Mirrored Sales Forces – Good or Bad Idea?

A trend for the past 10+ years in the pharmaceutical industry has been to add more and more sales reps and overlap or “mirror” them. Some of the larger companies have placed 2, 3, 4 to as many as 8 (or more reps) in the same geography. Why?
Their attempting to bombard the doctors with their messages with such a high frequency that their product is the only one remembered when it comes time to write a prescription.

This had lead to a perception that more is better and that frequency generates sales. In our time with Parke-Davis (prior to the acquisition by Pfizer) a review of the value of multiple rep mirrors showed no such definable value.

When you create mirrored sales forces you run into the following challenges and benefits:

Challenges:

• Too many reps creates confusion over who the doctor should call
• Coordination of calls becomes a challenge for the reps to schedule contacts
• Doctors start complaining about having just seen a rep and heard the message
• Samples, which are a door opener, become more prevalent and thus become less a reason for the rep to get in because they’ve already been dropped off
• Poor performing reps are hard to identify and the team suffers
• There is no sense of “ownership” by the reps and thus the extra effort that is often made (and is critical to success) doesn’t happen (“let someone else do it”)

Benefits:

• If someone is on vacation or ill there is another rep to cover appointments and programs
• Different personalities yield different results so more is better than one
• If you believe increased frequency is necessary and productive mirroring helps

Is there any value then? If so is there a “better” way to do it?

We think that mirroring can have value if done correctly.

1. First, use the true meaning of mirror and have 2 people in the same geography (assuming you have the products to support this level of effort)
2. Understand the demographics of the customers and then hire people who bring value (but from different perspectives) to the client base and environment
3. Establish this “mirror” team as having total responsibility for results in their geography

Understanding your company’s needs is critical to determining whether you need a single rep per territory or if mirroring makes sense. Looking at your competition, your product lines and defining your goals and objectives will lead to a recommendation.

Give us a call to see if we can help you understand and assess your real needs to what type of sales effort makes the most sense for you.