Sales Training has Never Been More Important The Forum By Daniel Limbach Knowledge, relationship building, and technology are some of the key factors that can make a good rep a great rep. More important than ever. Knowledge, relationship building, and technology are some of the key factors that can make a good rep a great rep. he sales rep is still the key sales driver for pharmaceutical companies. While visits with physicians continue to get shorter in duration and less frequent, the industry isn’t ready to convert to a new sales model just yet. Therefore, every second a sales representative has with a doctor is important. The training that sales reps undergo has become more sophisticated in an effort to reap the most benefit from the sometimes tenuous relationship between the reps and their customers who write the prescriptions. Following the Trends in Sales Rep Training With so many new trends in sales training, it’s not surprising the experts interviewed for this Forum could not come to a consensus on which is the hottest. E-learning, however, continues to be one of the top training methods, because it is cost-effective and keeps the feet on the street longer. Graves. Distance learning has become the most common form of training to maximize the time in the field with customers while lowering costs. In terms of innovation, we have one particular technique that involves training our sales representatives to be able to diagnose and segment their customers based on their thinking and social styles. We help our sales representatives identify how their customers think, how they like to have things presented to them, and even what their social styles are. This helps us to understand our customers’ needs, based on a better knowledge of their profiles, and allows our sales representatives to match products with customers’ thinking and social styles to increase relevance and impact. Wornson. The hottest trend in sales representative training is benefit selling. At Onmark, we transfer the professional training that we provide to our professional representatives at every sales meeting and apply it to the sales call. Because the dynamics of our core business change every month, our sales representatives must take basic selling skills and apply them to any situation. Our sector of the industry is very competitive. As a result, our representatives need to communicate not only the company’s business and clinical offerings — which include competitive pricing for oncology products, practice optimization tools, and virtual educational programs — but also the benefits these offerings provide to our customers. Our solutions help oncology practices improve practice efficiency, maximize revenue, and deliver high-quality patient care with low overall costs. Capaldi. Field force effectiveness (FFE) is one of the hottest trends right now. There is heightened attention to measuring the resource effectiveness of our promotional activities. I’m not certain if the industry understands yet how to measure this most effectively yet, but its importance is evident. Perron. The hottest trend is training via the Internet or Webcasts. As a small company with limited resources, we often find that it is difficult to fly everyone to the home office to train. We have used interactive Web-based training programs that prove useful in disseminating complex information in a concise and effective manner. Rohleder. Many biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are seeking alternate methods to deliver learning and development programs to realize cost savings and to reduce the time the salesforce spends out of the field. Some companies have made significant investments for the delivery of classroom-application-based learning through Web conferencing or satellite systems. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical sales training departments also are leveraging technology in the form of e-learning Web-based platforms/learning content management systems to provide education about knowledge-based information on disease states, product knowledge, and other topics. We have had good success with the implementation of two e-learning solutions for knowledge-based information in particular. The first was event/live presentation. The Cubist sales training department captured on film six different presentations about disease states and product information from colleagues within our scientific affairs and medical affairs teams. We used an on-demand, Internet-based training system to view these six different video-taped live presentations. By using this e-learning platform, we realized many benefits, such as providing opportunities for our sales representatives and sales managers to access important knowledge-based information on demand via the Internet from any location; our sales colleagues can engage in training initiatives that fit their schedule; the sales training department can upload or discontinue information on a timely basis; and the platform frees us from having to deliver knowledge-based training only at live meetings hence, our LCMS solution has afforded us lower training budget expenses and reduced opportunity costs. The other solution we have implemented is an Internet-based assessment system. This technology has provided the Cubist sales training department the opportunity to test our salesforce on disease states, product knowledge, regulatory and compliance content, and other important topics through an on-demand, Internet-based assessment/testing system. We have realized benefits by using online assessments, such as enabling our sales colleagues to complete tests on demand via the Internet from any location and based on their own schedule; allowing the sales training department to modify and/or add test questions on a timely basis; and making it possible to customize learning for trainees by capturing assessment results. Wolf. The hottest trend is e-learning. Any way that we can reduce time out of the field for sales reps while enhancing their skills is a plus. Harris. With the goal of optimizing each participant’s ability to implement his or her knowledge, we in the training community are constantly challenging ourselves to use many different instructional approaches to maximize the retention of our learners. Training challenges While there are as many major training challenges as there are pharmaceutical companies, each company wants an efficient, effective training program so sales reps are prepared when they are in the field. Our experts expressed a number of different challenges that keep them on the hunt for solutions. Gardner. The number of “gee-whiz” sales training products and services available today is distracting. Shopping for the “best-fit” programs by senior management is critical because buying the wrong program wastes time and resources and bogs down sales operations. Graves. The first big challenge is quantifying the elements of a training program and isolating those elements that are the most impactful. The second challenge is keeping the training simple and focused on the competencies and skills that correlate best with top performance. The third challenge is getting the average performing representative up to the level of a top-performing representative, by enhancing certain attributes or skills of the sales professional, and ultimately changing behaviors and competencies. Wornson. The greatest challenge is finding enough time to meet with the sales reps. To address this, we recently revised our field coaching guide for our sales managers to help them consistently coach our reps via phone and e-mail, as well as face-to-face. Our goal is for our sales managers to provide effective and consistent distance coaching to the sales team. Rohleder. One of my biggest challenges is to shape, develop, and implement a new core and elective curriculum for our decentralized national sales organization using technology. Up to this point, our delivery methods for sales training have been traditional with deployment of three-ring binders of training modules, booklets, and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. One of my 2006 objectives is to integrate an effective, user-friendly learning management system that will motivate learners, is cost effective, and employs action-based training experiences that simulate the sales environment and ensure we address our critical success factors for learning and development. Perron. One of our biggest challenges is keeping training interactive and the trainees engaged. Sales people, by nature, are not comfortable sitting in training classes for extended periods of time. They are much more comfortable out in the field driving sales. We strive to create interactive and informative programs that continue to challenge and educate our salesforce. Wolf. It is critical that we comply with company policies and OIG and PhRMA guidelines. A large part of our training activities focuses on compliance. Ensuring Rep Success Performance in the field is priority one for drug companies. Experts interviewed for this Forum shared many of their favorite best practices for extracting exceptional performance from their reps. Graves. First, hire and develop the right people against proven competencies that correlate the best with sales impact and customer satisfaction. Second, practice, practice, practice. Have a robust program in place to instill the execution of fundamentals into the representatives’ daily behaviors and have them practice selling excellence relentlessly. Finally, make sure the right incentives and rewards are in place to reward top performance and retain the best sales people. Ultimately, the goal is to have well-trained people operating in the context of a high-performing/high-rewarding culture. Wolf. First and foremost, it is critical to identify and hire for the attributes that cannot be learned on the job: work ethic, integrity, and coachability. Second, it is essential to clearly define performance expectations. Third, it is important to create a supportive environment that encourages questions and communication and recognizes a job well done. Harris. Developing exceptional performance in the field requires three best practices from a leader. First, it begins with setting clear expectations and directions and appropriately equipping the staff for the task at hand. When performance is less than desired, the first question to ask is: has this person been provided with the necessary direction and tools to be successful? The second requirement for exceptional performance is presence. As a trainer, I must be there to personally observe the behaviors taking place. Checking in simply doesn’t cut it if I am serious about a person’s performance. Third, I need to formulate the appropriate response based on my observations with mutual agreement with my learner. Responses can range from additional teaching, coaching, and interactive discussions, which are all geared toward closing the gap between the ideal performance and the actual performance. The execution of this simple process over time leads to exceptional performance. Wornson. Obtaining buy-in from the reps before making decisions is key. This enables us to spend less time motivating and more time tracking results and performances on a specific objective. It is also important to provide significant feedback to the reps — both verbally and in writing. Timely and comprehensive feedback is fundamental to enhancing the reps’ performance. Finally, and most importantly, is ensuring that the front-line manager exhibits the behaviors and skills that are desired, as it is critical to lead from the front. This makes it easier to ask the same from the rep. Wells. In my career, I have found that there are a few key best practices that stand out time and time again to propel and enable exceptional performance: knowledge, execution, front-line management, and the one ingredient that cannot be taught, trained, or coached — passion. A salesforce with credible medical knowledge gives the company a competitive advantage. The discipline and rigor necessary for successful science are necessary for successful commercial operations as well. We put a big emphasis on consultative selling. As a result, it’s not unusual for our sales reps to spend 20 minutes to a couple of hours with a physician. Once the skill knowledge and territory understanding have been learned, all within the regulated environment, it is critical that the most successful representative execute both elements in quality as well as quantity. This means seeing the right healthcare providers, at the appropriate time and frequency and delivering specifically targeted messages that address individual physician needs. In our industry, the front-line manager is a critical component of pinnacle performance. Front-line managers serve as personal teachers, trainers, and coaches for our healthcare representatives. It is important that we train and hire managers with the desire to teach, train, and coach on the aforementioned critical skills. A partnership between the representative and front-line manager is also important. With a strong partnership, coaching, and the receptivity of a representative to ongoing coaching, a good professional sales representative can become a top-tier performer. Wells. In our industry, commitment to both the patient and the selling process are key. It is the desire and passion for bringing the best possible options and solutions to patients that make one representative stand out from another. At Genentech, our success reflects the genuine enthusiasm and passion that our employees hold for the important work we do to help patients with serious illnesses. Gardner. One best practice that I have found over the years is individual planning. Proactive reps with a management-approved plan for their territory deliver better results. There also has to be supervision to ensure discipline regarding the sales plan. Flexibility is important as the selling environment is dynamic, but reps who “chase” business are less productive than those who stick to their work plan. Finally, teach and require use of CRM tools. Reps who let the technology “do the heavy lifting” are higher-level performers. From lead generation, funnel management, and sales cycle compression, reps who are able to use the tools effectively close more sales. Perron. Empowering each sales person and holding him or her accountable are important. Strong performers want to be able to make decisions that impact their business. They want credit for successes and will accept blame for their failures. Providing clear direction is also necessary. Our business is confusing enough with formularies, reimbursement rates, and new competitors coming to the market. It is paramount to not only lay out exactly what is expected from the representatives but to clearly show them what they will get for their performance. Arming each sales person with the resources he or she needs is another best practice. Sending a sales person into physicians’ offices without adequate selling materials, selling skills, and funds will quickly kill his or her motivation. Rohleder. As a sales training director, I lead sales training initiatives with cross functional teams to focus our organizational and learning best practices that will assist our sales colleagues in achieving exceptional performance. For example, we are ensuring that our core sales competencies are clearly identified by the organization and all learning and development programs are skill and competency based. The sales training department and other departments, such as human resources, are continuously aligning their learning programs to ensure that all company performance management systems are linked to the desired performance criteria and levels of performance. Furthermore, learning and development programs for the sales organization are designed to provide for the successful transfer of learning from the classroom and/or LCMS to the field and to ensure that all competency, skill, and knowledge-based training is reinforced by coaching and feedback. Capaldi. Simulation continues to be our most effective environment. It allows engagement of all stakeholders in the process — marketing, management, and the sales professionals. It is also the most costly, so we have to ensure that it is used appropriately. turning Good Reps into Great Reps The dream of all sales trainers is to elevate their middle-performing reps to the top-performing ranks. That’s easier said than done, and it relies as much on the qualities of the rep as it does the training program. Our experts had some interesting thoughts on what differentiates a great rep from a good rep. Graves. For one, great reps have a visible passion and commitment to win. They also have a keen knowledge of the customer, and how the product they’re selling can fit into the practice of medicine better than their competition. The level of confidence of the representative is very important, and this usually correlates highly with their results. Also, a great rep must be direct in closing. Perron. The top attribute is a desire to succeed. As trainers we can teach clinical knowledge, territory management, and selling skills but we cannot teach someone to want to succeed. Wolf. Knowledge, skills, and attitude are given characteristics for a good rep. Given the constraints on their time in front of physicians, the great reps find ways to increase their access through their presentation skills and follow up. Additionally, great reps benefit from knowledge management, that is, enhancing their skills through best practices and lessons learned from their peers and from experience. Harris. The greatest and most consistent achievers are usually characterized by a strong work ethic; a positive attitude, including a willingness to receive feedback from others; and consistent implementation of the marketing plan. It’s been my experience that lower sales performance is usually the result of a gap in one of these three areas. Wells. Exceptional performance is directly linked to knowledge in several key areas: the selling process, product knowledge, and the industry and regulatory environment. Understanding prescribing and physician motivators, as well as being able to respond and position the product value in a compelling way, are key components of the selling process. Representatives also should be the consummate resource as it relates to product knowledge and how that product compares with other available options. In addition, it is also critical to train representatives on how to manage their territories. The territory for a healthcare representative is essentially a franchise of opportunity available for cultivation. Understanding where product opportunities lay, as well as their company resources, helps to position a rep for success. Finally, it is very important that our representatives understand the regulations, the importance of on-label discussions, and how to work in a compliant manner. Gardner. The best reps are great listeners. They hear what the customer needs. They understand the customer’s problems. Then they are able to show the customer how the products and services being offered will provide solutions for those needs. Executive involvement is also very important. All employees, especially sales reps, need to see the big picture and know that their success contributes in a meaningful way to the company’s mission. Wornson. I have found that our best reps have the ability to self evaluate. Because sales managers cannot be with reps all the time, we train our reps to coach themselves after every sales call and make corrections where needed. Second, a great rep can probe customers into selling themselves on the product. Finally, a great rep can skillfully reframe an objection. Once a sales rep becomes expert at these three skills, results will follow. Rohleder. Outstanding sales representatives are driven by a need to succeed. They have a positive, optimistic attitude and do not give up despite the challenges they face. They want to understand what drives their customers and what makes them tick. This allows them to better influence their customers and build relationships with them. They are most successful when they work together as a team and share best practices. Many of the behaviors in our competency model for sales representatives focus on effective communication, keeping a positive outlook, seizing opportunities, gaining customer understanding, and building business acumen. Certain educational research has shown that sales representatives who consistently perform at an exemplary level have a high degree of business acumen. Our high performing sales representatives are able to think strategically and translate strategy into action by successfully linking the needs of the business, the needs of the physician, and the needs of the patient on a consistent basis and within different customer segments and market access environments. Effectiveness in the Field While it is critical to measure any training initiative, it’s also important to evaluate whether high performance in training assessments converts into high sales effectiveness. The experts in this Forum believe high scores in training are only part of the picture when determining the potential performance of any rep. Graves. Knowledge expertise is a critical success factor that can be assessed during training, but by itself, it doesn’t correlate to high performance. Without the right commitment, confidence, and ability to be direct in closing, it’s unlikely that high scores in knowledge expertise will lead to high performance. Rohleder. In my opinion, training assessments play a contributing role toward high performance in the field. Through training assessments, sales managers and the sales training department have useful metrics to guide the learning for sales representatives. Through a systematic method of collecting information, three crucial areas can be assessed: how much and how well the trainees have learned the content; how effective the trainers have been at facilitating the training; and how useful the training materials are. As we know, many variables lead sales reps to a superior level of sales effectiveness and high performance in the field. These variables include a sales representative’s motivation, intelligence, education, and willingness to be coached; the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience a sales manager has to be an effective guide, coach, teacher, and mentor to their sales representative; and the effectiveness of the sales training department to provide learning and development experiences to train field sales professionals. Despite these variables, training assessments correspond to high performance outcomes in the field because they assess a trainee’s knowledge, understanding, and application of important content. Test results give sales managers and the sales training department opportunities to customize and shape a trainee’s learning and knowledge in key areas. Knowledge is power that can be used to influence customers, which may lead to increased prescriptions for your product or allow for increased access to that important customer. Furthermore, assessments put tension in the system ensuring a certain level of attentiveness by the participant. Perron. I have seen a positive correlation between performance in training and performance in the field, but not always. If the training is not interactive and engaging, some sales people will perform poorly on the assessments. Wolf. There is little correlation between the two. Performing well in training can indicate the ability to do well in a focused environment where there are fewer distractions than in the field. A rep’s ability to function in the field can be greatly impacted by organizational skills, work ethic, and business acumen as well as outside influences, such as managed care, geography, access, etc. Gardner. When training is over, the effectiveness equation becomes individual effort plus executive involvement. Wornson. High performance in the classroom setting proves to the sales trainer that a rep has grasped the information and can use it in a controlled situation. The real test comes in the field when a coach or trainer is present. If a rep can truly apply the skills he or she has learned in training to a sales call with an observer present, he or she will be able to apply the skills in any situation. The field evaluation is the only assessment from which an outcome can be predicted. Harris. We do not have a single training assessment that predicts high performance in sales. For example, people with strong product and therapeutic area knowledge often struggle with communicating a strong message. Likewise, many who perform well on memorized verbatim tasks lack the necessary dialogue skills to be truly persuasive. That being said, the wise trainer assesses his or her students on a broad range of skills throughout the training process. When combined with a strong work ethic and implementation in the field, the top performers across the assessment spectrum in class usually do well in the field. Regulatory Impact on Training Changes in the regulatory environment can cause a ripple effect throughout the industry, and sales training is not immune from increased oversight. Drug companies are building flexible training strategies that can be adapted to this changing environment that allow their salesforces to navigate the regulatory and compliance landscape. Graves. We haven’t really needed to adjust our strategy because it is already based on being fully aligned with the laws, regulations, and codes of conduct that ensure our representatives educate and promote our products appropriately within approved labeling. Clearly, we make certain that all our of reps understand the guidelines they must follow and we review and refine our training programs as needed. Because of the amount and pace of change in the industry today we’re doing a lot more distance learning and district training meetings to be certain we keep everybody abreast of the changes in the environment. Harris. We have had to adjust our training strategy in light of recent compliance and regulatory issues, and we are glad to do so. In addition to a comprehensive presentation by the compliance team during sales training, we now include compliance scenarios in role-playing sessions. Interestingly enough, most representatives respond very well to these changes. We have found that their confidence increases when they know that the company takes a strong ethical stand. Capaldi. The new regulations haven’t affected our training drastically, but they are additive in nature. The benefit is that it has knocked down the walls between legal, human resources, and training. Gardner. In our space compliance and regulatory expertise is part of the value-added consultative selling package. Our customers expect us to be on pace with changes in the compliance and regulatory environment. Rohleder. We take whatever steps are necessary to keep pace with the ever-changing compliance and regulatory environment. We successfully launched an initiative known as Areté. Areté is an ancient Greek word that represents the intersection of the words excellence, virtue, and knowledge, and this term describes our program for ensuring that we conduct business within the rules of our industry, not only because it is the law, but because it is the right thing to do. We expect our employees to perform with the highest integrity at all times and to do what is right. Our goal with this sales training initiative was to establish solid business processes and practices that allow us to compete as aggressively as possible, while ensuring that we remain well within the rules of the rigorous compliance and regulatory environment. Additionally, these processes are continually being built with a focus toward rapid learning, so that we can quickly identify what is working and what is not, and make the changes necessary to remain ahead of the competition. Wolf. The company’s strategy always has been to operate within the regulatory and legal guidelines. We collaborate closely with legal and regulatory colleagues throughout the training process. Training Techniques When considering the latest techniques for training programs, adapting to the customer’s style is at the top of the list. Role play also is a popular technique. A culture of continuous improvement often surrounds these techniques during training. Harris. Our training team tends to focus on fundamental techniques with an open mind toward constant improvement. I believe there is greater value in focusing on how to be excellent at what there is to know now, instead of being on the proverbial treadmill looking for something new. Wornson. We are currently focusing on providing our reps with application training. Once we have provided them with basic selling skills, we then train them on how to apply those general skills to our unique offerings. Gardner. We teach reps to sell ROI. Most of our sales start with a capital purchase. This sets the stage for price sensitivity. By shifting the focus from capital cost to ROI, the actual cost of the equipment becomes a de minimus risk-factor in the ROI equation. Perron. We have not added much in the form of new techniques. Rather, we’ve gone back to the basics, such as training the sales person to be a partner with the office. We focus on better account management. We make sure that the reps are conducting a complete call, including communications with the nurses, PAs, NPs, office managers, and so on. Outsourcing Trends Most pharmaceutical companies outsource a portion of their training, but they are particular in terms of what is outsourced and what stays in-house. Not surprisingly, basic sales techniques and introductory disease-state training are outsourced at a greater rate than product-specific training and proprietary techniques that give a company a competitive advantage. Graves. We don’t outsource too much. Our overall philosophy from a training perspective is “leader is coach.” Our internal training department trains our leaders, especially first-line and second-line managers. That philosophy drives a lot of internal capability building. When we do outsource, it tends to be operational in nature. For example, if we were putting in a new salesforce automation system, we would outsource the training as we bring the system online. Sometimes we will outsource medical content, such as general disease backgrounders. The rest of our training programs and best practices are locally built and executed internally. Gardner. Over the last few years I have tried to have one outsourced project each year. I look for vendors focused on strategic selling and value selling techniques. Wornson. We employ a modular program to train our reps. We outsource the basic training classes that we offer at our biannual national sales meetings. In selecting a training partner, we look for a vendor that is able to customize the training to our unique market and to get new reps up to speed quickly. Rohleder. Our salesforce learning continuum is primarily developed in house. Almost all of our training content for our competencies, compliance and regulatory policies, disease-state knowledge, and product knowledge are developed by Cubist colleagues from various disciplines. We have established different cross-functional teams made up of employees who have expertise in key areas. These colleagues dedicate portions of their time toward content and curriculum development. We also have a training oversight team and clearance committee that review all sales training materials and content for our learning continuum for scientific, medical, commercial, and regulatory accuracy. We mostly outsource our training work to training and development partners for e-learning and Web-based technology solutions. From our training partners we seek out new ideas and innovations to deliver complex information through proven adult learning principles via user-friendly and cost-effective technology platforms. Perron. We outsource about 50% of our training. We look for companies that have knowledge in our transactional selling environment. We sell our products directly to the physician, which separates us from the majority of other pharmaceutical companies. It is truly a specialty sale and our training needs to be crafted to address this environment. New tools Pharmaceutical company sales representatives are faced with new initiatives, such as e-detailing and other direct-to-physician marketing vehicles that have become a part of the job. Experts interviewed for this Forum discuss whether these new techniques are a threat to rep performance. Graves. The honest answer is that it totally depends on how marketing and sales work together. Reps can see these tools as a potential threat if marketing doesn’t explain how they complement their activities. If marketing does a good job educating reps on what the marketing and selling plan is, and how the tactics fit together, then representatives tend to not see these tactics as a threat at all. Top performers know that an educated, knowledgeable customer is a better customer, and it only increases the rep’s chance to be effective when they are selling a product. Gardner. Any efforts that create interest and generate leads are welcome. Our market is fragmented and hard to reach. Some of the new technologies are the fastest and most cost-effective way to get our marketing messages to the physicians. wolf. Representatives generally view e-detailing and DTP very positively. These methods help reach the physicians representatives can’t reach with the frequency they desire due to large geography and other resource issues. Perron. Our reps see these efforts as additional sales tools. Training Contracted Reps Working with a contact sales organization (CSO) brings greater reach, but often less control. CSO reps need training just as in-house reps do. Our experts had some interesting insights on the differences in training reps brought in from a contract sales organization. Graves. When we use CSOs, there is a core set of standards that we demand our representatives adhere to. There are a few proprietary programs that we believe are core to our competitive advantage that we don’t talk about externally, and subsequently don’t train our CSOs on. Other than that, we train our CSOs on the same programs as our internal reps. We treat them as if they are our own salesforce. Wolf. In my experience, the training provided to CSO representatives should not differ. For the most part, we train our CSO representatives in the identical way as our own representatives. We do integrate into the training the specific training requirements of the contract sales organization. We train the CSO representatives in the same classes with our own representatives and they are made to feel a part of the team. Capaldi. There is no difference in the training we provide our CSO sales professionals and our in-house sales representatives; it’s been important for us to maintain consistency. Our CSO sales professionals seem to appreciate this approach. PharmaLinx LLC, publisher of the VIEW, welcomes comments about this article. E-mail us at [email protected]. The hottest trend in sales rep training is benefits selling. Because the dynamics of our core business change every month, our reps must take basic selling skills and apply them to any situation. Joe Wornson Onmark Given the tight time constraints in front of physicians, many reps approach calls assuming that the doctor has no time. We try to make them aware that sometimes, the reps themselves are setting the time limits. Patricia Wolf Otsuka America Pharmaceutical The industry is quite dynamic, which makes keeping training relevant a challenge. We also face the challenge of maintaining the balance between providing our sales professionals with knowledge and being compliant. Michael Capaldi Sanofi-Aventis Training assessments play a contributing role toward high performance in the field. Through training assessments, sales managers and the sales training department have useful metrics to guide the learning for sales representatives. Rick Rohleder Cubist Pharmaceuticals Pete Perron Valera Pharmaceuticals We’ve gone back to the basics: training our sales people to be partners with the office staff. We are focusing on better account management skills. And we are making sure that the reps are conducting complete calls by impacting all decision makers in each office. Today’s hottest trend in sales representative training is incorporating diverse learning styles into instructional delivery. Kenneth Harris Shire Pharmaceuticals Reference Books for Sales Reps • Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone: Career Essentials for Pharmaceutical Representatives By David Currier Published by iUniverse; available from Amazon.com. • Drug Rep Success: Top Selling Pharmaceutical Sales Guide By Alex Anderson Published by Booklocker.com; available from Amazon.com. • New Wave Pharmaceutical Selling By Sandra M. Peters Published by Black Dog Publishing Company; available from Amazon.com. • Selling to Specialist Physicians (Paperback) By Sandra M. Peters and Vincent F. Peters Published by Black Dog Publishing Company; available from Amazon.com. • Insider’s Guide to the World of Pharmaceutical Sales By Jane Williams Published by Principle Publications; available from Amazon.com. • Professional Pharmaceutical Selling By Jane Williams Published by Principle Publications; available from Amazon.com. • MSDR: Medical Sales Desk Reference: Increase Your Sales And Commissions Then Fast Track Your Career As a Modern Medical or Pharmaceutical Sales Executive By Vendesi Group and Ryan Gray Published by Authorhouse; available from Amazon.com. We teach our sales reps to sell ROI. Most of our sales start with a capital purchase, which sets the stage for price sensitivity. By shifting the focus from capital cost to ROI, the actual cost of the equipment becomes a de minimus risk-factor in the ROI equation. G. Gus Gardner Clinical Data Kurt Graves Novartis Pharmaceuticals Our overall philosophy from a training perspective is “leader is coach.” Our internal training department trains our leaders, especially first-line and second-line managers. This philosophy drives most of our internal capability building. Carol Wells Genentech There are a few key best practices that propel and enable exceptional performance: knowledge, execution, and passion, which is the one ingredient that cannot be taught. VIEW on Sales Training May 2006 Fast Facts • New reps average about 32% of all employees trained but account for 61% of the total training budget at benchmarked companies. • The percentage of budget for outsourcing is 21% of the total (United States). With 47% of U.S. and 44% of non-U.S. respondents predicting that their training budgets will increase over the next two years. There is likely to be a substantial business opportunity here. • While companies in the United States offer 14% more training for sales reps in the first year than non-U.S. companies, the training profile is very different. U.S. firms tend to offer more training in the first 90 days — 74% versus 26% throughout the rest of the year. In contrast, non-U.S. companies provide 61% and 39%, respectively. Source: Best Practices LLC, Chapel Hill, N.C. For more information, visit bestpractices.com. Thought Leaders Michael Capaldi. Senior Director, Sales Training, Sanofi-Aventis, Bridgewater, N.J.; Sanofi-Aventis is a pharmaceutical company with expertise in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic disorders, central nervous system, internal medicine, and vaccines. For more information, visit sanofi-aventis.us. n G. Gus Gardner. President, Clinical Data Sales and Service, Vital Diagnostics Division, Clinical Data Inc., Smithfield, R.I.; Clinical Data offers a range of clinical chemistry and hematology laboratory instrumentation, diagnostic assays, and consulting services for the physician-office laboratory, clinics, and smaller hospitals worldwide. For more information, visit clda.com. n Kurt Graves. Global Head of General Medicines, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland; Novartis is a world leader in developing medicines to protect health, cure disease, and improve well-being. For more information, visit novartis.com. n Kenneth A. Harris. Senior Director, Sales Training, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Wayne, Pa.; Shire is a global specialty pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of products and marketing capabilities. For more information, visit us.shire.com. n Pete Perron. VP of Sales, Valera Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cranbury, N.J.; Valera is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, acquisition, and commercialization of products to treat urology and endocrinology diseases. For more information, visit valerapharma.com. n Rick Rohleder. Director, Sales Training, Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington, Mass.; Cubist Pharmaceuticals researches, develops, and commercializes novel anti-infectious drugs. For more information, visit cubist.com. n Carol Wells. Senior Director, Commercial Training, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, Calif.; Genentech is a biotechnology company that uses human genetic information to discover, develop, commercialize, and manufacture biotherapeutics that address significant unmet medical needs. For more information, visit gene.com. n Patricia Wolf. Senior Director, Sales Training and Development, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc., Rockville, Md.; Otsuka America Pharmaceutical is a healthcare company that commercializes Otsuka-discovered and other product opportunities in North America, with a strong focus on and commitment to neuroscience, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal therapeutic treatments. For more information, visit otsuka.com. n Joe Wornson. Director of Sales, Onmark, South San Francisco, Calif.; Onmark is an oncology services company that provides oncology drugs, supportive care products, and related supplies to office-based oncology practices in the United States. For more information, visit onmarkservices.com.

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