ZS Associates

Issue

The US affiliate of a major pharmaceutical company faced numerous product-line changes over a two year period, including loss of patent and pending new product introductions. The traditional approach to sales force design would have created significant and continuous customer and organizational disruption.

Results

ZS helped the executive management team reduce customer disruption and increase sales with the existing headcount. This was accomplished by allowing local variation in the deployment of sales resources so that the client could address portfolio change without changing the territory footprint.

Approach

ZS introduced a new sales model that allowed local field managers to differentially resource the sales organization around the needs of the local customers. Individual sales representatives were trained to sell a larger set of products, increasing the likelihood of having the correct product combination to present in each sales call. This coverage model eliminated inefficient sales calls and re-directed that sales effort to more productive opportunities. The territory footprint was designed to remain constant throughout product changes, while the deployment of sales headcount and the targeting to specific customers changed as local conditions evolved. The implementation was supported by adaptations in other elements of sales operations such as more flexible product training, incentive programs tailored to each territory mix, and changes in sampling and marketing communications support.