Cross-Integration

New customer-driven sales metrics are connecting previously siloed parts of pharma organizations. Sales, marketing, and managed care groups are collaborating based on a common data set. The three groups can compare notes on marketplace, company, and competitor performance, since new data make discussions with their counterparts fruitful; they can hold each other accountable. Here's how this would work:

• A sales manager uses competitive detailing data from a PDA-based, longitudinal network of primary care physicians to show his marketing counterpart how his team delivers higher share of voice following a sales-force expansion. The two managers collaborate regularly and closely to drive brand performance
• A Big Pharma marketing team use PDA-based data to monitor the sales team's delivery of primary and secondary messages. The large sample size of over 600 details per brand per month increases the confidence of both the sales and marketing teams in the accuracy and actionability of the information
• A pharma company compares written Rx to NRx shares to better understand the managed care position of a key brand. The managed care group works closely with the marketing and sales teams to benchmark performance, establish a new strategy, and reallocate field resources based on managed care access.

A new sales model requires companies to adapt to the needs of different physician segments. The learning curve associated with the model is steep. A multiyear rollout that tracks progress with appropriate sales metrics may work better than an abrupt, one-time change in the commercial model. Even so, incumbents may find the transition to the new model difficult, since the marketplace has changed and the players must take risks and adapt or pay the consequences. For those companies that succeed, however, the payoff is great.