Context and Challenge
An emerging pharmaceuticals manufacturer and distributor of inflammatory drugs hit a roadblock of organic growth after a few years of steady growth. The company had gained a decent reputation. In the last one year the company had invested in its sales program and had also hired new sales people.
But a major change had occurred in the last year. A few senior and middle level sales people had left the organization. They had been replaced by new people.
The top management and the sales team felt that they needed a better way manage the sales team. They felt that the team members were capable, smart and hardworking and were actually doing multiple activities. Yet growth had hit a roadblock and had to be resolved quickly.
Solution - Simulation Workshop
An 100% off-the-shelf solution was not available and the management did not wish to stretch their budget for a completely ground up design of solution. So, the “Sales Capability Enhancement” program with simulation was identified as a good course of solution with some customization to meet the unique situation of the pharma company and industry.
The solution focused on:
1] Giving the sales leaders an experience about how they needed to manage their frontline sales people.
2] How the sales leaders should enhance the performance of their teams by choosing a right combination of metrics so that they do not focus only on the sales activities.
3] How the roles of the sales people could be redefined or refined to suit their market segment.
Outcomes
The sales organization and the CXOs underwent the workshop in different groups over a period of 2 weeks. Subsequently the sales head along with CXOs decided on the sales strategy and sales goals.
Further, the sales head along with other senior sales leaders reviewed and modified the sales roles and sales metrics of every sales position and person.
The pharma company has been more than satisfied with increase in sales of their products in the same market that appeared to be stagnant.
The company envisages that the sales growth momentum will continue with introduction of new remedies.