As part of our coursework, you'll be meeting some practicing sales managers. These folks will discuss their jobs, responsibilities, and challenges. And it will give you a chance to see in real life what we talk about in this course. Our first speaker is Lee Hardisty. Lee works for a major pharmaceutical company. But before we turn to Lee, I thought it would be helpful to give you a quick overview of the pharmaceutical industry. As you probably know, the pharmaceutical industry is part of the health care sector that deals with medications, but it has many players. As this chart displays, the industry is always comprised of different sub fields pertaining to the development, production, and marketing of medications. There are more or less interdependent sub fields consisting of drug manufacturers, drug marketers, and biotechnology companies. Lee happens to work for a large company drug manufacturer. So, what does this industry do? Well, the main goal of the pharmaceutical industry is to provide drugs that prevent infections, maintain health, and cure diseases. Because this industry directly affects the global population, it is highly, highly regulated by a number of international regulatory bodies who monitor things like drug safety, patents, quality, and pricing. Here it's just a few of the regulatory entities. They would include things like the World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Medicines in Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Now virtually, every developed country has their own regulatory agencies that oversee this business of drugs and medical devices and so forth. Over the last decade, the pharmaceutical industry has made a great deal of progress due to a very research oriented approach that has improved technology, developed infrastructures, and increased research in the field of bioscience. Thanks to biotechnology, various formulations have been developed to cure or stop the growth of several major infections, including HIV and certain types of cancer. So what's the size of this industry? Well, the global pharmaceutical industry is valued at over $1 trillion. North America, that would include the United States and Canada, are about 40% of that total. Europe is a little over 25% of that total. And who are the major players in the industry? In the drug manufacturing category, the major publicly traded companies include Johnson and Johnson, Novartis AG, Pfizer Incorporated, Merck, Cenophy, and Glaxo Smith Klein. In the biotechnology segment, the major publicly traded biotechnology companies include Galed Sciences Incorporated, Amgen, Cell Gene Corporation, BioGen, and Regerneron Pharmaceuticals. So, no matter how you look at it though, $1 trillion is a huge market. So there are a number of factors that are driving the size of the industry and its growth. And these factors include the following. Aging population world wide. The average human lifespan has increased substantially over the past few decades. However, more infections and diseases have come along with this longevity growth. This has led to increased research on aging populations. So as people live longer, they seek to prevent infections and maintain health so that these populations can enjoy better lives. There's also the influence of changing lifestyles. Hectic daily schedules have led to unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and the problematic lifestyle choices that come with that. This has resulted in high obesity rates, poor digestion, hallucinations, breathing difficulties, and other types of physical problems. Health supplements have been introduced to remedy all of these issues to reduce the chance of getting sick and to meet daily nutritional needs through vitamins and minerals. Another factor is increased income and chronic diseases. The middle class has been growing, both in emerging and in developed markets. People in these markets have more disposable income and expect better healthcare solutions. Chronic disease cases have risen in numbers. This has made people become more dependent on medications and health supplements. Other economic trends also influence this. Globalization and urbanization has led to increased environmental disturbances. Okay, so there you have it. These are the major driving forces in growing demand in improved medication for health supplements for each age group and geographic location. They also help to explain why the pharmaceutical industry is so big. Now you might ask, what makes the pharma industry different? The pharmaceutical industry functions just like a lot of other industries. It has raw materials, manufacturers, finished goods, research and development companies, marketing companies, and consumers. Yet, you need to understand that it is far more regulated and way, way more capital intensive than other industries. Now the job of a pharmaceutical sales representative is a highly desired job. With a high salary, excellent benefits and perks, and the potential for growth, it's easy to see why lots of people want to work in pharmaceutical sales. In fact, recent salary studies show on average a pharmaceutical sales representative earns in the United States $111,000 each year. Now, what do these high earners actually do each day? In short, pharmaceutical sales reps are employed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to inform physicians about their products. These reps help influence them to prescribe the drugs to their patients. Now they don't make direct sales calls to the ultimate consumer. But rather they must rely on their interpersonal skills and knowledge of the products to sell their value to the medical providers. But there's much more to the job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. So here are some of the responsibilities that sales reps perform day in and day out. Pharmaceutical sales representatives must be experts on their company's product lines and need to be knowledgeable about the conditions that the drugs treat. They promote the details of the products and meetings with physicians, so that they have a high level understanding of the drugs and similar drugs on the market and the concerns of the providers. In their meetings with physicians, sales reps answer any questions doctors may have about the product, its use, and its benefits to the patients. Sales representatives anticipate these questions and prepare answers based upon their knowledge of the physician, their interest, concerns, and patients. Pharmaceutical sales representatives also stay up to date on the new and emerging issues that are affecting the healthcare industry to better understand the needs of doctors and communicate with them. Many pharma reps have a background actually in science or medicine. And those that don't may have an interest in the field or may have taken a relevant course to be more understanding of that market and the needs of the market. To be successful, pharmaceutical sales representatives spend much of their time not only learning about their employers' products, but also learn about competing drugs. Drug companies create and sell similar products and pharma reps feel the pressure of this competitive market place. They have the responsibility to explain differences between the products to the providers and to highlight the benefit that the pharmaceuticals may represent. In addition to educating physicians on their products, pharmaceutical sales representatives also build relationships with them. Because they don't make direct sales, pharmaceutical sales reps are less focused on aggressively pursuing clients. Instead, they use their skills to build relationships with physicians. Pharma reps visit the same providers multiple times to keep them up to date on new product information and remind them of the benefits of their products. Building these relationships requires careful strategy, strong communication, and interpersonal skills. Reps can't come off as too intrusive or pushy, they instead aim to be perceived as a trusted friend and a source of information. Drug companies also manufacture specialty drugs for complex disease states such as cancer, or multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other kinds of rare conditions. These drugs are usually much more expensive and are a way more complex than traditional products and include many forms such as oral injected and biologic formulations. Specialty pharmaceutical sales reps are the experts on these drugs and meet with specialists in specific medical fields instead of just primary care providers. Specialty pharmaceutical sales reps have a need to have a strong grasp on the medical concepts and conditions and a deeper understanding of the drugs that they represent. Pharmaceutical sales reps do more than just meet with physicians in their offices. They also attend conferences and industry events to represent their products and to network with pharmacists and other healthcare providers. Their goal is to increase the knowledge of their employer's products, and in turn increase the volume of sales. When it comes to defining what a pharmaceutical sales representative does, it's easy to see that the answer sort of gets complicated. Between managing relationships, developing in-depth product knowledge, and consistently having to stay ahead of competition, pharmaceutical sales reps have a demanding job. At the same time, pharmaceutical sales rep is a very popular choice for professionals because it offers excellent salary levels, benefits, and frequently a real fast track in terms of career growth.
