Pharma sales reps' productivity inhibited by unnecessary internal communication

Apr 17 2007

According to a new study by pharmaceutical research and consulting firm Best Practices, LLC, pharma sales reps spend an average of 13.7 hours a week managing internal communication.

Most of this time is spent managing email, checking voicemail and talking on a cell phone. Of this time, 4.4 hours (or 32%) are perceived to be unnecessary.

Internal communication can make or break the productivity of a direct sales force. If properly used, email and voicemail can quickly disseminate educational, tactical and motivational information. However, when district managers and sales reps find their email and voicemail boxes filled with poorly prioritized or even unnecessary communication, personal productivity and work-life balance suffer.

Best Practices, LLC launched this research study exclusively for the pharmaceutical industry to help companies build more effective communication practices in the sales force. Findings were uncovered through a two-pronged research approach: benchmarking surveys with leading pharmaceutical companies and interviews with district managers and sales reps. Key topics covered include:

• Total time spent on internal communication
• Percentage of time spent that is "unnecessary"
• Costs of unnecessary communication
• Most effective communication methods
• Best practices for managing regional and headquarters-to-field communications
• Best practices for reps and district managers

The research findings from this study highlight the significant costs of poor communication across a direct sales force as well as the best practices that sales communications functions, district managers, sales reps and IT managers can use to help prevent unnecessary internal communication.