Now more than ever, it’s important for the pharmaceutical company to make the right, strategic decisions as they develop new products and continue to market existing products into the field. The journey between product manufacture and the patient involves numerous layers of bureaucracy, regulatory restrictions and enforcement, even though the patient is much in need of a product. It is in such a taught environment that the pharmaceutical consultant can be worth his or her weight in gold.

Legislation is imminent which will change the look of the US healthcare industry (one of the world’s most complex industries) after decades. Even more uncertainty will be in evidence as organisations try to decipher what these changes will be all about, even as this process takes many months and years to unfold. As everyone concerned must engage these changes and learn afresh, the prepared organisation will surely be able to capitalise on these opportunities in the years ahead. Many view change as being a threatening situation, but for those who are forward thinking, they can see opportunities and will ensure that pharma consulting firms help them to delineate and take advantage accordingly.

The selection of the pharmaceutical and healthcare consulting firm must be made on the basis of an organisation’s track record and its ability to operate on the leading edge. The company must have the right balance of perspective and experience to be able to make judgements and recommendations to the organisation to solve daily challenges. The pharmaceutical consultant should be a close ally to senior decision-makers within the organisation and should provide a helping hand with expert input on a timely basis.

If key management decisions appear to be built on shaky ground, the pharmaceutical consultant should always be available and ready to implement a challenge to these positions, if better tactics and an alternate approach could result in a more profitable outcome. The consultant will not take over the situation of course, but a good consulting firm is quite able to look at the situation from a “devil’s advocate” or neutral and unbiased position, calling on knowledge and experience of similar situations in the past.

A pharma consulting firm should be able to anticipate trends by looking into its crystal ball and making sure that the organisation is advised of any potential threats or emerging issues that it should be aware of, if likely to impact a position. Developments within the marketplace could be critical to a planned product down the road and early intervention at decision-making time can often make the difference between great profits or a failed venture. The relationship between the pharmaceutical consulting firm and senior executives of the company should be close, established and proven, with a track record of positive outcomes.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

Far too often the act of a sale is construed as a perfect result. While winning a sale is undoubtedly important, as after all without sales nothing is achieved, there must be tangible and measurable value attached to the sale, from every point of view. However efficient the executive, without the creation of a good relationship between both parties, the long-term baseline value of the transaction is questionable. As such, it is important that the company applies incentives very carefully and selectively, so that a “win-win” situation is always achieved.

Productivity generally increases if an individual is incentivised, as this is within our nature. This will require the creation of sensible goals related to existing benchmarks. If this is handled correctly it will create a volatile and effective environment, but it can also be detrimental if handled poorly. The goals set should represent a journey rather than the destination and multi-tiered targets should encourage, but always lead to a “carrot” which is just out of reach. This will ensure that the sales executive is constantly engaged.

In most cases, pharmaceutical consulting firms tell us that sales executives spend the majority of their time on ancillary and sometimes mundane administrative work and a minority of their time in direct communication with prospects or engaged with client management. Due to this amazing statistic, time management should be a top priority and executives should do whatever they can to cut down on the ancillary or administrative work necessary. Indeed, if these boring tasks get completely out of control, certain personality types can rebel and this can have a serious, knock-on effect on creativity and achievements.

If a comprehensive training program is practised by the organisation, each team member will get the feeling that he or she is dynamically engaged with the overall goal. Do not confuse administration with training – training is a priority, while administrative burdens should be minimised. This should include product awareness as well as methodology and techniques, and the latest procedures can be implemented through pharma consulting firms. Such companies have been proven to raise morale, cut out negative emotions, inject just the right amount of enthusiasm and draw on their extensive industry background.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.

A pharmaceutical company is far more than just a manufacturer of health products and solutions. As a pharmaceutical consulting firm stresses, the company owes the consumer in general a debt of revelation. Most often, the pharmaceutical companies are at the cutting-edge of science and help to uncover solutions or possibilities previously unheard-of. Without an adequate marketing channel, these findings might never make their way via the regulators to the front-line professionals. Marketing also insists that the product features and benefits are correctly communicated to the financiers, principally the insurance companies, who seem to have an ever-increasing role in the dissemination of care.

While regulators will ultimately determine if a pharmaceutical product may be made available and will confirm the associated claims, the pharmaceutical company must be able to market itself, its reputation and its products within the ultra-competitive and distracted healthcare industry. It should be noted that certain principals within the industry have an incentive to steer healthcare practitioners and their patients toward older, or generic medications and that these agendas may not be in the best interests of the sufferer. Pharmaceutical companies have a clear incentive to trumpet the benefits of their wares in such a noisy marketplace and help to create a dynamic and forward thinking mindset.

Sometimes, the vested interests are very powerful and do not serve the ultimate client best. In popular opinion, healthcare reform is always controversial and the pharmaceutical company would do well to accurately and forcefully communicate its position. The physician takes input from many different sources before he or she makes the decision as to final care, including experience, peer input, education and training, patient history, formularies, techniques and benchmarks – all play their role. If you consider that nine out of ten most frequently prescribed drugs are generics, it should be clear that far from being in a position of dominance, pharmaceutical companies must make every effort to ensure that their marketing messages are heard. Generally, pharma consulting firms play their part in helping to establish channels and best practices.

Many of the most striking advances in the dissemination of medicine in recent years have been a result of work by pharmaceutical companies. Previous generations would surely marvel at some of the cures available today. To enable healthcare to continue to get better, much emphasis must be placed on marketing.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.