Managed Markets Account Management: Assessing the Performance of Account Executives

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Health Care; Biotech; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Chemical; Media; Medical Device


Companies Profiled:
Abbott Laboratories; Apria Healthcare; Abraxis; Laboratorios Deramtologicos Darier; Schering-Plough; Q-Med Scandinavia; Bausch & Lomb; Sciele Pharma; Allergan; Celgene; EMD Serono; AstraZeneca; Honeywell; Bayer Schering AG; IDS; Boehringer Ingelheim; King Pharmaceuticals; Eli Lilly and Company; Lundbeck; Genentech; Skila; Johnson & Johnson; Smith & Nephew; Merck; Ther-Rx; Novo Nordisk; Valeant; Pfizer; Roche; Sanofi-Aventis

Study Snapshot


Research was conducted through survey and interviews of thirty-two participants, sixteen of whom were large research-based Pharmaceutical companies of the world.

Key study objectives include:

1. Identifying common practices in measuring Managed Markets account executive performance.
2. Gaining insight into the principles of effective measurement of this function.
3. Determining what specific measures are used to drive successful activity in Managed Markets account management.

1. Performance Measurement- The variety of metrics used for performance assessment and variability of its effectiveness often reflects in the difficulty of the task.
2. Metrics: Profitability vs. Sales- Executives split over the decision whether to evaluate on the basis of sales or profitability, although favoring profitability simplifies measurement.

Project Overview 3
Project Methodology and Study Objectives 4
Participating Companies 5
Survey Respondents’ Industry Experience 6
Therapeutic Experience 10

Key Insights 11
Structure and Organizational Alignment 12
Performance Measurement 13
Profitability Versus Sales 14

Detailed Study Findings 15
Organizational Alignment 16
Total Number Account Executives Employed 17
Structure of Function 18
Reporting Relationships 19
Alignment of Management 21
Alignment of Responsibilities within Geographies 22
Number of Accounts Managed 23
Organizational Changes 24
Anticipated Organizational Changes 25
Managed Markets Strategy Group 26
Strategy Group Size 27
Structure of Strategy Function 28
Strategy Function Reporting Relationships 29
Customer Marketing Group 30
Customer Marketing Group Size 31
Customer Marketing Function Structure 32
Customer Marketing Heads Reporting Relationships 33
Account Executive Time Allocation Summary 34
Account Executive Time Allocation Detail 35
Results Metrics 36
Activities Metrics 38
Other Specified Metrics 40
Expected Number of Contacts per Executive 41
Optimal Measures for Assessing Value 42
Other Notable Measure for Measuring Performance 43
Communicating Value within the Company 44
Reward-Performance Correlation 45
Challenges and Pitfalls 46

Appendix 47
Achieving Profitable Access 48
Balancing Sales and Profits 49
Getting an Optimal Solution 50
Aligning Goals and Strategy 51

About Best Practices, LLC 52

• Managed Markets Customer Marketing Group
• Reporting Relationships of MM Strategy Heads
• Size of MM Customer Marketing Group
• Structure of MM Customer Marketing Function