The key to effective marketing essentially lies in taking action. Someone once said that you cannot score a goal unless you first take a shot, so in marketing terms the best intent in the world is worthless unless you actually go out and do something. Within the pharmaceutical industry, effective marketing is more than just making professionals aware of the products available, it is about a host of other objectives as well, including reputational management, education and positioning. Often, sales and marketing is involved with stating a case and protecting a position, rather than achieving the results in terms of dollar revenue. This subtle interaction of skills makes the selection of a core sales and marketing team very important, and because of this, many forward-thinking companies engage the services of a pharmaceutical consulting firm to help them implement.

Management is all-important and all those supplemental activities must be brought together to make the whole more effective. This will include coordination of day-by-day duties, but also a general oversight, levels of measurement and coordination. All members of the sales and marketing team must be clearly aware of what is required of them and that their actions cannot be isolated, but must be seen as an integral part of the company’s overall objectives.

Most pharmaceutical consultants will confirm that the heart of any plan implementation is in the execution, and no amount of paperwork, charting or spreadsheet construction will be of use unless things actually get done. All activities must first be co-ordinated, indicating who, what, when and where and the sales force must be conditioned to eliminate any potential distractions or objections that they may face. They must be adequately coached and aware of any loopholes and obstacles that they will undoubtedly encounter. A single-minded determination is crucial if the employee is to be fully focused and determined. Time management is another important element of education and the sales team should ensure that they are able to prioritise. Of course this does not mean that more mundane elements should be ignored, just categorised and prioritised accordingly.

Effective implementation requires attention to detail and an ability to be thorough. Each member of the sales team must be fully aware of the role of others and how they individually contribute to the holistic objective. It is never smart to assume anything as something critical could be missed out in this way, while procrastination helps to achieve nothing!

While detail orientation is very important, as is time management, this level of implementation should not stifle the creative powers of the salesperson. It is easy to become overwhelmed and this must be guarded against. Whomever is able to rise above distractions will really produce good results for the organisation. Once again, prioritise and ensure that all primary tasks are completed. Delegation is fine if it helps with the overall goal, but no assumptions should ever be made.

Highly effective implementation is a trademark of a top pharma consulting organisation, a firm that is fully able to train sales and marketing personnel to achieve and be rewarded within the tough pharmaceutical industry.

Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.

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