Preparing Your Pharma Sales Force for the Future: Skills and Capabilities Needed

In an exclusive roundtable discussion, Dr. Wendy Heckelman, President of WLH Consulting and Learning Solutions (“WLH”), brought together two industry leaders—Rich Baron, former Executive Director of Human Pharma Training & Development at Boehringer Ingelheim, and Matt Portch, former Sr. Vice-President, Sales and Market Access at Sunovion, to explore the essential skills pharmaceutical commercial organizations need to stay competitive.

As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, this conversation underscored the importance of adapting to changes such as the need for value-based partnerships, continued healthcare consolidation, technological advancements, and an increasingly complex stakeholder environment.

Here are the key skills and strategies discussed to prepare the sales force for the future:

Navigating a Shifting Healthcare Landscape

The consolidation of healthcare systems and centralized decision-making are reducing individual physician autonomy, presenting new challenges for traditional sales models. It is essential to identify and engage a diverse range of stakeholders across healthcare systems. Representatives must be adept at mapping and understanding the needs of different decision makers—from clinical to administrative leaders and understand the business, clinical, and operational drivers impacting decisions.

Emphasis on Business Acumen and Strategic Partnerships

Sales teams must deepen their understanding of what healthcare organizations are doing to shift or share risk with value-based partnerships and outcome-driven models.  By developing business acumen and building strategic partnerships, account managers can better align healthcare systems’ priorities and provide integrated solutions that go beyond just the drug, including digital health tools, data sharing for outcome tracking, patient support programs, and education.

Building Cross-Functional, Collaborative Teams

Gone are the days of sales reps working in isolation. The future requires cohesive teamwork, where each customer-facing professional contributes specialized knowledge and shares insights with a cross-functional account team. Pharmaceutical companies must prioritize teamwork skills and train their customer-facing roles to work effectively in these collaborative environments.

Leveraging Digital Proficiency and Advanced Analytics

With digital tools transforming customer engagement, proficiency in virtual interactions and data analytics is essential. Sales teams need the skills to utilize omnichannel tools and various digital platforms that ensure a consistent message and better alignment with HCP preferences. Advanced analytics will help anticipate account needs, optimize engagement timing, and predict the impact of interactions. Insights will help identify and address gaps in treatment adherence or therapeutic efficacy.

Change Management Skills:

As organizations continuously refine their engagement approaches, field leadership must be comfortable with change and be able to guide their teams and customers through transitions, such as new digital tools, shifts in care delivery models, and updates in regulatory policies.

Continuous Learning and Adaptability

The rapid pace of change in the industry means that continuous learning is no longer optional. Customer-facing roles need to stay updated on shifts in healthcare policy, new therapeutic breakthroughs, and digital transformation trends, such as AI-driven diagnostics.  Leaders should focus on creating a culture of adaptability, encouraging ongoing development that enables teams to stay agile and customer focused.

Final Takeaways for Sales Leaders

Success in this new environment requires fostering skills in stakeholder management, digital expertise, and business acumen. Most importantly, sales leaders must lead by example, building a learning culture that prepares their teams to excel in an industry defined by complexity and change.

Call to Action:

1. Assess current capabilities and identify skill gaps.
2. Foster continuous learning within your teams.
3. Invest in training programs covering the evolving healthcare marketplace, value-based outcome models, reimbursement strategies, and data analysis.
4. Develop a robust account management approach for complex healthcare systems.
5. Regularly update your sales model to stay aligned with the evolving healthcare landscape.

By equipping their teams with these skills, pharmaceutical companies can ensure their sales teams are prepared for the future, ready to deliver exceptional value to healthcare providers and patients alike.