Overview

Companies

Metrics

Content

Purchase

 

(Excerpted from the Executive Summary Findings)

Win Sales Reps’ Buy-In
While marketing, brand teams and market research are integral in the development of segmentation strategy, the sales force is the key to driving it. Without the sales teams’ participation, any targeted promotions, scheduling systems, targeted presentation styles and other benefits of segmentation are worthless. While marketing must set the promotional strategy for a drug, including market segmentation strategies, it must gain sales’ buy-in and hold reps and district managers for their performance in the field for segmentation to fully pay off.

The first step to winning the sales forces’ support is to involve them heavily in the setting of segmentation strategy and the building of segments. At some companies, sales teams meet with marketing personnel at key steps of the segmentation process – providing feedback and offering their own insights into the progressing plans. The more innovative companies actually listen to and implement the sales teams’ ideas.

Before a segmentation plan can be finalized at many of these same companies, the sales force has to approve of it. Sales leaders sit in on presentations given by market research or vendors to present final segmentation for brands. Before the plan moves forward, the brand team, sales and market research must reach a consensus on the final segmentation thus ensuring each group’s full support. Naturally, these sessions involve some give and take, but in the end, ideally all the departments agree on the plan ensuring their full support.

Even after involving sales teams in the strategy setting and final segmentation process, brand teams still need impressive roll outs to ensure the buy-in of the entire sales force. Experienced market segmenters use POA meetings and training workshops to sell segmentation to the sales force. Brand directors introduce the primary strategy, reveal the segments and discuss why they have adopted the specific segmentation strategy. With this base on knowledge in place, they then discuss how the sales force will benefit from the promotional strategy within each segment.

Companies vary in their approach to disseminating the segmentation during roll out. While some companies rollout the strategy to the entire sales force, others pick top performers and influencers to learn the material and venture back to the territories to train their counterparts. Still other companies merely inform the sales leadership of the plan and let them pass on the information. Which method for disseminating the information is best for companies depends on the individual sales forces and the structures of the companies. What works best for one, may not for another.

However companies rollout their segmentation plans, following initial rollout, it is essential that district managers follow up with reps to answer questions, fine-tune tactics and ensure execution of the segmentation strategy. Reps should have as much support in the field as possible to ensure that they understand the segmentation strategy and buy-in to making it successful.

…To read more, please see the Executive Summary of “Pharmaceutical Market Segmentation: Spending, Strategy and Implementation”

 

(Excerpts from Chapter 2: Market Segmentation Strategies, Section 1: Methods of Market Segmentation)

Behavioral Segmentation
Behavioral segmentation examines targets’ behavioral characteristics. For physicians, behavioral segmentation touches upon variables that other segmentation techniques overlook such as prescribing behaviors, influence networks, the factors that influence these behaviors, generic concentration, adoption and utilization habits, and brand loyalty. In regards to consumers, behavioral segmentation investigates factors such as brand loyalty, usage rates, inclination to purchase, benefits desired, user status and frequency of purchases.

The insights derived from behavioral segmentation can be extremely useful because they help companies understand what their targets are actually doing as well as some of the reasons why the targets behave the way they do. Therefore, behavioral segmentation helps uncover the what and why piece of the puzzle. Since this form of segmentation investigates behaviors, it can easily be translated into actionable efforts. A company that understands how an individual acts as well as some of the underlying reasons why – has a real opportunity to positively influence those factors and affect behaviors.

Participating companies find behavioral segmentation to be the most effective of the different techniques examined in this study. The method received a 4.5 average grading on a scale of 5, with 5 being the most effective. This noteworthy grading signifies the industry’s acceptance and reliance on behavioral segmentation.

In fact, as Figure 2.3 shows, only two companies gave it a rating lower than 4 [Figure 2.3 appears in full report]. One reason companies may find behavioral segmentation to be so effective is that it not only provides good insight into targets’ behaviors, but is actionable information that can help them develop more tailored promotional messages and targeted efforts. Companies not only learn who to target, but also the best way to influence their behaviors. Behavioral segmentation also drives much deeper into each segment, revealing much more useable information on them than simply classifying them based on demographics or their geography.

As with every form of segmentation there are drawbacks and disadvantages to the technique. For behavioral segmentation, data collection remains a difficult process that can be time-consuming and expensive. It also proves more difficult to implement based on the complexity of the results. Educating sales reps on each of the distinct segments and how they act can be difficult. Making sure that reps use the proper materials and sales tactics with each group is another big problem facing companies using behavioral segmentation.

…To read more, please see Chapter 2 of “Pharmaceutical Market Segmentation: Spending, Strategy and Implementation”