What Kind Of Training Does a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Need?

Despite pharmaceutical sales rep job slump in South East Asia (SEA) region, you'll still find the pharmaceutical industry, overall, rewarding to join. There are Pharma Companies with a good compensation plan. There are companies with promising products which reps can make handsome payout from.

But this post is targeted to those who've made it past the interview process, and now find themselves attached to a pharma company.

I would imagine answering this question: ‘what kind of training does a pharmaceutical sales representative need?’ to a complete stranger for this industry. I mean, this question can also be asked by the sales supervisor who is frustrated with his team members’ performance or a trainer looking for a more effective training module.

But a complete stranger seems to fit the bill.

Before I proceed, let me warn you that there is no such thing as complete training modules. The pharmaceutical industry is under constant change, and training needs to be adjusted accordingly, or else it will risk being outdated.

To simplify things, we are going to divide training by 3 apparent levels: beginners, intermediate, and advanced. The last pharmaceutical company I joined has a more detailed classification and incorporated with job assessment, but the basic structure is the same.

Beginners Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Level

For beginners, they typically need to be trained in specific areas which broadly categorized as basic science and basic sales training.

Why they need to know basic science? They need it because they will be dealing with terms and product materials that are rich with scientific terms and concept.

For example, when talking about how a drug act on the body, the sales rep, at least, need to know about a body system, the digestive system and so on, and they need to know about pharmacology concepts, like dynamics and kinetics.

And for basic science knowledge, usually, they only encounter it during the intermediate level, and it is a one-time event. When they advance to a higher level, they can ask for a refresher course if they find their knowledge of getting rusty, which seldom happen because they are forced to remember it when communicating with customers.

Looking at the type of customers they encounter on day to day basis, you can understand why they rarely need a refresher course.

In the spirit to sustain their basic science knowledge, the company can run the periodical test, for instance, every quarter during quarterly sales meeting (that is every 4 months once).

The only time, in my opinion, when they need new training, is when a new product is introduced, and they are assigned to promote it. No matter what level seniority they are in, they must be trained.

Basic sales training, as the name suggests, covers what is required to make a sale.
Different companies would adopt different pharmaceutical sales model and process. I know of a company that has 6 steps selling model, and another with 7 steps selling. Regardless of the number of steps, in this stage, they should be introduced to the basics.

Intermediate Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Level And  Advance Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Level

Naturally, these levels are the progression from the intermediate level.

They are exposed to more advanced stuff, for example, other selling tactics like SPIN selling, Selling to Social Style Strategy, or One Minute Sales Person concept.

For these stages also, other complimentary training can be introduced, like leadership and building high-performance team training. The aim is to prepare them for a more significant role if they end up in one.

For example, intermediate level representatives could be required to help train more junior colleagues, and if they want to do this effectively, they better know how to do coaching and mentoring, which is introduced to them at their current level.