There are many good products that are not in the blockbuster category but still require and deserve a full commercialization effort. Unfortunately, trying to shoehorn a product into a sales force that is not really set up for success can create real organizational problems. Your sales organization has already been set up to address a certain disease category and has been aligned and right-sized to address a specific target audience. You develop or acquire a new asset worthy of promotion, and you attempt to sell it through a team that was set up for something different.
The sales team always knows where their bread is buttered even if there is a short-term incentive in place. They will always defer to the core reason for sustaining their relationships with their target audience. The new asset never gets the traction it deserves, and acrimony abounds. Even worse, you may have an asset that is right for the audience, but your core drug is for chronic maintenance, and you try to squeeze in a specialty drug. The audience will understand what to do with it, but your sales force may not have the right experience or relationships to maximize the product in that setting. In either case you have an example of “right product” and “wrong team”.
The conundrum for many organizations is that efficiency thinking dictates that the organization should leverage the full extent of their field sales investment. If they can do more with less (or in this case, the team they already have), it should make their organization more efficient and profitable. Often this approach can distract and dilute their primary effort without maximizing the growth potential for the new product (a double whammy). This is a perfect situation for outsourcing the product to an organization that you control in terms of strategic direction. You can build the team to exacting experience to match the anticipated challenges.
The team can establish the product as intended for a planned period of time, leaving your company with several options to insure long term profitability and efficiency. You may terminate the team once the product is established at anticipated levels, so your home-grown sales team can take over a maintenance role. You may decide that the deployment should be permanent because it’s proven to be more profitable than anticipated. Call The Caswood Group and learn what we are prepared to do to identify the right people and set up the optimal parameters for an efficient deployment that benefits your company.
