A Marketer’s Life

When a pharmaceutical company says that one of its clients is “key,” what type of criteria is it using to say so? All too often, this prognosis is based on an analysis of financial data alone and as such, it can be said that the entire account management philosophy is based on a poor foundation. Why not look at this from the opposite view, as if you were a designated key account? What if the client looks at the association on the basis of dollar values alone and believes that it is not based on the provision of high-quality services and on the establishment of strategic importance? It’s not possible to mask the true meaning of the relationship, as designated by the pharmaceutical company, regardless of the levels of interpersonal relationships at the executive levels.

The key client understands why it should be designated as “key,” whether that is purely to do with revenue levels or not or whether, as more likely, it is a product of strategic positioning as well. This client will expect a certain level of attention from the company and will be looking for leadership positioning in the industry, as part and parcel of the agreement to do business in the first place.

A relationship between a company and its client must be a two-way street. Where competition is rife, options are always available and the company must ensure that it is always doing more than could be expected of it. This requires a philosophical integration through all staff levels and this can be sometimes difficult to achieve. A pharmaceutical consulting firm can be worth its weight in gold in these situations. Due to the amount of experience that they have built up, pharmaceutical consultants can be really knowledgeable and can even understand a client’s requirements better than the company itself. As such, the consultants can help the training of staff at all levels with regard to the intricacies necessary when dealing with clients.

For example, a client will often be looking for the company to be proactive, to be always looking for ways to improve the relationship and to help the client act on data and information that they already have. Interaction in this way will not necessarily result in a direct revenue increase and therefore if the sales executive is only motivated by revenue related bonuses, this level of incentivisation may not work in everyone’s best interests at all.

Remember that these situations are often far more subtle than this would suggest, and even the most sophisticated incentivisation schemes can fail to meet their targets. These types of situations call for a lot of experience and a dedicated approach to the handling of each and every key account.

The pharmaceutical company must understand that there are sometimes hidden costs involved in handling these accounts and the designation of “key” should not be given easily. Always read between the lines and assess how strategically important the relationship could be, far above bottom-line figures and revenues. These days, pharma consulting firms can help reveal these points of reason and can in certain circumstances help the company to understand that a particular client may not in fact represent the company’s best interests.

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.

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