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Is low Carryover good for you?

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 14:40:16 GMT

Another pharma myth busted?

Carryover gets people talking. Sales management often assumes it must be low, using that assumption to justify making lots of calls.

Here’s a quick thought experiment: if carryover remained 100% for years to come, what would that mean for every new patient your customer puts on your brand?

Without high carryover, a prescription drug cannot achieve the revenue levels we see in the market.

Experience shows that carryover is difficult to predict intuitively. One common pattern emerges: if a product is over-resourced, carryover seems terribly wrong. Yet if the same product is allocated more budget, the numbers suddenly look excellent.

Debating carryover is rarely constructive. Loud complaints often come from those who haven’t done the proper calculations accounting for future events.

In reality, these debates are defensively motivated. They distract from the real problem with every over-resourced product: the field force spends too much time on customer interactions that generate almost no revenue.

Visiting a customer multiple times for $60 in revenue—whether it’s $50 or $80—is simply not worth it.

Do Pharmaceutical New Launch Products Have Low ROI?

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 21:04:31 GMT

Another Pharma SFE Myth to be busted?

Myth:
Many believe new launches are promotional money pits, while mature products deliver higher ROI and justify every dollar.

Truth:
Pharma is a long-term game. One-year results don’t tell the full story—assess performance over at least 5 years. Predicting future carryover is crucial and where most models fall short. Get it right, and you’ll reveal the real ROI.

Takeaway:
All promotional dollars must be allocated using one consistent method, so new launches and mature brands are judged by the same criteria. If the ROI isn’t balanced, you’re either not allocating well or not measuring correctly.

Your Turn:
Do you agree? Do you put new brands in the same race as mature ones? Share your thoughts below!

Sales Force Sizing in Healthcare: Why Outdated Methods Are Costing You Time and Profit

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 12:26:14 GMT

Still Widely Used in Pharma, Biotech, and Generics: Why Outdated Sales Force Sizing Methods Are Holding You Back

In healthcare sales, having the right-sized team is the difference between profits and wasting resources. Yet, many companies cling to outdated methods that drain time, money, and opportunities. Let’s break down the classic apporaches—and why they’re holding you back.

1. “Same as Last Year”

Last year, you had 75 reps. This year? You guess: 75. Easy, right? But what if your market grew by 20%? Or a competitor just launched a new brand? This method ignores change, leaving you under-resourced or overspending.

2. “Same as the Competition”

Your rival has 250 reps, so you aim for 250 too. Sounds logical, but here’s the problem: their strategy might not fit your business. What if their product is more profitable? Or their market share is double yours? Blindly matching their size could mean overinvesting in low-return areas or underinvesting in high-potential ones. In the race for sales force effectiveness, this is a losing strategy.

3. “Percentage of Sales”

You allocate 20% of $50 million in revenue to your sales force. Simple, but flawed. Sales force investment should drive revenue, not follow it. If your market grows, this method leaves you short-handed. If sales dip, you might cut too deep. It also neglects the lifecycle phase of your brands. In a pharmaceutical landscape shifting toward generics and value-based care, this reactive approach won’t cut it.

4. “Workload Build-Up”

You calculate that 60 reps can cover 50% of your 20000 customers monthly. It’s data-driven and practical for planning. But here’s the catch: it doesn’t separate profitable customers from dead weight. If 30% of your customers bring in only 10% of revenue, you’re wasting time and money.

The Big Problem

These methods ignore a harsh truth: 20-30% of sales efforts target unprofitable or low-value customers. That’s wasted budget and missed growth. By 2026, companies that fail to optimize their sales force will be left behind.

The Fix

Ditch the old playbook. Modern sales force sizing should:

Focus on high-value customers.
Use ROI-driven models.
Leverage advanced analytics.
Adapt to market changes.

Bottom Line

It’s time to get strategic, data-driven, and consistent.

Still using yesterday’s tactics? Let’s talk about how to future-proof your sales force.

Is Workload Stopping Your Team from Optimizing Your Sales Force or Omnichannel Plan?

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:37:37 GMT

Too Busy to Optimize? Not Anymore!

Here’s the crux of the issue: you know your current operating plan is still wasting a significant portion of your promotional resources. But how can you maximize returns without understanding the true value of your customers? And how do you find the time to implement a quality planning process amidst your team’s already packed schedule?

The good news? Workload doesn’t have to be overwhelming—if you run an efficient process. The result? A measurable improvement in both your top and bottom line, achieved by aligning promotional channel spend with customer value.

Of course, there’s no escaping the initial effort required for data collection. This is where most of the work lies, and no approach can eliminate this phase entirely. However, over the past 20 years, we’ve refined this process to the bare minimum. We provide ready-to-use templates for data collection and a streamlined process to load it directly into the PromoPlanner4 (PP4) model.

Once the data is in, the heavy lifting is automated. Here’s how PP4 saves you time and effort:

No More Delphi Meetings: PP4 eliminates the need for time-consuming individual product meetings to assess carryover. Not only does this save significant time, but it also removes potential bias from the inputs.
Real-Time Updates: Any changes to input data are instantly reflected in the outputs, ensuring your analysis is always up to date.
Automated Reporting: PP4 generates PowerPoint decks automatically, eliminating the need for manual updates. The export process takes just minutes and always reflects the latest data and results.
Flexible Data Export: Need to integrate with other systems? PP4 allows you to export data and results in XML format, enabling seamless integration with tools like Microsoft Power BI or your own reporting suite.

Long-Term Efficiency

Once the data for a Business Unit (BU) is collected, future projects require minimal updates. PP4’s Customer Landscape data is collected at the brand level and rarely changes over time. This means that after the initial setup, you’ll only need to make minor adjustments for one or two brands. Similarly, FTE deployments, rep costs, and COGS remain relatively stable in the short term.

Sales forecasts, however, do change frequently. PP4 simplifies this process with a single data entry grid, making it easy to update forecasts manually and on the fly. All results adjust instantly, and you can regenerate a complete PowerPoint output deck in just a minute or two.

Continuous Optimization

If you keep your PP4 model updated with base data, the data collection process becomes almost redundant. You’ll always have a ready-to-use resource for modeling your promotional resourcing and planning needs. For example, one of our clients streamlined their process by formatting reports from their CRM system, allowing them to copy and paste data directly into PP4—eliminating the need to fill out templates altogether.

Clear Communication

With PP4, you won’t just have the tools to communicate the results of your decisions—you’ll also be able to explain why those decisions were made. This clarity is invaluable for gaining buy-in and ensuring alignment across your organization.

The Bottom Line

In terms of workload, PromoPlanner4 significantly reduces both effort and time for your teams. At the same time, it improves resourcing, planning, insights, communication, and long-term profitability.

Ready to see it in action?

Request a live demo with our experts today and discover how PP4 can transform your promotional planning process.

Sales Force Optimization Tools – What 3 Boxes Do You Need to Tick?

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:23:30 GMT

3 Essential Features Your Sales Force and Marketing Optimization Tool Must Have

It’s no secret: without effective field force deployment and strategic marketing planning, a significant portion of your promotional investment will go to waste. Moreover, critical follow-up initiatives—such as in-call quality and messaging—will suffer greatly. To succeed, you must get the basics right. That’s non-negotiable.

So, what are the three key requirements for your approach? Drawing from years of experience across multiple countries, here’s what you need to know:

1) A Solution That Works “Live” in Front of an Audience

In 95% of cases, after all the data has been collected and loaded into your model, you’ll start your workshop only to hear participants point out that some numbers are already outdated. Sales forecasts, cost of goods, fully loaded rep costs, call capacity—you name it. How does this happen? Despite repeatedly requesting the latest inputs weeks ago, this is simply the reality you must deal with.

If your model can’t handle input changes “on the fly,” you’re in trouble. Ensure your solution can process real-time adjustments reliably, even in front of a live audience, without crashing or failing. Saying, “I need to go back to the office and tweak the inputs,” is not an option. Local managers in a conference room are tough and impatient—for good reason. Be prepared to address their queries and accommodate last-minute changes immediately. If you can’t trust your model 100%, both the project and your personal credibility will be at risk.

2) Consistency Across the Entire Portfolio

Your solution must deliver consistent results across the entire portfolio under analysis. What does this mean? Imagine a senior Cardiovascular Business Unit Head in the room. They’ll know exactly how to “influence” your model or team to produce a favorable outcome—usually meaning a bigger budget.

Next, you meet with a junior Neurology team. They’ll provide truthful answers, leading to more realistic outcomes. In the end, Neurology—with higher profit potential—receives fewer resources, while over-resourced Cardiology gets a recommendation to grow further, often with unprofitable customers. This is a real example from a European project. Without consistency, your project risks being hijacked and biased.

3) Focus on the Right Inputs

In big pharma, there’s an overwhelming amount of data available. Your team doesn’t have the time to collect everything. Instead, focus on gathering the minimum amount of data required to run a robust exercise. Remember, you only need to be 90-95% directionally correct. This will capture nearly all the profit growth available.

Aiming for 100% accuracy is a trap. You’ll spend the next two years debating outdated details, losing momentum in the process. As discussed in our YouTube video on the Flat Maximum Principle, gaining 0.1% more profit often requires 400% more effort. Don’t waste your momentum!

Be directionally correct, not precisely wrong. Data collection should take no more than 3-4 weeks. Beyond that, your project will lose steam, and participants will disengage. Additionally, always validate your inputs before the analysis and optimization presentation. Experience is key here.

To help you get started, we offer free data collection templates on our website, complete with seasoned input descriptions and YouTube tutorials. Use them for your own exercises at no cost. If they help, we’re glad to be of service.