George Schmidt Practice Executive Sales Practice Today’s district managers (DMs) operate in a very difficult environment. Sales reps face stiff competition in the field, physician access continues to decrease, the selling environment is more complex, and reps require more coaching and guidance than ever before. Because of these factors, today’s DMs require a higher level of leadership and business management skills than DMs of the past. Unfortunately, many DMs were promoted based on their sales numbers rather than their managerial skills or experience. But while the role of the DM is growing in importance, too few pharmaceutical organizations offer DMs the training they need to quickly get up to speed and effectively manage reps in this new environment. Building a Training Program Based on the New DM Role Today’s DMs must manage in an environment that is more competitive than ever before. In addition, managed care and physician access have emerged as driving forces of sales success. As the selling environment continues to change, organizations must redefine the overall role of the DM. One major change to the DM role is the increased level of sales accountability. More than ever before, DMs must be focused on the success of their district as a business entity. A DM training program, including training objectives and topics, should be developed around this new role. The organization must also provide the resources needed to ensure effective training. Resources that are critical to the success of a DM training program include experienced and dedicated management trainers, dedicated time for in-house training (on the part of both the DMs and the trainers), and distance learning programs and systems. Assessing the ability of DMs to perform in their new role is also essential. As any good training leader knows it is important to evaluate a trainee on the knowledge and skills he or she has gained. Surprisingly, however, many organizations do not assess their DMs rigorously during DM training. Such assessments are critical to holding DMs to the high standards required of their new role. Focusing on Leadership and Best Practices Once the training-program structure is defined, training organizations must develop training content. Based on the lack of management experience of most of today’s DMs who face many challenges, two topics are of particular importance for DM training: leadership and best practices. The goal of leadership training is to turn managers into true leaders who can develop and execute a vision for their district that furthers the goals of the company. A good leadership training program teaches DMs how to handle difficult situations in an uncertain and complex selling environment and how to set goals and lead their reps toward achieving them. Leadership training should also address the need for DMs to become business managers within their district. One method is to share real-world examples of successful (and unsuccessful) leaders to demonstrate the components of effective leadership. Additionally, a leadership training program might include role plays to help DMs practice handling different scenarios or creating a business plan for their district. In today’s competitive selling environment, it’s also important to identify the practices that separate the best DMs from the rest of the pack. There are several proven methods that a sales training organization can use to capture and share DM best practices. Comprehensive field-based studies can identify the best DMs and then look for the practices that are common among these top performers. This information can then be incorporated into the DM training program. Periodic facilitated workshops among DMs can help drive discussion around best practices as they relate to specific challenges that DMs are likely to face, such as working with cross-functional teams to drive managed-care formulary change. Facilitated workshops also provide a venue for DMs to share experiences and form ongoing relationships with other DMs. Both these methods can help enhance the performance of all DMs, even top performers. As the role of the DM evolves to match the ever-changing selling environment, DM training programs should follow suit. A training organization that can refocus its DM training in this way will help DMs succeed regardless of the challenges they face in the field. As the role of the district manager evolves to match the ever-changing selling environment, DM training programs should follow suit. Campbell Alliance, Raleigh, N.C., is a management consulting firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. For more information, visit campbellalliance.com.

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