Role and Responsibilities of a Regional/Zonal Sales Manager

The Position is very important and vital in Pharma Business, as this position owes the responsibility of being the eyes and nose of the organization.

After successful completion of the assignment as Area Manager, an aspirant can become Regional/Zonal sales manager, This is the 2nd Position in Field sales team management. Usually handles the operation of 1state with average team size varying from 20-50 Medical reps and 3-7 Area Managers.

Role & Responsibilities of Regional/ Zonal Sales Manager.

• Developing Team.
• Managing Performance.
• Building Culture to meet organizational needs.

Team Development.

• Developing a Strong Team of Area Managers and Medical Representatives.
• Coaching and Training Team Members.
• Minimizing Attrition. Preventing Talent Drain.

Performance Manager.

• Brand Building.
• Improving Execution Levels.
• Developing and Strengthening Customer Relations.
• Improvement of Productivity.

Culture Building

• Process Driven
• Value Driven

Team Development

Developing Medical Representatives

• This Job is to be essentially performed through Area Manager. In simple words Develop Area manager to be able to develop Medical Reps.
• Analyze development needs during review meetings and Joint fieldwork.
• Closely monitor and watch Area Managers while with Medical reps at any event.
• Assign Tasks through Area Manager and Get feedback/Reports in a defined manner, This helps to develop both.
• Learn to appreciate.
• Reproduce success stories of other Team Members.

Developing Area Managers.

• Due to the paradigm shift in role ASM struggles a lot in new Assignments. (Shift from Doer to getting Job Done). Ease this transition by properly explaining, defining and Demonstrating new Roles & Responsibilities.
• Coach them on Analysing DCR’s, Performance Parameters, Fieldwork Parameters.
• Ensure 100% Execution of Strategies and Discipline Parameters.
• Coach them on their role during Joint fieldwork, Making Joint calls and Reviewing Calls and Sales Presentations/Detailing.

Minimize Attrition.

Attrition is the Huge cost to the organization, Whatever time and resources are invested on team member are all wasted, Instead, a new competitor is created.

Make good connect with field force, Rewarding and Acknowledging their achievements help to build strong bonds.

Performance Manager

Brand Building

• Focus on Productivity. PMPM
• Working with ASM’s to develop an HQ wise customized sales plan.
• Focus on Building Brands.
• Coaching/Training team members on effective communication to Achieve higher Dr. Conversion and Hence Performance.
• Problem resolving skills to overcome hurdles in Performance.
• Driving Team to increase Prescriber Base i.e Number of Prescriber/HQ
• The number of Prescription/ Prescriber.
• The number of Product/Prescriber.
• Evaluating and revalidation Dr’s Brand Matrix.
• Improving Market availability of Products/Brands.
• Accurate Forecasting.

Execution Levels

To ensure Robust execution

• Breakdown Plan into smallest possible parts
• Make detailed follow-up/Feedback Plans.
• Define Milestones with the time frame.
• Work backward from Objective
• Convert Objective into the doable task, this also makes evaluation easy.

Reviews

• Review frequently.
• Evaluate achievements v/s Milestones Planned in Given time.
• Review Must be able to give Way Forward (Enabling) instead of Blaming for failures.
• Review to track performance and intervention for course correction.

Build strong Relationships

Focus on Building strong relationships with External as well as Internal Customers(Co-Workers)

• KOL’s prefer to meet Senior Managers.
• KOL’s help overcomes competition.
• Having strong relations with few KOL’s in each H.Q helps build Brand and Company Image stronger.
• Care and Understand Dr’s, it pays in the Long run.
• A chemist is an equally important customer, Give his deserved attention.

Increase Productivity

• Focus on Dr. Brand Matrix.
• Improve Inclinic efficiency and coordination of Medical Rep and Area manager.
• Evaluate and coach team members on Input utilization and tracking ROI.

Remember Regional Manager/ZONAL MANAGER IS ROLE SHIFT FROM

                                   Doer               ——–>     Thinker

                                   Implementer ——–>     Strategizer

                                   Manager         ——–>    Mantrepreuner