By Wendy Blackburn*
There’s this interesting thing in the pharmaceutical marketing world where sales reps magically morph into marketers. I’m not sure how it began (and its not exactly magic, as you’ll read), but it’s been that way as long as I can remember successful sales reps reach a certain point in their career where they leave the field to come into home office and do a rotation in market research or brand management. Some of them learn the ropes and go on to be great marketers. Others flounder their way through marketing their brand for a few years until they get moved on to something else.
People from outside the pharma industry often marvel at this insane phenomenon these sales-rep-turned-marketers have no advertising, product management, or marketing experience and receive little training. How are they expected to be successful?
The smartest ones, I’ve observed, learn to ask a lot of questions. They lean on peers and their agencies. They’re smart, and they know they need to think differently. And they embrace the challenge of learning something new.
The unsuccessful ones, I’ve observed, don’t admit what they don’t know. They ignore market research if they don’t agree with it. They make erratic decisions, and no one knows how those decisions were arrived upon. They don’t like the color green so they don’t want to see it in the creative comps. They have a brand-centric sales mentality instead of patient-centric one. They set tactical goals for the year – “I need to do one new sales aid. I need to launch a Facebook page.” – and spend the year checking off those goals come hell or high water. And they often aren’t comfortable with technology so they stay away from blending too much digital into their marketing mix. Sigh.
Here’s my theory: It’s not really their fault. Sales reps – by training – are reticent to admit they don’t know something. In fact, that’s really hard for a lot of people to do. The business world demands confidence. It demands people that can make quick decisions, can command a room, and sell anyone on an idea – whether that idea is good or bad. These reps are used to being all about the brand – not the patient. And they’re probably only in this gig for a few years anyway so why invest the energy to learn something new, take risks, or fight for something?
In my opinion, that’s a pretty sad state of affairs. We should all be learning, growing, asking questions, and fighting for what we believe in. When we stop doing that, the spark is gone and we’re just going through the motions. That’s the place where bad campaigns are born. It’s where great ideas go to die. And it’s where big pharma forgets that patients are their ultimate customers.
Are you one of these sales-rep-turned-product-manager phenomenons? If so, take a look in the mirror. What type of legacy will you leave behind?
Wendy Blackburn is an Executive Vice President at Intouch Solutions, a leading pharmaceutical marketing agency.