Campbell Alliance Workshops At SPBT Annual Conference 2006 To Focus On Developing Sales Leadership
RALEIGH, N.C., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Campbell Alliance, the leading management consulting firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, today announced that it will be presenting two workshops at the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers (SPBT) Annual Conference to be held May 22-25, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.
Garry O'Grady, Senior Vice President, and George Schmidt, Senior Practice Executive -- representing Campbell Alliance's Sales practice -- will present in the Management/Leadership and Director workshop categories, respectively. Both workshops will focus on developing sales leadership.
On Wednesday, May 24, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Columbus Hall, Mr. O'Grady will present a 90-minute workshop titled "Developing Sales Leadership Training for the Shifting Role of District Managers." This workshop will discuss the marketplace changes that are driving a shift in the district manager (DM) role and suggest training initiatives in the areas of coaching and business acumen to better prepare DMs for success in driving sales representative performance in the field.
"The selling environment has become increasingly complex for pharmaceutical sales reps. With the portfolios of many pharma companies in stagnant or declining conditions, companies are highly motivated to improve rep productivity. As a result, sales and marketing leaders are depending more than ever on DMs to drive rep productivity," stated Mr. O'Grady. "Unfortunately, most companies have not invested in additional training courses or the field-based trainers necessary to support these approaches. Changes must be made to traditional DM training programs in order to ensure the success of these approaches," he continued.
Mr. O'Grady was an award-winning sales professional before becoming a consultant to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. As the leader of the Sales Practice at Campbell Alliance, he brings an impressive background in both line management and direct sales to the firm. Mr. O'Grady received his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his BS degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point.
Also, on Wednesday, starting at 3:30 p.m. in the Comiskey Room, George Schmidt will present a workshop, along with Tim Gerrits of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, titled "Positioning Sales Training as a Strategic Leader in Your Organization." Their 90-minute workshop will examine the strategic role sales training departments play within the larger commercial organization and suggest strategies to identify the training needs associated with the business and selling environment challenges faced by their sales forces.
Schmidt explains, "The Sales Training function is not always recognized as a strategic contributor at many pharma and biotech companies. Sales management typically takes an 'act now' approach to working with Sales Training, forcing training managers to address requests on a frequent but ad hoc basis. This mentality makes it difficult for Sales Training to take on a more strategic role in the overall sales organization. To do that, training managers must be proactive and anticipate the needs of the sales force, making strategic recommendations to senior management -- sometimes across multiple functions at their company -- that address training gaps and communicating results throughout the process."
George Schmidt has served the sales and marketing needs of pharmaceutical clients, covering a wide array of topics, such as sales force effectiveness, resource allocation, marketing strategy, and product positioning. Mr. Schmidt leads the sales training specialty area within the Sales Practice at Campbell Alliance. His understanding of project management and leadership stem from his experience as a sales and marketing consultant and an officer in the US Army. Mr. Schmidt earned an MBA from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He also holds BS degrees in Industrial Management and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a frequent contributor to SPBT's FOCUS magazine and was recently added to its editorial board.
The SPBT Annual Conference is intended for pharmaceutical and biotech sales leadership, training directors, training managers, and trainers. It will include more than 70 workshops and features numerous panel discussions and an exhibit hall attracting nearly 100 vendors. Campbell Alliance can be found at booth #611. For more information on the Conference, please visit http://www.spbt.org.
About the Sales Practice at Campbell Alliance
A combination of quantitative and qualitative factors must be addressed to get maximum sales force effectiveness, whether you're dealing with a large primary care team or a small specialty sales group. These factors include
- Deployment (targeting, size, structure, alignment) - Support (marketing support, communications, sales force automation) - Motivation (incentive compensation, recognition, professional development, confidence in management) - Ability (recruiting, training, assessment)
The Sales Practice at Campbell Alliance helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies take a "total" approach to sales force optimization -- and realize superior sales results -- through service offerings, including sales strategy, sales analytics, sales force effectiveness, sales training, and sales force assessment.
About Campbell Alliance
Campbell Alliance is the leading management consulting firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The firm's clients include most of the world's "top 20" pharmaceutical companies, as well as numerous emerging and midsize firms. Campbell Alliance is organized into practice areas, each specializing in a critical industry function, including Brand Management, Business Development, Clinical Development, Managed Markets, and Sales. From its locations in Raleigh, N.C., Parsippany, N.J., Woodland Hills, Calif., San Bruno, Calif., Chicago, and New York City, the firm serves clients throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. For more information on Campbell Alliance, please visit http://www.campbellalliance.com.
CONTACT: James Forte Public and Media Relations Manager Campbell Alliance 919-844-7100, extension 7195 jforte@campbellalliance.com
Campbell AllianceCONTACT: James Forte, Public and Media Relations Manager of CampbellAlliance, +1-919-844-7100, extension 7195, or jforte@campbellalliance.com