Climbing the knowledge pyramid
pharmafile | October 11, 2004 | Feature | |Â Â Â
Product and marketing management are key roles in a brand-led pharma business. The majority of post holders come from within the industry, often progressing within the same company on structured career development pathways, often from the sales department.
Pharma sales departments invest in regular training – anyone moving from sales into marketing is likely to notice a difference. What training is standard? How is it delivered? How has the training moved on over the last few years? Is it providing the marketers needed to forge into the next century?
One of the few constant features of the pharma industry is the constant change in technologies, media options or strategic alliances; just a few of the challenges facing the marketer. The realisation and the publication by Accenture last year that effective sales and marketing is a key differentiator between competing companies has sharpened the focus.
Another key feature is that marketing is an increasingly transient profession. The average pharma marketer has just over two years experience with the company, and a recent survey (City and Guilds Survey 2004) found that over a third of pharma staff want to leave their jobs.
A quick click on the InPharm jobs database reveals the same picture – 88 marketing posts from director to product manager are currently available. This job mobility makes it difficult to build the body of knowledge required to plan and operate effectively.
Guardians of knowledge
Richard Featherstone of KnowledgeWorks, a dedicated supplier of marketing expertise to the industry, says: "Retaining and understanding knowledge is the key: this is where some knowledge management techniques can help. Encouraging the sharing of experiences, including failures and successes, and using an experienced pharma marketer as provider can help to plug the experience gap."
Featherstone adds: "Why is experience valuable? It enables us to work our way up the 'pyramid of knowledge', to the point where we know not only What and How markets operate, but crucially Why. It is only at this 'higher level' that the strategic decisions that really make a difference are made."
Given the relative lack of experience, it is perhaps not surprising that pharma product managers have come to be seen as glorified 'promotions managers', responsible for advertising, salesforce detail aids and some PR.
These are the inherent dangers of fast moving careers and low training inputs – marketers stay at the bottom of the knowledge pyramid, familiar with their daily routine, but falling short of the larger-scale decisions that can really make a difference to the organisation.
"I encourage marketers to think more widely about what resources and capabilities the organisation has. Not just the salesforce, but also the whole organisation – manufacturing, operations, finance, etc. This highlights another priority for training – involving the non-marketing functions," says Featherstone.
Before skills development and training can be considered, it is important to define the broad responsibilities for marketing personnel. A large multi-country assessment of these issues was published earlier in the year by the Management Centre Europe, from a research questionnaire.
Marketing personnel from 25 top pharma companies were asked to rank by importance the tasks that took up their time and how much time it took to do the tasks and the skills involved. The results threw up a number of contradictions and underline the issues about maintaining 'knowledge', structuring training and the broader responsibilities of senior marketers.
Planning is everything
The perceived key areas – the more strategic, long-term issues, like forecasting, planning and budgeting actually receive little attention. In particular, financial issues, such as forecasting and budgeting receive very low attention, at a time when most pharma businesses need to wring as much ROI from product portfolios as possible. On the other hand, short-term salesforce support and promotional issues appear to 'eat up' the day.
"The results of this survey come as no major surprise," says Featherstone. "It is quite common to hear comments like 'what's the point of writing a marketing plan – no-one ever implements or even reads it'. I also regularly hear: 'I would love to spend more time planning, but I spend all my time supporting the sales team.'"
Both stories reveal a serious issue, namely the lack of effective marketing methodologies, in particular marketing planning. The risk is the caricature of the once a year 'ritual' preparation and plan writing, rather than the use of live, flexible plans that are used continuously to guide and coordinate the marketing activities.
Training is a key influence on these activities, but no more so than the role that senior management should play in developing strategic thinking and creativity – not just a 'number-crunching' exercise to create projections. Without effective training, the marketing function cannot build the levels of knowledge up the knowledge pyramid to the point where they know Why things happen.
The focus on products can result in one-year plans only, with the risk that long-term planning does not get done, or remains the preserve of more senior players. In reality, the more serious side of product management lies in the long-term licensing changes, line extensions and POM to P planning.
Like any structured training, the solutions are not complicated – there are many methodologies and no shortage of suppliers – a quick Google search reveals 9.6 million hits! Obviously, many of these will not be suitable, either in terms of expertise or understanding of pharma marketing.
How do you find a provider that is suitable? Organisations such as the CIM have a range of expertise and can supply marketing training at a professional enough level to satisfy blue-chip pharma. Many companies choose pharma marketing consultancies which have the advantage of deep client understanding, usually from 'real' experience in the various posts.
Ian Kneen, head of marketing at Merck Pharmaceuticals says: "I personally favour using recognised providers, with good experience of our industry, but who are also able to bring best practice from across other industries where appropriate."
It is often difficult to get marketers out of their offices for more than a day or two and that is where l'bended solutions' – a buzzword within training, to describe a mix of training techniques – can be used. This form of training can involve e-learning and distance learning coupled with workshops tailored to the client's individual situation.
When it comes to delivery, trainers like Featherstone recommend a 'pulsed' approach, involving workshops based around modules of training that enable delegates to apply the learning before moving on to the next module.
Involve non-marketers
In line with the survey, which flags the importance of 'interrelating', he also recommends involving non-marketing functions, especially those that marketers need to build effective market capabilities, for example the medical department.
At the outset the issue of mobility and transience was raised: one of the enduring features of the pharma industry is its interrelated nature – a relatively small group of people moving within the circle of employers. There is no real shortage of talent -there is always a new wave of sales representatives waiting to join the team, just as there is always a move out to media and consultancy.
Some pundits believe that the industry could do with more new blood and FMCG industries are preferred. The lure of consumer brand marketing appears to match the increasing consumer profile in healthcare – the potential of importing proven ideas like 'frequent flyer' or membership schemes is very attractive.
Not many pharma brands compete with the big household players. Perhaps the circle should be widened beyond this to include selling finance or innovations in IT delivery.
Merck's Kneen says: "Marketing is a fast-paced, consistently changing environment in which to operate. Learning through experience is a key factor for any developing marketer. Markets, however, won't wait for skills and knowledge to develop. What companies need are professionally trained marketers with the skills and knowledge to adapt and learn, but also use some of the methodologies that are recognised to make a difference. What this means is we have to invest in building up the skills and knowledge of our people in a structured way."
Increasing the quality and quantity of training is one of the key strategies – the MCE report did highlight personal development as an area of neglect. When asked to rate training on a four-point scale where four equated to 'long-term formal training' programmes and a score of one meant 'no formal instruction' – the overall score of 1.5 was low. For an industry that measures itself on effective ROI, this is an area that is ripe for improvement.
Innovation will always be important – the primary challenge is a more consistent implementation of the proven structures and basic marketing methods. A conscious effort needs to be made to 'r aise the sights' above the short-term, day-to-day demands to retain good marketers for longer, rather than fuelling further job mobility. This could be part of the answer to making first line marketing or product management posts more attractive.
