Some business practitioners use a metric termed the 80/20 rule, which dictates that 80% of an organisation’s business comes from just 20% of its clients. This can be the subject of conjecture and certain clients are always seen as more important by the pharmaceutical company, due either to their pure volume of sales, their position in the market or other important considerations such as a transition to other market areas. In these cases, key account management strategies must be established by the company and must be adequately communicated and implemented within the sales and marketing team as a core priority.

A pharmaceutical company has many different stakeholders and must satisfy a number of different “clients.” The company is always involved in industry positioning, political lobbying, public relations and media, as well as the fundamental issues of sales, marketing and financial measurements. There is so much on the plate, be it daily or weekly and there is always a danger that senior management may take on too many issues and end up being less effective overall. Key account management will not be effective if certain layers of communication are not maintained, leading to a less efficient sales and marketing operation and calling for a pharmaceutical consulting firm to be retained for best effect.

Following the appointment of a specific account to the role of “key,” the pharmaceutical consultants should help in composing a concerted plan of action. From the client perspective, what value do they gain from the relationship with the pharmaceutical company and vice versa? Communication must be full and constant and all parties must be able to achieve a “win” no matter how complex this is to achieve. The key account is more likely to want to continue with the company if value is delivered over and above the core essentials.

A comfort zone must be the desired result, for if the client senses this, then a continuation can be expected and an expansion possible. When trust is established, the client will often not have to engage so many of its resources in trying to oversee and control the related activities and will foresee the relationship as an efficient one.

Some experts observe that account management is really about damage control. Every now and again problems and issues will undoubtedly arise. The company should do its utmost to fully understand the workings of its client and try and pre-empt any objections or problems. If a sales and marketing team has achieved a high level of training and education, it will be much better positioned to get past the hurdles in its path.

Key account management calls for a highly intelligent assessment of the client’s interpretation of any relationship. As always, a level of satisfaction is at the top of the list and when senior management goes overboard, a long-term relationship is likely, with great potential for additional revenues. Satisfaction is top priority, according to pharma consulting firms.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.