Field Assignment

Sales and Distribution Pharmaceutical Company Management of

Objective of the study

The main objective of the study is to know about the marketing channel and the sales and distribution channel

Primary Objective
The main objective is to understand and get the idea of sales channel. To have a practical implication of the process involved in it. To have an idea of of marketing pharmaceutical products

Major Players

APOLLO HOSPITALS (HOSPITAL&MEDICAL SERVICES), AUROBINDO PHARMA BILCARE (PACKAGING), BIOCON DISHMAN PHARMA DIVIS LABS Dr. REDDY's LABS Pfizer GlaxoSmithKline Ranbaxy Labs

Distribution Channel

Company Depot Super Stockists Distributors

Retailers

Region wide

State wide Sub Stockists District wide

The Distribution Channel of the Company starts with the Company Depo which is operated by the company in all the states from which the Super stockists get the stock. The Super Stockists are appointed by the Company and may be 1 or 2 for a state. Super stockists in turn supply stock to Distributors in every district. The number of distributors may vary from 1 to 3 based on the area of the District. The Retailers are the final frontier in the Distribution Channel. But there are also Sub stockists sometimes but it is not an approved hierarchy by the company. The substockists may get their stock from Distributors or Super stockists by paying Cash directly.

Sales Hierarchy

Country Sales Manager

Divisional Manager (Regional)

Manager (State)

Manager (District)

Medical Representative

The Sales Structure consists of a Medical Representatives (Maximum 3 for each District) at the bottom who reports to District Manager. Six representative reports to a District Manager. The district manager may be overlooking 2 to 3 Districts. The district manager in turn reports to a State Manager. A total of 6 District Managers report to state Managers. The Managers for State reports to divisional manager who in turn reports to Country Sales Manager. The hierarchy is designed in such a way that not more than 6 people reports to a manager and where ever it exceeds the roles are divided.

Responsibilities of the medical representatives

Meeting with Doctors and Chemists according to the tour plan Personal Order Booking Coordinating with Distributors for maintaining required stock Appointment of Distributors Sending Daily Reports Gathering information about Competitors Getting Feedback on products from doctors, Chemists etc. Preparation and updating the tour chart with help of manager Contacting new doctors, chemists

Recruitment and Selection:

Recruitment is done by placing Paper Ads in leading dailies or through references. Normally for this job BSc or MSc is preferred The selection process involves screening the applications based on criteria of past sales experience or for freshers it is based on academics and then the candidates are selected based on interview
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Training:
Training is conducted in two phases Product Training Product training is an essential part as it forms the core knowledge for selling the products in future. It is conducted at a centralized location normally at Mumbai by product specialists. Normally it is conducted for 15 to 21 days. After the product training the candidates are evaluated for their product knowledge. After this there is a short Sales training for 1 week.

Field Training
After successful completion of Product training the selected candidates are assigned to District managers who take care of field training. The candidate initially works with the District Manager for 1 week after which he will be assigned to a senior person for at least 1 month. After the feedback from the senior sales person the candidate is assigned a territory.

Continuing Training:
The Medical representatives are called for a training session every 4 months in which new product training is taken up and if there are no new products existing products are taken up.

Motivation
The Medical representatives are encouraged to achieve sales targets by providing Incentives for every quarter- a percentage of Sales above target Gifts/ Cash bonus Pleasure trips

There is complete encouragement from company to achieve sales targets. There is a fund available to every MR to promote sales by using it effectively But the incentives are only released if 90% target is achieved in the succeeding quarter.

A Day with the Medical Representative

Went and met the MR at 9.00 AM in the morning. According to the tour plan we had to cover 10 doctors and 5 Chemists. We started at 9:30 to meet Doctors.

The meeting involves the following steps Go to the Hospital Meet the receptionist and give a Contact card Wait in the waiting area Based on the patients the doctor may tell to come back later or asks to wait for some time Then meet the doctor.

The meeting involves introducing new products if any. This is done by Telling about the product Mode of action Dosage Giving literature (Manuals, Certifications etc.) Giving 1 Unit of Sample If there are no new products which happens often the conversations involves talking about the product and giving a sample and providing with some items like pens, letter pads etc. The amount of time spent to interact with the Doctor is hardly 3 minutes which is far less than the time taken for waiting. Normally the MR will complete his meeting with the chemist in the same place as the hospitals have attached Drug Stores. We left after meeting 5 doctors and 5 chemists

SUGGESTIONS The MR can be given freedom to prepare and alter the tour plan according to his convenience. The incentive system should be more liberal. The MR should be provided with incentives as and when he achieves his target rather than considering the next quarter result also. An online stock monitoring software will help to easily monitor and to be updated rather than physically checking with distributor always.