Not for the Faint of Heart

Recently a pharma executive made the comment, "This industry is not for the faint of heart." IMS Health is projecting 1% or less growth in the market in 2009, and some big pharma analysts are projecting negative growth. Over the last few years, 86,000 positions have been eliminated in the pharma industry. With that said, AstraZeneca posted a 29% increase in 3rd quarter profits on the 30th. How do we reconcile this? The age-old saying is "only the strong will survive," but define what strong means in pharma right now. Is the economic environment creating fertile soil for biotechs? Is everyone expecting the oncology market to save the day? Who will win and how?

I have noticed executives making decisions more carefully and responding well to programs where there is tangible evidence of return on investment. Our company has not felt the pain of the economy...yet. I think those still standing 12 months from now (companies and individuals) will be those willing to take calculated risks. Just like the economy, there are some golden opportunities to be mined if you can spot the trends, qualify the potential, and implement flawlessly. I look forward to hearing your definition of "survivor."

Good to Great

Most organizations are compelled to take a hard look at how efficient they are, given the current economic downturn. How do we optimize? Is it time to trim our head count? Or worse yet, I've been told I have to eliminate four people from my team. Often choices are made for us and we just have to make the best of the situation. Drilling down, we may ask ourselves if non-personal promotion can compensate for fewer feet on the street. 

While these issues are heavy, remind yourself to look for the opportunities. If you haven't read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, I suggest you grab it during your next trip to Barnes & Noble. Collins tells us that good is the enemy of great. Many companies fall into the habit of being good enough. We convince ourselves that time or budget limitations force us to settle. I challenge you to be the one who always digs a little deeper and tries a bit harder to achieve a lot more.

Focusing on Customers

Today I had a great conversation with a company that approaches their sales force in a very customer-centric manner. I was impressed with how the organization is crafting teams of people whose focus is to provide resources to their internal customers -- the reps -- in order to help them be more productive. We most often sell to brand teams, but this particular meeting was with an individual in field operations who needs a vacancy program to maintain share in key territories when a rep is out.

We provide insight each day to pharma clients who are talking about customer centricity. I think we offer up some pretty innovative suggestions for building customer-centric brands and franchises. A few pharma companies are thinking even bigger -- moving toward an enterprise-wide customer focus. That means they choose to use the vast amount of intelligence available about their prescriber customers to be more relevant, precise, and effective. I really appreciated talking to a company that is taking this same approach with internal customers. No more alignment by functional areas, but instead by what the customer wants and needs.

Guess the Airport

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