Steps before reaching the summit -V.Srinivasan

April 25, 2015
Pharma Industry in India is doing well, and growing year after year. Therefore many Pharma Companies are already there in the market place, and every year new players are joining in. This has lead to a stiff competition amongst them to convert the Doctors to prescribe their products. This posts a real challenge for any Medical Representative in Pharma Industry, more so for the newly joined ones. This write up is to help them overcome this challenge, and do well in their job consistently.

1) Good habits, some of which are given below, should become your routine:

a) Brushing teeth (twice) daily;

b) Properly cut & combed hair;

c) Trimmed beard & nails;

d) Daily shave, bath, change inner wears, socks, wear clean & pressed formal dress (dark coloured trouser and light coloured shirt, preferably full sleeves), wear neck tie, etc. while working in the field.

e) Wear belt (formal – leather one), and shoes (formal either black or brown) neatly polished.

f) Apply deo or perfume as many times as possible so that you don’t emit bad odour.

2) Avoid bad habits like smoking, drinking, pan chewing, etc.

3) Use working bag which is formal (leather one), neat, polished, and well maintained. Now-a-days many Pharma Companies allow field working with ‘back pack’ bags, which to me appear a bit casual.

4) Carry the list of Doctors, Stockists, Chemists to be met, and the area/location to be worked for the day in your pocket.

5) Before starting the work for the day, think of what has happened when you met the Doctors listed for the day, during your last visit ( pre call analysis), and then decide how to move the proceedings for each call today. Once the day’s work is over then analyze if each and every call went as per your plan or not (i.e.post call analysis).

6) Organize things within the working bag for the day carefully like samples and promotional inputs to be dispensed to each customer in the right order, so that you don’t have to waste time searching for those in front of the customers.

7) Make as much calls – be it Doctors, Stockists, Retailers – as possible, every day, which should always be more than the desired call average per day of the organization. The quality of each call made must also be good.

8) Making the best use of Retail working: Before meeting any Doctor, we normally meet the nearby Chemists/Retailers to get the feedback about the Doctor as to whether he is prescribing our brands being promoted or not, and then we plan our discussion with the Doctor accordingly. In addition to getting this feedback from the Retailers, we should also check if he has our products in stock or not, if not book P.O.B.(Personal Order Booking) for products which are not in stock or very less in stock. Booking of P.O.Bs. every day is very important. We should always try do more than the Company’s norm for POB month after month. Details of POBs booked should be maintained meticulously, and follow up should be made with the concerned Stockists to make sure all POBs booked are supplied quickly.

9) Be cool. Always wear a smile. Don’t pick up any argument or quarrel with our professional Customers. Maintain very cordial relationship with all our Customers like Doctors, their staff, CFA, Stockists, Retailers, etc. Deal with them in a very friendly and professional manner. However it doesn’t mean that we should submit ourselves to their tantrums, if any. Remember we help the Doctors to treat their patients better with our products, help to improve the business of the CFA/CA, Stockists, and Retailers by creating and improving the demand for our products.

10) Have the customers list – speciality wise – Product wise – strictly as per marketing strategy of the organization.

11) Promote right products to right Doctors strictly as per marketing strategy of the organization

12) Give visits to each of the customers as per desired frequency only, as outlined in the marketing strategy

13) Work as per approved tour programme only every day. Discuss with Superiors, and get their prior approval, before making any deviation in actual working.

14) After effective detailing of the products to the Doctors, close the call powerfully by demanding for prescriptions for the products detailed.

15) Follow Company’s rules and regulations with all sincerity. Submit all reports on time without requiring any reminder from anyone.

16) Be up-to-date with your Product Knowledge, and detailing for all products under promotion. Communication is very important in this job, and if your detailing is very good, then it will be that much easy to convert the Doctors to your products. Good communication skill can be acquired, if you do practice, practice, and more practice, till you master it.

17) Be up-to-date with Competitors’ products knowledge, like how your product is superior to theirs, composition of the products, what is their price, what are the draw backs (like side effects) in their products, etc.

18) Don’t waste precious field working time due to any reason. Meeting of CFA, Stockists, etc. can be planned for during times when the Doctors Clinics are closed. Do both morning and evening work every day, don’t compromise on this. Writing work, submission of reports, etc. should be handled after we have completed our field working or whenever we are free from field work.

19) Avoid gossiping

20) Be up-to-date with your Product wise, Stockist wise, Primary and Secondary sales details vis-a-vis your targets, what is the potential of each of your Doctor for the products being promoted to him, how much he is supporting you currently, and how much you have planned to get from him within a time frame, details of visits made to each of the customers, POBs booked, your call averages every month, etc. These will help you analyze your performance, and then you can plan for corrective measures, if any, in consultation with your superiors, to reach the set objectives. These analysis/reports are there in your online reporting system. You should only learn how to retrieve it, and study them, as frequently as possible.

21) This job requires hard working. This is a field job, not a time bound Office job. Most of the days, we may be required to work from morning till 9 or 10 p.m. till we complete our last call listed for the day. To some important Doctors, we may have to go very early in the morning, and take our token to meet him during the day.

22) Develop good manners – like wishing the Doctors ‘good morning’, thanking them for the valuable time given, wishing them on occasions like Birth days, Anniversaries, etc. and always wear a positive attitude towards work and life.

23) Don’t commit anything to any Customer which the Company has not authorized

24) Believe in yourself, make very sincere efforts to succeed, and you will succeed. If you take proper care of the processes involved – which are discussed here – the result will be taken care of by itself.

25) Don’t look for short cuts than the prescribed ones, to see the results quickly. It might lead to problems later on.

26) Have passion for the job. Be proud of your Company and its products. Always try to achieve the set objectives consistently, earn incentives, and come up in life. If Company rewards you with a career growth in the process, accept it and try to do a good job as a Manager also.

27) The job of a Medical Representative is a very good one. If you do a good job at it, sky is the limit for your earnings, and career growth. I know of many Medical Representatives who have purchased plots, apartments, two wheelers, four wheelers, jewelleries, etc. from their incentive earnings. I also know of many senior managers in Pharma Industry, like Managing Directors, Vice Presidents, General Managers, National Sales Managers, Marketing Managers, Brand/Product Managers, who have started their career as Medical Representatives like you, when they began their career in the Industry.

28) This job doesn’t require great qualifications like foreign degrees, or MBAs, etc. It is enough if you are a Science or Pharmacy graduate, with an aptitude for selling, and with a decent communicating ability. Willing to work hard, sincerely implementing the company’s sales & marketing strategies in the field, and eagerness to come up in life in the right way, are some of the pre-requisites to succeed in the job.

29) Be attentive and try to learn as much as possible from Training Programmes, Conferences/Meetings/Workshops, etc. Go well prepared, as may be necessary, for every meeting/discussion.

30) A sale is not over unless payment for the same is received. Follow up with your Stockists/Distributors/Wholesalers and collect payments within due dates promptly. Your territory should always be outstanding/overdue free.

If a Medical Representative takes proper care of what has been discussed above, we are sure he should be able to do a wonderful job consistently, earn incentives, and grow in his career, therefore come up in his life as well. Best wishes!.

Author :
Mr.V.Srinivasan is a well known author on Pharma Management, with a rich experience of over 35 years in reputed Pharma Companies, having handled Sales & Marketing Administration, HR, and Training functions. He has over 400 published articles in India and abroad to his credit. He is the proud recipient of “The Transformational Leader of the Year” for Pharma Industry in 2013. He can be contacted through email id: shridhar1956@rediffmail.com, mobile no:9972390513)