Brett Polenchar reshaped the market research department at Roche Diagnostics from reactive order takers to strategic business contributors. He aligned researchers with business segments, required they become experts in their segments, and refocused research from one-time projects to continuous tracking. Polenchar also emphasized quality processes, introduced a consulting approach, and hired consultants to bolster strategic thinking. These changes transformed the department members into appreciated members of the strategy development team.

1. Pharma Market Research Special Report
September 2003
MRD Conversion from Order
Taker to Business Contributor
In April 2001, Brett Polenchar’s career hit a crossroads when he B2C Direct (the consumers themselves),” outlined Polenchar. “We
became VP-Business Planning for Roche Diagnostics Corp.-Patient don’t do any direct-selling; our devices are sold through pharmacies
Care (Indianapolis, IN). Market research had been the center of his and other legal entities. But we invest enormously in DTC advertis-
18-year professional life, but for the first time he was also responsi- ing and other DTC programs, such as phone- and Internet-relation-
ble for sales forecasting, pricing, program evaluation, sales force ship marketing.
tools, CI and long-range planning. He also was in charge of creation “I don’t know how many other businesses have to consider those
of integrated and actionable perspectives on the business. three areas. Our customer base is perhaps the widest of any indus-
Polenchar told PMR2, “It was a very big challenge to come here try and we do research with all of them. We do a lot of communi-
and have other functional areas report to me. I still call myself a cations development research for ad and product development. In
market researcher because that’s where I grew up and what I really B2C Indirect, we study different medical professionals (nurses,
enjoy doing. There’s no end to my enthusiasm about even the most physicians, diabetes educators and pharmacists). For B2B, we do
basic MR--doing it right, making sure it’s quality information and traditional supply chain, customer satisfaction, product develop-
seeing it actually impact decision making. But in this position, though ment and in-store research.”
I’d like to roll up my sleeves and get in the middle of a MR project, This research bounty ne-
I have to be careful not to draw my attention from other areas.” cessitates impeccable MRD
In analyzing the state of the MRD he inherited, he saw the need technical skills, which were
for a decisive MRD revamping. Some steps were logical, others not an obstacle. “I inherited
dramatic and all a group of very siloed peo-
have had a positive ple; the primary research
impact. He has person, for instance, did
reshaped, tutored, nothing but manage execu-
cajoled and molded tion of project requests in
Roche Diagnostics’ MR group into a professional organization that his area,” said Polenchar.
has won the plaudits of its marketing partners. “All of them could write
Brett Polenchar
That’s no surprise given Polenchar’s career accomplishments. After questionnaires, analyze MR
beginning his MR career at Burke Marketing Research (1985-1988), data, write reports, etc. But
he proved his business worth as a market researcher at Hershey they were reactive and not proactive because they had little detailed
Foods (where he copped a corporate productivity award), Pfizer knowledge of our business segments or critical business issues. Our
(managed global veterinary pharma MR) and Fahlgren & Martin (built marketing people told me I had great people, but explained they
a planning department for the ad agency). At that point in time, his didn’t understand their businesses strategically. Actually, it wasn’t
extensive psychological, statistical and research skill sets and know- their fault. They hadn’t been trained to think strategically.”
how led Polenchar to Limited Brands, Inc. (Columbus, OH), where Wrestling with that fact, Polenchar realized MBA-level courses
he experienced seven years of unforgettable episodes and unprece- wouldn’t solve the problem, so he immersed them in the company’s
dented twists and turns. (Details are in September 2003 Research businesses. “They had to be proactive,” he remembers thinking.
Department Report. PMR2 subscribers can call RFL for a complimen- Polenchar aligned an equal-sized group from research (led by a
tary copy.) manager) with each of Roche Diagnostics’ five business segments
In April 2001, Polenchar joined Roche Diagnostics, where more (consumers, retail pharmacies, health care professionals, managed
than 80% of its research program was focused on the diabetes cat- care and hospitals). “Each manager had to learn everything about
egory. The Center for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA) estimates his segment and the diabetes business,” he related. “Each one was
about 8 to 10 million of the U.S.’ 17 million diabetics regularly integrated with marketing people, but we limited their scope of
check their blood sugar. Polenchar was astonished and pleased to responsibility and began to break them of their reactiveness.”
learn that his efforts at Roche would require “the widest array of While deliberating how to stem the MRD’s reactive nature, he
research” he’d ever dealt with. realized a reworking of department members’ thought processes
“Blood glucose monitoring is a very narrowly-focused category, concerning their business contributions was in order. “I told them
but activity spans B2B (working with managed care companies and they were strategic research managers, not project managers. Their
retailers), B2C ‘Indirect’ (physicians and other medical professionals, job was to learn everything about their specific business field and
plus institutions that aid, advise or generally influence diabetics) and to become experts so that their MR would be intelligent, high-quali-

2. ty and their insights meaningful,” shared Polenchar. “Plus, the pharmaceutical world pays in line with consulting.”
Established, comfortable market researchers can resist alterations Consultants had minimal difficulty fitting in at Roche Diagnostics.
in their daily functions, but that didn’t happen at Roche. “We had “They are here for their consulting skills and secondarily for MR.
to move some people back a step before they could move forward My MR director came from The Monitor Group. He was doing phar-
into their new roles,” Polenchar recalled. “I had one individual tell ma consulting. He may not know the nitty gritty of MR, but that’s
me, ‘I’m the most experienced researcher you have.’ I agreed with not a big problem as we have carefully chosen our external partners
him, but told him I wasn’t looking for project managers. I needed for their expertise,” stressed Polenchar. “All my people think strate-
him to know the business, to consult, to create stories and per- gically about our business.
spectives for clients.” “We’re trying to increasingly rely on MR agencies for our projects
Instituting a consulting approach required Polenchar to introduce, so my folks can do their real jobs. We’re not project managers.
preach, teach and ingrain a new philosophy. Becoming consultative Some of them came to me and wanted to buy SAS software to per-
took shape in several steps. Training courses would not change his sonally run a few analyses; I told them not to spend their time on
people’s behavior. “My solution was to adopt an experience from that. I pay them to learn their business segment inside and out and
to think strategically. Any of my people managing a project or look-
ing at tabs either has the wrong vendor or doesn’t understand his
Polenchar’s Nine Core Values of Business Planning or her job. Most of the time, it’s the latter. Their mission is to pro-
1) Strong business ethics: what is right and what you need vide business perspectives. Anything that doesn’t provide that isn’t
to deal with people honestly, openly and fairly their job. If they send me something without an opinion or perspec-
2) Professional style: conducting yourself in a professional tive on the business, I’ll send it back. It sounds hard, but it makes
manner. Observe those in the company who are succeeding them think differently about how they approach projects.”
3) Communication: good communication skills are essential. On a macro plane, he instituted a core set of values designed to
They include speaking, listening, keeping others informed, make sure each member receives professional respect. “I’ve seen
fostering open dialogue and delivering thoughts diplomatically a lot of MRDs without professionalism,” offered Polenchar. “So, I
4) Client service: get to know clients--be interested in their delivered a presentation about the core values of our business plan-
business, lunch with them, make promises you can keep, over- ning.” To motivate them, Polenchar differentiated minimum-perfor-
deliver and never forget they are why you are here mance standards from solid performance and star performance.
5) Knowledge: keep current, but also stay ahead. Read the “Everyone should be a star performer--making intelligent contribu-
Wall Street Journal, attend seminars, search the Internet. tions at meetings and in company networking,” he amplified.”
Passionately collect important information Training and development focused on personal empowerment.
6) Quality work: understand what the business needs to win “We trained them on consulting skills, thinking strategically, nego-
and take the time to think how that is represented in your tiating to ‘yes,’” he stated. Experts came in to teach, but individual
work. Be thorough, objective and on target training showed the commitment to training and development. With
7) Insight: what you add to project results--critical business a $150,000 training budget, each of Polenchar’s people was asked
perspectives to spell out the personal and technical expertise they needed to
8) Delivery: great work is 5% brilliance, 95% execution. Every bolster. That option led to enhanced technical-skills training (soft-
client meeting sells a product--your integrity. Meet expectations ware- and data-analysis training) for some department members,
and deadlines, present professionally and follow-up on it upgraded core business planning competencies (courses on strategic
9) Respect: to gain respect, you must give it. Respect and thinking, powerful presentations, critical thinking, relationship build-
praise clients--and they will reciprocate ing and negotiating) for others and business knowledge/professional
development (days spent with MDs and corporate sales reps, trips
Source: Brett Polenchar and Roche Diagnostics
to Roche headquarters in Germany and trade shows) for the rest.
The members were fascinated with the work of their associates.
“We let them work side-by-side, to be exposed to new areas,”
Polenchar remarked. “It hasn’t worked perfectly, but we continue
my days at Limited Brands. I stopped hiring MR people,” he laughed. to promote this cross pollination to satisfy their interests and ce-
“The VP I worked for at Limited hired consultants, whom I noticed ment their commitments.”
performing a sort of strategic research and planning function. When His final initiative delved into the quality of MRD information.
I got to Roche, I thought, ‘Why create a research function when “Quality control is the biggest problem in MR departments,” ex-
I can create a strategic research function?’ So, I began to hire people pressed Polenchar, “notably properties that enhance the quality of
from the consulting world. I didn’t replace all my market researchers; our research. For me, it’s not acceptable for a MR manager to write
there’s a healthy balance in both camps. I hire MR experts when a questionnaire and send it to an internal client for approval. That’s
we need reinforcement in the technical end of research.” not a quality process. A quality process writes that questionnaire
Recruiting consultants wasn’t hard or expensive. “Many of them and then gets the department together for a group read and serious
didn’t have a focus in the consulting world. They’d jumped from discussion. I’ve been asked why a questionnaire can’t be sent to
project to project and didn’t see the process end. This was a chance everyone for handwritten return comments. That’s not a quality-
to work in a very high-level, strategically-focused group,” he noted. oriented process either,” he opined. “One-off reviews do not reflect

3. PHARMA MARKET RESEARCH REPORT
serious discussion about research outcomes.”
The department actually met with a consultant to learn how to
be accepting of each other’s ideas. “That emphasized that some-
where in our organization is a person who has more experience
than you do,” Polenchar explained. “Our meetings elevate our
staff’s ability to debate research methodologies. We expanded this
idea. Our department collectively reviews strengths and weaknesses
of presentations our people will make. We provide constructive
criticism and tough questions they might face from management.”
Holding meetings may appear somewhat inefficient versus individual,
private reviews. “Are you better off thinking about project results
or a presentation on your own, or with other people?” he asked.
Polenchar shook up the research being assigned to the group. He
took issue with 60% of the department’s research budget being
consumed on yearly market-planning projects that were completed
in a three-month window at the start of the planning process. “I had
to help marketing understand that blowing that much of the budget
from March to June curtailed their understanding of category dy-
namics,” he told PMR2. Marketing agreed to heed Polenchar’s call
for “dynamic research” and 70% of the budget was redirected to
continuous tracking in different segments of the business. “Marketing
told me it was the most significant change in MR here in a decade,”
reported Polenchar. “It’s done with ad research, but was a foreign
concept here,” he noted. “An added benefit of continuous research
is plug and play modules for new issues that emerge.”
Polenchar shared two other anomalies about the division’s MR
spending. “It’s unusual among pharma companies, but we spend
about 55% of our funds on secondary data,” he said. Facing unyield-
ing pressure to produce more research from a budget that hasn’t
kept pace with costs increases, he said. “We’re using a research
ROI approach to show the business the payback from MR. That
also reinforces the need for additional budget.”
Pleased with his personnel’s three-year evolution from strategy
information providers to appreciated members of the strategy de-
velopment team, Polenchar wants his group to drive that process.
“We should validate adopted strategies as the highest-impact strate-
gic tactics available,” he suggested.”We’re on that mission.”
Reproduced from the September/October 2003 issue of Pharma
Market Research Report by RFL Communications, Inc. (Skokie, IL),
which also publishes Research Business Report, Research Conference
Report and Research Department Report, three other market research
newsletters. For more information about these publications, please send
an e-mail request to info@rflonline.com. Or we suggest that you visit
http://www.rflonline.com or call RFL at (847) 673-6284.