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Evaluation of sales team effectiveness in a South African pharmaceutical company

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A few years ago, pharmaceuticalcompanies were more inclined to look at business
from the inside out. The principal focus was on the company's goals, and identifying
and selling to customers were the method of achieving those goals. However,today
the customer is king and therefore the focus is shifting to accommodatethis change.
The road to success - or failure - is now an expressway, and companies must be
ready to accelerate,tum, or stop quickly. Flexibilityand manoeuvrabilitymean a great
deal in an increasinglycompetitivemarketplace(Gabe & Goldberg, 1999).
What makes a sales team effective in today's competitive global market? What are
the key drivers of success in pharmaceutical sales team effectiveness? The most
prominent trend in the US market is customer focus, and the most prominent issue is
the recruitment and retention of top performers. Today's focus on relationship
building may have occurred in part because companies found that their relationships
were less than ideal. Nearly 60% of US pharmaceutical companies use customersatisfaction
results, among other measurements, to determine the effectiveness of
their sales force. A sales force that can make the transition from selling the product
to selling the solution - which is the essence of customer focus - has a better chance
of earning customer confidence and "partnering" (Gabe & Goldberg, 1999).
To isolate factors that make a pharmaceutical sales representative effective is not
easy. The best pharmaceutical representatives have excellent selling skills and
behaviours, exhibit consistent performance, build networks, contribute to their teams,
focus on the most profitable accounts, open new accounts, and win customer loyalty.
How does one identify top pharmaceutical salespeople? Look for the representatives
with the ability to learn continuously from experience, to take full responsibility for
professional development, to size up each situation, and to apply the most effective
skills for that encounter. Most often, they will be the ones using consultative and
adaptive selling dialogue techniques (Snader, 2002).
According to the study, it was evident that the following effectiveness criteria or
selling task characteristics have a definite impact on sales force effectiveness and in
turn should be part of every salesperson's capabilities: territory management, objection handling, business planning, adaptive selling, customer focus, knowledge,
service, selling skills and training. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die verlede was farmaseutiese maatskappye geneig om hul besigheid van binne
na buite te ontleed. Die belangrikste fokuspunt was die maatskappy se doelwit en die
identifisering van, en verkope aan hul kliënte die middel tot die doelom hierdie
doelwitte te bereik. Vandag, daarenteen kraai die kliënt koning en die fokuspunt het
verskuif om by hierdie verandering aan te pas. Die verskil tussen die sukses en
mislukking van 'n maatskappy sal afhang van die buigsaamheid en stuurbaarheid
van die maatskappy om gereed te wees vir enige aksie in hierdie toenemend
mededingende mark (Gabe & Goldberg, 1999).
Wat maak 'n verkoopspan doeltreffend in vandag se mededingende globale mark?
Wat is die sleutel eienskappe wat sukses sal waarborg vir 'n farmaseutiese
verkoopspan? Die belangrikste neiging in die Amerikaanse mark is kliënte-fokus en
die mees prominente kwessie is die werwing en behoud van die top presteerders.
Die fokusverskuiwing na die verhouding tussen die verkoopsverteenwoordiger en die
kliënt het plaasgevind nadat maatskappye besef het hulle het nie ideale verhoudings
met hulle kliënte nie. Nagenoeg 60% van alle Amerikaanse farmaseutiese
maatskappye gebruik onder andere ook resultate van kliënte-tevredenheid vraelyste
as 'n maatstaf om die doeltreffendheid van hulle verkoopspan te bepaal. 'n
Verkoopspan wat in plaas van 'n produk verkoop eerder aan die kliënt 'n oplossing
vir sy spesifieke probleem bied - wat die kern van 'n kliënt-gefokusde benadering is
- skep vertroue by die kliënt en lei tot 'n suksesvolle vennootskap tussen die partye
(Gabe & Goldberg, 1999).
Dit is baie moeilik om eienskappe te identifiseer wat 'n farmaseutiese
verteenwoordiger se doeltreffendheid verseker. Die beste farmaseutiese
verkoopsverteenwoordigers gebruik uitstekende verkoopstegnieke, bou netwerke, is
goeie spanlede, fokus op die mees winsgewendste kliënte, wen nuwe kliënte en die
lojaliteit van hulle kliënte. Hoe word top farmaseutiese verkoopspersone dan
geïdentifiseer? Kyk uit vir die verteenwoordiger wat die vermoeë het om te leer uit
ondervinding, wat volle verantwoordelikheid neem vir sy persoonlike ontwikkeling,
wat elke situasie ontleed en dan die toepaslike vaardighede gebruik vir die spesifieke
situasie. Meestal sal dit die verteenwoordigers wees wat konsulterende en
adaptiewe dialoogtegnieke gebruik (Snader, 2002). Volgens die studie was dit duidelik dat die volgende kriteria vir doeltreffende verkope
of verkoopseienskappe 'n defnitiewe impak het op 'n verkoopsspan se
doeltreffendheid en dus deel moet uitmaak van elke verkoopspersoon se vermoë:
Areabestuur, die hantering van objeksies, besigheidsbeplanning, 'n adaptiewe
verkoopstyl, 'n kliënt gefokusde benadering, kennis, diens en opleiding.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/52836
Date12 1900
CreatorsGrobler, Christa
ContributorsDenton, M. (Mario), Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business management.
PublisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_ZA
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format97 p. : ill.
RightsStellenbosch University

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