The pharmaceutical marketing landscape has been changed significantly by the emergence of various types of “health systems”, variously known as ACOs, IDNs, IHNs, etc. These organizations create varying degrees of centralized control and decision-making for pharmaceutical or device and diagnostics products. Pharmaceutical companies have generally responded to this emergence by creating (or increasing) the role of Account Managers, calling on key decision makers at these health systems.
The activity of the Account Manager will vary widely based on the products being sold and the type of health system they are calling on, but in almost all cases, part of their goal is to influence policies and formulary decisions at the target account in a way that improves the selling environment for the “regular” sales reps calling on the various target accounts or physicians that are influenced by that health system.
Until recently, the ability of the Account Manager (AM) to produce that favorable impact on the selling environment was pretty much taken on faith. But there was no direct evidence of a generalized impact, and no evidence of what kinds of health systems were most likely to be influenced by the activity. Nor was there any robust targeting strategy (which health systems should the AMs call on, and how hard?).
At the annual PMSA Conference in 2015, David Wood, Principal at Axtria will make a presentation to discuss the results of a concluded study that demonstrates a robust way to quantify these impacts, and reveal the actual value created by AM activity. The model offers all of the following components:
- Quantification of both indirect and direct impacts from AM activity
- Relative prioritization of target health systems based on their size, degree of centralization, and the mix of account types that they influence
- Identification of the role of “regular” sales rep pull-through, offering the opportunity for stronger coordination of activity across these sales organization.
Details of the annual PMSA conference can be found at http://pmsa.net/conferences/2015-annual-conference
Stay tuned to Axtria’s Ingenious Insights Blog for further updates on PMSA activities.