A Call to Action: Optimizing Pharmaceutical Field Force Effectiveness and Account Team Collaboration after your National Sales Meeting (NSM)

At the start of the year, many companies pull their teams together for regional or national sales meetings to align them around the new strategic plan, roll out new resources, and motivate the team to hit the ground running.  While all of these are important towards driving performance, the one area that tends to get overlooked is “How” the teams are working together.  In today’s competitive pharmaceutical industry, effective collaboration between various customer-facing account team roles is paramount. While this may seem like something your teams are already doing, the reality is that most companies are not doing it optimally.  The risks of sub-optimal team collaboration can be poor customer experience, missed business opportunities, and even negative employee culture.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Siloed Workflows and Poor Communication: Inconsistent communication or siloed workflows can lead to missed opportunities, confusion, frustration, and inefficiencies. If field sales members are working in isolation from account teams (or vice versa), valuable insights may not be shared and customer needs might go unmet. This can lead to missed sales and poor customer satisfaction.
   
   Tip: Ensure that teams have clear communication expectations and frequent established touchpoints.
   
2. Misaligned Incentives: Many times, field sales and other account team members have different incentives or goals and if there are no connections points between them, collaboration can quickly break down. For example, the field force may be incentivized solely on new sales within the next quarter, and as a result, they may overlook the importance of driving the long-term opportunity within the account, which is often the focus of the account team.
   
   Tip: Align incentives to ensure compensation and rewards are balanced and reflective of both sales results and longer-term objectives.
   
3. Inconsistent Data Reporting: Without consistent data reporting structures, both field sales and account team members may lack visibility into progress or performance, as well as what activity each team is doing in support of each other. This can lead to inefficient use of resources, confusion about what strategies are working, and where there are opportunities for improvement.
   
   Tip: Optimize reporting metrics and tools to ensure that there are shared components and transparency for both groups regarding activity and outcomes.

When defining commercial strategy, it is important to keep the following best practices in mind regarding “How” your teams will work together and avoid the common pitfalls.

Best Practices for Enhancing Field Force Effectiveness and Account Team Collaboration

1. Clear Communication
   Reinforce the goals and expectations for cross-functional teams to work effectively with specific (KPIs), targets, and priorities. Regular, open communication (with clearly identified expectations) helps ensure all team members are on the same page.
   
   Tip: Leaders need to ensure there are regular updates and meetings to keep the field force and account teams aligned on goals, strategies, and progress against KPIs and specific account plans.
   
2. Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities
   Effective collaboration hinges on each team member having a clear understanding of their specific roles and responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of their cross-functional team members. Only with this full understanding can they work together seamlessly and compliantly. While field sales and account teams may have overlapping responsibilities, clearly defined roles help to eliminate confusion, prevent duplication of efforts, and avoid missed opportunities.
   
   Tip:  Establish precise responsibilities and ensure that they are clearly shared and understood across all field teams.  Set clear boundaries so teams can focus on their strengths and contribute more effectively to shared goals.
   
   Tip: Utilize a structured account plan template to help drive effectiveness and clarity of account team meetings to drive effective execution.
   
3. Improving collaboration requires a Training and Development Component
   Both field sales and account teams need targeted training to excel in their roles. Providing collaboration-focused training is equally important to emphasize the importance of teamwork and understanding one another’s roles.
   
   Tip: Provide cross-functional training sessions where both field sales and account teams can gain insights into each other’s roles and responsibilities and provide strategies for effective collaboration. Focus on developing a culture of collaboration by providing specific skills to reach common understanding, agree on shared goals, and ways of working

As you approach your national or regional sales meeting, don’t overlook the opportunity to allocate time towards optimizing collaboration between field sales and account teams. Prioritizing clear communication, defining roles, and fostering a collaborative culture optimizes team performance. By avoiding common pitfalls, companies can build stronger relationships with healthcare providers, achieve long-term business growth, and optimize their employee culture, leading to greater performance and retention of top talent. Strategic collaboration and continuous improvement allow companies to thrive in a competitive market. Aligning goals and expectations, including a shared understanding of key performance indicators, is crucial for success.