Subject: Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
Full Marks - 50
1. Personnel Management:
a) Definition, scope, importance, behavioral science and personnel management.
b) Motivation, moral and job satisfaction.
c) Education, training, management development and performance evaluation.
d) Means of achieving harmonious industrial relation collective bargaining, joint consultation worker council, arbitration, and industrial democracy.
2. Production Management: Definition, scope, importance and application of management, techniques and principles to production management, production planning and quality control.
3. Materials Management:
a) Purchasing: Formulating effective buying policies, determination of needs and desires of patrons, selecting the sources of supply, determination the terms of purchase, receiving, marketing and stocking goods.
b) Inventory control: Methods of inventory control, selection of optimum method, effect of inventory control.
4. Risks Management
5. Pharmaceutical Marketing:
a) Promotion: Objectives, classification, developing a promotional plan, promotion strategy, budget and executing the program. Steps of implantation of advertising, types (display, direct mail, etc.) and preparation of advertisement. Personal selling and evaluation of promotion (general and specialized method).
b) Pricing: General consideration, pricing method, prescription pricing and professional fees.
c) Channel of distribution
d) Forecasing of sales
5. Management of Community Pharmacy and Governmental Pharmacy.
Personalisation of Education by AI and Big Data - Lourdes Guàrdia
Managing Sales Force,Jaytirmoy Barmon,Manik
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
Managing Sales Force
Prepared by:
Jaytirmoy Barmon
Lecturer
Department of Pharmacy, VU
Q. What do you mean by sales force and managing sales force? Write down the functions
of sales force management.
Sales Force
The division of a business that's responsible for selling products or services. Evaluating your
current sales force is an important step in the process of deciding whether and how to grow
your sales team.
A company's sales force consists of its staff of salespeople. The role of the sales force depends
to a large extent on whether a company is selling directly to consumers or to other businesses.
In consumer sales, the sales force is typically concerned simply with taking and closing orders.
Managing sales force
Sales management is the process of developing a sales force, coordinating sales operations, and
implementing sales techniques that allow a business to consistently hit, and even surpass, its
sales targets. If your business brings in any revenue at all, a sales management strategy is an
absolute must.
Functions of Sales of Force Management
The sales force management plays an integral role in the success of the marketing plan.
Executing the marketing strategy successfully requires efficient and well trained Sale
Representatives. The sales force management performs the following functions.
i. Recruitment: An essential part for the effective sales force management is recruitment.
Over the decades companies have designed advances selection programs and
procedures to test the behavioral, Managerial, and Personality Skill and expertise are
identified. Some companies have developed research methods or execute surveys to
look for the preferences and demands of the customers for the selection of Sales team.
ii. Training and Supervision: The crux of building a well-trained and effective sales force
is Sale force Training Programs. In order to beat the market completion and become a
market leader Trained Work force is required. Efficient Training during the product life
cycle can build a strong Sale Force. Supervising the sales Team will keep the moral of
the sales people high and put the sales team in the right direction to manage the
customers. The better the results are achieved the Sale team if provided better the
supervision. The efficiently managed sales teams perform task effectively and meet the
sales goals.
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
iii. Motivation and Incentives: The Data and Market Research suggests that a Motivated
Sales Force is more target oriented, Goal Achievers, and Result Producers. To drive up
and boost the morale of the Sales employees the Motivation plays an integral role.
Compensations, Incentives, Sale Shares, Quotas are motivational elements for the
Work Force.
iv. Sale Force Evaluation: Evaluating the Sale Results, Product Numbers and Profit
Reports is the key for the successful Sale Force Management System.
v. Behavioral Aspects: The fast paced business world the buying and selling has no longer
remained the transaction marketing; it’s about building strong ties with the customers.
The Companies now focus on relationship marketing. The Sale force management must
be equipped with all techniques and arts to build long term relationship to make a
successful Sale. The Art of Negotiation is the key element of closing the deal.
Q. Write down the advantages and disadvantages of sales force?
Advantages of sales force:
Understanding the economic structure of an industry
Identifying segments within a market
Identifying a target market
Identifying the best customers in place
Doing marketing research to develop profiles (demographic, psychographic, and
behavioral) of core customers
Understanding competitors and their products
Developing new products
Establishing environmental scanning mechanisms to detect opportunities and threats
Understanding one's company's strengths and weaknesses
Auditing customers' experience of a brand in
Developing marketing strategies for each of one's products using the marketing mix
variables of price, product, distribution, and promotion
Coordinating the sales function with other parts of the promotional mix, such as
advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and publicity
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage
Understanding where brands should be in the future, and providing an empirical basis
to write marketing plans regularly to help get there
Disadvantages:
Difficulty in adopting the system
Too much time spent on Data Entry
Losing personal touch in the process of automation
Laborious process of continuous maintenance, information updating, information
cleansing and system upgrades
Cost involved in Sales Force Automation Systems and Maintenance
Difficulty in integration with other management information systems
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
The Product Life Cycle
One of the most useful concepts in marketing derives from the idea that most products tend to
follow a particular pattern over time in terms of sales and profits. This pattern is shown in
figure and is known as the product life cycle curve.
Figure: The product life cycle curve
The product life cycle is analogous to the life cycle of humans and has four distinct stages:
introduction (birth), growth, maturity and decline.
Q. What do you mean by sales territory? What are the factors determining allocation of
sales territories?
Sales Territory
A sales territory is the customer group or geographical area for which an individual salesperson
or a sales team holds responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales
potential, history, or a combination of factors. Companies strive to balance their territories
because this can reduce costs and increase sales.
Factors determining allocation of sales territories
1. Nature of the product
First, the nature of the product is of utmost importance. There are certain consumer items which
have constant demand in the market. They are high turnover goods and they need little selling
efforts. Thus, for such products a large territory can be assigned. For luxurious, bulky and
durable articles, which need concentrated selling efforts small sales territory can be assigned.
2. Demand for product
While allocating sales territories to salesmen, the demand for a particular product should also
be taken into account. If the demand for a particular product is constant and frequent, then the
whole sales filed can be divided into small sales territories. However, in case of low demand
and infrequent purchase of articles, the size of the sales territory should be large.
3. Transport facilities
The marketing of a particular product depends to a large extent on the availability of transport
facilities. If the transport facilities like road, railway and air links etc., are satisfactory, then
large sales territories can be allotted to salesmen. However, areas having poor transport
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
facilities should be divided into very small sales territories. If the company provides vehicles
such as a car or motor cycle for the salesmen, then larger sales territories can be assigned.
4. Competition and Frequency of Contact
Competition cuts the size of the territories and increases the frequency of contact. In other
words, the salesman has to meet dealers and customers very frequently in highly competitive
areas. On the other hand, limited competition or near monopoly situation lengthens the
frequency of contacts between the salesmen and the dealer/customer. In such situations, the
salesmen can be assigned larger sales territories.
5. Population
The density of population in a particular area determines the size of the territories. In other
words, if particular area of a territory is thickly populated, there arises the need to divide the
sales field into small sales territories. On the other hand, if the area is thinly populated, then
larger sales territories can be allocated to salesmen.
6. Distribution System
Very often the distribution system of a particular organization determines the size of its sales
territories. In case the company sells through middlemen like wholesalers, dealers, retailers
etc., larger sales territories can be allocated to salesmen. On the other hand, if the product is
sold directly to consumers or very few middlemen are used, then small sales territories can be
assigned to salesmen.
7. Advertising and Sales Promotion Activities
Companies which have widespread advertising and other sales promotion activities, can assign
small sales territories to each salesmen in view of the demand for the product created by
advertisements. This enables them to sell extensively in territories allotted. On the other hand,
low advertised products need large sales territories for each salesman.
8. Ability and Experience of Salesman
The size of the sales territory also depends on the ability and experience of the sales force.
Experienced and talented salesmen are able to sell more and, therefore, they can easily be
allotted large sales territories. New and inexperienced salesmen are usually allocated small
sales territories as their ability to sell is limited. A salesman is expected to produce maximum
sales turnover from his area with the minimum amount of time and effort. The commonly used
division are states, districts, cities and trading areas.
The allocation of sales territories is often followed by the planning of the route which a
salesman should follow within his sales territory. The planning of the route involves the
determination of places to be visited (including exploration of new markets), the number of
customers to be contacted and the number of calls to be made every day by the salesman.
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
Q. What is sales analysis? What are the types of sales analysis?
Sales Analysis
Sales is the ultimate revenue generator which takes care of all costs and expenses. While Sales
may be achieved easily or in some cases in a very difficult way, analysis of the Sale that has
materialized is very important.
Sales analysis involves analyzing the sales made by a company over a period of time. Many
companies have a weekly sales analysis, a monthly sales analysis or a quarterly sales analysis.
A regular sales analysis helps the company understand where they are performing better and
where they need to improve.
Types of Sales Analysis:
Although many companies may use various types tailored to fit their organization, here are the
few common types of Sales Analysis performed:
1) Periodic Analysis: This can be a month on month or year on year or year till date compared
to previous year till date as the need may be. This gives insight into the impact of time on sales.
2) Product wise Analysis: Sales of products during different times in different areas can be
used. This is majorly used in large-scale equipment.
3) Channel of distribution wise: This will give the trend of where the sales are maximum and
answering why will give more insights and help the company decide whether or not to continue
with the current channel of distribution.
4) Forecast vs Achievement analysis: This gives the details of sales which were used to
forecast the numbers – and inventory was arranged accordingly – and what is the actual
achievement of Sales – and whether the inventory needs to refilled or schemes need to be rolled
out for the liquidation of stocks.
5) Combination of above: For more detailed analysis, the company may perform a combined
analysis of above for example multinationals like Proctor and Gamble may analyze the Sales
of Tide detergent in Asia Pacific region for the year 2018 and compare it with Sales of the year
2017. This involves Product as well as periodic sales.
Q. How to perform sales analysis?
Sales analysis can be performed by following approach:
1. Period Comparisons:
Usually a sales analysis will compare one time period to a comparable period in the past. For
example, clothing retailers might want to examine how their back-to-school sales did compared
with last year. They might take a look at this year's sales from Aug. 01 through Labor Day and
then compare those numbers to the same period a year ago. Other companies look at month-
over-month sales, or sales this month compared with the same month last year, or some other
time period, depending on the nature of the business.
2. Break-Even Analysis:
Break-even analysis shows a company what minimum level of sales is needed to make sure it
does not lose money. It also shows how sensitive the break-even point is to changes in both
fixed and variable expenses.
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Jaytirmoy Barmon Managing Sales Force
Lecturer, Pharmacy, Varendra University
3. Competitor Sales Analysis:
In some industries, sales made by your competitors are listed in public sources. For example,
automobile sales are reported monthly by major manufacturer, major brand and model. This
sales data are informative for all manufacturers, showing how well each competes against the
rest. For example, data are routinely examined to see which automobile company sold the most
midsized sedans, SUVs and trucks.
4. Context for a Sales Analysis:
The raw year-over-year numbers or percentage increases or decreases in sales are typically
paired with additional explanatory notes in the sales analysis. For example, the automotive
manufacturer that reports a large year-over-year increase in sales for one of its midsized sedans
could have just introduced a new sedan that is stealing sales from other manufacturers. Or back-
to-school sales for retailers may be down compared with last year because of a recession. The
sales analysis needs context to be fully understood by all who will use it.
5. Sales Analysis Review:
Any sales analysis needs to be shared with members of the company who can benefit from
having the knowledge. The sales force needs to be aware of how it is doing against its goals,
finance needs to be able to analyze the company pricing strategy and its impact on sales, and
manufacturing needs to be able to plan capacity. Sharing the sales analysis works best if it is
done in regularly scheduled meetings where people can ask questions, share information and
plan accordingly for the next sales cycle.
Special Thanks To-
Muntaquem, Mahfujur, Shohel, Malia & Khalekatun Murtuza
7th Batch Students, Department of Pharmacy, Varendra University, Rajshahi.