Improving ROI in Sales Rep Training Processes · IMPROVING ROI IN SALES REP TRAINING PROCESSES. 1 Over the last decade, cost pressure, increased need for compliance, and evolving

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IMPROVING ROIIN SALES REPTRAININGPROCESSES

CONTENTS

Introduction ........................................................................................................

Anatomy of Current Challenges...................................................................

The Changing Paradigm .................................................................................

Conclusion ...........................................................................................................

References............................................................................................................

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IMPROVING ROI IN SALES REP TRAINING PROCESSES

1

Over the last decade, cost pressure, increased need for compliance, and evolving technology have resulted in dramatic restructuring of the global pharmaceutical industry. Sales force training is no exception.

Across organizations, training and development teams are constantly evolving and developing their training and educational programs to keep pace with the changing business environment.

Increased focus on emerging markets and patented products demands scalable and replicable training models. Yet, constricted enterprise view and the limited bandwidth/focus of the senior management allow glaring inefficiencies to exist in the system.

This paper focuses on the real-world challenges of salesforce training across multiple markets as well as how pharmaceutical companies are grappling with them.

ANATOMY OF CURRENT CHALLENGES

Our discussions with the senior leadership teams of pharmaceutical companies have

uncovered some common challenges in developing and deploying sales force training programs across multiple markets.

Training managers tend to believe that training material needs to be custom developed for their local market(s). Some of the key factors that drive this belief include the view that the key marketing messages in one country are not necessarily relevant in another, the learning styles of sales reps vary significantly, medico-legal/ regulatory approval processes vary in each country, and translating and localizing content would involve more e�ort than creating new training programs.

However, data indicate that ≈80% to 85% of the sales rep training programs for a product (anatomy and physiology, disease state, product, and objection handling) is similar in every country, barring a few exceptions (competition, epidemiology statistics, treatment guidelines, and indications in certain cases). Customizing these training programs results in significant inefficiencies.

What are the shortcomings associated with the reuse of “one-time developed” globally applicable training content, with

appropriate customization and localization? The inability to access the training material across countries, lack of a centralized global repository of training assets, lack of clear documentation on copyrights of assets (images, illustrations, animations, and videos), and technological challenges are a few of such shortcomings.

We attempt to look into these factors before analyzing their impacts, which necessitates novel approaches in developing and deploying salesforce training programs across markets.

Inability to Access Training Material Across Countries

Most pharma companies lack a centralized global repository of training assets, which necessitates the need to develop custom training programs for each country. Even if such a repository exists, there is no global organizational system, which ensures that this repository is up-to-date. Moreover, there are no strong communication channels/forums to keep the local affiliates informed about such repositories.

Compliance to Copyright Laws

Recent reports on lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies for using photographs and other copyrighted material without adequate permission have put the focus back on the importance of global copyrights for all internal and external assets—training material is no exception.

Local marketing companies are either not sure of the copyright requirements of their training assets, or do not use the assets they receive from other countries because of lack of clear documentation on copyrights surrounding reuse.

This results in not only legal infringements but also in redundancy by having to recreate the same assets.

Technology Incompatibilities Across Markets

The technology used for deployment of training can sometimes be a deterrent for reuse. Even top pharma companies lack uniformity of Learning Management Systems (LMS). Some smaller markets are unable to a�ord the license fees associated with LMS, while in others, the use may be restricted to certain departments (eg, HR for Compliance training only). As a result, there are training assets with di�ering standards and technical requirements.

Di�ering levels of infrastructure (internet bandwidth, lack of company-provided computers) as well as internal skill sets (absence of LMS administrators) also hamper the rollout of uniform training content.

With the rapid proliferation of tablet devices (iOS and Android), there is an added complexity of ensuring that the content is compatible across devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Most of the major LMS still do not have native apps to support

housing the training assets and, hence, these still need to be browser-driven.

FAR REACHING IMPACTS

The redundancy and replicated e�orts not only have far reaching cost and time implications but also lead to lack of standardization that adds to the existing challenges.

Customization of training content for di�erent markets is typically a collaboration between local marketing companies and their agency partners. Lack of an integrated approach in managing global training rollouts and local affiliates working with di�erent agencies result in di�erent development standards.

In most cases, this deviation from the global standards results in custom products that pose challenges in being localized by other markets. Although there is no published research data available, Indegene estimates that all these factors result in wastage of ≈10 million USD annually, in both direct and indirect costs, on internal sales reps for a single medium-size product alone.

THE CHANGING PARADIGM

We have seen pharmaceutical companies responding to these challenges in several ways. Some have created a global repository of assets, others have developed global standards for content and technology implementation, and a few others have documented processes to store copyrights of all assets.

In our experience, bringing all these together into a cohesive strategy helps mitigate the challenges in successfully rolling out training plans across multiple markets.

Global Rollout Plan

Creating a detailed global training plan can ensure a head start in this process. All high-level details of the training (global/local budgets, format/ media to be used, schedule to develop core training and localization, consensus on the global training curriculum, abbreviated local approval process, etc), along with specifics of device availability (or planned upgrades) across the world can be brought under a single cohesive plan.

Asset Reuse

A global digital repository of assets that is managed and updated regularly is key to the success of any sales training process across markets. Such a repository catalogs and stores every asset that is generated by the global team or any affiliate across the globe, and allows for each country to access this information.

This can be achieved either within the organization or can be outsourced to an external vendor. A strong medical and compliance knowledge is an important prerequisite. The team entrusted with this responsibility should ensure that the company standards are being followed for all training assets developed by any vendor partner, and new

THIS PAPER FOCUSES ON THE REAL-WORLD

CHALLENGES OF SALESFORCE TRAINING ACROSS

MULTIPLE MARKETS AS WELL AS HOW

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ARE GRAPPLING

WITH THEM.

standards be created in the absence of such standards.

Defining processes to ensure that copyright information for each component is documented in this repository and metadata information for each asset is updated are critical to success.

A ticketing system and call center capabilities to ensure that queries from every country are resolved quickly, and regular workshops or broadcasting e-mails and newsletters to educate local teams on the existing features and latest updates help in building awareness and driving usage.

Most often, vendor partners also need to be provided access to this repository so that they can reuse some of the assets in developing new training programs (eg, an MOA video developed for another country). Managing the access rights for persons within and outside the organization is also a key part of the overall responsibility.

This initiative requires organizational realignment (eg, each country will compulsorily need to publish its training material on the global repository post release), and, hence, this mandate needs to be driven from

the CEO’s office and champions will need to be identified in each country who can spearhead this initiative internally.

It is critical to define the key performance indicators for the success of such a repository and to share the performance metrics with the key stakeholders within the organization at regular intervals.

Copyrights

It is important for all affiliates to ensure that they clearly articulate the copyright status for all the training assets that they develop. Wherever feasible, unlimited global copyrights should be procured for all assets. This includes every photograph, illustration, animation, video, etc used within the training program. Where procurement of global copyrights poses challenges, other alternatives should be evaluated. If the duration of copyrights is restricted to a few years only, this needs to be called out in the metadata sheet.

The format in which the copyright information needs to be stored in the global repository should also be standardized to facilitate easy and correct usage of assets across countries.

In addition, SLAs with every vendor partner should ensure that all source files are submitted at program completion, so that other marketing companies can localize the assets independently.

Compliance to Standards

It is important to publish the global standards for training material and ensure that all regional/local partners adhere to these standards. Some pharmaceutical companies perform regular audits to ensure compliance. A small cohesive set of preferred training partners who are able to meet the global training requirements help ensure minimal investment in educating and managing multiple vendor partners.

Localization

An in-depth analysis of training programs from di�erent countries indicates that, disregarding language di�erences, ≈80% to 85% of the core content in most training material is typically similar, with the major di�erences pertaining to epidemiology and treatment guidelines. This does not take into account products

where the indications are not consistent across countries.

Most pharmaceutical companies do not sufficiently leverage this advantage. Their vendor partners do not always utilize a robust and adaptable content management system to develop training programs, and each program is custom built. As a result, the e�ort involved in localizing the content (changing the language, updating audio, sectional modification, etc) is time consuming and e�ort intensive.

As discussed earlier, this makes the exercise time, e�ort, and cost intensive and is one of the reasons why each country prefers to develop custom training. Using content management technology, the exercise of localization can be simplified so that the entire translated content (text, graphics, and audio) can simply be “swapped in” to create the final output.

To maximize benefits, it is important that this is planned early in the development process when the source content is being created.

OF THE SALES REP

TRAINING PROGRAMS

FOR A PRODUCT IS

SIMILAR IN EVERY

COUNTRY, BARRING

A FEW EXCEPTIONS.

%85

2
































Global Rollout Plan


Asset Reuse










Copyrights






Localization






%MOST PHARMA

COMPANIES LACK A

CENTRALIZED

GLOBAL REPOSITORY

OF TRAINING

ASSETS, WHICH

NECESSITATES THE

NEED TO DEVELOP

CUSTOM TRAINING

PROGRAMS FOR

EACH COUNTRY.

3
































Global Rollout Plan


Asset Reuse



%








Copyrights






Localization






A GLOBAL DIGITAL

REPOSITORY OF

ASSETS THAT IS

MANAGED AND

UPDATED

REGULARLY IS KEY

TO THE SUCCESS OF

ANY SALES TRAINING

PROCESS ACROSS

MARKETS.

4
































Global Rollout Plan


Asset Reuse



ANNUALL LOSS, IN

BOTH DIRECT AND

INDIRECT COSTS,

ON INTERNAL

SALES REPS FOR A

SINGLE

MEDIUM-SIZE

PRODUCT ALONE.








Copyrights






Localization






WHEREVER FEASIBLE, UNLIMITED GLOBAL

COPYRIGHTS SHOULD BE PROCURED FOR ALL

ASSETS. THIS INCLUDES EVERY PHOTOGRAPH,

ILLUSTRATION, ANIMATION, VIDEO, ETC USED

WITHIN THE TRAINING PROGRAM.

10 MN$
































Global Rollout Plan


Asset Reuse










Copyrights






Localization






5

USING CONTENT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, THE

EXERCISE OF LOCALIZATION CAN BE SIMPLIFIED SO

THAT THE ENTIRE TRANSLATED CONTENT (TEXT,

GRAPHICS, AND AUDIO) CAN SIMPLY BE “SWAPPED

IN” TO CREATE THE FINAL OUTPUT.

Global Repository (Source Files with

Unlimited Copyrights for all Assets)

Incorporationof Regional

Requirement

PIs/MarketingImperatives

Sign-o�

Sign-o�
































Global Rollout Plan


Asset Reuse



To summarize, planning in advance, using the right technology, deploying a digital repository of training assets that is regularly updated with training programs across the globe, ensuring copyrights of all assets, using a robust and adaptable content management system, and engaging with vendor partners

who understandthese challenges are critical for driving e�ectiveness in training programs across multiple markets.

Significant benefits include higher productivity, increased speed to market, e�ective monitoring of assets, and better training ROI.

CONCLUSION








Copyrights






Localization






6

Model for Localization of Training Content Across Countries

Global Rollout Plan

GlobalTeam

Periodic presentation on productivity and

absolute cost savings due to asset reuse

Development of CoreTraining Material

(Styleguide, Content,Assessments)

Key: R/LM = Regional/Local Market

R/LM-2

R/LM-3

Others

R/LM-1

LibraryServices

Translation IntoRegional

Language

SCORM Packagingand Deployment

on LMS

ProgramManagement

Accesses databases to search for existing

assets that can be repurposed

Provides ideas of repurposing/localization to

each of the regions

Works collaboratively with Sales training

teams to help them reuse assets and

create new assets

Implements/executesrepurposing/localization of

assets

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IMPROVING ROI IN SALES REP TRAINING PROCESSES

CASE STUDY

ABOUT THE CLIENT

A top-5 pharmaceutical client was driving the mandate of maximizing the

training ROI for the global launch of their new CV product.

procured. The content was

developed using an LCMS to

facilitate easy authoring during

localization. The �nal output was

packaged in an LMS compatible

format per the latest company

standards.

Post this, the training modules

were localized for United Kingdom,

Germany, Spain, France, Belgium,

Portugal, Brazil, Latin America

(Spanish), China, and Japan. The

content, graphics, and audio of

each module were translated and

localized. During this process, the

epidemiology, product regulations,

and treatment guidelines were

updated per the local requirements

and approved through an

abbreviated MLR review process

in each country. The Indegene

in-house native medical language

experts were responsible for not

only ensuring the quality of

content but also for seamless

client communication. Also, the

training content from Spain was

leveraged for Latin America

(Spanish), and the content from

Portugal was leveraged for Brazil

(Portuguese), resulting in

additional cost savings.

On a 5-point scale (5 being “far

exceeding expectation” and 1

being “far below expectation”),

the training program scored an

average of 4 on the following

parameters for all countries.

The pharmaceutical company

involved Indegene from the

internal release of phase 3 trial

results of the product.

The launch was planned such that

the �rst region to receive

marketing approval was North

America, followed by the

European Union and Latin

America, and �nally Asia. The

global training rollout plan

included global budgets, training

curriculum (for both virtual

e-learning modules and

workshops), and timelines. While

building out the detailed plan,

the iPad compatibility

requirement for some of the

countries was discussed and

documented. Allowance was

made for a central MLR process

and local abbreviated reviews.

Virtual training modules

(revolving around disease,

treatment, product, competition,

and objection handling) and

content for live workshops were

developed in collaboration with

US training managers. The

content development process

was expedited because Indegene

was already trained on the

company MLR review guidelines.

Post content approval, training

content was developed in HTML

(rather than Flash or a native app

format) due to cross-compatibility

with iPads and PCs. Unlimited

global copyrights for each

graphic (image, illustration,

animation, and photograph) was

THE METHODOLOGY

procured. The content was

developed using an LCMS to

facilitate easy authoring during

localization. The �nal output was

packaged in an LMS compatible

format per the latest company

standards.

Post this, the training modules

were localized for United Kingdom,

Germany, Spain, France, Belgium,

Portugal, Brazil, Latin America

(Spanish), China, and Japan. The

content, graphics, and audio of

each module were translated and

localized. During this process, the

epidemiology, product regulations,

and treatment guidelines were

updated per the local requirements

and approved through an

abbreviated MLR review process

in each country. The Indegene

in-house native medical language

experts were responsible for not

only ensuring the quality of

content but also for seamless

client communication. Also, the

training content from Spain was

leveraged for Latin America

(Spanish), and the content from

Portugal was leveraged for Brazil

(Portuguese), resulting in

additional cost savings.

On a 5-point scale (5 being “far

exceeding expectation” and 1

being “far below expectation”),

the training program scored an

average of 4 on the following

parameters for all countries.

THE QUALITY PARAMETERS

Overall quality of the �nal product delivered

Number and complexity of modi�cations required

Language and content localization accuracy

Number of iterations Response timeOverall process adherence

Quality of source code and metadata supplied back to the

digital asset management system

Quality of adherence to global technical

standards

Quality of communication with

local brand teams

The pharmaceutical company

involved Indegene from the

internal release of phase 3 trial

results of the product.

The launch was planned such that

the �rst region to receive

marketing approval was North

America, followed by the

European Union and Latin

America, and �nally Asia. The

global training rollout plan

included global budgets, training

curriculum (for both virtual

e-learning modules and

workshops), and timelines. While

building out the detailed plan,

the iPad compatibility

requirement for some of the

countries was discussed and

documented. Allowance was

made for a central MLR process

and local abbreviated reviews.

Virtual training modules

(revolving around disease,

treatment, product, competition,

and objection handling) and

content for live workshops were

developed in collaboration with

US training managers. The

content development process

was expedited because Indegene

was already trained on the

company MLR review guidelines.

Post content approval, training

content was developed in HTML

(rather than Flash or a native app

format) due to cross-compatibility

with iPads and PCs. Unlimited

global copyrights for each

graphic (image, illustration,

animation, and photograph) was

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The US training program was developed in 7 months at a cost of $650K.

The cost of localizing the training program for each marketing company

was $50K on average with a turnaround time of 3 months.

THE TIMELINES

Cost of each repurpose/translation

Resourcing costs

THE COST

Time to market

Indegene brie�ng time required

Total number of Indegene hours per course

Access to and timing of translation capabilities

Time saved by repurposing content versus developing new content

Time involvement by local brand teams to supervise execution

THE OVERALL ESTIMATED

SAVINGS FROM REUSE

AND REPURPOSE ALONE.6 MN$

Cost of initial build

9

[email protected] E W www.indegene.com +1 732 750 2901P +1 732 750 7990FIndegene, 485B Route 1 South, Suite 300, Iselin, NJ 08830.

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Improving ROI in Sales Rep Training Processes · IMPROVING ROI IN SALES REP TRAINING PROCESSES. 1 Over the last decade, cost pressure, increased need for compliance, and evolving