Empowerment marketing

Above image from here.

One of the key factors for organizational successes is EMPOWERMENT. Essentially, this is a process where individuals or a community are invested with resources, decision making powers and a sense of authority. Obviously, this means making people feel responsible. Making people feel responsible for a deed or an area of operation, itself makes a difference to the person who is gaining the powers. Along with responsibility - accountability, sense of ownership and the feeling that he/she is answerable, tags along. Empowerment is a process that needs to administered with tact and training. Empowerment is surely responsible for many successes in organizations.

An interesting marketing concept is that of Tetra Pak. This is a Swedish MNC. Tetra Pak is a pioneer food processing and packaging company, they have pioneered paper or cardboard based aseptic technology packaging material too. Their approach to marketing is interesting.

Tetra Pak joins hands with companies, helps innovate and works with them to produce beverages and food products that use Tetra Pak based processing and packaging materials. More the sale of those products, more is the sale of the Tetra Pak based packaging. This way there is a symbiotic relationship between the product marketer and the packaging supplier (ie., Tetra Pak).

Tetra Pak does not manufacture or market the end products themselves at any time. They are solely bothered with sales and solutions based on their packaging materials. The result is that the packaging material helps the product manufacturer market better and make more money.

Verily, Tetra Pak is EMPOWERING the product manufacturer through his packaging systems. Tetra Pak empowers the product manufacturer with technology, expertise in processing and packaging, marketing support, new ideas, fresh knowledge, insights ... . This process of making the purchasers, of its food processing equipment and packaging materials, empowered has in turn made Tetra Pak very rich and successful too.

This is a fresh and successful facet of marketing that can be rightly called as EMPOWERMENT MARKETING.

In a similar vein, Mc Donald's and the franchisee based marketing business model owes its success to the process of empowerment embedded in marketing design. There are scores of entrepreneurs who have become multimillionaires by becoming franchisees of McDonald's.

Empowerment marketing actually provides resources and a platform for companies to tap the potential of individuals.

Imagine Mc Donald's without its franchisee or joint venture based marketing model. Certainly one can conclude that it would not have grown to its present stature if it were not for its business model based on systems, monitoring and consequent empowerment.

Empowerment is not blindly offering resources, and authority to the recipients. Empowerment is a scientific process of offering training, creating monitoring systems, constantly validating those systems, measuring, taking stock of the new challenges from the environment, and so on. Empowerment is a joint responsibility of the person(s) empowering and those getting empowered. It is a story of constant communication between the two parties, evolving win-win agreements and making the joint working 'work'.

Empowerment is about synergism: ie., 1 + 1 > 2.

Marketing is a process of empowerment: particularly, during 1950s, pharma marketers were a valuable lot to the doctors. Pharma marketers during those days (where print media was not very penetrative and electronic media were absent), brought important clinically relevant information, tools and other materials to doctors. In turn, due to the benefits, doctors would provide sales through their prescriptions. Since, the pharma marketing information and tools were offered only to doctors for prescription, it was called ethical marketing.

Today, the process of empowerment is not just through Medical Representatives. Brand touch points are available through various other media. And through all contacts prospects and customers are actually trying to get empowered through the value being delivered. Hence, marketing is a core process of empowerment.

It is a fact, I have ideated the concept of empowerment marketing and the term EMPOWERMENT MARKETING.

HOWEVER, THE WORLD OF INTERNET SHOWS THIS CONCEPT HAS BEEN THOUGHT OF BY OTHERS. Empowerment marketing is a term used by this blogger in a slightly different way.

Why does EMPOWERMENT MARKETING succeed?

Empowerment is a process that helps an individual or set of individuals go about with a SENSE OF PURPOSE. There is a sense of autonomy experienced by the empowered individual(s). This autonomy and sense of purpose when used in marketing helps the process of marketing succeed.

Bottomline: In essence, marketing should deliver value that empowers the target audience. This helps the marketing process succeed!

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Marketing is win-win empowerment

ABOVE BEAUTIFUL IMAGE FROM HERE.

We live in a society with a distinct trend towards TRANSPARENCY. It is a media and information driven society. Technologies like latest mobile phones are breaking the information barrier. One can get information from the internet, media and acquaintances in a jiffy. Transparency is a result of this media explosion. Transparency is leading to an age of the EMPOWERED SOCIETY.

Concept of empowerment

Power is the ability to influence and control resources, events and behaviours. Power comes from one's competencies (ie., knowledge and skill sets) and position. When a person gains a particular position in a workplace, club, NGO, or Govt. system, the role comes with a package of associated powers. Thus, the position of the person creates an ability to influence and control resources, events and behaviours.

Empowerment is the process of investing a community or individual or set of individuals with power. This can come through mechanisms that strengthen or create new competencies or granting certain positions, when a person gains the position, he gains power. New Media (internet, mobile, social communities on the web, etc) and flow of information has created a gigantic infrastructure for empowerment in society.

This has changed social life and the game for marketers.

Marketing: which way ahead?

Marketing is a value delivery process, it stimulates consumption of goods, strengthens brand equity, and facilitates exchange processes (goods or services are exchanged for monies). When a person does not have access for information search (and thus, getting empowered in the buying decision process), the marketer has an obvious upper hand. The marketer can educate customers and influence the buying process more easily.

The situation of customers, patients and prescribers in the contemporary world is different. There is an enhanced network available for information flow. 25 years back, a GP had to book a trunk call to a city based consultant to get advice on treating tricky OPD medical cases. Today, when in doubt, the GP can give a call on the mobile and if patient is lucky, ie., if the specialist is free, the doctors will discuss the case on real time basis and institute appropriate therapy to improve the lot of the patient. In this tele-conversation, brand names get endorsed or recommended. Marketers can ill afford to ignore such mobile based or internet enabled conversations. Empowerment is not only through the pharma marketing process, there are other connecting media with prospects and customers (target doctors and doctors).

Marketing as an empowering process

In a recent conversation with an ad film maker, he asked me a basic question: Why do doctors meet MRs?

The obvious reasons are as follows:

a) MR gives positive strokes, appreciates, gives a 'face to the medicine brand', builds confidence through conversations and detailing on the brand; creates emotional bonding with promoted brand/company

b) MR positions himself (unconsciously or consciously) as a person who is there in the clinic to help the doctor provide a better service to the patient

c) MR provides freebies (samples, small compliments that help in clinical practice, books, reading material, compliment gifts that are a great help at home, sponsorships to conferences, vacation trips and so on)

d) Talking to MRs helps the doctor jog his memory. MRs act as sparks who rekindle memories of medical knowledge, this is a great help to doctors

The above list may not be exhaustive but covers most of the points.

In essence, we notice that marketing activities conducted by pharma companies through MRs or through other media are basically empowering.

The pharmaceutical company's marketing activities, enhance the power of a doctor. By promoting products, giving literatures, and knowledge material, there is a contribution to the doctor's expertise power. Freebies enhance the material power and resources of a doctor. In essence, empowerment is the final objective of pharma marketers (or other marketers).

When a customer shells out monies to purchase a product or service, on the emotional side it is for satisfaction, and on the other side, the act of purchasing, enhances power of a customer or empowers the customer.

Conclusion: The tact for marketing success is win-win empowerment!

The marketer should empower his customer through marketing or value delivery activities, and the customer should feel empowered (not weakened or exploited). This is a great lesson of marketing. When the marketing rhythm is lost, when the customer does not feel empowered, but gets a weakening feeling of exploitation, customer is displeased.

When the marketer feels that the customer has exploited the marketer and bargained too much, then again the marketing game is not win-win and there is a sense of loss in the mind of the pharma marketer.

The point is pharma marketing game is about empowerment. Both marketers and prescribers or chemist retailers are in the game of becoming powerful in each transaction. When there is win-win empowerment, there is a successful transaction.

When a MR has to provide extra sample adjustment, site facility (or extra days to retire payment) to stockist or institutional purchaser, the marketing game is a distress game, not a win-win empowerment game. When a MR feels a sense of loss, he will surely avoid gaining similar experience in the future.

This process of win-win empowerment is not just at the stockist or distributor level, it is at the doctor level too. When a MR simply does not provide any material inputs, only details and asks for prescriptions for a product, the process can go on only for some time. After sometime, the doctor will surely feel that the MR transaction is not empowering him (the doctor). That is when the doctor will lose interest in the pharma marketer. Thus, maintaining win-win empowerment relationship is the key to successful marketing.

Empowering is a process that should make both parties in the transaction feel empowered (get the feeling that they have strengthened).

Training, an empowering process

In this vein, training too is an empowering process. When training is viewed by trainees, as a process by which they are gaining strength, confidence, and power, the training modules and program will gain appreciation.

On the other hand, if trainers work to expose the weakness and ignorance of trainees, create an atmosphere where trainee feels he is facing weakening situations, the training will surely fall flat and fail to achieve its objectives.

Marketing tools are meant to empower, not distract or cause burden

Pharma marketers work hard to provide tools for selling, marketing and brand building activities. Visual aids, CDs, literatures, reminder cards, gifts, samples in special sample cache (or catch) covers and various other product promotional materials are given for the "magic bag" of the MR. If the MR feels that these inputs are mere distractions or burdensome materials, the marketing tools will fail to deliver their objective. Ideally, marketing tools should provide a sense of purposeful direction to the user, and help the MR in his in-clinic, in-stall, in-chemist and in-stockist activities.

If the front-line sales personnel or doctors themselves do not get any value from the marketing tools, they become burdensome marketing inputs. The central idea is that the value delivery marketing tools or inputs should in the final analysis create a feeling of empowerment in MRs, the front-line sales personnel, and customers (doctors, chemists, patients and stockists or distributors).

Marketing is surely becoming a process of empowerment, a process of establishing win-win empowerment through transactions. It is not just about value delivery, or facilitating exchange processes. Marketing should empower, customers and marketers alike, with mutuality.

Why are Americans very successful marketers?

If we look at contemporary or modern business history, we see Americans as the most successful marketers. They really know how to sell! Americans are constantly inventive and creating interesting products and services to sell more and market more. But why are Americans successful?

As such, with every product or service that these Americans sell, they are not there to merely satisfy the customers. In fact, their information based labeling and packaging techniques, their product communication and advertisements are all meant to make the prospect or customer feel empowered through the product/service (the customer should feel that he or she is gaining something that is going to make a powerful difference in his life and will empower him).

This is what the master marketer PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, did when he came to India. He said Jai Hind in the Indian parliament. President Obama talked all right things: Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda ... he said the right things at Hotel Taj Mahal, Mumbai ... Obama talked about India as a super global power ... basically he, as a master marketer, made Indians feel very special ... very powerful. Obama talked about India becoming a part of UN Security Council. What a master marketing stroke!! Obama did all this to create jobs in America, to help American marketers get better access to the Indian market ... Obama did all this as a patriotic American, a loyal marketer of Americanism. Truly, the India visit of Obama was a testimony to the fact that marketing is a win-win empowerment process.

ABOVE IMAGE FROM HERE.

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Growth addiction

Above graph from here.

Growth will continue to be a desirable and indeed a necessary business objective.

- Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker, described as the Aristotle of management science, has elucidated a lot on growth. He has reiterated that able and competent management results in growth. Hence, the innate emphasis in all pharma (and nonpharma) companies on growth.

Driven by competence, the Indian pharma industry is growing!

As per MAT June 2010 IMS figures, the pharma industry is showing 20% growth (MAT value of Rs. 43823 crores). Established brands are registering good growth. Vaccine market is zooming. Antidiabetic drug market is the leading growth market segment. The June 2007 MAT value was Rs. 28841 crores and in June 2010 the MAT value of the pharmaceutical (retail) market is Rs. 43823 crores!

Managing growth is a challenge to businesses

Growth is a great motivator for employees and owners! A growing business offers hope of a better and improved future. Stagnation is killing and creates cesspools. Hence, companies and people do (or should) plan for growth and work for growth.

Growth in pharma does not come only by covering more doctors, increasing doctor call frequency, pumping in more samples, gifts and sponsorships ... there are other points that are a necessity in managing growth:

a) Process development

b) Knowledge management

c) People practices

d) DEVELOPMENT OF A VALUE FRAMEWORK AND ACTUALIZATION OF THE SAME

To understand how indisciplined growth can lead to disastrous results to society, Govt., owners, employees, and to the business as a whole ... look at SATYAM COMPUTERS! OR look at the iron ore mining industry of Bellary district (Karnataka). In both these cases, growth lacked a value framework for the organization and industry, respectively. Growth has come with a whole load of problems. There was also no value actualization at Satyam or in the mining industry.

This is why Infosys emphasizes POWERED BY INTELLECT, DRIVEN BY VALUES. At Wipro too, the six values are given a lot of emphasis. MindTree too has a value framework and emotional infrastructure in place to carry on growth.

Growth without a value framework, company culture, people practices, process development and KM (knowledge management) will lead to corruption or breakdown and other problems. Very often growth is associated only with money management, improved marketing penetration and throughput, inventory management, and physical infrastructure (like production facilities, technology etc). However, such a growth has its susceptibilities or weaknesses and can lead to several problems. Managing growth means a lot more.

Knowledge management (KM) refers to strategies and practices of organizations to access, create, identify, document and share insights and experiences. It is a very sophisticated, subtle and powerful science. The ability of KM to produce change and match employee thinking to the market thinking is very potent.

The time is ripe now in Indian pharma industry to take a leaf out from Indian IT industry to learn about managing growth comprehensively, even as IT, is today, celebrating BangaloreIT.biz. Thnks for reading this blogpost, and we warmly WELCOME PRESIDENT OBAMA AND FAMILY TO INDIA, a bit in advance!! Please scroll down and read all other posts, click on older posts, do kindly recommend this blog to your acquaintances.

Crisis management: USP of Indians

SPECTACULAR! This year's Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010 were truly spectacular and very satisfying to athletes and viewers. This year's games' were mired in controversy. One wondered whether they would take off, at all!! Anyway, all's well that ends well!!

So what is the take home message from the 19th Commonwealth Games, New Delhi, 2010? The message is that we INDIANS ARE PAST MASTERS AND (PRESENT AND FUTURE) MASTERS OF crisis management!!

When things look hopeless, you will find that Indians have an inborn quality of doing necessary jugaad or street smart innovativeness and salvage the situation. Jugaad includes frugal engineering but not necessarily strictly so. When Citibank was in a deep mess and required a messiah to salvage the situation, it was Vikram Pandit who took the bull by the horns!

India is in a permanent state of chaos. First time visitors to India are stunned by the dust, heat and general muddle. In fact, they wonder how India ticks, being in a permanent state of chaos!!?! For us, Indians, management of challenging chaotic situations, is, of course, all in a day's work!! We Indians are deeply tolerant, hence, we can take in all the chaos very equanimously!

Incredible India! Incredible health situation of India

We call this chaotic situation as unity in diversity! This diverse and chaotic environment gives us a special quality to do jugaad and try and come out of the tight situation.

Consider the mess that the disease situation of India is:

a) India has the largest TB cases in the world (23% of world's TB patients)
b) 86% of the world's diphtheria patients are in India
c) 54% of the world's leprosy patients are here in India
d) 55% of the world's malaria patients are in India

India is the well known 'capital of diabetes of the world'!

Polio (42% of world's patients are in India), tetanus and pertusis are also prevalent significantly in India. This is as per World Health Statistics 2010 released by WHO.

But this deplorable health situation seems almost implausible after seeing the fantastic opening and closing ceremonies of Commonwealth Games, 2010 at New Delhi! But the above health situation is true and represents a great continuing opportunity for pharma marketers to try and improve the health situation.

Managing crises is a second nature for us. We are sure we will be kaamyaab in bringing a turnaround in the health situation of India. For that firstly, we have to agree that there is a crisis. That is difficult for us Indians!! However, until we agree there is a crisis we will not act! Once we know that a crisis is on us, we will put the act together, that is how we Indians behave! Otherwise ... chalta hai!!

Today the fact is that India is booming. Economic liberalization has created an economic resurgence. Yet, it was not a proactive liberalization policy that was brought in! We were shamed, way back in 1991, when IMF (Indian Monetary Fund) bailed out a bankrupt India. This forced the Govt. of India to liberalize and galvanize the Indian economy. This caused growth of Indian economy.

We should hit a crisis - only then do we wake up! That is why we Indians are great at crisis management - the evidence is the Commonwealth Games, 2010!!

Crisis means an unpredictable event has occurred and it needs to be managed. Today, we are sitting on a major silent health crisis. Private entities and Govt. bodies need to take on the challenge facing India before it becomes recognized as a crisis issue. It is a silent crisis today, but when international organizations start coming in to India, in a major way to save the health situation of India, we will only be collaborators with these entities. Global healthcare NGOs are seeing a big opportunity in India. Will we Indians require international attention and guidance to improve our healthcare situation or can we do it ourselves?

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Communication mix in pharma marketing

Above image from here.

One interesting observation of people who take a fresh view of pharma marketing or when a new person looks in to pharma marketing, he observes that the communication mix is heavily tipped in favor of PERSONAL SELLING.

The next important element of the communication mix, particularly in India is SALES PROMOTION (providing cash discounts or bonus offers), to retailers and stockists (not to patients). Nevertheless, there are some interesting new parts of communication that are gaining traction like mobile based messaging, and POP (point-of-purchase) promotional activities. Pharma companies are definitely seeing the importance of various other communication systems hitherto not emphasized in pharma marketing.

The traditional view of pharmaceutical communication is providing an emphasis on the following elements:

1) Personal selling: this element of the communication mix gets the maximum focus in pharma marketing, MRs are appointed who are trained to provide the personal selling function.

2) Sales promotion: mind you, the focus of sales promotional offers unlike FMCG marketing is solely the retailer (and to some extent the stockist ie., wholeseller), almost never the patient!!

3) Advertising: is a useful input of the communication mix in pharmaceutical marketing. Pharmed established its new concept products in the 1990s ie., glucosamine based products solely through slick print advertisements in medical journals. Advts. continue to be important for providing information and provoking prescription flow.

4) Direct marketing: was employed by Cipla (it is being done to some extent by them even now), when they had some problems in personal selling function. In fact, the mailers and inputs provided through direct marketing was so impressive, doctors would wait for the material to arrive through mail or courier.

IF PERSONAL SELLING IS A PROBLEM DUE TO TERRITORY DISTURBANCE OR LACK OF MRs OR LACK OF WORKING BY MRs OR UNIONISM OR LACK OF QUALITY COMMUNICATION BY MRs, then direct marketing is an important approach to supplement or substitute personal selling and keep the marketing game on! Some marketing is always better than bad or no marketing!!

Direct marketing is an interesting approach. Firstly, it is not a foot-in-the-door type of approach. It respects the target person's privacy. It gives a freedom to the doctor to go through the mailed material at his leisure.

Often management personnel think that mailers received by doctors go to the waste paper basket directly without them being opened. This is not wholly true. It depends on the corporate image of the sender. For instance, when the then Glaxo and Cipla would send mailers doctors would value them - content in the mailer makes the difference.

When the content is plainly uninteresting then it is obvious doctors will loath mailers. Direct marketing mailers are not a failure approach, but the content being inferior makes the mailer approach a failure.

To put the above point in right perspective, imagine a slothful and unimpressive MR, will he be encouraged by the doctor? Just because the quality of the MR is poor, can we conclude that personal selling function based on MR is not useful in product promotion?

On the product promotional horizon, the personal selling function is getting challenging, MRs are not committed as before, quality MRs are difficult to get, the no. of MRs is getting a tad too crowded in the market ... so which way out?

Already, people are putting their money on sales promotion. But that is not going to be enough. Still more options of the product promotional mix need to be used to ensure best returns for the marketing buck. These options include targeted direct marketing, POP promotion, advertising, trade stall promotion ...

The Indian healthcare market

The Indian healthcare market including pharmaceutical market is looking up. 18% growth is assured. There is a lot of scope for market penetration. The need for pharma products and healthcare services is growing day by day. The Indian pharma retail market of about Rs. 45000 crores is growing at 18%! The media labels it 'steroid growth'. This pot of honey is attracting many entrepreneurs.

The usual approach to the pharma communication mix will out date the marketing game of pharma companies. With the personal selling function getting hotter in the Indian pharma market, it is inevitable that all other elements of product promotional mix will gain in importance.

Optimizing the marketing funds

If you have Rs. 10/- how will you distribute it among the elements of the pharma communication mix? This will be the real challenge ahead in pharma marketing. Marketing money allotments will only increase with competition become fiercer. How to optimize, how to expand communication activities? How to transform pharma marketing communication activity? There are a lot of interesting challenges ahead! Will making visual aids, literatures, allotting samples, gifts (big and small), providing schemes or bonus offers to retailers (of which much is gobbled by wholesellers, ie., the retail offers may not percolate down completely), alone suffice? Grappling with these questions is essential to pharma companies to survive and grow profitably in the future market!

Thnks for reading the blogpost on communication mix and how it may evolve in the future in Indian pharma market! Please scroll down to read all other blogposts (click on older posts as and when required), do recommend this blog to your friends.

Mind, a craving organ

Above image from here.

The intangible is often taken for granted! I recollect a conversation with a leading paediatrician of Bangalore sometime back. In addition to paediatric practice, he offered customised books or journals for pharmaceutical companies, who then would provide the same to doctors, as a service. Once when we were involved in a transaction, I requested him to provide the articles in CD form, the printing would then be taken care of by the pharma company. However, he insisted on providing the final printed journal. The reason was simple, he said:"Sunil, in India, the intangible intellectual property does not have value!! Business people give maximum value only to tangible things! So intangible contributions are most often discounted or taken for granted. So it is better I supply the final book product"!! How right!! The intangible is particularly in the Indian context almost always discounted or taken for granted ... just like the mind - an intangible organ.

Mind, a craving organ

The mind is defined as originating from the brain. The most important attribute of this intangible organ is that it is a craving organ. There are several cravings in this organ that direct the human behaviour. These types of cravings include: recognition, wealth seeking, working for higher stature in life, security, rich foods, nutritious foods, entertainment, frequent sex, alcohol consumption or thrill seeking.

Recently, I came across a very interesting medical event. A gentleman was afflicted with uncontrolled diabetes. Finally, he had gangrene of the foot. The doctor seeing the condition advised immediate amputation, if this was not done, the prognosis was bad - the patient would die in a month's time. The patient haughtily refused surgical treatment, went in for Ayurveda and other alternative treatments, that provided mixed results. Unfortunately, he passed away yesterday.

On deeper analysis, it is evident his mind directed him not to seek surgical treatment, for whatever reasons. He had this craving to avoid surgical treatment and seek alternative nonsurgical treatment. This craving did him in. That is the power of cravings!!

So the bottom line is that cravings (in the mind) direct human behaviour and they create different experiences for him/her.

Making a choice

Cravings are inevitable attributes of the mind. Some mind researchers classify only the higher mental functions like reasoning and memory as attributes of the mind. Nevertheless, cravings are a part and parcel of mind.

With one's mind we can exercise our imagination and create a smörgåsbord of cravings, these can range from plain to exotic. The ability to choose a particular craving requires the function of will, intelligence and knowledge.

BUT WHY ALL THESE PHILOSOPHICAL RUMINATIONS?

Marketers depend on these cravings!

If the patient does not have a craving to get better, if the doctor does not have a craving to heal his patients, where will we pharma marketers go?!

Delivering competitive value that satisfies the cravings is very important

Take for example, the success of electrolyte energy drinks in Tetra Pak concept, in India. The craving in the patient was that paediatric and other patients need to get in electrolytes, safe water, energy, and the patient should enjoy the experience. Tetra Pak technology provided aseptic technology that made the product ultra safe. The fruit juice base enhanced palatability and ensured patient delight. When the patient was delighted so was the doctor!! This superior value was the best competitive offering in the market - for offering fluids to weak and dehydated patients. Hence, the above product concept has succeeded.

Making superior value offerings is always fraught with risks. Innovations to enhance value can be risky prepositions. If they click, there is a bonanza for the pharma marketer. If it bombs, there is a big loss.

Recently, Crocin suspension innovated. They have for the first time launched a child resistant cap for the bottle. But those who have used it will know, what a pathetic innovation it is. If a patient buys it, he will never buy Crocin suspension again! Opening the cap is not easy, and it gets locked so firmly that it is not possible to reopen the bottle!

Hence, innovation to improve value offerings is always risky that can hurt if it backfires in the market!

The electronic industry is always in a race to offer better and improved value offerings. After the LCD TV, came the HDTV and now the rage is 3 D TV! Value offering is the sum of all brand experiences of a customer. If the value offering is superior to competitor brands, then the customer will be satisfied or delighted.

In pharma marketing, delighting the doctor is the key, rather than delighting the patient!

Traditionally, pharma marketing is always about making service offerings to doctors who prescribe the brand. The content of the value offering to doctors includes regular calls by MRs and field personnel, positive strokes and praises by field personnel, clinical reports, trial summaries, samples to try on the patient (because seeing is believing), and freebies (small gifts, large gifts, and sponsorships) to delight the doctor. More delighted the doctor, more the prescription flow in favor of the brand, and more the sales of the pharma brand.

The other entity is the pharmacist or chemist, who needs to be plied with retail offers to delight him. Or the chances of brand substitution is greater. Hence, the chemist should also be kept happy.

With patient empowerment improving slowly, there are small changes where patient may demand for a particular brand. However, patient consciousness (patient is the one who actually pays for the pharma product) on pharma products is still very low. Product performance should delight the patient to ensure doctor is confident on the pharma product.

Competitive value offerings ensure that cravings in the market, change constantly. Accordingly, pharma marketers should reinvent value offerings to ensure customers are delighted in an ever dynamic market place. There was a time where doctors had very low cravings from pharma marketers. They only wanted regular calls and some samples and a small gift every now and then. Today, competitive value offerings from pharma marketers has created a lot of new cravings in doctor customers. These need to be understood and accordingly serviced!

Cravings are a part of life since the mind is life! A craving-free mind is a philosophical target reached by very few. Marketers, markets and products/services are always in demand, because cravings are ever growing and changing. Cravings make markets!

Hope this blogpost has satisfied your present craving for a nice read! Feel free to talk about my blog with your acquaintances and scroll down (click on older posts, as and when required) to read all other posts.

Transformational leadership

Above image from here. Winston Churchill was an inspiring leader. He galvanized people BY showing a vision. Churchill transformed attitudes of people, creating a following.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference - Winston Churchill

There are said to be two types of leaderships:

a) transactional leadership
b) transformational leadership

Transactional leaders are the typical good managers, who with integrity ensure that transactions are perfect, they ensure order in business transactions, and often leave things slightly improved or as they were.

Thus, in a pharmaceutical company, if the typical attitude is to check the ORG (or IMS) market figures, try to find out the best selling branded generics, then the transactional leader puts the typical new product (ie., new brand of a generic) launch process in motion. The transactional leader ensures launch of a 'new product' (ie., new brand of a generic):

- in glitzy packing
- with minimum 50% bonus offer to chemist retailers
- provides sales pack as samples to MRs for ensuring availability of product at retailers
- regular physician's samples with an attractive cache (or catch) cover
- a visual aid with big brand name some supporting lines, UV spot lamination for the pack shot, and a flap or some other attention getter on the visual aid
- literatures
- launch gifts
- special gifts linked to no. of prescriptions generated or order purchase (by dispensing doctors)
- launch incentive scheme to MRs and field staff

The transactional leader does this by rote. And ensures incremental increase in business. If board members are happy with the ROI (return on investment) it is business as usual, all are very happy, the picture is hunky dory!

But in today's pharma scenario is this approach enough? It is after all safe., time tested ... BUT ... BE WARNED ... this transactional leadership based business model will have limitations and will cause strain on pharma enterprises. This is not a doomsday prediction! It is reality. It is being pragmatic.

TAKE A LEAF FROM THE ELECTRONIC INDUSTRY.

The electronic industry is always in a tizzy. There are tech innovations firing up new product launches. There is no scope for cocooning in transactional leadership. People are always trying to look at

- creating CHANGE (rather than getting run down by change in the industry)
- being INNOVATIVE (doing something new, adding value and improving the competitive offering)
- encouraging ENTREPRENEURIAL attitude (calculated risk taking, not pulling down people with ideas)

Knowledge, renewal and vision

When organizational knowledge is encouraged and strengthened, when robust intra-enterprise systems share knowledge with employees and stakeholders, when there are animated discussions, ideas are thrown around, the churning creates vitality, renews the organization, and the automatic result is ... visions of, what to go for.

The above scenario is distinctly different from a transactional environment. There is questioning, a process of inquiry, deep thinking, knowledge and idea sharing, questioning established paradigms ... this is the very different environment of transformation.

Microcosm and the macrocosm

The microcosm and the macrocosm are inter-connected. A business enterprise is a part of the societal framework. A firm cannot function inured from changes sweeping society. If there are a lot of transformations going on in society in general, they will impinge on the enterprise too. The microcosm is after all a reflection of the macrocosm.

There are sweeping changes in marketing communication, customer connect, messaging, and customer aspirations in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. So will a transactional environment of a business enterprise suit the transforming marketplace?

It is time to wake up to a new order of transformational leadership in pharmaceutical organizations. The well established SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) will not suffice!

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