Reps

A country manager of a big pharma once asked me, what are the core qualities that i'd look for in a rep. not that i had any hiring authority for this is one function that remains firmly in the SM's court. I've spent long periods observing and musing over drug reps in Singapore, pondered and discussed this subject over and over, no doubt im not alone in this ruminative pursuit.

If i were to go into the multiple embodiment of a typical drug rep, it might still require an eternity. therefore, i would limit this posting to one broad aspect of professionalism, which is almost impossible to put a definition to. Professionalism can be extended to basic grooming to the daily grind of interacting with customers to the more complex task of inward management, ie. evaluating and conducting oneself within a corporate environment.

We have all heard the story of how one infamous rep managed to rubbed an entire hospital up the wrong way which led to the ban of all drug reps thereafter, the sweet young rep who was spotted with a certain HOD with his pants down in his room by his registrar, or that seemingly proper rep who cost her immediate superior his job with their working dalliances. all these examples are the extreme of utterly unacceptable behaviours. but it is not as easy to identify true professionalism even if it stares you in the face.

i've met many drug reps from all over the world, with reps from australia and the usa setting the deepest impression upon me. the immense pride and meaning they derive from their job drives and motivates them to perform in their jobs without grousing about other team's incentives and craving for the next available slot up the ladder. i'd withnessed the exceptional handling of a potential compliance issue with a top KOL by an australian rep who not only managed to deliver his selling messages but also gained the respect of the doctor by addressing the issue directly and systematically. there is little room for diplomacy in such situations and often, integrity is suffice.

in the states, most reps require a 4 year college degree (a cheerleading stint is also helpful- really!) and an MBA from a reputable business school (we are talking decent GMAT scores here) is not uncommon. what sets them apart is their drive for personal exellence. they challenge themselves through what the job offers them rather than the establishment.

as an illustration, i'd met a drug rep from los angeles recently, with an MBA no less, who, over a period of 4 hours, managed to challenge every notion of branding essentials that i had ever conceived and discussed disease management and therapy (to a higher level that i'd ever achieve) as well as explaining how politics have impacted the state of economy and diabolical schemes of property financiers in the states. oh, did i also mention that he does extreme sports like cliff diving, deep skin diving, canyon explorations, etc? i mean, just how cool is that?

just out of curiosity, after a decade of repping, is he not eligible for a management role? (afterall, my cv pales significantly in comparison) oh, he was offered and declined cos he absolutely LOVES the sense of freedom and mobility as a rep and enjoys meeting and cultivating relationships with his doctors who, after a decade, have become more than customers, they are pals, and how he is truly reaping the intangible rewards just now. - how politically correct (yeah rite...it also helps that reps in US are probably paid more than our senior managers here...)

i don't mean to say that there aren't any good reps in singapore just cos' we dont have any mountains or valleys this part of the world. its just that a wider global perspective and outlook beyond the shallow everyday life is essential to an optimal performance of the job function. it is important for a rep to derive a sense of importance and find value in his work.

i had spent the majority of my pharma career as a rep and have always regarded myself as exceptional. i do not kowtow to my KOLs, do not allow them to treat me as a chauffeur unless i offered it myself, i do not allow them to bust my allocated entertainment budget and demands for ad hoc sponsorship just because they have a temper. and because of this sense of principles, i have come away friends with many of my customers and vendors, with my dignity and self-respect intact.

Inheriting a legacy- Branding

"When Tony Blair became Prime Minister, the sun shone. When Gordon Brown took over, it rained. ... It was noted that, on 10 May, when Blair announced his resignation in his Sedgefield constituency, the heavens opened, and it has been raining ever since." - The independent 8th july 2007

Figuratively, the weather outlook for a PM(ahem.. product manager in this context) is very dependent on the work produced by his predecessor. Inherit a blockbuster post-launch and you're on your way to market share nirvana, inherit a ADR-plagued dudbuster and you'll be perspiring so hard even your sweat glands are metabolized.

Unfortunately, unless you are a boardroom politician, getting to handle any specific brand is usually down to luck. and in this highly mobile industry, hardly any PM exist to manage one product from day one to patent expiration. In some cases, a product may see anything form 5 PMs in a decade.

Indeed, this may not be optimal for a brand's development especially if companies are serious about branding. There is a wildly successful cardiac drug (simply by its impressive efficacy and lack of direct competition) that possess an incredibly schizophrenic identity, from the multiple switching of PMs (combined with the complication of a dual-company co-marketing arrangement) who decides an academic approach at one time, a commerical angle at another, a mediocre me-too compliant stance and a distasteful comedic campaign all executed within the PLC. it only managed to reach its present state of success recently when it could (& should) have been achieved way earlier.

MMs have a major role to play in maintaining the continuity of a brand, regardless of the mobility of its middle brand management. the cost of failing to do so comes at building tenable brand equity. However, all too often, the newbie would rather opt for a contrasting approach from his predecessor, preferring to do things differently, hoping to juxtapose his competencies to the senior management who usually do not query as long as general (ie sales) objectives are being met and market share is achieved.

Exercising such attitudes may lead to a misleading impression that brand objectives are met (unless it ascertained through KPIs) when in fact brand equity remains low with the business being sustained by sheer efficacy alone.

Time will be able to tell when a new entrant comes in and alter the market share equilibrium.

for the meantime, I'm waiting to see how PM Gordon Brown's drastically different foreign policy (esp towards the US) will show against former PM Tony Blair's pro-US stance.

its cycle meet again!!

Brand Planning's almost over and.... its cycle meet again!!

Cycle meetings, some companies call it POA, others commercial meet, no matter how fancy the terms, its essentially the same thing. The huge difference is on the budget allocation. Some companies prefer a hotel-do while others settle for the in-house arrangement.

Unlike the kick-off meetings in January, the mid-year meetings are usually less stressful for the regular PMs, the bulk of the plans have already been dished out in the beginning of the year anyway. This would simply be a recap of YTD performances and (highly) possible mid-year budget hikes!

Still reeling from massive changes in the brand plan from the senior team, PMs now have to spend late nights harriedly preparing the slidedecks (pretty much cut and paste versions of the past POAs), liaising (ie chasing the pants off) with vendors and suppliers to ensure that the mockups of new collaterals are at least presented at the meeting, obtaining quotes for pens and other gimmicks, ordering reprints, getting SMs to commit to sponsorship numbers for the rest of the year and getting grumpier by the day cos the boss expects 'this' POA to be different, to be jazzed up, to excite, incite and never say 'buay sai'.

It does seem rather unfair, that the SMs only have to prepare 2-3 slides outlining sales performance and directions while the PMs does a whole lot more (and i heard the former gets a bigger paycheck!) and doesn't get his/her popularity ratings any higher with the sales team.

As a matter of fact, most reps dread the cycle meet. the dull repetition of the cycle plans and unoriginal showings of most tactics combined with the extremely unpleasant prospect of being picked to do a grand detailing in front of the entire company put most reps off.

But it is an important meeting. it allows the team to re-align themselves to the brand's objectives, understand market changes and obtain new directions. Management does not need to constantly try to generate a pseudo sense of excitement amongst the team. Simply ensuring that the plans are credible, deliverable and conjuring a successful consequence that is attainable will be sufficient to motivate and drive a sensible sales team.

Compliance is a dirty word...

The Straits Time, Tuesday, July 3 2007

As if it hadn't already been difficult to do much things in pharma, with the corporate governance thing sweeping across industries globally post Enron, Worldcom, etc.

Locally, the SAPI code of marketing practises became more stringent several years ago due to complaints from the medical fraternity on the aggressive and seeemingly 'unethical' marketing by some companies. The launch event of a new drug back in 2003 raised plenty of eyebrows for the extravagant event location held in a 6-star hotel with night stay's thrown in for the participant, premium booze, top range entertainment and even childcare services! No doubt the participants made up largely of doctors across the sectors were delirious. (It is rare to be given such treats in their profession. The general population by and large thinks that doctors should be doing charity works and earning peanuts compensated by the immense amount of compassion they possess.) this triggered off a massive anti-xxx company campaign by its competitors who propagated these sentiments to the authorities and various CMBs of the hospitals and created their own tit-for-tat strategy of offering cruises to nowhere, golf clinics, wine appreciation classes, the list goes on. The fact that the launch event was spilled over two days with a robust and continous CME program was totally negated.

SAPI then responded with an elongated code of marketing practices and a new algorithm for companies to air the grievances and formally lodge a complaint against another. (this resulted in several clash of the titans meetings between a couple of long feuding giants) Suddenly the marketer is told to tone down, keep a lower profile, increase vigilence...

Come to jan 2007, the IFPMA came into the scene, releasing a new international code of marketing practises in which marketers had to spend hours reconciling with the sapi code and attending the legal counsel's training. the IFPMA simply offers tighter control on an already barren environment. (in the local context)

Compliance is a necessary evil. without governance, organizations behave like humans. Integrity will succumb to greed. It is good for the industry to self-regulate rather than to have the regulatories intervene when its too late. Negative perceptions have particularly serious implications for pharma due to the nature of the products and purposes that it seem to represent.

Looking around, PMs are latently devoid of compliant ideas, support (be it medical, legal, financial or administrative) are lacking as everyone is watching out for his/her own turf. if compliance is ALL that drives a company's decisions(and i know of some companies that do so), no matter how minute and non-consequential, conduction of day to day marketing and sales practices, protocols will multiply, processes will get stifled, creativity and innovations will erode and pretty soon we may not even need marketers anymore (as it is, we are already enroute to that eventuality)

Brand Planning II- Not again...

Speak to any PM lately and chances are his/her reply to a simple how are you would be "I'm sooooooooo busy, it's crazy..." I'll suggest you give a cursory good luck and dash for your life. For those unfortunate or clueless ones who cannot manage a timely escape, you can be sure that you will be unloaded with a whole barrage of "It's sooooooo mentally taxing, doing this marketing plan... oh, another brand meeting with the MM/GM/RBM again.." zzz

Indeed, the annual brand planning is no trivial affair to be scorned at. It is one business process that is absolutely necessary to analyse past performances, anticipate market dynamics and business impact, predict and assess future growth, evaluate cost and pursue sales strategies for the whole of next year.

Managing the day-to-day affairs can wear a PM out with hardly any time to sit down and evaluate present situation nor contemplate on future directions. Therefore, brand planning season is a great exercise to formalise the plans.

Although brand planning officially commences from May-July for most companies, PMs shouldn't only think about it come mid-year. It should be a continuous effort throughout the year. thoughts should be given to brand development and discussed about. this could greatly alleviate the load and seriously prevent the slew of unorginal and totally uncreative work that abound in local pharma.

One of the most annoying buzzword whose use is bordering on abuse is 'strategy'. every marketer is throwing it around and short of wearing it across their chest, really annoys me. Thing is, there are plenty of PMs out there who can't even tell between a strategy and a tactic! (no kiddin') Certainly one need not have gone to business school to become a PM but spewing 'strategies' incessantly is a real earsore to most knowledgeable people.

When questioned as to what grand 'strategies' they have dreamt up for their respective brands, you get the run-of-the-mill patient assistance programs, new pricing strategies (drop price/increase bonus?!?!), improved CRM through >SF optimization, running local trials (retrospective usually), increasing no. of GSAs (hello? how'd you get here?)

I know I've long lamented on the lack of creative and innovative talents in this industry. There are some brilliant ones whom I'm proud to have acquaintance of and witnessed the superior intellect, great amount of analytical prowess that complements an adventurous spirit to pursue brand leadership. However, the bulk of which, still leaves much to be desired.

...recommends a heavy dose of "LSD" or "Lead, Speed and Differentiation" to encourage innovation in Asia. A country’s desire to always stay in the "lead" lends a sense of urgency to its people to innovate. Speed, through government agencies working in partnership to meet the needs of businesses, helps shorten the lead time for companies. And differentiation, through identifying niche areas where few are staking their claim, helps sustain a country’s competitive advantage...

Lim Siong-Guan, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board, World Economic Forum on East Asia http://www.weforum.org/en/events/WorldEconomicForumonEastAsia2007/index.htm