Purdue Pharma is always looking for better ways to connect with physicians, whose challenges of delivering patient care and running a practice seem to escalate exponentially each year.

1. SUCCESS STORY
Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results.

2. Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results. 2
© Herrmann Global 2014
Purdue Pharma L.P., is a privately held
pharmaceutical company founded by
physicians and now headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut. It is a member
of a network of independent associated
companies engaged in the research,
development, production and marketing of
prescription and over-the-counter medicines
and healthcare products.
An industry leader in pain medication research, Purdue is distinguished by its
pioneering research, products and medical programs directed toward alleviating
pain.
Background
Like many sales organizations, Purdue Pharma’s sales team operates in a
challenging, ever-evolving environment. The world of pharmaceutical sales has
been rocked by a series of changes—both internal and external—over the past
decade. In the boom years, the ranks of the profession had swelled into the
hundreds of thousands, creating not only more competition but also a somewhat
inevitable customer backlash—as they grew tired of being inundated with sales
calls and visits, many physicians began giving their gatekeepers strict instructions
about who could see them and for how long.
PAPER IN BRIEF:
• Discover how thinking preferences affect the way people sell, buy,
communicate, direct their attention and make decisions.
• Learn how a foundation of thinking is helping Purdue Pharma’s sales
professionals make the most of every interaction and connect with their
customers in a more efficient and effective way.
• Explore some of the planning tools and field resources Purdue Pharma
has developed to integrate thinking preferences into the sales process.
• Find Out how Whole Brain®
Thinking is helping Purdue Pharma’s sales
professionals increase the amount of time healthcare practitioners spend
with them, shorten the selling cycle and improve overall sales results.

3. 3
© Herrmann Global 2014
Eventually, the market retracted and the numbers of reps began to shrink con-
siderably, but the pattern was set: Doctors now had a routine response to pharma-
ceutical sales professionals: “I’m busy. I don’t have time to see you today.”
Today, Purdue recognizes that radical changes in the healthcare industry are
only making this tough selling environment even tougher. With more group practic-
es and a larger number of physicians working within hospitals or integrated health
systems, even if the doctors want to talk to the salesperson, there are strict admin-
istrative dictates on how they spend their time. Adding to the pressure, with fewer
sales professionals on the team, each representative has a larger geography to
cover. In a selling environment that hinges on making a quick connection, now
more than ever, every second spent with the healthcare practitioner is critical.
Purdue’s challenge: Find a way to help its sales representatives quickly en-
gage, educate and move their customers to a decision so everyone’s time is spent
productively.
Challenging Questions
• How can we assist our representatives in making better connections with their
customers to generate appropriate prescriptions and improve sales?
• What do we need to change in order to consistently gain time and create a
two-way dialogue with healthcare practitioners, office staff and pharmacies?
Getting Inside The Customer’s Head
Purdue realized that staying competitive in this new environment would require
a sophisticated yet practical
method their sales profes-
sionals could easily apply
to prepare for their calls,
quickly connect with their
customers and make the
most of every interaction.
Tiffany McMacken,
Purdue’s Senior Manager of
Sales Training Development,
explains that to help them
make those connections,
they first needed to under-
stand how their sales profes-
sionals approach selling and communications.
“The first question we asked ourselves was, ‘Where are our reps—how do they
think and communicate and approach the job?’ And then the next question that
came was, ‘Where are our customers? And how are we going to link these two
together?’ It’s very expensive to send a salesperson out to meet with the customer
so we need to really capitalize on every interaction that occurs.”
Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results.

4. Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results. 4
© Herrmann Global 2014
That discussion led them to Whole Brain®
Thinking. The company had em-
braced the Whole Brain®
System, including the Herrmann Brain Dominance
Instrument®
(HBDI®
) assessment, in the late 1990s as a way of helping sales
representatives and their managers better understand themselves, the physicians
they work with and even their co-workers. In light of new challenges in the market-
place, McMacken saw an opportunity to take the thinking-based approach even
further, explaining:
“We wanted to give representatives an awareness of their own self but also
teach them how to identify the preferences of their customers: How do they make
decisions, how do they communicate and what makes it easiest for them to take
what you’re giving them, accept it and then take action?”
The brain-based premise of the HBDI®
and Whole Brain®
Model was appeal-
ing, she adds, because thinking preferences impact how someone behaves,
focuses their attention and makes decisions. Looking at how someone thinks goes
deeper than their outward behaviors and personality—which may be affected by
external factors—to the thought processes that drive their communications and
buying decisions.
The four-color, four-quadrant graphic and Whole Brain®
are trademarks of Herrmann Global, LLC.
The Whole Brain®
Model (above) depicts the four different thinking pref-
erences and serves as an organizing principle for how the brain works.
Although someone may prefer certain styles of thinking over others, ev-
eryone has access to all four quadrants. Applying Whole Brain®
Thinking
means being able to fully leverage one’s own preferences, stretch to other
styles when necessary, and adapt to and take advantage of the preferences
of those around you to improve performance and results.
Originally developed at General Electric, the highly validated Herrmann
Brain Dominance Instrument®
(HBDI®
) is the assessment tool at the heart of
the Herrmann Whole Brain®
Thinking System.

5. Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results. 5
© Herrmann Global 2014
But just as importantly, because the Model represents preferences not compe-
tencies, it shows that we all have the ability to think across the thinking quadrants.
As a result, a sales professional can learn not only how to be more mindful of their
own preferences, but also how to spot clues about the customer’s thinking and
then adapt their communications and selling approach to that person’s preferenc-
es. McMacken says Purdue found this approach would enable their sales repre-
sentatives to consistently have more productive discussions and to present in the
most effective way for each person who may be involved in the process, from the
office staff to the nurse to the physician.
“It gives the sales representative the ability to connect with a person in a very
short amount of time,” McMacken explains. “They can ‘speak their language’ so
the whole process goes faster.”Because one-on-one communication is so essen-
tial to the work they do, HBDI®
Pair Profile™
debriefs are also conducted with mem-
bers of the team. This process includes analyzing the similarities and differences
in the way two people think to help them uncover and appreciate their similarities,
see the benefits of their differences, and learn techniques for working together in
the most optimal way.
As the team learns about the impact of thinking on performance, the endless
communication loops are gradually becoming a thing of the past.
“With everyone thinking about an issue differently and coming at it from dif-
ferent angles, we used to spend a lot of time getting through a discussion or
decision even when everyone was essentially saying the same thing,” Brian says.
“Now we know how to get there so much faster.”
Selling on a Foundation of Thinking
According to Mindy, “Brian has done a great job of ‘socializing’ Whole Brain®
ThinMaking Whole Brain®
Thinking an integral part of the Purdue sales approach
became a priority. All Purdue sales representatives now take the HBDI®
assess-
ment upon initial hire. They then go through training that includes learning about
the Whole Brain®
Model as well as a debrief of their own HBDI®
Profile
“The goal is to create a two-way dialogue that’s as efficient as
possible. Otherwise the customer feels it’s a waste of their time.”
- Purdue Pharma Case Study
.
“Right away they begin to identify previous customers they’ve called on, ones
who they’ve had great success with, and when you ask them why, most of the time
it’s because they were coming from the same mental space,” McMacken says.
“And then they think of those they never got anywhere with. You ask them why,
and they’ll say things like, ‘Every time we had an interaction, I was communicat-
ing with an interpersonal, feelings-based focus and they were coming at it from a
more critical, analytical perspective—and I was never able to connect with them.”

6. Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results. 6
© Herrmann Global 2014
In addition to learning about different thinking preferences, the sales repre-
sentatives learn specific thinking-based skills to help them apply the concepts in
practice so they can quickly benefit from them. A key part of the process is look-
ing for clues that will help them uncover the customer’s thinking preferences.
“Signs are every-
where,” McMacken points
out. The representatives
learn how to scan the
environment and office. For
example, is it warm and
inviting, with coffee avail-
able and plenty of comfort-
able chairs? Or is it more
sterile and clinical, with few
personal touches? How
do they like to schedule
meetings? What can the
people who work with them
reveal about how they like
to learn and what information they need to make a decision? All of these come
together to help paint a picture of that individual’s preferences.
“You can’t make assumptions just on one clue or interaction,” McMacken
notes. “We encourage them to have at least four or five visits before they come to
a conclusion.”
In fact, McMacken says one of the benefits of the thinking-based approach
is that it doesn’t pigeonhole people. Doctors, for example, are trained to be more
analytical, especially in residency, but most people have varying degrees of pref-
erence for the four quadrants of thinking, so it’s important for the sales representa-
tives to be adaptable and flexible in their thinking.
Once the preferences are identified, the sales representatives then focus on
what matters most to that person and what he or she will need to make a decision.
For example, someone with a strong A quadrant thinking preference will need to
know all of the facts in order to make a decision. A person with a strong B quad-
rant preference will likely want the details and assurance they will have complete
control. For a person with a high preference for C quadrant thinking, the most
important factors will be people issues, such as how the patient will be affected,
while a D-quadrant thinker will be more interested in the big picture and seeing all
of the possibilities.
“The goal is to create a two-way dialogue that’s as efficient as possible,” Mc-
Macken says. “Otherwise the customer feels it’s a waste of their time.”
Because efficient and effective communication is essential within the company
as well, the sales representatives aren’t the only ones who learn about their pref-
erences. Managers also complete the HBDI®
assessment and use the information
to communicate more productively with their team members. Additionally, Purdue
compiles HBDI®
Team Profiles™
of the sales teams to give their managers a clear
picture of the thinking strengths of the team and where there might be gaps or
mental “blind spots.”

7. Better Thinking. Better Performance. Better Results. 7
© Herrmann Global 2014
Bringing Thinking Into the Field
The Whole Brain®
Model and a variety of thinking-based tools are now incorpo-
rated into the territory management app that every salesperson has on their iPad
and uses regularly throughout the day. For each contact, the sales representative
is asked to identify the customer’s preferences, again, based on at least four or
five interactions.
The tool is then populated with several models, including the Whole Brain®
Decision Making Model, which shows what that quadrant focuses on most when
faced with a decision. Additional information is added to support the interaction,
such as information about what types of communication will appeal to the custom-
er and even word choices to incorporate into the discussion.
As a result, every time a sales representative looks up a physician’s profile on
their iPad, the data is there to support a more productive and efficient discussion.
They have the information they need to speak to the person in their “language,”
appeal to their decision-making style and focus the discussion on what matters
most to them. They use this approach not just with the physicians, but with recep-
tionists, nurses, office staff and others. McMacken says it reinforces the applica-
tion of Whole Brain®
Thinking and allows them to formulate a plan on the spot—for
example, whether they should use a more direct approach, more conceptual,
more patient-centered, etc.
“You may only get two minutes with the physician, so you need to be able
to quickly figure out what’s going to drive a decision,” she adds. “Knowing how
to connect based on thinking preference can be the difference – the factor that
extends a two- to three-minute meeting to five to seven minutes. And that can be
critical.”.

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© Herrmann Global 2014
A Prescription for Smarter Selling
More than 2,000 people at Purdue, including the entire sales force, district
managers, regional managers and area managers, have now completed the
HBDI®
assessment and subsequent training. McMacken says the sales organi-
zation is reporting a significant increase in their effectiveness since they began
applying a Whole Brain®
approach to selling, specifically by:
• Making the most of each interaction
• Increasing the amount of time the healthcare practitioner is willing to spend
with the sales representative
• Shortening the selling cycle
• Improving overall sales results
Because the entire sales organization is applying Whole Brain®
Thinking, they
have also seen improved internal communication between the sales representa-
tives and their managers, and between managers and their team.
“Instead of speaking to everyone in the
same style,” McMacken explains, “people
now tailor their communications to what’s
going to connect fastest with that person.
Sales representatives are finding they can
connect with a customer they’ve been up
against a wall with for years.”
At a strategic level, the Whole Brain®
Model is embedded into Purdue’s sales
model, and continues to be integral to
their selling strategy moving forward. The
company recently rolled out the Chal-
lenger Sales Model and discussed how
Whole Brain®
Thinking and the HBDI®
work
within it, because, as McMacken observes, regardless of the selling technique
or process being used, “You have to be mindful of how the person is receiving
the information and whether you’re delivering it in a way they can receive it. If I’m
talking about interpersonal, C-quadrant aspects and the customer is focused on
the A-quadrant, analytical issues, it doesn’t matter what I say—I won’t be able to
make the connection and get the decision.”
And for those who may be resistant to trying something new, McMacken
recommends starting with their own assessment. “When they see right away how
accurate it is, it resonates. They buy into it. They realize that tailoring their style to
the physician’s is going to get them further than a one-size-fits-all approach.”

9. © Herrmann Global 2014
Clients
Herrmann International clients, for whom better thinking has become integral to
their business culture, include:
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Altera
American Express
AT&T
Blackrock
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Bunnell Idea Group
Caesar’s
Christiana Care Health Systems
Cintas
Coca-Cola
Global Novations
IBM
Johnson & Johnson
Limited Brands
Lockheed Martin
Macy’s
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital
Microsoft
MIT
Mitsubishi
NASA
Nav Canada
Novartis
Novo Nordisk
Pella Corporation
Perfetti Van Melle
Purdue Pharma
Queen’s University
Rogers Communications
Sobeys
Thomson Reuters
Ultimate Software
Wharton
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