Question

Topic: Career/Training

Sales And Marketing Training Materials (pharma)

Posted by kojere on 10/21/2006 at 12:26 PM ET 250 Points
I run a consulting firm -Rodot- incorporated in Nigeria and the UK, with main interests in providing sales and marketing training for pharmaceutical firms. I am well grounded in this area having had 19 years experience in top firms (Sandoz, Novartis and Janssen-Cilag) as well as business education at Lagos Business School. I need links to established training firms (preferrably with experience in Pharma training) who have and are willing to share/sell training materials (powerpoint presentations, videos and training manuals) on:
-Selling Skills
-Presentation Skills
-Communication Skills
-InterPersonal Relationship Skills
-Teambuilding
-Territory Management
-Product Management
-Marketing Management
-Business Planning
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by steven.alker on 10/22/2006 at 11:02 AM Member
    I too have some background of supplying instrumentation, data and people to the pharmaceutical industry.

    There are a couple of sales and marketing related sites which operate purely in the Pharma niche. You should, over a period of a few weeks be able to network through them to establish at least initial contacts in all the areas you have mentioned.

    For sales, try: Café Pharma on www.cafepharma.com

    The site is a hoot and appears to be free from interference from “suits” (Like me for example)

    For Marketing, try: The Pharma Marketing Forum on www.pharma-mkting.com/PMNetwork-forum.html

    It is a lot more formal.

    The key to what you want is not advertising, but networking. Use the message boards and the forum sections.

    One other point: It is unfortunate that your email messages will come from Nigeria. This is grossly unfair, but some SPAM filters are now set to shelve everything even slightly suspect from your country. Use the telephone. Get permission, and then use the email once you have asked the recipient to include you (Manually) in his “Accepted” or “Friends” list.

    Best of luck and having worked in your area, It sounds extremely interesting.

    Regards

    Steve Alker
    Unimax Solutions
  • Posted on 10/22/2006 at 11:36 PM Member
    I agree with Steve about your email coming from a very spam-unfriendly domain. Consider finding a provider who can give you a domain for your email which is not so overused by the wrong types. It's all about networking...creating a relationship with others in your field who can share info (including media) for use in training and other internal distribution channels. I'm sure there are a number of people out there who would be willing to create some kind of mutual exchange, as you suggest!

    Good luck, Debi Brady
    Writing & Marketing Consultant
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 10/23/2006 at 1:33 AM Member
    Steve,
    You hit the nail on the head, I quit reading this just as soon as I saw the word Nigeria.

  • Posted on 10/23/2006 at 10:12 AM Member
    Nigerian issue: Someone said the spam filtering of Nigerian messages is unfair, but given the volume and wide success of the Nigerian email scams, it's not really unfair at all. It's reality. If there are legitimate business enterprises based in Nigeria, they are tainted by the scams. As a result, I don't see how a networking-based business could work internationally based from Nigeria. It's a bigger problem than just your email server.
    Marge
  • Posted on 10/23/2006 at 6:39 PM Accepted
    https://www.astd.org/ASTD/About_ASTD
  • Posted by steven.alker on 10/24/2006 at 5:18 AM Accepted
    When I used the words, “Grossly Unfair”, I’m afraid that the exactitude of my grammar failed me. I meant that it was unfair to him, especially if after all that Pharma experience, he is setting up a legitimate business.

    And yes, they do exist in Nigeria, by the thousand. You will find subsidiary offices and associate companies from almost every country in the world, so it is a matter of establishing credibility. The idea of having a respectable non-volatile email address is a good one and a business associate (Possibly gained through the aforesaid networking) who has impeccable credentials in the pharmaceutical industry, perhaps based in Europe or America.

    We are wrong to taint all Nigerian enterprise because of the activities of a few hundred thousand scam-merchants. After all, we don’t regard the USA as an immoral country with which to do business, just because about 80% of the world’s porn sites are controlled from or originate from there, do we?

    Let’s end this posting on a more amusing note. When I was involved in international sales, my General Sales Manager was an experienced Africa hand with over 20 years experience. He used to tell me that in certain countries, a deal went in one suitcase and two briefcases. The suitcase contained the dollars to pay for the title to the contract. The first briefcase contained the dollars for the contractor’s “commission”

    The second briefcase contained the dollars which a waiting member of our staff would need to spring the first salesperson out of jail, because, “That was the way things happened”

    Regards

    Steve Alker
    Unimax Solutions
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 10/24/2006 at 6:34 AM Accepted
    Not sure if one company can successfully supply what you need, but try:

    The Denny Group - www.denny.co.uk
    Thomas Day Associates - www.thomasday.co.yk
  • Posted by kojere on 10/25/2006 at 10:50 AM Author
    Thanks to everyone who posted a response to my question. Special thanks however to the following whose responses i will accept in a moment after these comments:
    -Steve: For being the first to respond with useful information and more importantly for putting things in their proper perspective.
    -Jamie: I will be contacting ASTD not for the purpose of obtaining materials which was the object of my question, but for possible certification which will help build credibility.
    -Amy: I will contact "What Works" but probably not "Sales Optimisation Group" as the latter seems more into hands-on consulting.
    -Andrew: Denny & Thomas Day look very interesting. I will certainly be contacting them when i am in the UK in November.
    Thanks also Debi for your comments although there is no specific response to my question.
    My biggest thanks however go the "sceptocynics" (i beg to take poetic licence in coining this word!)-Marge & Frank. By expressing your negative impressions and for Frank-aversion-for "Nigeria" and whatever comes out of it, you give me (and liberal minded people like Steve Alker) the opportunity to appeal to your sense of reason. To be a member of Marketingprofs.com, i can safely assume you are more than aware of the 80/20 rule. This applies also to Nigeria but possibly more in a 95/5 proportion even. The majority of Nigerians are decent harworking people with strong moral and ethical values. If the world will go by the negative stats that are so true for the USA for instance, not a single person from outside will want to have anything to do with that country yet that is not the case. Commonsense is all that is needed to sift the bad from the good. Only greedy people from any part of the world will fall for scams that invite you to come and reap millions of dollars where you did not sow a dime!
    To end on a lighter note, Frank-just like saying hello to an HIV/AIDS patient won't give you the disease, reading a mail from someone in Nigeria won't make you a criminal!
    Hoping we can all do a little bit more to erase prejudices that are unhelpful.

    Best regards
    Remi
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