Contents:

Pharmaceutical Sales Training: Turning New Hires into Top Performers Introduction Executive Summary Research Approach Participating Companies Figure S.1-Participant Job Titles Figure S.2-Industry Representation Figure S.3-Geographic Responsibility Figure S.4-Groups Trained by Participants Figure S.5-Sales Force Size Categories Figure S.6-Average Sales Force Size Figure S.7-# New Reps Hired Annually Key Findings Segmentation and Definitions Training Delivery Volume Figure 1.1-# Training Days During First Year on Job Figure 1.2-% of Training per Employment Interval Pre-Class Work Reduces Quantity and Increases Quality of Class Time Figure 1.3-Average Hours per Sales Rep Trained (New Reps US) Figure 1.4-Average Hours per Sales Rep Trained (All Reps US) Approach Aligning Content with an Established Sales Process Boosts Training Effectiveness Venue Instructors Training Content Training by Employment Interval Figure 2.1-Detail: Training Provided at 0-90 Days Figure 2.2-Detail: Training Provided at 3-12 Months Frequency of Training Types Figure 2.3-Training with Consistent Frequency Figure 2.4-Training with Declining Frequency Figure 2.5-Training with Increasing Frequency Training Budgets Figure 3.1-Average Budget per Rep Trained (all reps US) Figure 3.2-Average Budget per Rep Trained (new reps only US) Figure 3.3-Training Resources: Proportion of New Reps Figure 3.4-Average Budget per Hour of Training (all reps US) Figure 3.5-Average Budget per Hour of Training (new reps only US) Figure 3.6-Budget Efficiency Based on Employees Trained Figure 3.7-Budget Efficiency Based on Training Hours Outsourcing Figure 3.8-% of Training Budget Outsourced Figure 3.9-Outsourcing vs. Internal Costs for Training Sales Rep Qualifications Figure 4.1-Most Desired Applicant Qualifications Figure 4.2-Qualifications for Experienced Hires Figure 4.3-Attributes of Newly Hired Sales Reps Figure 4.4-Hiring Policies/Strategies: US Figure 4.5-Hiring Policies/Strategies: Non US Best Practices in Sales Training Figure 5.1-Best Practices Overview Figure 5.2-Best Practices: Company E Figure 5.3-Best Practices: Company F Figure 5.4-Best Practices: Company G Figure 5.5-Best Practices: Company D Training Priorities Figure 6.1-Top Priorities for Training Improvements Figure 6.2-Training Effectiveness Measures Figure 6.3-Program Effectiveness Ratings Training Trends Figure 7.1-Overall Need for Training Figure 7.2-Sales Training Budget Trend Figure 7.3-Top New Rep Training Needs by Subject Appendices A1: Best Practices for Effective Sales Training Programs A2: Top Priorities for Improving Sales Training Effectiveness

Summary:

"The effectiveness of sales training during a pharmaceutical representative’s first year on the job dictates the future success of the employee, affects sales force turnover rates and directly impacts the corporate bottom line. To remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing market, executives who oversee pharmaceutical sales training must ensure their programs offer the right content, formats, timing and volume to bring new employees up to speed as rapidly as possible. As an added challenge, training leaders must accomplish this task in an era of shrinking budgets. In this environment, training executives need to understand their program position relative to other companies with respect to performance metrics, budget trends, and best practices. This report examines these topics among leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies and provides detailed metrics on program operations. STUDY SUMMARY Pharmaceutical Sales Training: Turning New Hires into Top Performers (SM-171) provides a comprehensive look at sales training delivery, content, budgets and trends at leading pharmaceutical companies across the globe Based the perspectives of 24 sales training leaders at a diverse group of 19 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, the report provides benchmarks, executive insights and best practices for such key areas as: - Training content by employment interval - Budget trends and outsourcing of training - Training program effectiveness measures - Projected future content needs - Budget comparisons for training new reps vs. experienced hires - Key qualifications of top sales reps The study also outlines what qualities companies most desire in the new reps they hire. (Details on desired qualities in experienced reps hired from other companies are also provided.) Data was collected through surveys and interviews with training vice presidents, managers and directors. The benchmark class for this study was especially robust, with U.S. companies representing 63 percent of the participants and other respondents representing companies training sales staff in regions that include Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe and Central/South America. Sales forces trained by the survey respondents range in size from under 1,000 to over 6,000 reps. Most of the companies train both specialty and general care sales forces. Of the companies that participated in the study, two have been nationally recognized for sales training excellence and a third is a Malcolm Baldrige award winner. After reading this report and studying the data from survey and interview participants, executives will gain the insights necessary to identify sales training performance gaps and to build a business case for closing them, with the goal of maximizing training resources and ensuring effectiveness in creating top performing reps in a competitive environment.

Companies Mentioned

- Abbott Laboratories - Amylin - AstraZeneca - Bayer - Bristol-Myers Squibb - Dey - Fournier Pharma -GlaxoSmithKline - Johnson & Johnson - Medrad - Merck - Novartis - Pfizer - Roche - sanofi aventis - Schering Plough - UCB Pharma - Wyeth