Pharma Field Force Excellence Special Issue - July 2012

FFE 2012 FACULTY

AMLESH RANJAN

SUJAY SHETTY

N. B. GAD

GIRDHAR BALWANI

SHRIHARI SHIDHAYE

JOSHUA MENSCH

APARNA SHARMA

KEITH PINTO

JOLLY MATHEWS

DEEP BHANDARI

B. RAMANATHAN

HARI KRISHNA

VIKRAM MUNSHI

DANDABANY D

SALIL KALLIANPUR

S VARADARAJAN

ANUP SOANS

The 1st Anniversary of

MedicinMan was cele-

brated by creating a new

annual platform of phar-

ma thought leaders to foster Field Force

Excellence - FFE 2012 on June 16 at

the JW Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai. Over

80 senior pharma executives from 24

top pharma companies attended FFE

2012 signifying the importance of Field

Force Excellence. The registrations had

to be closed, as it was practically a full

house.

Arvind Nair, Conference Director of

Brand Drift once again delivered a

spectacular event, this time ably assist-

ed by MedicinMan‘s new CEO, Chhaya

Sankath and MedicinMan‘s US Repre-

sentative, Sejal Kikani.

The outstanding faculty of FFE 2012

from 15 leading MNC and Indian Phar-

ma ensured that the delegates had a

feast of learning on various areas that

impact FFE. The list of FFE 2012 facul-

ty was representative of the uniqueness

of Indian Pharma.

Social media maven, Salil Kallianpur,

Centre of Excellence at GSK live tweet-

ed the event highlights ensuring that

pharma professionals all over the world

kept abreast of FFE 2012 proceedings.

FFE 2012 kicked-off with a welcome

address by Anup Soans, Editor of

MedicinMan followed by a Keynote

address by Amlesh Ranjan, Associate

Director at Sanofi. This was only appro-

priate as both Anup and Amlesh began

their career as Medical Reps and prod-

ucts of Field Force Excellence in India.

Amlesh Ranjan began with a quote by

Gautama Buddha – ―Excellence can be

achieved, if you dream more than others

think is practical; care more than others

think is wise; expect more than oth-

ers think is possible; risk more than

others think is safe.‖ Amlesh traced

the progress of Medicine and

Pharma industry from palliative to

corrective. (FFE 2012 presentations

will be hosted on MedicinMan

website for the benefit of pharma

professionals, subject to copyright

of presenters). Amlesh Ranjan

touched upon several areas that lead

to field force excellence and con-

cluded with the statement – ―The

value that you add, comes from the

values that you hold‖ signifying the

importance of personal responsibil-

ity and integrity in fostering excel-

lence. Amlesh Ranjan‘s success sto-

ry can be read in the November

2011 issue of MedicinMan.

The CEO Roundtable was the cen-

terpiece of FFE 2012. This was for

the first time directors of pharma

companies who were brought on an

open platform to discuss FFE.

Brilliantly moderated by Sujay

Shetty, Partner and Lead of Pharma

and Life Sciences at PwC, the CEO

~ F I E L D F O R C E E XC E L L E N C E ~

TM

MedicinMan

MEDICINMAN CELEBRATES 1ST ANNIVERSARY WITH FFE ‘12

MedicinMan FFE Special Issue | Volume 2 Issue 7 | July 2012

Chhaya Sankath presenting FFE „12 memento

to Narayan B. Gad, CEO of Panacea Biotec

Cont. on page 4

TM

1 st

Anniversary

Special Offer

~ F I E L D F O R C E E XC E L L E N C E ~

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4

MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue

Roundtable gave a splendid account of the issues and

intricacies of fostering FFE in the current context. The

panelists were Narayan Gad, CEO of Panacea Biotec, a

veteran unafraid of speaking his mind, Girdhar Balwani,

Managing Director of Invida, another veteran with deep

understanding of issues relating to field force; Shrihari

Shidhaye, Director, Sales and Marketing, Abbott and

Joshua Mensch, Marketing Director of Data3s from

Prague, Czech Republic lent an international flavor and

brought in the technology perspective to FFE 2012. The

CEO Roundtable deliberated for over an hour and took

questions from the audience. Joshua Mensch, a featured

speaker at eyeforpharma and other international confer-

ences, rated FFE 2012 as one the best conferences attend-

ed by him with regard to the quality of the faculty and

delegates.

Aparna Sharma, Director HR at Deutche Bank Group

gave the lead talk on the new role of HR in enabling FFE,

followed by a panel discussion moderated by Deep

Bhandari, General Manager, MSO at Novartis. The panel-

ists were Keith Pinto, Sr. GM Training and Management

Development at GSK; Jolly Mathews a veteran in phar-

maceutical sales training and B. Ramanathan, Business

Unit Training Manager at Ranbaxy. The session dwelt on

the current practices that were mechanized and the need

to evolve a customized approach to attract talent that

could be groomed for future leadership roles. This session

attracted the maximum heat from the audience and panel-

ists and was very ably moderated by Deep Bhandari with

insights to this complex ‗human‘ issue.

This was followed by a sumptuous lunch where faculty,

delegates and industry service providers networked,

caught up with the past and exchanged learning.

The afternoon session focused on the important role of the

Second Line Manager. Hari Krishna, General Manager

Sales and Marketing at Glenmark brought his experience

with IMS and expertise in pharma to the fore in taking the

stand that the role of FLMs was more significant and

armed with technology to increase their span of control,

they could bring about FFE without SLMs. Deep Bhandari

brought in deeper insights into the way in which pharma

sales leadership evolved and stressed the need for SLMs.

Deep Bhandari was of the opinion that lack of role clarity

was due to management‘s lack of vision and not SLMs

redundancy. Vikram Munshi as veteran from GSK and

Ranbaxy added much value to the discussion through his

lively presentation on leadership development of SLMs.

The session concluded with Dandabany Devarajan, a veter-

an SLM at Galderma responsible for South India and Sri

Lanka showcasing how he, as an SLM had effectively

contributed to his team‘s success on clearly defined and

measurable parameters.

Salil Kallianpur led the post tea-break session on Aligning

SFE with Commercial Excellence with his incisive presen-

tation that gave the audience a marketing perspective.

S. Vardarajan, Associate Director at Merck followed with

the Sales perspective and gave the audience a deep insight

into the intricacies and essentials of rolling out SFE.

Joshua Mensch concluded with the technology aspect of

SFE and brought international perspectives and experienc-

es of companies in implementing SFE. All the FFE faculty

were a treat to listen to for their clarity and depth of

knowledge

The final session – Half-time Coach by Anup Soans was a

preview of an L and D program developed by MedicinMan

for FLMs. Half-time Coach emphasized the importance of

facilitation skills and emotionally intelligent FLMs to

function as performance coach to bring about FFE on a

daily basis. ▌

If you wish to participate in FFE 2013 in Feb 2013 or

Brand Drift also in Feb 2013, get in touch with us now.

Contact: [email protected]

Ph. +91 93422 32949

Cont. from page 1

Senior Pharma Industry professionals and CEOs listen to

Amlesh Ranjan‟s Keynote Address at FFE 2012


Pharma business has changed because Medicine itself had changed from palliative to preventive to corrective.

The end of the Blockbuster era is the beginning of the Disease Busting era marked by a greater understanding of

biology.

A new ecosystem is evolving facilitated by the digital revolution and the convergence of healthcare with the

digital world.

The digital convergence is creating an empowered patient who moves from shock to denial to acceptance to

compliance and finally an advocate of good health practices.

Diversity and disparity has increased in India, therefore healthcare is more than a business opportunity – it is a

social responsibility.

Fortune is both at the top of the pyramid – medical tourism and affluent Indian patients as well as at the bottom

of the pyramid – poor and rural Indians.

Programs like RSBY are working very well in India.

The self-care and OTC segment is seeing a tremendous growth due to easy access to health information.

The market is transitioning from individuals to networks and hence the importance of communicating with all

stakeholders in the healthcare network.

Emergence of KAM and Market Access to engage different segments of healthcare providers and payors.

Moving from transactional to relational and differentiating through people.

FLM – Captain; SLM – Colonel. Right people, right competencies and role clarity.

SFE is bridging the gap between Strategy and Tactical translation at the field. SFE is the strategic arm of Sales

Management and the tactical arm of Marketing Management.

Excellence = Adding, Creating and Co-creating value for all players from Field Force to Doctors and Patients.

Keynote Address by Amlesh Ranjan Associate Director, Marketing & Strategic Healthcare Partnerships.

Member, Inter-continental Taskforce on Market Access, Sanofi, India

Amlesh Ranjan‘s Keynote Address set the tone

for FFE 2012 deliberations. Amlesh began by

emphasizing the importance of Field Force in

Indian Pharma and its continued depend-

ence on Field Force in the future. More than

sharing Best Practices, Amlesh stressed that

FFE 2012 was about discovering Next Practic-

es and Re-fueling for the future.

Highlights

5

The entire proceedings of this and other sessions will be available for Rs. 1,500/- in an FFE 2012 Special Print and DVD package. Write to [email protected]


Chhaya began her career as a Medical Rep after completing her B. Pharm from Bombay

University. She later moved to Medical Communications with IJCP Publications where

she worked for 6 years followed by another 5-year stint with Indegene, formulating and

executing comprehensive strategies for pharma brands in varied therapeutic areas.

Later, at McCann Healthcare, a premier WPP group, Chhaya was instrumental in

launching its Medical Communications Division during her three-year tenure. Chhaya

brings with her deep insight into the process of healthcare brand building. Till recently

Chhaya was Head - Medical Communications at Wolters Kluwer, the largest medical

communications conglomerate globally.

Read MedicinMan http://slidesha.re/odius6 for Chhaya‟s Success Story.

6

Chhaya Sankath joins MedicinMan as CEO

Chhaya Sankanth: [email protected] | +91 98674 21131 (Mumbai)

Arvind Nair: [email protected] | +91 98702 01422 (Mumbai)

Anup Soans: [email protected] | +91 93422 32949 (Bangalore)

The best in art and life comes from something urgent and powerful.

An idea or emotion that insists on its Being. From that insistence, a

shape emerges and creates its structure out of passion. If you begin with

structure, you have to make up the PASSION, and that's very hard to do.

“

” - Roger Rosenblatt

http://slidesha.re/odius6

7

Moderator: Sujay Shetty, Partner and Lead, Pharma and Life Sciences, PwC (center)

(left to right) Joshua Mensch, Director Marketing, Data3s, Czech Republic

Girdhar Balwani, Managing Director, Invida India

Shrihari Shidhaye, Director Sales and Marketing, Abbott Healthcare

Narayan B. Gad, CEO Panacea Biotec

Opening Remarks by Sujay Shetty – Moderator

Sujay Shetty: Whenever I travel abroad, people want to understand and decode the Indian mindset

and pharma market. The promise of the Indian pharma market – slated to be in the world‘s Top 10

pharma markets—is too alluring to ignore.

FFE 2012 is a wonderful opportunity for us to enrich ourselves from the vast experience and exper-

tise of veteran CEOs as well as the senior executives in the audience of Indian and MNC pharma

companies.

FFE 2012 is an opportunity to discus issues like the impact of Gen Y entering the workforce, whose

models and methods are Google and digital. To discuss how selling is moving from heavy promo-

tions to Key Account Management; and other issues that impact field force.

(Question to panelists): What are the Top Two Trends Impacting Pharma Field Force?

Joshua Mensch: 1. Harmonization and unifying of various functions within a company to

ensure seamless communication between various functions like Sales, Marketing, HR, Train-

ing, SFE, even functions like Finance and Supply Chain. Using technology to integrate

functions that ultimately impact sales directly or indirectly will facilitate this breaking of

silos. Building relationships within and outside the company.

2. Refined thinking about KPIs – moving from quantitative to qualitative measures.

8

Narayan B. Gad: A little bit of context is needed when discussing FFE in India because

India is a unique market with the largest number of brands and companies jostling in the

marketplace. The challenges are: 1. A high attrition rate of 35% 2. Reduced competence of

a Medical Rep compared to 10 years ago and 3. The job of a Medical Rep is no longer as-

pirational.

Having said that, I would want companies to focus on three areas to address the problems:

1. Once a person has been hired as a Medical Rep, what can we do to create a ‗will-

fullness‘ and pride in the job? How can he love the wife he has, even if she was not his

first choice? (Ed. – Not an easy task given that Gen Y prefers to choose their own partners

even in opposition to parental wishes.)

2. Technology enablement – how can we use technology to compensate for the lower competence of the below average

Medical Rep, so that he delivers value to the in-clinic interaction?

3. Creating a culture of competence among the managers. Today‘s SBU Heads in many cases are yesterday‘s Medical

Reps – many who joined the profession not out of choice and hence the lack of competence continues. A lot can be

achieved if the managers are more competent.

Girdhar Balwani: Pharma industry still has a lot of attraction and those who do choose the career

and work hard have the opportunity to rise in the organization as is evident from the success

achieved by many in the audience.

Apart from technology, the increasing number of brands has changed the way in which a Medical

Rep interacts with the doctor. The expectations of doctors have also changed dramatically. The

recent growth of many companies – how have they grown? They have grown through relationship

building, where the Medical Rep becomes just a Rep instead of scientific information provider.

Will the MCI guidelines change the way doctors behave? Will we as an industry evolve code of

conduct to follow ethical practices? I‘m a bit skeptical as there are too many companies, too many

brands and too many Medical Reps.

Shrihari Shidhaye: Technology will certainly be a big impact on Field Force. But how are we

using technology? If we use fancy gizmos with the same visual aid on the iPad, the novelty will

soon wear off. We have to ensure that we build back-end capability that creates and delivers val-

ue through technology. Even while using technology for Field Force merely for reporting and

compliance instead of gaining customer insight, we may be using technology but we may not be

optimizing its utility.

Pride in the Field Force is a big ‗Missing Link‘.

Productivity of Field Force is falling sharply. While implementing SFE, are we doing everything

to ensure that productivity increases?

Sujay Shetty: We can summarize the key issues as:

1. Technology will have the biggest impact on every aspect of Field Force working.

2. Appropriate use of technology to integrate various functions and deliver value to sales people.

3. Selling practices and code of conduct will need to be looked at.

4. How to attract and retain talent? And, how to increase the competence of managers?

5. Moving from efficiency to effectiveness and onward to excellence.

The entire proceedings of the CEO Roundtable and other sessions will be available for Rs. 1,500/- in an FFE 2012 Special Print and DVD issue. Write to [email protected]

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MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue | KAM Special

10

Making the Transition from Medical Rep to

Key Account Manager

The Indian Pharma Industry is going through a profound

change in terms of its Marketing and Sales models. The

forthcoming years will see the emergence of new innova-

tive commercial models as every Pharma company would

want to differentiate themselves through their ―Products

and Services". Going forward, sales and marketing will

become more concentrated. Pharmaceutical companies will

start focusing on policy makers, patients and payors who

would increasingly determine which medicines are pre-

scribed.

The success will depend more and more on the ability to

differentiate and demonstrate value for money. Many

companies will seek to enhance their offerings along with

products and will start investing in services like compli-

ance monitoring, home delivery and overall disease man-

agement. This resurgence would see new sales models

evolving. The companies which will adapt faster and make

these changes will ensure success.

The service driven model will call for a sales force with

different skill sets. Typical selling process will slowly

diminish or get restricted to only primary care and KAM

(Key Account Management) or Relationship Management

(RM) will be the way forward in terms of differentiation.

Pharma companies will have to bring in fresh new ideas

and processes to hire, train and build individuals in line

with ―Entrepreneur Model‖ as every Key Account Manag-

er or a Relationship Manager will act as a business driver

in his own territory or region.

With Market shifting from Acute to Chronic with life style

changes, more and more specialised medicines will take

over the existing therapies and this would require a special-

ised sales force with completely new skill sets. The future

generation sales force will have to embrace technology and

be tech savvy to handle the new marketing mediums and

take them successfully to the doctors.

The KA Manager will have to show good business acumen

and will have to manage his territory in a more systematic

manner. (see fig 1)

The Transition from sales rep to KA Manager is inevitable

as existing sales models would change and evolve. Some

companies may band together and adopt ―Bundling Strate-

gy" for medicines and will include branded treatments,

generics and OTC products for specific patient segments.

So for example - a bundle of medicines targeted at patients

with Cardiovascular diseases would include - ARBs, Diu-

retics, Statins, Omega 3 fatty acids, Anti-platelet drugs and

Aspirin. The financial services industry already operates

with this model where financial advisers bundle products

from other providers. Pharma will explore this model as

this will help industry reduce cost and re-deploy this mon-

ey in R and D or in "new value added services". Tradition-

al way of selling may fail and companies will have to build

robust KAM structures to differentiate and service custom-

ers better than the competitors.

KAM will have to play different roles successfully. He will

become important "SPOC" managing different stakehold-

ers in the selling process. (See fig. 2, next page)

Thus KAM will play a major role in the future selling pro-

cess and will have to shoulder dual competency and will be

judged on multiple parameters. (See fig. 3, next page)

At the same time companies will also have to realise that

KAM structure would have its limitations and is not the

Fig. 1

Sagar S Pawar

KAM Special | MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue

only solution as the future evolved sales model.

KAM structure needs to be used selectively and not as a

mass weapon. For example - all nursing homes may not jus-

tify KAM structure but key nursing homes based on judge-

ment and requirement will justify the KAM model. On the

other hand almost all large corporate hospitals and chains

will require KAM structure. The other word of caution

would be to have a robust selection and training process and

not just pick people up randomly from the existing set up. A

robust process should be built to tap and select Rep's and

Area Manager's who are flexible, skilled and with Entrepre-

neurial skill sets.

The future Marketing and Sales models are bound to change

and are changing fast. An effective KAM structure would

help companies to effectively market and sell new speciality

therapies and treatment in the areas of Oncology, Virology ,

Vaccines as well as the Biologics and Biosimilars where the

need to differentiate would be the need of the hour. ▌

Fig. 2

Sagar S Pawar, Associate Director, PwC - Pharma

and Life Sciences.

Sagar has experience of working across the Pharma

value chain and has worked in the Domestic & Inter-

national markets in areas such as Marketing, Sales,

Licensing, New Product Development, Clinical

Research and Strategic Consulting.

Personality

Social Interaction

Knowledge

Sales process

Sales planning

Business sense

Fig. 3

11

Salil Kallianpur, Centre for Excellence at GSK delivered an

incisive talk on Aligning SFE with Commercial Excellence

Chhaya Sankanth: [email protected] | +91 98674 21131 (Mumbai)

Arvind Nair: [email protected] | +91 98702 01422 (Mumbai)

Anup Soans: [email protected] | +91 93422 32949 (Bangalore)

KAM Special | MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue

12

A MedicinMan Poll to Foster Field Force Excellence


knowlEDGE venturZ Learning & Development Programs

Breakfast for the Brain

HR – Sales/Marketing/Business Connect

SFE Workshop

KAM Workshop

Program for SLMs

Program for FLMs

Brand Drift 2013

FFE 2013

And Many More to Create an Ecosystem that Nurtures Excellence in Indian Pharma/Devices etc;

Comment and cast your vote here: http://linkd.in/MDfstI

http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Flinkd%2Ein%2FMDfstI&urlhash=wvKf&_t=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-lnk&trk=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-lnk

Breaking the HR - Sales Silo at FFE ‘12


Indian Pharma is experiencing accelerated growth and human resource professionals will find it more and

more challenging to acquire, develop, manage and retain people to meet this growth. Adequate investment in

recruitment, training and retention is the key to quality, says Andrew Brana, TNS global consultant for sales

force optimization.

High attrition rates among new-joiners is due to “deficiencies in the recruiting and selection process”.

While concentrating on quantity, often quality is compromised. Role clarity, candidate‟s long-term career

aspirations, right mindset and overall fitment are overlooked in the desire to fill up the vacancies quickly.

The HR challenge of acquisition of relevant talent, developing, managing and retaining can be addressed by:

1. Creating awareness among students and job aspirants of long -term career prospects by giving them a realistic and positive picture of pharma sales foundation. Pharma sales job enables a person to learn, practice and improvise many skills as they get exposed to a variety of custom-ers - Doctors, Paramedics, Patients, Retailers, Stockists and others. Medical Reps perform a variety of tasks - Customer Relations, Market Research, Distribution and Logistics, Channel Management and Inventory Management.

2. Pharma has always maintained a low profile in the media and people start their career by chance and not by choice. However, those who chose pharma sales as a career can narrate their success stories. So the need is to “create a willingness” to choose Medical Rep as a career and exposing them to career paths that follow.

3. What next? The good news is that many MNCs have taken initiative to internally promote their Medical Reps to functions like sales training, marketing and others. A well trained and experienced pharma sales professional is in demand in industries like FMCG, Insurance, Banking, KPO‟s, Market Research and Medical Communications.

4. Training and Development – training must be imparted at all stages of employee lifecycle. Corporates must adopt coaching as a way to continuously develop employees. Specialised workshops by external faculty with industry expertise is the need of the hour.

Medical Reps and Front-line Managers are the face of an organisation. They are the “balance-sheet influ-encers” and need assurance that their career aspirations are taken care. Setting up standards which are rec-ognised and acceptable industry-wide will bring in pride and importance to the pharmaceutical sales career.

Pharmaceutical Sales Profession – The HR Challenge

Kingpins Management Consultancy is a Specialist Recruitment Firm for Pharma, Medical Devices, CROs, Clinical Data Management and allied industries. We are committed to assisting our clients to find professional talent required to achieve their objectives and build workforce of the future. Our efforts have made us a partner of choice in recruitment for leading healthcare companies. We work on a national level and recruit for all positions across functional areas, offering a one-stop recruitment solution as well as exposing candidates to wider opportunities and cross functional assignments. We strive to work closely with our clients to ascertain the precise qualifications and skill set required for the job and we screen and re-screen candidates accordingly. Insalenious is an initiative to create awareness among students and education providers of emerging career opportunities in pharmaceutical sales and allied industries. Insalenious assists ambitious students with structured as well as customized training to transform them as skilled professionals and provide them with their 1st job.

A Kingpins Management Consultancy Feature

Email: [email protected]

14

- Balraj Chandra

mailto:[email protected]

Photo Feature: FFE ‘12

Role of SLMs and Aligning SFE

with Commercial Excellence

3 Ways To Improve Your Team's Performance

1. Measure what you value - Do your team members know what matters to your organization? Do they understand how

and why their actions affect overall success?

You can add clarity by clearly defining half a dozen values. Then measure your team members' performance against

each one.

2. Focus on consequences - Motivation and results are driven by consequences, both good and bad. After you ensure that

your team members understand your expectations, explain the consequences too, both for fulfilling expectations and for

failing to do so. Make sure, you are following up on those consequences as well.

3. Deal face to face - Talking one-on-one is the best way to influence others. Deliver praise and thanks personally to as-

sure that the person understands your appreciation. Confront poor performance personally too, so that the issue is not

ducked and your commitment to improving the situation is not doubted.

The Challenging Role of SLM in Shaping the FLM

K. Hariram, Former MD - Galderma

Product and service differentiation is going to become in-

creasingly difficult to achieve in the era of globalization.

Field sales leaders will face growing pressures to reduce

field sales investments and to ‗produce more with less‘.

Faced with increasing resource constraints, sales leaders

need to complement their internal sales force effectiveness

measures.

In this context, FLM becomes the fulcrum of FFE and the

No. 1 priority as the FLM impacts ―multiplying effects‖

through his direct contribution to his team members.

The FLM plays a very critical role in the hierarchy. Howev-

er, is there role clarity? Role always relates to:

1.Responsibility

2.Relationship

3.Area of contribution

The Responsibility may be to achieve Planned Revenue

Generation at all levels of hierarchy in a commercial organi-

zation, whether direct or indirect. But what differentiates one

role from the other is the relationship area and the Area of

Contribution.

At the FLM level, the relationship primarily revolves around

their team members (Medical Reps) and secondarily with

customers (KOLs) and distribution outlets. The major differ-

entiating factor is: Area of Contribution, where in comes, ‗on

the job coaching and training‖, maintaining interpersonal

relationships, influencing and inspiring the reps, plus the

managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing and

monitoring /controlling, etc.

Unfortunately, this role clarity is mostly lacking in the indus-

try. The FLMs are treated ‗On Par‘ with Reps in the sales

meetings. Both are exposed to company information and

strategies at the same time. Most importantly, they are not

empowered in line with their responsibilities.

No doubt, FLMs may soon fall into the trap of ‗Identity Cri-

sis‘. They are mentally burdened with the need to achieve

results (at any cost).

What is the responsibility of a SLM in this context?

The SLMs have a major role in bridging these gaps and

hence their direct area of contribution has to be in

‗developing the FLMs‘ through continuous ‗Coaching And

Training‘ both on the job and off the job.

Is the SLM equipped with the knowledge and skills plus the

‗know-how‘ of building the FLM? What should the SLM

focus on?

When we take a typical market situation, it is like a jun-

gle. The reps are busy cutting their way through this jungle

with their sharp knives. They are the producers (making

calls, generating prescriptions etc), the problem solvers.

They are cutting through the undergrowth, clearing it out.

The FLMs are behind them, sharpening their knives too and

setting up work schedules for the Reps.

Who has to make the difference here?

The SLM has to be the leader here. He has to be the one

who has to climb the tallest tree, survey the entire area and

shout ‗wrong jungle‘ (wrong calls, priorities, etc)

As individuals, teams etc, we are often so busy cutting

through the undergrowth that we don‘t even realize we are in

the wrong jungle.

So the role of SLM calls for an intelligent mix of

‗management and leadership‘, ‗efficiency and effectiveness‘,

sorting out the priorities, avoiding majoring on ‗minors‘ and

more importantly, the perspective (sight + insight) and the

ability to know whether the ladder is leaning against the right

wall.▌


16

17

Professional Growth Story | MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue

Milan Sinha Traces His Career Growth from an MR in a

German MNC to BU Head in an Indian MNC.

In early 70s, it was difficult to decide and pick a profes-

sion and plan a career. There were very few options -

Medical, Engineering, Lecturer, Law, Army and Civil

Services. For a student who had missed medical college

and went on to do an honors graduate program and then

M.Sc. it was a real dilemma. What to do next? Confident

of good results in M.Sc. the only option was to get a

teaching job. Botany was my favor-

ite subject and I thought I would

make a good teacher. In fact, my

HOD assured me that I could go to

a particular college, headed by a

student of our University. That is

what was in store and I was certain

of a career in teaching.

Being the son of a Doctor, I was quite aware of the job

role of a Medical Rep and I was open to this option. This

would have been a dynamic, challenging and very growth

oriented career as opposed to teaching, which was a safe,

dull and relaxed profession.

I also tried for SSC in the Indian Army and went up to

SSB Bangalore for final selection. I did not make it to the

merit list. Many of my friends who were medical stu-

dents were of the opinion that I would make a very good

pharma professional as I had an interest in medicine. I

knew the nature of this profession and I was an extrovert.

I applied in John Wyeth, Glaxo and Hoechst in my

hometown, Ranchi. I was interviewed for John Wyeth. I

also got short-listed for Glaxo and selected by Hoechst.

And as luck would have it, the people at Hoechst asked

me to join before I had finished all my M.Sc. practical

papers; so I dropped out after appearing in six papers and

left out two papers of practical exams. Hoechst was a

strict German MNC and one of the top companies in the

world. Even the pay was better compared to that of a

Lecturer - Rs. 350 versus. Rs. 300. With lot of pain, I

joined the Calcutta office in March 1970. During training

in Bombay, I was informed that had I appeared in the

practical exams, I would have topped the batch. In 1972,

I re-appeared for the exams and obtained my M.Sc. de-

gree.

The idea behind this narration is to establish that for me,

my job as Medical Rep was a planned one and not simply

one of chance. I decided to get into Pharma Marketing and

believe me, it has been a fantastic journey.

After one and half months of rigorous training in Bombay

and 3 weeks of field training at Calcutta with stalwarts of

Calcutta branch, I was posted to Monghyr in Bihar. Time

passed by very quickly and I did not realize, how soon I

was transformed into a pharma sales professional. I had the

habit of reading, which helped me read whatever was given

to me by the company or by doctors and

also medical books that my doctor-father

gave me. Recognizing this quality, my

seniors and managers helped me develop

my knowledge and challenged me to im-

prove. It was my golden period; within 2

years of working I became the top per-

former of the branch. People started looking to me as a

knowledgeable individual with high potential. I was shifted

to Ranchi to take care of Business Development by working

in the Medical College, where I got an opportunity to sharp-

en my knowledge and skills.

I became an active member of internal as well as external

union for Medical Reps; I must admit that my character de-

velopment, leadership and professional skills were acquired

through union work. I developed better communication

skills. Being part of All India negotiation committee for

charter of demands, I could learn the nuances of negotiation

and deal making. I developed the quality of debate and

learned the advantage of ―agreeing to disagree‖. I under-

stood the meaning and advantage of both autocratic and

democratic leadership styles and put it into practice during

my professional career as manager and head of the organi-

zation. I could understand the tactic of ―losing the argument

but winning the customer‖. This platform also allowed me

to learn the intricacies of labor law and its limitations. I ad-

mit that I gained quite a lot from my association with the

trade union activities. I can very confidently say that a posi-

tive trade union activity is needed and gives better outcome.

I had a slow and very gradual progress in my career. Thanks

to the insistence of the director of pharma division and few

of my well-wisher senior managers, I decided to become a

manager. I am grateful to my wife who left her job as a

lecturer and encouraged me to rise in my profession. Yes, it

was a difficult terrain to cross - challenging situations to

My Professional Journey: A Very

Satisfying Experience Milan Sinha

“My job as Medical Rep was a

planned one and not simply one of

chance. I decided to get into Phar-

ma Marketing and believe me, it

has been a fantastic journey.”

Professional Growth Story | MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue MedicinMan 1st Anniversary Issue | Professional Growth Story

18

overcome. Leadership with imagination was the need of

the hour. Dealing with a senior people in the team, mak-

ing them feel they are wanted and invaluable, making

juniors feel that when work increased I would put more

hard work than them and establishing myself as a science

oriented no-nonsense manager, were few things, which I

developed automatically. I am fortunate to hold a record -

promoted as regional head within three years. My team

ranked all India Number One for three consecutive years.

Working with taskmaster and result oriented top manag-

ers of Indian and German origin was a great experience. I

wish to thank them all.

As RSM and branch manager in Hoechst and later in

HMR was another phase of learning leadership. Manag-

ing a huge team of office people who were very different

from field workers and dealing with sub-ordinate manag-

ers who were sometimes senior or contemporary was a

key learning. I am thankful to all those who worked with

me and helped me to learn quickly.

One key area of learning for senior mangers is the art of

making tough and unpleasant decisions. In fact, I excelled

in that. I used this when C & F agents were appointed in

Patna and Lucknow branch. It was another matter that the

saddest work I had to do, was to close down Lucknow

office of HMR. I was then shifted to Delhi to head north

region of HMR - my dream office. I occupied the same

cabin where our past and future directors worked.

When I decided to move on from HMR, my transfor-

mation from a MNC manager to a successful Indian com-

pany was not only challenging but also difficult at times.

I was fortunate to have joined Sun Pharma, which was

progressive, system driven and value based company.

Work culture was different but it was a pleasure. Hard

work and managerial skills were recognized and loyalty

at any cost, helped me progress very fast. Once recog-

nized as hard working, honest and thinking individual,

there was no dearth of opportunity. Within 15 years in

Sun Pharma, I moved from Zonal Head, to NSM, Dy.

GM, GM and finally, Business Unit Head.

At Sun Pharma the reward for gaining the trust is being

entrusted with huge responsibility. I was fortunate

enough to be given the opportunity to establish an im-

portant division of Oncology with great success. Looking

at my contribution, my services were extended by two

years after my retirement and finally I left the organization

in 2011, with great satisfaction.

It was an honor for me to be involved in identifying my suc-

cessor, very seldom done in the Industry. What a journey it

was. It was full of thrill, optimism, learning, responsibility

and lots of ownership. My entrepreneurship qualities were

honed and polished at Sun Pharma. I was always driven to

work as an entrepreneur rather than an employee. This gave

me tremendous sense of accountability, recognition and au-

thority. I was fully empowered. My involvement in Train-

ing and Development was well recognized. In retrospect,

when I look back and make an inventory of my success, I

come to the conclusion that I was fortunate to have:

1. Joined a wonderful profession where I learned every

day, traveled a lot and met thousands of knowledgeable

people, which otherwise I would have been deprived of.

2. It was a rewarding profession and growth potential was

immense.

3. I received not only organizational recognition by way of

promotions, extension and remuneration but also exter-

nal applause - Association of Radiation Oncologists of

India conferred an Honorary Life Membership for my

contribution to the cause of Oncology in India. It was

first time a non-medical person got this award.

4. I was sent for many courses in Institutes like ASCI,

XLRI and programs of IIM.

5. Gave me enormous opportunity to get name, fame and

credibility due to which I was offered many a consulta-

tion jobs. My experience in marketing and managing

finance effectively landed me to work for an Investment

MNC of repute to undertake due diligence before mak-

ing a decision for investment.

6. The fact that I know the industry, therapy area, market

and also the fact that industry knows me as a thorough

professional with great integrity and tremendous

knowledge, is all due to this profession.

7. Lastly I have greatest satisfaction to have recruited

more than 300 people for the industry, mentored and

became instrumental in the career growth of more than

65 professionals working in the Industry and the fact

that I am still connected to more than 100 top notch pro-

fessionals is lot to feel proud about. I not only travelled

up the career ladder myself but also carried many poten-

tial and successful individuals with me. ▌

My Professional Journey: A Very Satisfying

Experience Milan Sinha

MedicinMan FFE Special Issue | Volume 2 Issue 7 | July 2012

Beyond Field Force Excellence - N. B. Gad, veteran CEO

shares insight with Ameya Chandavarkar, Director FDC

The Half-Time Coach

A Psychometric Assessment-based Feedback and

Feed-forward Program for FLMs and SLMs

What do you expect

your FLMs and SLMs

to be good at?

1. Management Games

Relearning by Reflection,

Feedback by Observation

2. Case Studies

3. Movie Clippings

4. Mapping Exercises

What are you doing to ensure that

they gain proficiency in the desired

skills?

Contact: [email protected]

Ph. +91 93422 32949

The Half-Time Coach is delivered by Anup Soans, Editor MedicinMan &

Author of SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager, HardKnocks for the

GreenHorn and RepeatRx

Pharma Field Force Excellence Special Issue - July 2012

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Transcript of Pharma Field Force Excellence Special Issue - July 2012