
more important is backing it with action plans and acting upon these plans
within a time period.
So commitments and resolutions can only be handled by a persevering and
persistent mind, which is ready to unlearn, learn and relearn.
2. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 2
As a part of your resolution, you may list out what you can Hone your sales presentation skills and also the negotiat-
and can‟t do in your work situation. This will help you to ing skills to help your sales team. Use feedback properly
clarify your professional goals. They are: to improve relationship at all levels.
What You Can Do At Work. A COACH – Learn to create a proper environment for
performance improvement. Model professional attitude
1) Help create and mould a performing team. and behavior. As a coach, you provide each of your team
members with specific feedback on strengths and weak-
2) Make selling and work effective and enjoyable to your
nesses. Work with each person to create and implement a
team members.
developmental plan to improve performance plus an agen-
3) Help your team members to set specific goals. da for ongoing training and development in selling skills,
4) Guide your team members to perform consistently. sales strategy, and product and market knowledge.
5) Coach your team members in the necessary skills, to So, take pride in being a Front-line Manager and enjoy
help them excel in performance. working with your team members. Your only motto
should be to make your team members „successful‟.▌
6) Involve your team members in relevant strategy im-
plementation. Read the Extraordinary Career Growth of Mr. K Hariram
from Medical Rep to Managing Director in the August 2011
7) Involve your team members to chalk out a plan for
issue of MedicinMan HERE.
their career goals.
8) Collaborate with key customers. K. Hariram is the Former (Retd) MD,
9) Be a role model and lead your team from the front. Galderma India,
Email: khariram25@yahoo.com
What You Can’t Do At Work.
1) Change the market conditions.
2) Influence changing the macro environment, regula-
tions etc.
3) Stop the competition.
4) Decrease the price of your high priced products.
5) Expect all your team members to be the „same‟.
Knowledge of market place enables you as the FLM to
guide your team members to customer driven solutions; it
helps you serve as effective role models for your people. It
also earns your team‟s respect – a key ingredient, in
today‟s context of managing generation Y.
Don’t Leave Front-line
Please remember to perform the actions associated with
Leadership to Chance!
the following 3 roles, to be more effective:
A STRATEGIST – have full knowledge of the organiza-
tional sales strategy and industry and market trends, and is Designed to
perception to develop team strategies and goals that reflect
Empower Your FLMs with
a balance between achieving financial goals and satisfying
customers. Business Management and
Emotionally Intelligent
A COMMUNICATOR – organize and use the infor-
mation effectively. Develop the right interpersonal skills Leadership Skills to
and seek a clear understanding of all communications, to Create Winning Teams.
clarify expectations and to resolve conflict. anupsoans@gmail.com
3. Contents
CLICK TO NAVIGATE.
5. English Vinglish 17. Competitive Intelligence
Your field force must think clearly and Keeping tabs on the competition by mining
cleverly before they can speak good English. and organizing digital data.
Dr. S. Srinivasan Jasvinder Singh Banga
7. Force of Habit
How to make Repeat Rx of your brand a
matter of habit for Doctors. 19. Evidence Based Information:
Prabhakar Shetty Health Economics Outcomes and
Research
9. Hot on LinkedIn: “Why Invest in People Combining Economic Outcomes with Clini-
if Sooner or Later They are Going to cal Outcomes to determine the true value
Leave Us?” of healthcare interventions.
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi Richa Goyal and Mahendra Rai
12. Best Practices in Segmentation and
Targeting for Pharma 21. Medical Communication in the
21st Century
Enabling the Field Force to cover their
territories more effectively for greater Unless steps are taken to remedy inertia,
productivity. traditional pharmaceutical industry is
destined to go the Choluteca Bridge way
Joshua Mensch
HBR Special
Dr. Neelesh Bhandari
15. In Sales Management, the Waning
Power of ’Push’ and ’Pull’ 22. Win the Hearts of Your Team -
A digitally-empowered sales force the right way
responds better to collaboration rather than Create trust and goodwill in your team by
top-down push-pull strategies. helping them succeed at work.
Andris A. Zoltners, PK Sinha, and Sally V. Srinivasan
E. Lorimer
MedicinMan Vol. 3 Issue 1
Editor and Publisher: Anup Soans CEO: Chayya S. Sankath COO: Arvind Nair Chief Mentor: K. Hariram
Advisory Board: Vivek Hattangadi; Jolly Mathews
Editorial Board: Salil Kallianpur; Dr. Shalini Ratan; Shashin Bodawala; Prabhakar Shetty; Varadarajan S; Dr. Mandar Kubal; Dr. Surinder Kumar
MedicinMan Academy: Dr. S. Srinivasan, Dean, Medical Education Prof. Vivek Hattangaadi, Dean, Professional Skills Development
www.medicinman.net
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5. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 5
English
Vinglish
Dr. S. Srinivasan
“
o, I am not knocking on Madam Sridevi‟s Bollywood door. The linguistic abilities of our ‘boys’ are
I am just sharing my own take on the way we use, misuse
intricately linked with their thinking
and abuse this foreign language while making a sales pitch
to potential prescribers of our products. abilities. And for the latter, there is a
A disclaimer right upfront. My own English (or whatever third entity called understanding abil-
passes for it) may sound abominable to some, so I won‟t ity. If the last mentioned is below par,
make the mistake of judging others‟. In fact I may even
so will the other two be, no matter
wander around to the view that good English, let alone
Queen‟s English, is not a pre-requisite for achieving sales what language or dialect you try to
targets. Wanna throw eggs and tomatoes at me? No prob- use.
lem. I knew they were coming my way anyway….
I know it is fashionable to lament the way our “boys”
speak and write Hinglish. I also know it is equally fashion-
able to jump on the supercilious bandwagon of Anglo- Thinking, not just speaking.
philes and Indo-phobes in the rarefied atmosphere of phar-
I think we should begin by teaching the boys to think
ma marketing gurukuls. But I will resist such temptations.
clearly and cleverly, if they didn‟t learn it at home or
Language, any language. school (for that we ourselves should start thinking clearly
Years ago, somewhere in a small town in Barabanki in and cleverly but that is a different story!). And that is often
Uttar Pradesh, my convent educated Delhiite Punjabi best done in the mother tongue and not in the contrived
friend cum Regional Manager was struggling to construct pseudo-English detailing verbiage peppered with doctor,
three complete sentences in Hindi about our hematinic and doctor every third sentence. To make things worse, the
handed over the mike to me. And I, a blue-blooded Tamil- obsession with „one minute detailing‟ (whatever that
medium-educated-Madrasi-turned-Marathi-Manoos started means) delivered every morning through SMS to the rep-
waxing eloquent in Mumbaiya Bollywood Ishtyle „Hindi‟. resentative‟s cell phone throws the baby out with the bath
I think at the end of it all the audience got an idea of what water, so the linguistic front is only getting murkier by the
hemoglobin is and does to our „taakat‟ and why they day.
should drink our „iron tonic‟ in gallons.
We once had an all-India sales manager who would partic-
I have also noticed over the years that those who speak
ularly choose Roman Catholics for field positions, though
„good‟ Hinglish, also speak „good‟ Hindi / Bengali / Tamil,
he was a twice-born Hindu himself. Not that he was long-
what have you. Contrariwise, those who mess up Hinglish,
also mess up their own Mother Tongue. To me, the reason ing to be baptized in the local church the next morning but
is simple. The linguistic abilities of our „boys‟ are intri- he sincerely believed that Catholics spoke good English
cately linked with their thinking abilities. And for the lat- and so would deliver excellent detailing monologues. But
ter, there is a third entity called understanding ability. If alas, his hopes were belied before the next monsoon and
the last mentioned is below par, so will the other two be, the marketing chief had to intervene to put an end to this
no matter what language or dialect you try to use. pernicious practice.
6. MedicinMan January 2013 English Vinglish | Page 6
Terminalia bellerica
Recently, I sat through a product launch session in a medi-
um sized company. The USP of the product was a clever
mix of herbs and known molecules. The trainer made a
gallant effort to make the sales friends pronounce the
name of the above mentioned herb. After 18.56 minutes of
such labor, the boys could pronounce the name with some
ease and even repeat it without looking at the visual aid.
Great. But what next? The poor guys couldn‟t convincing-
ly explain what this tongue-twister actually does beyond
repeating the lines of the visual aid. I am not sure if these
„boys‟ would go out in the field with confidence and clari-
ty as to how this botanical wonder would work miracles in
the patient‟s body.
One of the main reasons why our „boys‟ are not able to
attract and hold attention of the doctor is that they don‟t
build a semblance of logic in their detail talk. Our mind
simply cannot capture, store and retrieve data or sound
bytes unless they make some sense somewhere in the cer- Dr. S. Srinivasan is former Sr. VP at
ebral cortex. How many of our detail talks are really logic Aventis. He is currently a lifecoach and
based? Dean, Medical Education at MedicinMan
I can go on and on. To make a long story short, English or Academy.
Vinglish, first get the semantics right. Syntax, diction and
Email: balanceistheessence@gmail.com
delivery will follow. ▌
For Your Daily Dose
of Insight into Field
Force Excellence,
Pharma Intelligence
and Motivation,
connect with our
Editor on Facebook
Facebook.com/anup.soans
Facebook.com/anup.soans
7. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 7
Force of
Habit.
Prabhakar Shetty
“
abit is one of the most compelling forces that determines
A Doctor is on the path of developing
human and animal behavior. Habit is a repetitive behavior
or action performed without conscious thought and is an Rx Habit when he starts prescribing
mainly controlled by the sub conscious mind, which works your brand. Repeat Rx reinforces the
many times faster. Would you like to harness the powerful
„Force of Habit‟ to boost your sales and career?
process of habit formation. The time
Habits are deeply ingrained and determine our behavior span for developing a permanent
and actions, for example: habit could vary from weeks to
Do you stay at the same hotel when you are touring? months. When the prescribing habit is
Do you sleep at the same spot in your house?
deeply ingrained in the mind of the
Does your family buy the grocery mainly from ONE shop?
Doctor, the prescription is a ‘Reflex’
If the answer is yes, to all the above questions, you would
have realized what „Force of Habit‟ is all about. You were action of the Doctor and Rx as an
under no compulsion to indulge in repetitive behavior or abbreviation is indeed very apt.”
actions. But you were compelled by the „Force of Habit‟.
Rx Habit Formation.
A Doctor is on the path of developing an Rx Habit when 3) Treat each call as a continuation of previous visits and
he starts prescribing your brand. Repeat Rx reinforces the maintain a record of critical information like queries and
process of habit formation. The time span for developing a comments of the Doctor. You may get some very vital
permanent habit could vary from weeks to months. When clues there.
the prescribing habit is deeply ingrained in the mind of the 4) Acknowledge and express gratitude for Rx received
Doctor, the prescription is a „Reflex‟ action of the Doctor and subtly let the Doctor know that you are quantitatively
and Rx as an abbreviation is indeed very apt. tracking the Rx and that you really value his contribution.
7 Essential Steps. The Doctor needs to know that you are sincere and com-
mitted. Your actions will speak louder than words.
1) Focus on one product at a time. This ensures that mes-
sages get anchored in the mind of the Doctor and your 5) Use „Situational Detailing‟ and hold the Doctor‟s atten-
product position keeps moving up the ladder of prefer- tion with some new aspect or proof. Create a pleasant set-
ences. ting for interaction. It ensures that messages are received
2) Start your detailing with the main prescribed product to and processed.
reinforce your earlier efforts and clearly indicate that the 6) Ensure that the product is available for EVERY pre-
brand is CONSISTENTLY your priority. The Doctor must scription without exception. Co-ordinate with the Stockist
know your priority. This enhances „top of the mind‟ recall and his Salesmen to replenish stocks, especially within
as well action in the form of Rx. 3-4 days of your visit.
8. MedicinMan January 2013 Force of Habit. | Page 8
7) Develop your information network to track frequency, 4) If you are unaware about the extent of Rx for your
quantity and regularity of Rx for your products and your product, it may demolish Rx Habit formation. The Doctor
competitors as well. When you have greater than 51% Rx concludes that you no longer have the „fire in the belly‟.
share or if you get Rx on a daily basis for over 3 months, 5) Avoid parrot like „standard detailing‟. The Doctor may
you may conclude that an Rx Habit has been established. stop paying attention to you.
Avoid Rx Habit Demolition. 6) Do not let an Rx bounce. Despite your „usual‟ best ef-
forts the stocks available may not be sufficient for 2 or 3
You may be part of an Rx Habit demolition squad includ-
patients. This will surely demolish Rx Habit at least up to
ing your FLMs and other Managers. The „demolition be-
your next visit and most often for months together.
haviors‟ are due to a „blissful state of ignorance‟ about the
product, its availability and the competitors‟ activities. It 7) Do not „emphasize‟ other products before Rx Habit
is also fuelled by quantitative work norms and directives formation is established. The Doctor may prescribe 3 or 4
from Corporate. You may be armed with a 3 kg Visual more brands of yours, but at the cost of your priority
Aid for 24 products with 3-4 specialty wise „Standard brand. Steady Rx Habit for even one brand produces
Detailing‟ versions. You have to recognize that each Doc- greater sales volume, than sporadic Rx of 3 or 4 brands.
tor is a unique individual and use your discretion while You are far more successful in generating Rx than what
applying common directives. your sales figures indicate. Over 80% of your efforts got
7 Essential Precautions. wasted. You did not know it as yet!
1) Avoid emphasis on too many products at a time. It may Make the „Force of Habit‟ work for you to generate
halt the start of any Rx Habit. „Repeat Rx‟ and ensure progress in your career.▌
2) Talk about the PRIORITY BRAND first. It is the an-
chor in his mind. It triggers the „chain of thought‟ that
Prabhakar Shetty is former Assoc. Director
made the Doctor support you. Otherwise, you may demol-
at Parke Davis.
ish an Rx Habit prematurely.
He is currently a Director at Acumen MMC.
3) Do not ignore or evade queries, concerns and observa- Email: prshetty@gmail.com
tions of the Doctor. It may hurt his ego and demolish the
Website: www.acumenmmc.com
process of Rx Habit formation.
Visit: http://amzn.com/B009G3SJ1Y
COLLABORATING
CONSULTING
CONNECTING
CALLING
Creating Trust and Building Relationships to Generate Repeat Rx.
9. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 9
“Why invest in people if
sooner or later they’re
going to leave us?”
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi Hot on
Linked
Adapted from a discussion on Indian Pharma Connection (see here). Click on names of participants (in blue) to see their LinkedIn profiles.
et me begin by putting a few questions.
Which of these concerns are important?
Reducing attrition by preventing the high-quality
medical representatives and field managers from
leaving?
“ Strengthening people management skills
is perhaps the most effective way to re-
duce attrition! When the organizational
culture is based on respect, trust, and
care – very few people may leave. Field
Stimulating and retaining them?
personnel and brand managers leave for
Attracting talent?
reasons other than money - and an or-
Developing them to be future CEOs of the company?
ganization can address these issues.
All of these can be achieved if people know that we
are interested in their development; this can greatly Most leaving field and brand managers
reduce the rate of attrition. My experience of over 36 seek opportunities that allow them to use
years in the pharma industry in India and the neigh-
and develop their skills.
boring S.E. Asian countries is evidence enough to
show that over half of all people have left a job is due
to bad management (It is an irony that in one of the
industry‟s top company I worked, the highest attri- Strengthening people management skills is perhaps the most
tion rate was in their HRD!). Bad managers reduce effective way to reduce attrition! When the organizational
job satisfaction and motivation, and the organization culture is based on respect, trust, and care – very few people
suffers from low team morale and poor performance may leave. Field personnel and brand managers leave for
even before people quit. And when they do leave, the reasons other than money - and an organization can address
company faces further disruption and loss of produc- these issues. Most leaving field and brand managers seek
tivity, on top of the cost of recruiting and training a opportunities that allow them to use and develop their skills.
replacement. Does an organization know the cost of In the on-going high-quality discussions in LinkedIn, many
attrition? An exercise was done by the HRD of a cli- have expressed interesting view points. Dr. S. Srinivasan
ent company of mine - a mid-sized but very ambi- rightly puts it that the people development “may have an
tious, forward-looking Rs.850 crore company with undercurrent of 'benefit' to the company itself”, but the big-
field strength of 1200. They computed that if the rate gest fallout is reduced rate of attrition. “You will be in a
of attrition of field personnel in their organization is spot if you train people and they leave. But, imagine a situa-
reduced by just 1% (which is currently at 16%), the tion when you DON'T train them and they DON'T leave!” -
company can save up to Rs. 1 crore a year! so nicely put by Maneesh Johari. Well that cost (or loss) to
10. MedicinMan January 2013 Hot on LinkedIn. | Page 10
“
the company will be tremendous. Joydeep Ganguly
If we don't train our people,
rightly observes “If we don't train our people, we may
not be able to present the correct image of our organisa- we may not be able to present
tion to our customers. Like most of us, doctors too have
the left and right hemisphere and very rightly differenti-
the correct image of our
ate the quality of people meeting him regularly”. organization to our customers.
My observation is that just as we classify our doctors as
Like most of us, doctors too
„A‟, „B‟ or „C‟ class, doctors too classify the medical
representatives as „A‟, „B‟ or „C‟ class – and this has no have the left and right hemi-
relation to the organization or the reputation / image of
the organization! It is based on the overall presentation,
sphere and very rightly differ-
knowledge and communication skills. The objective of entiate the quality of people
any training program should be to transform medical
representatives and field managers to „A‟ Class!
meeting him regularly.”
Untrained field personnel may not be able to convey the
quality, the image and status of the company they repre-
sent. What a damning effect on his organization! learns – not through lectures or observations but
I loved the observations of Sasidharan Menon – he through practice. A great portion of the time in training
says: “There are two types of leaders that you find in should involve learning in a simulated environment. Or
any industry - the one who builds his reputation as big as else, as Soumalya Chatterjee says: “life is a vicious
a hill and standing over the top of the hill so that others circle, so, whatever we give comes back to us and vice
look upwards. Then there are the second type of leaders versa... ” Adds Dr. Shalini Ratan: “Having worked as
who dig holes around them so that others fall in and still a medical advisor myself I have learnt a lot from field
look upwards! Training and attitudes of trainers matter.” work. Once I even changed my job to work more close-
But what kind of training and development should we ly with sales rather than marketing. It is about the inner
impart? Unfortunately, many trainers live in ivory towers urge to learn and develop yourself too. And all this pays
and have lost touch with reality. Dr. Mandar Kubal’s in the long run, I suppose.” Her views have been ech-
observations are very interesting: “There is a great dis- oed by Anup Soans: “We need to train the trainers to
connect between the ground reality of sales and the train- go beyond the routine and inspire the First-line Manag-
ing methods and contents. Why don‟t trainers regularly ers and medical representatives to be self directed
come out on the field? Out of the numerous visits from learners. Yes they must be on the field. As the father of
the innumerable companies on a daily basis, I meet just modern management Peter Drucker said, „Everybody in
one to two trainers in calls every five to six months. I the organization should be selling or supporting those
feel there is a disconnect with the ground reality of sales who are selling‟. “I have always been emphasizing that
and the training method and content. The lack of practi- apart from classroom training the first-line managers
cal solutions coming out during training is making medi- should be trained to train the trainers – and no training
cal representatives look at it as an exercise in futility. is as effective as on-the-job training as during joint field
That‟s what I understand from my sales colleagues.” The work.
training managers should know how a good surgeon Shashi Lad makes another very interesting observation:
“One practical way is to empower second
-line managers to be field based trainers
as they can ensure continuous learning
for first-line managers and medical repre-
sentatives, who are otherwise caught up
with routine, day-to-day operations. This
will also keep the second-line managers
agile as otherwise they tend to just add
another layer of redundant bureaucracy.”
11. MedicinMan January 2013 Hot on LinkedIn. | Page 11
“
Adds Dr. Ulhas Ganu: “Inadvertent „Informal Developing people is a leadership skill
Training‟ because of exposure to the environment and is one of the keys for us to be pro-
and the people around also makes a great contribu-
motable. If we do not train our junior
tion to the development by exposure to different
stimuli. That possibly accounts for deviation in be- team-mates enough, we will have no
haviour in spite of good training in schools or at successor. In actuality, we may be do-
home.” – And that is what on-the-job training is all ing a task lower than our level, instead
about. Ajay Kumar Dua reflects the philosophy of
of leading, and creating new leaders.
Ken Blanchard “CATCH THEM DOING RIGHT”
when he says: “It is of utmost importance to ensure And in the end, blocking our own ca-
that all superiors must be trained to recognize the reer progress!
efforts put in by employees.”
In companies which do not believe in training and
enough, we will have no successor. In actuality, we may be
developing people, the employees should take steps
doing a task lower than our level, instead of leading, and
to learn themselves - as Nittu Kumar says: “Self-
creating new leaders. And in the end, blocking our own
directed learning is the ideal way”. What exactly is
career progress! Training should be about whole person
self-directed learning? “In its broadest meaning,
development – not just a few skills! Whether people stay
„self-directed learning‟ describes a process by which
with us or not, we should develop them. Even if someone
individuals take the initiative, with or without the
leaves the organization after going through a development
assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning
program, it is worth investing on people development. How
needs, formulating learning goals, identify human
many would leave? 10%? 20%? 30%? Even then the bal-
and material resources for learning, choosing and
ance 50% 0r 60% or 70% would enhance their capabilities
implement appropriate learning strategies, and eval-
and contribute to the organization, isn‟t it?
uating learning outcomes.” (Ref: M.
Knowles, Principles of Androgogy, 1972) And which other better place than MedicinMan Academy
and attending their sessions like Field Force Excellence
Conclusions. conducted by MedicinMan Academy? ▌
We sometimes think of developing people as just “a
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma
good thing to do”, or as “a favor for our team.”
Brand Management and Sales Training at The Enablers.
However, our ability to coach and develop our team-
He is also visiting faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar
mates is much more than that. Developing people is
University) for their MBA course in Pharmaceutical
a leadership skill and is one of the keys for us to be
Management. Email: vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org
promotable. If we do not train our junior team-mates
Make sure you do not miss out on the latest in Field Force Excellence.
Connect with our Editor on Social Media.
linkedin.com/in/anupsoans
twitter.com/anupsoans
facebook.com/anupsoans
12. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 12
What Are Some of the Best
Practices in Segmentation
& Targeting in Pharma?
How Can Field Force be Enabled to Cover
their Territories More Effectively for
Increased Productivity?
via
Joshua Mensch
“
think the first “best practice” to keep in mind is that Targeting and profiling are mutually
targeting and segmentation are on-going processes, in dependent elements that help com-
constant need of revision according to the current panies identify and gain a product's
climate and actual goals of the organization. The se-
full market potential within a segment.
cond best practice to keep in mind is that the quality
of segment (and the resultant targets that are drawn Segments generated from customer
from those segments) are only as good as the profil- profiles should reflect the goals of the
ing practices of the field force. company rather than general de-
The prioritization of customers depends on a compa- mographics of the customers them-
ny‟s reach, which, in turn, depends on the resources it selves. The goal of profiling is to ena-
has, in particular number of representatives it can uti- ble appropriate segmentation based
lize within a given geographic area. This why target-
on the relevant traits of customers as
ing is in many ways at the heart of any SF sizing dis-
cussion. In cases where companies have limited re- they apply to a company's offering.”
sources, targeting becomes especially important.
Targeting requires solid, reliable information in order
to be effective. When good targeting information is representatives. It is the basis for customer segmenta-
uniformly available, reps' territory assignments and tion and targeting, and is one of the most important
customer segmentation can be managed from the elements of promotional process. Profiles are infor-
point of view of aggregated data on the district and mation sets that allow companies to define segments,
regional levels, enabling appropriate sales force siz- as well as execute and measure strategy.
ing and more balanced territories. However, while Segments generated from customer profiles should
data that chronicles physician-prescribing behavior is reflect the goals of the company rather than general
useful, what is even more useful is segmentation demographics of the customers themselves. The goal
based on physician behaviors, longitudinal insight, of profiling is to enable appropriate segmentation
and attitudes. based on the relevant traits of customers as they ap-
This is where profiling comes in. Targeting and pro- ply to a company's offering.
filing are mutually dependent elements that help com- The challenge, however, is to create profiles that are
panies identify and gain a product's full market poten- "actionable" for the purposes of segmentation and
tial within a segment. Profiles establish the rationale targeting. Just as a segment requires relevant infor-
behind a customer's inclusion in a target group. mation in order to be established, target list needs to
In fact, I would argue that customer profiling repre- match relevant segmentation criteria with the actual
sents one of the key activities of field force medical goals a company has.
13. MedicinMan January 2013 Segmentation and Targeting - Best Practices | Page 13
In terms of best practices, I‟ve found that companies that
use a campaign specific approach to targeting and seg-
mentation (which is to say, they segment their customers
and target them based on the goals for the specific cam-
paign) are more likely to use their resources more wisely,
“ Companies that use a campaign
specific approach to targeting
and segmentation (which is to say,
they segment their customers and
and in a more optimized way than companies that simply
apply the same (often purchased) generic target lists and target them based on the goals for
which only use broad (and often useless) segmentation the specific campaign) are more
criteria.
likely to use their resources more
Regarding segmentation criteria, I think that one "best
wisely, and in a more optimized
practice" is to move from simple quantitative criteria (e.g.
the doctor has 60 patients with hypertension and pre- way than companies that simply
scribes a minimum of 28 Rx / week) to more qualitative apply the same (often purchased)
criteria (e.g. the doctor is an innovative prescriber who
values scientific data and strongly advocates his choices
generic target lists and which only
to other prescribers) and eventually, as the SF matures use broad (and often useless) seg-
(through training, experience and refinement of profile mentation criteria.”
techniques), to multi-dimensional criteria (e.g. the doctor
is loyal, has medium to high Rx potential, and a low
switch rate; she cares about scientific data but cares more
about the cost of care; values companies that provide cost
savings for her patients without sacrificing value, etc.).
Joshua Mensch is Marketing Director at
The benefit of multi-dimensional segmentation is that it Data3s.
enables multiple layers of segmentation to be applied, so Website: www.data3s.com
that the customer can be easily re-classified and targeted A pharma-specific CRM
(or not) depending on the current goals. ▌
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15. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 15
In Sales Management, the Waning
Power of "Push" and "Pull".
“
Andris A. Zoltners, PK Sinha,
and Sally E. Lorimer The generation of "digital natives"
Reprinted with permission from the that comprise a large part of today's
Harvard Business Review blog. sales work force is communication
and technology-savvy and more
alespeople generally have a great deal of autonomy in
team-oriented. The people in this
deciding which customers and products to focus on, how
hard to work, and who to collaborate with. At the same cohort don't rely on a simple vertical
time, sales leaders and managers try to affect the choices conduit of information from their
salespeople make using two predominant forms of influ-
managers. They constantly reach
ence „ "push" and "pull".
out on their own to get work-related
Sales managers "push" salespeople by directing activities
and demanding results. The extreme case of "push" is the information, often using social me-
command-and-control way of working, where leaders dia. They are "push" unfriendly.”
determine what needs to be achieved and how it will be
achieved, and they drive processes to cascade their direc-
tives down the sales ranks. But because of four pervasive and inter-linked threads of
At the same time, companies "pull" salespeople by setting change happening in many sales environments today, the
goals and providing incentives and recognition for suc- power of push and pull is eroding.
cess. By attaching a reward to outcomes „ for example, a First, the increasing "democratization" of information
bonus for goal achievement, or an incentive trip for per- creates a world in which customers and salespeople no
forming in the top 10% of the sales force „ salespeople are longer rely as much on information from headquarters for
"pulled" to accomplish those outcomes. making buying and selling decisions. Customers can learn
You can "push" or direct salespeople if you know which much about a company's offerings online. Salespeople,
direction to push. And you can "pull" if the rewards are too, can easily access information about customers and/or
meaningful to salespeople and the rewards themselves do competitive offerings with the click of a mouse. As cus-
not distract salespeople from critical and appropriate sales tomers and local salespeople become better informed, the
tasks. value of "push" gets weakened.
16. MedicinMan January 2013 In Sales Management, the waning power of push / pull | Page 16
Second, the generation of "digital natives" that comprise a
large part of today's sales work force is communication
and technology-savvy and more team-oriented. The peo-
ple in this cohort don't rely on a simple vertical conduit of
information from their managers. They constantly reach
out on their own to get work-related information, often
using social media. They are "push" unfriendly.
Third, in many sales environments, customers are less
dependent on salespeople to develop solutions to their
problems. Customers are asserting control over the buying
process, and therefore the selling process. More and more,
salespeople have to collaborate with, rather than sell to,
customers. Too much "push" and "pull" creates friction
and dissonance and little success in such a world.
Fourth, when sales processes are complex or require team-
work, the power of short-term individual incentives
("pull") gets weaker. Numerous studies have shown how
incentives become a distraction to the completion of com-
plex tasks.
If "push" and "pull" are losing their power, then where salespeople must be armed (not "pushed" and "pulled")
should leaders go from here? with a value-adding sales process, supported by the right
It's time to step back from "push" and "pull" to focus on tools, resources, and information.
the "person." Just as sales leaders and managers have to Sales force leaders, managers, and salespeople must adapt
adapt to the new realities of managing salespeople, so do to a new way of working; those who can't adapt will not
salespeople need to adapt to the new selling environment. survive. It's time to help the people change, or to change
Success requires a different breed of salesperson „ a self- the people. ▌
directed synthesizer, problem-solver and team player.
Gone is the celebrated model of sales success from yester-
Andris A. Zoltners is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing at
day „ the rugged individualist driven by personal achieve-
Northwestern University‟s Kellogg School of Management. He
ment and money. Sales leaders and managers must build a and PK Sinha are co-founders of ZS Associates. Together with
sales team of people with the right characteristics (innate Sally Lorimer, they are the authors of Building a Winning Sales
traits and abilities) for success in today's world. And they Management Team: The Force Behind the Sales Force.
must align sales development programs (training, coach- Copyright (c) 2012 by Harvard Business Publishing.
ing, and mentoring) to help people develop new compe- Reprinted with permission.
tencies (learned skills and knowledge). At the same time,
missing something important?
Download and read all the past issues of MedicinMan HERE
17. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 17
Competitive
Intelligence
“ Competitive intelligence is the com-
plete monitoring and understanding
of what is happening to your compet-
itors at all times. Effective CI is a con-
tinuous process that involves the gath-
Turning Data into
ering of raw data, matching of data
Actionable Intelligence to create information and the analysis
of the information to generate action-
able intelligence for the decision
Jasvinder Singh Banga makers.”
now your enemy and know yourself; you will not be im-
periled in a hundred battles"- Sun Tzu Competitive intelligence is the complete monitoring and
The old axiom holds true today, as businesses are not less understanding of what is happening to your competitors
than any war. In an ever-changing marketplace, Pharma- at all times. Effective CI is a continuous process that
ceutical companies across the world are challenged to stay involves the gathering of raw data, matching of data to
competitive, differentiated and profitable. The industry is create information and the analysis of the information to
becoming even more competitive, with increasing pres- generate actionable intelligence for the decision makers.
sures from payers, economic volatility, generic threats and CI is not industrial espionage. All information is gained
regulatory scrutiny for the number of new products in through public sources & CI professionals do not engage
development. In the face of such pressures, the ability to in pretext to obtain information about rivals. The Society
assess competitors‟ clinical and commercial activities (in- of Competitive Intelligence Professionals‟ code of ethics
line brands and R&D pipeline) is critical to reduce risk states members must:
and formulate winning strategies. 1) Accurately disclose all relevant information, includ-
The key to remain competitive therefore lies in the ing one's identity and organization, prior to all inter-
knowledge of the environment as well as the competitors, views
so that the organizations are not taken by “surprise” by 2) Comply with all applicable laws, domestic and inter-
developments in the competitive environment. national
18. MedicinMan January 2013 Competitive Intelligence | Page 18
3) Provide honest and realistic recommendations and
conclusions in the execution of one's duties
KITs and KIQs.
Key Intelligence Topics (KITs) are aspects of your envi-
ronment that are of greatest relevance to your organization
for meeting its business objectives. KITs facilitate the
identification of intelligence needs.
Key Intelligence Questions (KIQs) are research questions
to address the gaps after defining the KITs.
CI Process.
Once the CI needs have been defined, existing knowledge
must be reviewed to determine the gaps in the company's
knowledge. A collection plan is then developed to fill
these gaps. The collection plan identifies what types of fully informed decision support tool to contribute to the
information need to be gathered and from what sources. growth of the organization as well as development of
All potential sources of information are used effectively & competitive advantage for the organization. ▌
internal and external sources are integrated.
CI helps in the following:
1) Assessments of competitor intensity and strategic
intent
2) Benchmarking of competitor‟s R&D pipelines
3) Clinical trial assessments
4) Patent analysis and landscaping
5) Assessment of in-licensing potential
6) Commercial market assessment, future trends and
direction
7) Competitor reaction to new market entrants
8) Generic launch intentions; etc.
Social Media has emerged as a strong complement to the
traditional competitive intelligence. It requires right ex-
perts collecting and channeling vital, accurate information
that eliminates the need for extensive searches of tradi-
tional databases and published information. Companies
track:
Source: Mckinsey Quarterly, “How „Social Intelligence‟ Can Guide Decisions.”
1) Facebook and twitter accounts of the companies to
determine their strategies, new launches etc.
Jasvinder Singh Banga works as an Analyst in IMS Health.
2) Conversation of patient in their posts or updates re- His specialties include Pharma Forecasting, Excel-based
modelling, Epidemiology and Market Assessment. He has
garding various Pharma brands done MBA (Pharmaceutical Management) from NIPER and
3) Physician forums to gauge physician preference etc. is a Pharma graduate from Delhi University. Loves reading
literature and history.
To conclude, CI process can better understand the envi- Email: banga.jasvinder@gmail.com
ronment of the industry and deliver on the promise of a
19. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 19
Evidence Based
Medicine: Health
Economics and
Outcomes Research
(HEOR)
Richa Goyal, Mahendra Rai
“
here is an increasing need of evidence-based medicine EBM allows the integration of good
(EBM) among health care professionals in order to estab-
lish clinical decisions. EBM is a systematic approach to
quality published evidence with clinical
clinical problem solving, allowing the integration of the expertise and the opinions and values
best available research evidence. The concept of EBM can of the patients and their families or ca-
be defined as the „„integration of best research evidence
with clinical expertise and patient values‟‟. The practice
reers. EBM is done to improve quality of
of EBM involves a process of lifelong self-directed learn- care by identifying and promoting
ing including patients care and need for important infor- practices that work and eliminating
mation about clinical and other health care issues.
which are ineffective or harmful. Health
EBM recognizes that the research literature is constantly
changing. The task of staying updated, can be made much economics and outcomes research
simpler by incorporating the tools of EBM such as the (HEOR) is an integral part of EBM.”
ability to track down and critically appraise evidence, and
incorporate it into everyday clinical practice. Further,
EBM allows the integration of good quality published
evidence with clinical expertise and the opinions and val- Cochrane reviews are systematic reviews undertaken by
ues of the patients and their families or careers. EBM is members of The Cochrane Collaboration, adhering to a
done to improve quality of care by identifying and pro- specific methodology. The Cochrane Collaboration is an
moting practices that work and eliminating which are in- international organization that aims to help people make
effective or harmful. Health economics and outcomes well-informed decisions about healthcare by preparing,
research (HEOR) is an integral part of EBM. The main maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systemat-
components of HEOR include: ic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions.
Systematic Review Health Economics
A systematic review is a scientific tool, which can be used Health economics refers to obtaining a universal desire
to appraise, summarize, and communicate the results and for maximum value for money by ensuring not just the
implications of otherwise unmanageable quantities of re- clinical effectiveness, but also the cost-effectiveness of
search. It helps healthcare providers to evaluate existing healthcare provision. Health economics is majorly domi-
or new technologies and practices efficiently and consider nated by a simple theoretical concept, that of cost-
the totality of available evidence. Systematic reviews gain effectiveness. In general, the concept of cost-
major importance to bring about a number of separately effectiveness implies either a desire to achieve a prede-
conducted studies, sometimes with conflicting findings, termined objective at least cost or a desire to maximize
and synthesizing their results. the benefit to the population of patients served from a
20. MedicinMan January 2013 Evidence Based Medicine: HEOR | Page 20
“
limited amount of resources. Further, health economic Health economics refers to obtain-
analysis can be categorized as:
ing a universal desire for maximum
value for money by ensuring not
Method Outcome Measure
just the clinical effectiveness, but
also the cost-effectiveness of
Cost-minimization
To analyze the availa- healthcare provision. Outcomes
ble outcomes for com-
analysis
peting therapies that
research studies refer to the results
are equivalent of medical care i.e. the effect of
health care process on the health
Health benefits are
measured in natural and well-being of patients and
Cost-effectiveness units, reflecting a dom- populations.”
analysis inant common thera-
peutic goal for compet-
ing therapies Mahendra Rai – Senior Consultant, HEOR. Mahendra has a
Master’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Delhi, India.
Outcome is measured He has worked on a range of HEOR & Market Access projects
through the effect of including value demonstration and medical communications.
Mahendra’s total experience in the pharmaceutical industry is
any intervention on
Cost–utility analysis over 7 years with expertise in health economics, patient-reported outcomes,
mortality (quantity of retrospective data analysis, epidemiology, and health services research.
life) and morbidity
(quality of life) Richa Goyal- Consultant, HEOR. Richa has done Masters in
Pharmacy in Pharmacology from Panjab University, Chandigarh.
She has more than 5 years of experience in pharmaceutical re-
Both costs and bene-
search ranging from secondary research, market access, evidence
fits are measured in based medicine, medical writing, systematic reviews to reimburse-
the same unit – money ment analysis. She has good understanding of medical statistics and data
Cost–benefit analy- – with the financial val- interpretation. Apart from this, she also has a good knowledge and experi-
ence of medical communications industry.
sis ue of the costs being
compared with the fi-
nancial value of the
benefits
Outcomes research
Outcomes research studies refer to the results of medical
care i.e. the effect of health care process on the health and
well-being of patients and populations. It covers studies
evaluating the effectiveness of a particular medical or
surgical procedure to examinations of insurance status or
reimbursement policies on the outcomes of care. It also
ranges from the development and use of tools to measure
health status to analyses of the results of outcomes re-
search to physicians or consumers to encourage behavior
change. Majorly outcomes research includes patient/
physician reported outcome and quality of life studies.
Further, HEOR can serve as an essential tool to evaluate
the need, efficacy and safety of newer or existing drugs
especially in emerging markets.
21. | Page 12
← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 21
Medical Communication in the 21 Century st
Dr. Neelesh Bhandari Many savvy entrepreneurs have already smelt the coffee.
Now, many stages of healthcare services can be accessed
ealthcare has been changing in drifts and shifts over the past few
online. You can track your health using Smartphone apps
centuries.
and websites. When unwell, you can check your symptoms
The drift can possibly be pinned from 1600s when medicine
to arrive at a presumptive diagnosis online. It‟s easy to
came to be widely accepted as an expertise separate from reli-
search for a suitable physician in your geographical area
gion. The subsequent centuries saw us drifting into a scientific
who you might want to consult. Compare rates and services
understanding of disease and its causes. The first dramatic shift
at various hospitals. Book your appointments. Receive your
came with the discovery of antibiotics in 1930s. We now had
lab reports and prescriptions in the comfort of home. Join
pills which could cure giant killer diseases and this led to the
social support groups and get information about alternate
rise of a new behemoth, the Pharmaceutical industry. With regu-
treatments or therapies. Store all your health records digi-
lar discovery and later inventions of newer drugs, power seem-
ingly concentrated with the Physician- the drug dispenser. The tally and get second opinions from anywhere in the world.
healthcare ecosystem settled into a physician centric system, Doctors can monitor their patients remotely and even tweak
with the doctor exercising complete power over the patient and treatments from a distance. They can discuss treatments and
all other stakeholders revolving around the doctor. This was obtain referrals in secure online platforms. The effect of
always an unstable ecosystem because of the power imbalance Internet and social media is just too huge to be ignored.
among the stakeholders and the coming of internet has upset the To borrow an analogy from Jed Weissberg, MD, Senior
traditional positions irrevocably. Vice at Kaiser Permanente, the Choluteca Bridge is a meta-
The internet was the second major shift. Tim Berners-Lee phor for today's healthcare ecosystem. The Choluteca
(father of Internet) made the biggest financial sacrifice in recent Bridge was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in
times when he refused to patent his hyper text transfer protocol 1930 with design strength to withstand the worst of hurri-
and instead threw it open for the Aam Aadmi. Ordinary people canes that affected the area. When Hurricane Mitch came in
used this new found power of instant low cost communication in 1998, it destroyed 150 Honduran bridges, but not the Cho-
wonderfully diverse ways and healthcare social media was born. luteca Bridge. Instead, the storm rerouted the Choluteca
People realized the power of information and sought more of it. River. This rendered the huge, strong and beautiful bridge
This new communication platform totally changed the way useless as it served no purpose in the changed environment.
healthcare stakeholders talked to each other. Lately, the patient
The true potential of healthcare social media has not even
has taken his rightful place as the center of the new healthcare
been scratched on its surface yet. The focus on cloud com-
ecosystem, with all other stakeholders working to woo that cus-
puting and Big data can work wonders in the field of medi-
tomer. The recent regulations regarding generic medications will
only strengthen this new position. Since patient, and not the cal communications. At Digital MedCom solutions, we
doctor, will now make the purchasing decision, all stakeholders currently tag 25,000 Indian physicians via weekly emails
in this ecosystem (Pharma, labs, hospitals) need to reconsider and popular social media platforms. Our aim to have an
their strategies and focus on the true consumer. active social database of all 500,000 practicing Indian phy-
sicians (or at least the approx. 250,000 active onliners)
within the next 2 years is not as farfetched as it may seem.
All the stakeholders in healthcare, except the patient, seem
to be ignoring social media at present. Unless steps are tak-
en to remedy this inertia, traditional pharmaceutical indus-
try is destined to go the Choluteca Bridge way.▌
Dr. Neelesh Bhandari is the founder and Chief
consulting officer at Digital MedCom solutions,
India‟s first healthcare social media agency. You
can contact him via email (drneelesh@digmed.in)
or Twitter (@edrneelesh).
22. ← Home MedicinMan January 2013 | Page 22
Win the
hearts of
your team
- the right way.
V. Srinivasan
n the normal course of work, ensuring 100 per cent
implementation of sales strategies, marketing strategies
and company policies by all ensures success in the mar-
ket place. Line Managers are required to spend consid-
erable time with their team members to ensure this,
some such follow-up to be made by Line Managers are
“ Managers must explain to new
team members that everything
is being done to make them
succeed in their jobs. Then they
given below:
will start appreciating the Man-
1) Follow-up on daily basis to ensure that Company‟s
ager, and regard them as their
norms for number of calls, exposures/detailings are
achieved by all, consistently. ‘mentor’ or ‘guru’. This belief will
2) Tour program is designed and approved for every be reinforced in the minds of
one, keeping in mind the business needs of the or-
ganization as the topmost priority for every day of
such Medical Reps once they
the month. start tasting success.”
3) Monitor activities of each and every Medical Rep
every day to ensure that work is going on as per
approved working plan, without deviations.
product-wise, reasons for the shortfall, action plan
4) Progress on Personal Order Bookings (POBs) made with timelines for improvement of sales, quantity and
and executed by each Medical Rep quality of efforts put in. Promotion of right products
to right customers, contribution from each customer ,
5) Ensuring Daily Work Reports, properly filled-in
quality of detailing of each product, etc. thus guide
with all details, are received from each and every
each team member to succeed.
team member on daily basis without any need to
remind, as well other reports, promptly. Managers can win the hearts of their team members in
two ways. The professional way is to implement the
6) Processing and approving Tour Expense Reports
above in all sincerity with each and every one in the team,
strictly as per Company policy and then sending to
thus helping them to succeed. Initially some of the Medi-
Head Office for timely reimbursements. Reasons
cal Reps, more so in the case of seniors, may not be com-
for deductions must be explained properly so that
fortable with the regular follow-ups. However if the man-
mistakes are not repeated.
ager explain to them appropriately that everything is being
7) Conducting Sales Review Meetings in a profession- made only to make them succeed in their jobs, they will
al way like discussion on achievement of targets - start appreciating the manager, and regard them as their
23. MedicinMan January 2013 Win the hearts of your team. | Page 23
„mentor‟ or „guru‟. This belief will be reinforced in the
minds of such Medical Reps once they started tasting suc-
cess in their job, become more confident, earn incentives
regularly, grow in their career and start enjoying better
quality of life. Such professional FLMs will surely grow in
their own career, wherever they are, besides developing
many future managers as well.
The other way, the easier one, is to win the hearts of team
members by turning a blind eye to non-compliance. The
manager who adopts this route will surely drown them-
selves in the near future, and they may also take the whole
team along with them. Field Managers should not make the
mistake of choosing this easy but destructive route to win
the hearts of team members.▌
For Your Daily Dose of Insight into
V. Srinivasan has headed Sales Field Force Excellence, Pharma In-
Administration & HR functions in
reputed Pharma Companies, with
telligence and Motivation, connect
over 325 published articles in India with our Editor on Facebook.
and abroad.
Email: shridhar1956@rediffmail.com
Facebook.com/anup.soans
Mob: 8056168585
MEDICINMAN PUTS
INDIAN PHARMA ON THE
GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA
MAP.
A BIG THANK YOU
MEDICINMAN BOARD,
MEDICINMAN FANKLUB,
AND ALL OUR READERS
AND FOLLOWERS.
http://www.medimix.net/content/pharma100
@anupsoans
24. y
← HomelS tor MedicinMan January 2013
| Page 12
| Page 24
cia
Spe
Dear Mumbai, Honesty is Still in the Air
Saurabh Kumar
Amid all bad news, there is something good which I want to share. In Santa Cruz (E) , on 23rd De-
cember 2012 at 3 PM, I (Kumar Saurabh) and my brother (Kumar Gaurav) forgot a bag, in an auto,
which was carrying passport, an Apple Mac Book pro (worth~ INR1.5 lacs), a 1.5TB portable Hard
Disc (worth INR 8000), INR 1500 cash, bank documents and some more costly items. My brother
has his return ticket to Switzerland on 14th January. With no hopes, we went to the police station
and got a formal complain registered. Next Day, my brother got a call on his international number
from a person named Sanjay. I met him in Mulund. Suresh (Auto Driver) returned the bag to me.
In addition to his honesty, I was amazed at his effort to return the bag to us. On finding the bag in
night when he reached home, he checked every stuff and went to Sanjay (a person working with
Noble Motor Driving School near Heera Moongi Hospital in Mulund). With his help, he went to the
SBI branch and inquired about the account holder which belong to my borther's IIT Delhi SBI
branch. Finding the return ticket in the bag, he called the swiss airline officials and asked them to
send a mail to us with their contact details. He got the international number and called us. When I
met Suresh at his home, his mother and wife were very worried about us because of passport loss.
His mother said that we all slept very late and got up very early so that could reach us ASAP. The
lady is suffering from Glaucoma and the driver has tumor in the throat. They don't have money for
the treatment. Despite all these, they returned everything to us without thinking of getting cash by
selling the laptop and other stuffs. We paid the total INR 10000 fee of their 2 children and looking
to help them in getting their treatment. I am pasting this message here with only one purpose; We
pay immediate attention to a negative news. One positive example can inspire a lot others. Please
spread this and let our society know that we still have some honesty and integrity remained among
us. Thank you.
Saurabh Kumar is a Key Account
Manager with Strides Arcolab.
To connect with him and spread the
message click HERE.
L—R: Sanjay, Suresh
and Saurabh Kumar
25. THE
HALF-TIME COACH
A Psychometric Assessment-based Feedback and
Feed-forward Program for Pharma FLMs and SLMs
The Half-Time Coach is delivered by Anup Soans,
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SuperWiser Front-line Manager, HardKnocks for the
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See Anup’s profile
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anupsoans@gmail.com Ph. +91 93422 32949