Indian Pharma Market - Challenges and The Path Ahead

MEDICINMANField Force Excellence
TM
October 2013 | www.medicinman.net
Makingsense
IN‘VUCA’TimesA new, action-oriented“business novel”with
a blow-by-blow account of how a forward-
looking pharma company can achieve
operational excellence inVolatile, Uncertain,
Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) times.
Shridhar Lolla is a practitioner of Business
Model Innovation, Focused Execution and
Operational Excellence. Shridhar holds a
PhD in engineering from IIT Delhi, a Masters
degree from IT-BHU and a Bachelors degree
from MANIT, Bhopal. He has worked with
MNC engineering and technology firms like
ABB and Kirloskar Electric. Shridhar runs the
online hub of Operational Excellence at www.
time2change.co.in. Email: lolla@cvmark.com
Editorial
C
ometh the hour cometh the man.”This popular phrase was
used by Cliff Gladwin, the England cricketer, during the
first Test Match against South Africa at Durban in 1948.
England were 117 for 8 requiring 128 to win, when Gladwin
walked out to bat. The last ball of the match hit Gladwin on
the thigh and went for a leg-bye to win the match for England.
In the September issue I wrote the editorial, VUCA – The New
Normal. How will Pharma Industry in India Respond? Dr. Shridhar
Lolla has come out with the book for the trouble stricken Indian
pharmaceutical industry of which can be said –“cometh the
VUCA cometh The Path.”
The Path by Shridhar Lolla is a splendid effort co-created along
with Indian Pharma’s 118 top notch practitioners. There is no
doubt that Indian Pharma is experiencing a prolonged season
of VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous times.
Against this background comes an author with an army of
experts who have put together an excellent book,“The Path –
Leveraging Operations in a Complex and Chaotic World”.
MedicinMan is privileged to connect with Dr. Shridhar Lolla and
his team of outstanding professionals who have painstakingly
identified the challenges faced by Indian pharmaceutical industry
and have created The Path for emerging out of VUCA times.
“The Path is set in a pharma company, shows the way to positively
impact business results by improving management of complex
and chaotic dynamics faced by manufacturing professionals day
in and day out.

Anup Soans | Editorial: Making Sense in ‘VUCA’ Times
Connect with Anup Soans on
LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter
Visit anupsoans.com.
Meet the Editor
Anup Soans is an
Author, Facilitator
and the Editor of
MedicinMan.
Write in to him:
While there are many books that address this issue in different
ways, almost all are in the engineering segment. By choosing
the pharma industry and addressing not only the complexities
of operations, but also the issue of availability and pricing of
drugs, Dr. Lolla and his team successfully integrates several
view points to present a solution”says K. Srinivasamurthy in his
introduction to The Path.
Dr. Shridhar Lolla is a management consultant, who focuses
on operational excellence and the Theory of Constraints
(TOC) and has been involved in one of the world’s biggest
implementation of TOC.
It is unconventional to review a book through the editorial, but
conventions have failed us and this book offers an excellent
alternative for Jugaad obsessed pharmaceutical companies –
both MNC and Indian to put their manufacturing operations in
order.
And why should MedicinMan, which is dedicated to field
force excellence, review a book like The Path? Because when
the field force people hear about quality control lapses, it
affects their confidence and morale adversely. This negative
impact consciously and unconsciously affects their in-clinic
interactions with doctors and thereby the sales of the pharma
companies they represent.
Excellence in quality is the cornerstone of excellence in
field force operations. When the field force knows that their
company’s products are manufactured by USFDA approved
facilities, it gives them the confidence to sell their products
confidently. It makes them stay in their companies for longer
periods of time, which is necessary to build the needed
competencies to face the VUCA market environment day in and
day out.
The Path is a must read not only for Indian Pharma leaders
but also for professionals at all levels, who want to learn and
implement robust systems that ensure world class quality
standards. - MM
Purchase the paperback version of The Path by
Shridhar Lolla from Amazon at this link:
http://amzn.com/1482759144
The ebook version can be purchased at:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325264

3 | MedicinMan October 2013
MedicinMan Volume 3 Issue 10 | October 2013
Editor and Publisher
Anup Soans
CEO
Chhaya Sankath
COO
Arvind Nair
Chief Mentor
K. Hariram
Advisory Board
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi; Jolly Mathews
Editorial Board
Salil Kallianpur; Dr. Shalini Ratan; Shashin
Bodawala; Prabhakar Shetty; Vardarajan S;
Dr. Mandar Kubal; Dr. Surinder Kumar
International Editorial Board
Hanno Wolfram; Renie McClay
Executive Editor
Joshua Soans
MedicinMan Academy:
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi, Dean, Professional Skills
Development
Letters to the Editor: anupsoans@medicinman.net
1. The Price of Compromise...................................7
How Indian Pharma is Paying the Price for jugaad
in Quality Control.
Dr. Ashutosh Mundkur
2. Social Intelligence............................................9
The new paradigm in people management.
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi
3. Real Value...........................................................11
5 ways in which pharma companies can create real
value for their Doctors instead of mindlessly driving
strategies that don’t work.
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani
4. DPCO 2013 and its likely impact on Indian
Pharma...................................................................14
Companies that depend solely on CRM activities for
revenue generation, will find it difficult to navigate
in the new environment.
K. Hariram
5. A Winning Smile.................................................16
The social psychology of smiling and how to use it
to your advantage
Rachana Narayan
6. RCPA Refresher..................................................18
How to leverage your relationship with the chemist
to drive sales of your product.
Chirag Shah
7. Simple Steps to Professional Success.............21
A tried and tested template for everyday success on
the field.
V. Srinivasan
CONTENTS (Click to navigate)

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                          
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                          
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FIELD FORCE
EXCELLENCE
BRAND DRIFT
Excellence Awards
MEDICINMAN Pharma Sales
& Marketing Conference 2014
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FFE | BRAND DRIFT | AWARDS
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At the One Conference that Matters.

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Pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the US
are no better when it comes to jugaad in introducing a new
drug and the USFDA has faltered on many occasions. The
USFDA’s bias against non-US companies cannot be ruled
out either.
Having said this, I must admit that most of the Indian phar-
maceutical and medical device companies try to hoodwink
and work around the USFDA guidelines set by CDRH, CBER
and others.
There is so much of noise and despair about the import
embargo, 483s issued, negative publicity, loss of business
and tarnishing of reputation. Root cause analysis will clearly
show that Indian company’s Jugaad attitude is responsible
for this. Senior management cannot pass the blame to the
quality assurance, quality control or the regulatory affairs
department. This may be the easiest way out but certainly
not the right way.
The Problem: However strict the QA function may be,
business compulsions make these companies bypass and
fudge the guideline requirements. There are instances
where managements insist on compromise and if someone
is unwilling to do it there are always others ready to bend
over and please the management. The rat race to be the
first in the market, peer company pressure and investor ex-
pectation are reasons which drive the senior management
to compromise.
The Solution: Pro-activeness by QA and RA, patience by
senior management, are prerequisites for a blemish free
reputation and continued business in the US and Western
markets.
We seem to believe a lot in retrospective validations,
stability studies and managed clinical trials. This has led US
THEPRICEOF
COMPROMISEHow Indian Pharma is Paying the
Price for Jugaad* in Quality Control.
Dr. Ashutosh Mundkur
* Jugaad is a term widely used in India. Jugaad
literally means an improvised arrangement or work-
around, which has to be used because of lack of
resources. Jugaad is commonly used when describing
a workaround to get through commercial, logistical,
or legal issues. – Wikipedia
Dr Ashutosh Mundkur is a Bangalore
based Medical Devices specialist with
experience in Quality Management
Systems, Manufacturing Operations,
Marketing and KAM.
E

“
”
Dr. Ashutosh Mundkur | The Price of Compromise
and Western customers to paint all Indian companies with
the same brush. Indian companies despite their good local
market and reputation are also considered manipulators.
Westerners consider Indian products much the same way in
which many of us consider Chinese products - inconsistent
in quality, non-compliance to agreed terms and conditions,
delay in supplies and giving excuses that can easily be
verified as untrue.
A leading Indian cardiac surgeon in Delhi who had expe-
rience with substandard quality of Indian products stated
-“as Indians we have lost our character”.
Honesty, simplicity, empathy, care, concern and compas-
sion have become attributes of the past. Across society,
irrespective of our social and economic status, we are in the
race to outdo others for name, fame and money - as long as
“I”win,“I”benefit,“I”succeed, I do not care for others.
This is not a good trend for India. It is high time that organi-
zations and individuals carefully examine their intentions,
actions and consequences. Large organizations should put
their house in order and bring about paradigm shift in the
thought process of all their employees. Once a critical mass
is reached I am sure there will be a big change in the culture
of Indian Pharma. We can think of calling ourselves a great
country once again, the historical reason for India being
the preferred trading destination of Western countries can
be regained. We are indeed a great nation but somehow
somewhere we seem to have lost our way.
Wake up Sid! -AM
The Problem: However strict
the QA function may be,
business compulsions make
companies bypass and fudge
quality requirements. There
are instances where manage-
ment insists on compromise
and if someone is unwilling to
do it there are always others
ready to bend over and please
management.

W
hat do we really need to succeed today in our
profession? We have a bumper crop of clueless
corporate executives who have lost touch with
the very people whom they are supposed to lead. I would
like to call it the‘Marie Antoinette Management’! Marie
Antoinette was the French queen who alienated herself from
her subjects and this alienation from her people led her to
the guillotine. A famous statement attributed to her, estab-
lishes how totally she was cut off from her people:“If they
(the peasants) don’t have bread, let them eat cake”. Marie
Antoinette Management is when leaders stay aloof from
reality and away from the people!
The new prerequisite for professional success through peo-
ple management is‘Social Intelligence’. Social Intelligence is
a companion to Emotional Intelligence.
Why do some leaders get people to line up behind them
with staunch loyalty whereas the others remain the butt of
cruel kerb side jokes? The former have a high level of Social
Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence.
Social intelligence can be as simple as a smile or remember-
ing someone’s name. Some define social intelligence as a
matter of demonstrating good people’s skills. Says Harrison
Monarth1
:“Social Intelligence is not an inward awareness,
though it’s tough to master if you aren’t in touch with your
inner landscape (Emotional Intelligence) to some extent. It is
very much about how you are perceived by others. It is the
understanding – and when you get it right, the mastery - of
what elicits a response from other people in both relation-
ships and casual encounters and even in an audience full of
strangers”.1
Says Daniel Goleman:“Neuroscience has discov-
ered that our brain’s very design makes it sociable, inexora-
E
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma
Brand Management and Sales Training at The Enablers.
He is also visit-ing faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar
University) for their MBA course in Pharmaceutical
Management.
vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org
SOCIAL
INTELLIGENCE:THENEWPARADIGMINPEOPLEMANAGEMENT
E
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi

Prof. Vivek Hattangadi | Social Intelligence: The New Paradigm in People Management
bly drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we
engage with another person. That neural bridge lets us impact
the brain—and so the body—of everyone we interact with, just
as they do us”.2
Social intelligence involves much more than an infectious grin.
It is the ability to understand what makes people respond.
What are some of the skills required to develop social
intelligence?
Professional Presence: It’s all about the subtle, unspoken
details of how you present yourself, how you enter a room, the
tone of your voice and the confidence in your persona. It’s as
simple as sitting up straight at your desk, to how you command
the sales meetings. Projecting and maintaining the profession-
al image you want to present speaks volumes about your credi-
bility. Your professional presence should not only communicate
your self-confidence and self worth, it should show the level of
respect you have for others.
Clarity: One needs to have competence in communicating
clearly. You need to communicate your thoughts, your ideas,
objectives, expectations, and other information with great
clarity. You will need to tailor your message to the listener. Else,
people may not follow you as a leader. The ultimate goal is to
get your people to appreciate you and follow you. The clearer
you are, the sooner it will happen.
Authenticity: It means uncovering your true self. You should
not only sound genuine, but should be truly genuine. Phoni-
ness, no matter how well conveyed, is easy to spot! People may
think that you are wearing a mask; you are constantly playing
a role to impress people. Authentic people earn trust and
respect. People will always follow authentic leaders.
Awareness: It is the ability to read people, and the moment,
and respond with behaviors that fit the situation.1
It is having
knowledge and to take cognizance of circumstances and the
state of affairs.
Empathy: It is identifying with and understanding another’s
situation and feelings. You imaginatively enter into another
person’s feelings.“When you communicate empathy, you
are saying that we are on the same page, the same team and
anything I ask you to do has taken your situation into consider-
ation”.1
Behavior: It should reflect your leadership traits. Take own-
ership for the work assigned to you. Take initiative and offer to
take on more responsibility if you have the capability. Leaders
are often self-motivated and make things happen.
To conclude, Social Intelligence is a set of skills that inspire oth-
ers to be effective.“When we detect other people’s emotions
through their actions, our mirror neurons reproduce these
emotions leading to feeling of shared experience”.2
Every professional should work to continuously upgrade both
Social Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence to achieve pro-
fessional success - through sound people management. -VH
References
1. Monarth, Harrison. (2010). Executive
Presence, McGraw Hill, New York.
2. Goleman, Daniel. (2006). Social In-
telligence: The New Science of Human
Relations, Bantam Dell, New York
Social intelligence can
be as simple as a smile or
remembering someone’s
name. Some define social
intelligence as a matter
of demonstrating good
people’s skills. Says Har-
rison Monarth: “Social
Intelligence is not an in-
ward awareness, though
it’s tough to master if
you aren’t in touch with
your inner landscape
(Emotional Intelligence)
to some extent. It is very
much about how you are
perceived by others.
“
”

1. Practice Management.
While most doctors enjoy taking care of patients, they are not
very good businessmen, because they do not realize that running
a clinic means that they need to think of themselves as being
entrepreneurs. Many do a bad job, because they do not have the
requisite skills. This is a relatively easy problem to fix - it’s a simple
question of teaching doctors practice management strategies!
Not only can Pharmaceutical industry conduct workshops, they
can actually provide real-life and online training for the Doctor’s
office staff - the receptionist, the secretaries, and their assistants,
to help them become more productive and efficient. The good
news is that a lot of these resources are easily available - it’s just a
question of adapting them to the needs of Indian doctors. Since
Medical Reps spend a lot of time in the doctor’s clinic, they also
have an opportunity to learn a lot – both what to do, from the
good doctors who run efficient clinics; and what not to do, from
the bad ones who make their patients wait forever and ever.
Doctors need Pharma companies to share what they learn from
the good clinics with the other doctors, so they can improve their
practice. Medical Reps can serve as the eyes and ears of doctors in
the field, because of their real-life experience! If Pharma can help
doctors to do a better job with taking care of their patients, they
will respect Medical Reps and will be happy to partner with them.
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, MD
is the Medical Director at
Malpani Infertility Clinic in
Mumbai.
E
REALVALUE5 ways in which pharma companies can create real
value for their Doctors instead of mindlessly driving
strategies that don’t work.
Part - II
£
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“
”
2. Staying Current
The second pain point which doctors have is that it is difficult
for them to remain up-to-date. Pharma industry can provide
them with access to online resources from leading medical
publishers, so that they have 24/7 access to medical textbooks
and journal which they want. This is something which is likely
to be heavily utilized, because doctors understand that they
need to update their knowledgebase on a regular basis.
3. Continuous Medical Education (CME)
The third pain point today is that doctors need to earn many
hours of continuing medical education (or CME) in order to
renew their certification and license to practice from their State
Medical Council. The trouble is that the only way the Councils
provide certification today is for attending medical conferences.
Sadly, most conferences are not academically productive at all,
because they flout the basic principles of adult pedagogy. Doc-
tors don’t actually end up learning much, as a result of which
most serious doctors are quite disillusioned with the confer-
ence business, which they rightly treat as a circus! Even worse,
conferences do not allow any way of documenting whether any
learning has actually occurred or not. Pharma industry can pro-
vide online CME for doctors, which would be recognized by the
appropriate Medical Council. This is easy to do, since this model
has been shown to work very well in the USA – the country
which invented CME! Since the Doctor can do this CME online,
he will not need to travel, and this would save him a lot of time,
and be much more convenient. Doctors like learning - it’s just
a question of designing engaging teaching materials for them.
Even better, by ensuring that the doctor answers a quiz at the
end of the CME, this would allow documentation that he has
mastered the information which was presented. Since the CME
is being provided through Pharma Company’s online portal,
this will ensure that doctors will visit the website frequently –
and Pharma can use this channel to communicate seamlessly
with them.
4. Medical Record Keeping
The fourth pain point for doctors is medical record keeping.
Most keep very poor records and they have a hard time finding
the information they need about a particular patient. This
means that even though they have enormous clinical experi-
ence, it is very poorly documented, so that they are not able
to systematically review or publish it in medical journals. This
is such a waste! Information Technology has helped to revolu-
tionize how medical records are stored and accessed today in
the USA and Pharma can provide doctors with online electronic
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, MD | Real Value
Sadly, most
conferences are
not academically
productive at all
because they flout
the basic principles
of adult pedagogy.
Doctors don’t
actually end up
learning much, as
a result of which
most serious
doctors are quite
disillusioned with
the conference
business, which
they rightly treat
as a circus!
£
£ £
£
¥
¥
¥
F
F
F
€ €
€
$ $

“
”
medical records (EMRs) through it’s company website. This
will help them take better care of their patients, because they
would be able to accurately document and access everything
they need to know about their patients. It would also help
doctors to keep their patients happy, through a patient portal,
through which patients can access all their information online!
5. Financial Management
The fifth pain point for doctors is financial. Pharma industry
can help them to improve their profitability, both by helping
them to get more patients; and by providing them with tools
to delight their patients. The best way to do this would be to
provide doctors with their own personal branded websites, so
they can establish an online clinic. Influential Indian patients
are all online today and smart doctors understand that they
need a digital presence as well. By giving them this, not only
will Pharma be able to help them improve their patient flow, it
would also allow them to keep their patients happy, by educat-
ing them online with suitable educational materials about their
illness. This would help patients to have more realistic expecta-
tions of their medical treatment – and save the doctor a lot of
time, as he would not have to explain the basics all over again.
Conclusion
By implementing these five measures, Pharma industry will be
able to make doctor’s lives more meaningful and productive. As
this is not Pharma’s core business, it can do this on a large scale
by outsourcing it cost effectively. This is likely to enhance Phar-
ma industry’s reputation and standing amongst doctors, which
will improve sales and profitability of the company’s brands.
This is a disruptive innovation, and pioneering companies are
likely to reap a lot of benefits by being the first mover in this
exciting space! -AM
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, MD | Real Value
Pharma industry
can help Doctors
to improve their
profitability,
both by helping
them to get more
patients; and
by providing
them with tools
to delight their
patients.
The best way to
do this would be
to provide doctors
with their own
personal branded
websites, so they
can establish an
online clinic.

K. Hariram
The din is slowly dying down as the Indian Pharma industry has
embraced the new DPCO 2013 that has been recently notified.
No doubt, the new drug price control policy in the short term
will negatively impact sales and margins of pharmaceutical firms
in India.
IMS Health has estimated that the value erosion of the
pharmaceutical market would be to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore
(2.2 per cent of the current pharmaceutical market), post
implementation for the year 2013-14.
With the notification of the order, the National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Policy (NPPP) 2012 comes into effect and all drugs under
NLEM(National list of essential medicines), which account for 60
per cent of total domestic pharma market amounting to nearly Rs
29,000 crore, would come under price control.
According to the approved policy, prices of medicines will now be
capped by taking simple average of all brands which have more
than one per cent market share instead of input costs.
This means there is a shift from cost-based pricing to market-
based pricing. Majority view this shift in pricing methodology to
have better transparency and be directionally more prudent to
the pharmaceutical industry, on a longer term perspective.
What is market based pricing methodology?
1. The ceiling price for each branded drug or a generic version
will be determined by taking a simple average of all drugs with
market share equal to or greater than 1%.
2. The policy will control prices of 348 drugs that are classified
as ‘Essential’ and form part of the National List of Essential
Medicines (NLEM).
3. The companies will be allowed to revise prices of these
molecules once a year in line with the change in the Wholesale
Price Index (WPI).
4. For all other drugs (i.e. not in NLEM), an annual price hike of
10% will be allowed.
5. To encourage investments in R&D, completely new innovations
and even drugs developed through new processes or involving
novel drug delivery mechanism will be exempt from price control
for a period of five years.
Having issued the detailed guidelines, the Government has
started notifying the ceiling prices, post which the policy comes
into effect in the succeeding 45 days.
Companies had to resort to the job of adjusting their MRPs
within this period and this has resulted in some inventory de-
stocking/rationalization by the distribution channel.
Will this impact the earnings, volume/value and the impact on
marketing and CRM activities?
Yes, the price rationalization will impact earnings in the near-
term but unlikely to affect longer term growth prospects.
DPCO 2013
and its likely
impact on
Indian Pharma
E
K. Hariram is the former MD (retd.) at
Galderma India. He is Chief Mentor at
MedicinMan and a regular contributor.
khariram25@yahoo.com
The industry has
been expecting this
to happen and hence
in the budgeting of
FY 2013-14 there
would have been
provisions to absorb
the expected impact.
“
”

K. Hariram | DPCO and its likely impact on Indian Pharma
Many industry experts opine that market-based pricing
mechanism would impact near term earnings of companies with
relatively higher dependence on the Indian market.
With NLEM estimated to cover almost 20% of the Rs. 728 billion
domestic formulation business, an expected price cut of 15-20%
will erode the market by 3-4%.
Its impact on earnings will be higher as much of this will directly
eat into the relatively higher margin India business, particularly the
ones with higher dependence on Indian market, premium pricing
approach and having higher share of acute therapy segment.
On the other hand, the impact of the new policy would not be
substantial on companies that have sizeable share of earnings from
regulated markets, especially U.S. generics.
The industry has been expecting this to happen and hence in the
budgeting of FY 2013-14 there would have been provisions to
absorb the expected impact. Also, this will propel companies to
review their portfolios over the medium-to-longer term though in
the near future or as short term rationalization measures there may
be some revision on promotional/marketing budgets, consolidating
field force, etc.
When it comes to CRM activities, since it is always a part of
marketing budget, there would be a re-visit in terms of cost/benefit
ratio. However, for those companies that depend on CRM activities
as the sole revenue generator, it will be difficult to think of short
term alternatives to protect margins.
As per the famous saying by Henry.J.Kaiser, “Problems are only
opportunities in work clothes”. Hence the drug marketing teams
need to shed their copy cat approach and complacency to re-
look at their brand management strategies, revise their skills,
adopt newer technologies such as digital marketing and work on
DIFFERENTIATION at all levels.
The originators of molecules may still have some edge when it
comes to robust scientific data which could be utilized for CMEs,
in-clinic communication, etc. Probably, it is also a good time to
look at building sales force as a big differentiator.
“Many a skillful pilots have earned their name by flying through
storms and tempests”. - KH
For those companies
that depend on CRM
activities as the sole
revenue generator,
it will be difficult
to think of short
term alternatives to
protect margins.
“
”

E
A
WINNINGSMILE!
Smile, and Sell More.
Rachana Narayan
D
ale Carnegie rightly says,“For nobody needs a
smile so much as those who have none left to
give!”
This article is dedicated to the“smile”; so I request all you
readers to have a smile (even if it is forced one) on your
faces while reading this. I am tired of seeing Medical Reps
with pain-stricken faces as if role plays are a punishment.
I am sure; most Medical Reps will be doing nothing to
increase the smile on their faces even during real calls to
make them impactful. They may not be even aware that a
smile can give them an advantage over hundreds of smile-
less competitors.
Smile is infectious and before we realize, it gets transferred
from the Medical Rep to the doctor. I am reminded of an
incident at a prize distribution ceremony of Christ College
Bangalore, my alma mater. The chief guest distributing the
prize would automatically smile at the winners and refrain
from doing so if the winner did not return the smile. Even
in the context of sales, most doctors will automatically
smile back when the Medical Rep has a vibrant smile.
Smile sets the stage for a good conversation. There is
always a bonus point for the smile. A smile is so important
for me that I always make my trainees repeat the role
play if they have no smile on their face. The exceptional
content may become boring and monotonous without
some play of smile on the face of the Medical Rep.
According to a study in International Journal of Service
Industry Management, involving 220 participants, it
was found that the smiling customer service executive
produced a higher level of customer satisfaction than
the customer service executive with neutral expression
regardless of the gender of the customer service
executive. The assertiveness in the personality becomes
appealing with a smile on the face.
Rachana Narayan is a Trainer at A
Menarini India Pvt. Ltd.
She has previously worked in
Medico-Marketing Dept. at Torrent

“
”
Rachana Narayan | A Selling Smile
Yet another study published in the Journal of
Psychological Science, involving 169 participants,
proved that people who had a forced smiled
after completing stress-inducing tasks showed a
greater reduction in heart rate than people who
had a neutral facial expression. Another study by
Perreau-Linck et.al. reported that even self-induced
changes in mood, increases serotonin (the happy
neurotransmitter) secretion in the person.
Gone are the days when smile was considered
feminine. Today an entire training module is
introduced in the service sector teaching the
benefits of smile in customer service and how to
smile even speaking over the telephone. Remember,
smile is not only seen, it’s impact can be felt over the
telephone. So, make your smile sparkle. Your voice
should have a tone of thrill when talking to people.
A million dollar question is how to smile, as it
does not come naturally to many. I suggest,
practice smiling in front of the mirror. As you try
speaking with a smile on your face more often,
it will get registered as a habit in your behaviour.
Any behaviour for that matter can become an
integral part of your personality if it is practiced
continuously. A sincere smile reaches the eyes and
yields great results.
A smile changes the attitude and makes the
environment positive. A smile is comforting;
it makes the person more appealing and
approachable. It eases the tense situations and costs
absolutely nothing.
So smile and sell more! -RN
Today an entire training
module is introduced
in the service sector
teaching the benefits
of smile in customer
service and how to smile
even speaking over the
telephone. Remember,
smile is not only seen, it’s
impact can be felt over
the telephone. So, make
your smile sparkle. Your
voice should have a tone
of thrill when talking to
people.
MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT?
You can access all past issues of MedicinMan at: http://medicinman.net/archives.
Be sure to SUBSCRIBE on our website (top-right corner: www.medicinman.net) to stay up-to-date with us.

19 | MedicinMan June 2013
RCPA
REFRESHER
The distribution network of any pharma company
starts from the stockist. Whenever a doctor prescribes
a product to a patient, the patient buys the product
from retail chemist, who in turn buys from the stockist.
In pharma sales, your actual consumer is the patient
and indirect consumer is the doctor. In this way pharma
selling is different from other selling. Here retailer plays
an important role by stocking products of various
companies and has a significant role to influence on
your sales. That’s why RCPA (Retail Chemist Prescription
Audit) is an important tool that every Medical Rep
should use.
What motivates the retail chemist to
purchase our goods?
1) High Turnover: The retailer stocks goods of
thousands of different pharma companies. He is the
one who invests his money for stock. If stocks move
out regularly he would never feel the burden but if
products are not sold for a long time and remains on
the shelf, he feels the burden. Every Medical Rep has to
ensure products of your company starts moving from
his counter regularly. This will not only allow the retailer
to order regularly and maintain inventory but also build
confidence in you and your company.
2) Regular Visits: Medical Rep should regularly visit
the chemist. The retailer is always expecting you to
visit him and solve his problems like supply of order,
expiry, breakage, etc. When your products are regularly
prescribed by the doctors and you regularly visit the
retailer, the retailer respects you for your systematic
work.
3) Schemes: Retailer is a businessman who invests his
money for profit. He is always interested in the profit
margin he gets for selling your products. Medical Rep
should regularly update him on the profit margin he
gets. Most of the companies regularly introduce a free
gift scheme on purchase of certain quantities of the
product. Like 50 bottles or 150 strips on no return policy
and he gets a utility item as a gift for that. The retailer
Chirag Shah
Chirag Shah is a B.Pharm and M.Sc in
Pharmaceutical Science from Kingston
University (U.K.) He did his PGDBA in
Marketing from Welingkar Institute of
management. He is a Product Executive
in Dupen Labs. Mobile: 9664851023
E

Chirag Shah | RCPA Refresher
20 | MedicinMan June 2013
buys the additional stocks based relationship and the speed
of movement of your product from the counter.
4) Company Reputation: Retailer always looks at the
marketing policies of company and the credibility and
regularity of the Medical Rep. Retailers have the tendency
to ask for freebies, don’t promise the things which are not in
your control. Don’t promise extra scheme, stick to company
norms. This will increase your credibility and create
confidence in you. This will motivate retailers to stock your
products in adequate quantities.
How should you start doing RCPA?
The foremost objective is to know how much your product
is moving in comparison to your competitors. The below
format (see Fig. 1) can be used while doing RCPA. Find the
best time to meet the retailer for doing RCPA based on his
convenience.
RCPA Checklist:
1. Find out the status of order booked last time.
2. Always check who are new prescribers of your products
and who have stopped or changed to competitor’s
brand. Also find out the impact of your last visit by asking
improvement in prescriptions from regular prescriber.
3. Ask for stock position of your brand and competitor
brand. Say he is keeping 20 units of your product and
100 units of competitor – it shows that your competitor
products are moving at four times the speed of your
product.
4. Find out details about campaigns by your competitors or
any special offers.
5. Also find out the service the retailer is getting from
stockist like quick dispatch, Credit note adjustment, etc. Get
the detail of breakage, leakage or expiry of your products
and take prompt action.
This information will help your company to build an
effective counter strategy. -SP
Product Name of
Dr Rx’ing
Units
per
Week
Competitor
Brands
Name of
Dr Rx’ing
Units per
week
Remarks/Free
schemes
Fig. 1: Sample RCPA

E
S
uccess can be achieved by anyone who is willing to
work sincerely. However, in pharmaceutical sales,
though there are lacs of Medical Reps, many of them
have turned out to be‘mediocre’or‘average’, and only few
are highly successful. This article is to motivate such‘ordi-
nary’Medical Reps that it is possible for them to become
successful too.
Just make it a habit to execute the following simple steps
everyday:
Make the Customer List exactly as per marketing strategy. If
the customer list must contain 100 Gynaecologists, 50 Pae-
diatricians, and 50 Orthopaedics, then it should be exactly
like that. Because, this is the basis on which the business
will be built.
Update Customer List regularly. Add Doctors who have the
potential for products being promoted. Delete unproduc-
tive calls.
Make sure you are aware of the exact potential of each
customer through a well recorded RCPA for each of your
product, and how much you expect from them for each of
your product. This should get updated before every call.
Understand the products being promoted i.e. better Prod-
uct Knowledge. This is not that difficult as many Medical
Reps think.
Improve your communication in English language. If your
communication skills are good, you can convince more
customers.
Implement sales and marketing strategies as designed by
the Product Team with sincerity.
Be prompt in sending reports promptly without reminders.
If you come across any innovative schemes, strategies from
competitors, try to understand it and report it promptly.
Practice detailing before starting the work in the morning
every day.
SIMPLESTEPSTO
SUCCESS
PROFESSIONAL
V. Srinivasan
V. Srinivasan has written over 400 articles
on Pharma Management.
Email: shridhar1956@rediffmail.com
Mob: 9972390513
E

V. Srinivasan | Simple Steps to Professional Success
Be punctual.
Before starting the work for the day, look at the calls
being planned for the day, what was the outcome of
your last visit? Have these doctors started prescribing
your products, if yes, how much have they prescribed,
if not, why have they not prescribed, what could be the
reasons? So you are mentally prepared to talk to them
in a result oriented manner, which makes each call
more productive and purposeful.
Think, behave and act as though you are owner of the
business in the territory. This will shut all loop holes for
excuses, and bring out the best in you every time.
The above steps when implemented and practiced
with sincerity, will enable even ordinary Medical Reps
to succeed, which will get you better acceptability and
respect in your own family, in society and in your peer
group.
Abdul Basit Khan
Ajay Kumar Dua
Amlesh Ranjan
Amrutha Bhavthankar
Andris A. Zoltners
Anthony Lobo
Aparna Sharma
Arvind Nair
Atish Mukherjee
B. Ramanathan
Chayya Sankath
Craig Dixon
Devanand Chenuri
Venkat
Dinesh Chindarkar
Dr. Amit Dang
Dr. Aniruddha
Malpani
Dr. Hemant Mittal
Dr. Neelesh Bhandari
Dr. S. Srinivasan
Dr. Shalini Ratan
Dr. Surinder Kumar
Sharma
Dr. Ulhas Ganu
Geetha G H
H. J. Badrinarayana
Hakeem Adebiyi
Hanno Wolfram
Hitendra Kansal
Iyer Gopalkrishna
Jasvinder Singh
Banga
Javed Shaikh
Jitendra Singh
John Gwillim
Jolly Mathews
Joshua Mensch
K Hariram
K. Satya Mahesh
Ken Boyce
Mahendra Rai
Mala Raj
Manoj Kumar
Mayank Saigal
Milan Sinha
Mohan Lal Gupta
Neelesh Bhandari
Neha Ansa
Nishkarsh Likhar
Noumaan Qureshi
Parveen Gandhi
Pinaki Ghosh
PK Sinha
Prabhakar Shetty
Vivek Hattangadi
Rachana Narayan
Rajesh Rangarajan
Ralph Boyce
Renie McClay
Richa Goyel
Richard Ilsley
RM Saravanan
Sagar S. Pawar
Salil Kallianpur
Salil Kallianpur
Sally E. Lorimer
Sandhya Pramanik
Sanjay Munshi
Shafaq Shaikh
Shalini Ratan
Sharad Virmani
Shiv Bhasin
Spring Sudhakar
Subba Rao Chaganti
Sudhakar Madhavan
Tony O’Connor
V. Srinivasan
Varadharajan K.
Vijaya Shetty
Vishal V. Bhaiyya
Vishal Verma
Vivek Hattangadi
William Fernandez
Our Authors
MEDICINMAN invites contributions from Pharma professionals on topics related to Field Force
Excellence. See: www.medicinman.net/author-guidelines for more information.
Think, behave and
act as though you
are owner of the
business in the
territory. This will
shut all loop holes
for excuses, and
bring out the best
in you every time.
“
”

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KNOWLEDGE  ATTITUDES  SKILLS  HABITS
MEDICINMAN
anupsoans@gmail.com | +91-934-2232-949 | www.medicinman.net

SuperVision for the SuperWiser
Front-line Manager.
WHY SHOULD ANY-
ONE FOLLOW YOU?
THE HALF-TIME COACH
Signature Programs for Front-line Managers
Signature Programs for Second-line and Senior Managers
Based on the best-selling book by Anup Soans, this program
is for new and experienced Front-line Managers who would
like to get breakthrough performance from their teams.
SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager focus-
es on topics such as Team Building, Emotional Intelligence,
Situational Leadership, Coaching and more.
VALUE ADD: Psychometric Assessment*
The Half-Time Coach is based on the concept of half-time
in football. If half-time is so crucial in a game that last only
90 minutes, how much more important in a career that last
a life time.
The Half-Time Coach is a learning-by-reflection program
with a focus on Coaching Skills for senior managers. Mod-
ules also cover Self Awareness, Emotional Intelligence, Em-
ployee Engagement and Sales Change Management.
A walk-the-talk program for cross-functional senior
managers to understand the process of employee
engagement, creating trust and building relation-
ships to build and sustain high-performance teams.
*Psychometrics assessments give in-depth insights into one’s personality preferences and its impact on
interpersonal relationships and teamwork.

Methodology
Webinars and E-Learning
All programs are fully customizable. A pre-program questionnaire is used to capture the
needs and expectations of the participants. Company’s may request a demonstration of a
particular module at no expense (except conveyance to venue).
Programs incorporate the principles of adult learning and are highly participative, audio-vi-
sual and activity-based. Important truths are conveyed through games, stories and videos.
Companies are advised to give participants the books on which the programs are based
for continued learning and development. The same may be procured from the author at a
discount.
Company’s may choose to deliver a program as a webi-
nar - giving the advantage of scale and lowering costs.
Audiences are kept engaged using visually stimulating
slides and powerful delivery. Emphasis is placed on
taking charge of one’s success, even in the absence of
oversight.
Most recently 1,000 reps of a leading MNC were
trained over four webinars with excellent feedback.
Customized issues of
MedicinMan, with inputs
from the company can be
given to the Field Force for
their continuous learning
and development.
MedicinMan currently
reaches 60,000 pharma
professionals.
Interactive Classroom Training
Management Games Audio/Visual
Learning-by-reflectionSimulation
Case Studies
iSharpenMMy Success is My Responsibiliti

Indian Pharma Market - Challenges and The Path Ahead

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