For the past 30 +  years, I have been involved in pharma discussions regarding the need to radically change our sales and engagement model. The pharma industry has shifted from defining its customers as the physicians prescribing to patients to a much more complex environment – one where the customer is defined by a diverse group of players which participate in the decision-making around treatment and access. From my perspective, the ultimate customer, although indirectly, has always been the patient. This is now becoming increasingly important. However, in an industry that is being highly disrupted by the current technology explosion and remains under significant regulatory pressure, both the demand and the uncertainty are making it easier said than done to engage in a cohesive fashion with the different customers.

Mega trends

These are a few of the mega trends that are forcing us to change our traditional engagement models:
• Value-based healthcare is putting pressure on contracting and pricing as we move away from price-per-unit and volume-based pricing to value outcome and risk sharing; this is resulting in increased sophistication and partnering.

• Technology – from 3D printing of tissues and organs to machine learning and AI. The days of being diagnosed using a mix of a scanning app connected to personal health data via a virtual platform—where a doctor can diagnose and prescribe— to delivery of your prescription to your doorstep by drone may not be that far away. The technology will also transform our landscape from drug discovery to commercialization, as well as how patients access our products and solutions. By 2020, chronic conditions like diabetes will be diagnosed in minutes using cognitive systems. AI is not only advancing diagnostics but is also reshaping the care model by reducing administrative burdens, accelerating drug discovery, and enhancing patient care through individualized insights. As AI-powered systems automate routine tasks, healthcare professionals can focus more on patient interactions and personalized care. Additionally, AI is helping to address workforce shortages by performing tasks that were once time-consuming, allowing human resources to focus on higher value work​

McKinsey & Company

• Patient empowerment. Today’s patient is becoming increasingly important as a decision-maker. Meanwhile, the definition of health is shifting from being illness free to simply being well and varies for everyone. It is also broadening – today the solution to a disease is not simply medication but increasingly about a holistic approach that goes beyond the product to include devices, apps, environment, diet, and so on. Moreover, the overall solution is different for each patient and getting more individualized.

• Competitive landscape. Given this backdrop, pharma urgently needs to evolve how it partners around the basic issues and broad healthcare challenges. It is critical to create a more collaborative model aimed at curing illness, hopefully move more and more to preventive medicine and to provide holistic solutions to patients. All of this means that our competition is no longer solely the pharma industry, but technology companies and startups as well. To be successful, we need to change our mindset to create partnership with organisations, which we formerly used to view as our competitors, in order to provide more value to the healthcare systems and their patients in a coordinated effort.

Updating our go-to-market model

In order to be able to face these changes and adapt to them, our go-to-market sales and engagement model will need to evolve as well. We will need to really start looking “outside in” and understand the broad view of our customers’ clinical, business, environmental and financial needs. We will need to look at our patients’ journeys and what is important to them, and then to explore how we can partner both within the organisation and externally to provide that holistic solution in a synergistic way. We will need to listen differently to bring simplicity and insight in a complex environment, understanding the whole customer, while also being proactive in identifying their challenges.

We need to be part of solving the big problems versus being marketing billboards. We need to start elevate the value we bring to beyond solution and really partnering is solving the big healthcare challenges.

What does this mean for sales?

 Our sales approach will have to change in three significant ways: 

1. Integration – We can expect to continue seeing a more integrated sales model aligning with the healthcare environment evolution. This model being based on account teams, where both the customer and the pharma put teams together to resolve issues and co-create solutions that have the most impact for the healthcare, the patient population and at a more strategic level. These account teams are no longer the salesperson in a silo anymore, but a full cross functional team including enabling functions, marketing, procurement, alliances and so on; they bring their own thinking to the table to create innovative value with the external customer with the flexibility of personalization for the patient through a holistic disease view. 

2. New emerging customers – We need to embrace new, emerging customers that are becoming critically important in decision making and continue to evolve in step with the evolution of the healthcare environment, including home management groups, healthcare businesses, and outsourcing businesses to name a few, and engage with multidisciplinary teams beyond health care professionals and clinical groups we are comfortable seeing.This requires different skillset and rounded businesspeople able to bring relevant team members and insight to their most important customers and accounts. 

3. Globalisation – Despite years of looking at accounts defined by countries, we can expect to see more and more emerging accounts in the healthcare system that are regional and global as with other industries’ strategic account models, we will be breaking boundaries. This will require account management individuals who can understand the needs and priorities of these regional/global accounts and connect internally with the sales organization to offer a full account view and accompanying strategic planning. This will also need us to connect the dots between the customer organization and the often-complex internal organization, initiating a shift to mirror key customers in our own organization. 

The business model shift in pharma requires companies not only to build their ability to look beyond the pill/devices and innovate in terms of the value they can offer, but to embrace a true internal transformation involving the whole organization. The need is for a cultural shift to get closer, more human for our customers and our customer’s customers – the patients.

Pharma needs to enable the engagement models through people, technology and processes, and be driven by this.

Pharma needs to align their models with their respective healthcare environment, working collaboratively with their partners, competitors and customers to co-create solutions for the real needs of the patients and the health environment. This will hopefully lead us back to a more human approach to medicine, spending more time focused holistically on the patient and also fulfilling their unmet needs. It has the potential of also accelerating preventive medicine and research.  We are going through exciting time where organizations that focus on this transformation will thrive. This is a great opportunity to make healthcare better for everyone, especially the patient: a role that we all find ourselves in at one time or another.

In 2024, we’re witnessing rapid changes as companies adapt to evolving market dynamics and shifting customer expectations. From advancements in technology to new consumer behaviors, organizations are rethinking their strategies to stay competitive. This evolving landscape underscores the importance of Strategic Account Management (SAM) in creating value and fostering longterm partnerships.  Establishing a Center of Excellence (COE) is essential for navigating these changes and accelerating your SAM journey. As businesses adapt to this new normal, the importance of SAM has become increasingly apparent. Organizations are now focused on enhancing their SAM practices to align with evolving customer needs and expectations. To accelerate your SAM journey, establishing a Center of Excellence (COE) is crucial. This article explores the role of a COE in transforming and sustaining SAM efforts, focusing on three critical success factors:

1. Creating a Center of Excellence (COE)
2. Securing Executive Sponsorship
3. Integrating Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Creating a Center of Excellence (COE)

A Center of Excellence (COE) is vital in guiding and sustaining strategic account management initiatives. It centralizes expertise, accelerates transformation, and ensures the sustainability of SAM efforts.

Why a COE is essential

1. Centralized expertise: A COE brings together SAM knowledge and best practices, serving as a hub for expertise that informs the organization’s SAM strategy. This centralized approach ensures consistent application of effective SAM methodologies and tools across the organization.

2. Accelerating transformation: The COE plays a key role in expediting the transformation process by providing a structured framework for implementing SAM practices. It helps organizations navigate the complexities of adopting a strategic, customerfocused engagement model.

3. Ensuring sustainability: By establishing a COE, organizations can sustain their SAM initiatives over the long term. The COE monitors progress, addresses challenges, and adapts strategies in response to changing customer needs, ensuring that SAM practices remain effective and relevant.

Components of an effective COE

1. Dedicated leadership: A COE must report directly to the executive team to ensure alignment with broader organizational goals and adequate resource allocation. This reporting structure helps maintain
a strategic focus on long-term partnership and customer-centric strategies.

2. Cultural and structural shift: The COE drives the necessary cultural change within the organization by promoting a customer-centric mindset and adapting business processes. This shift is crucial for aligning internal practices with the needs and expectations of strategic accounts.

3. Customer-centric curricula: The COE oversees the development and implementation of customercentric curricula that align with the complexity and strategic importance of each account. This
approach ensures that all teams are equipped to engage effectively with strategic accounts.

4. Global coordination with local adaptation: Balancing global strategies with local execution is essential. The COE provides a framework and support for local teams to customize their approaches while ensuring alignment with the organization’s overall strategy.

Securing executive sponsorship

Executive sponsorship is crucial for the success of SAM initiatives. It ensures resource allocation, drives cultural change, and aligns SAM efforts with organizational goals.

The importance of executive sponsorship

1. Resource allocation: Executives play a key role in securing the necessary resources for SAM initiatives, including financial support and the commitment of key personnel. Their support is vital for the successful implementation and scaling of SAM practices

2. Driving cultural change: Executive sponsorship is essential for fostering a cultural shift towards a customer-centric approach.

Executives influence organizational attitudes and behaviors, helping to build a culture that values longterm partnerships and strategic account management.

3. Aligning with organizational goals: Executives ensure that SAM initiatives are aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives. This alignment is crucial for integrating SAM practices into the broader business strategy and demonstrating the value of SAM efforts to the organization.

Components of effective executive sponsorship

1. Active Engagement: Executives must be actively involved in SAM initiatives, not just as sponsors but as participants in key activities and decision-making processes. Their engagement helps to reinforce the
importance of SAM and ensures alignment with organizational goals.

2. Championing the SAM Journey: Executives should champion the SAM journey by advocating for its value and driving its integration into the organization’s strategic priorities. This includes supporting necessary changes in processes and mindsets.

3. Monitoring and Support: Effective executive sponsorship involves monitoring the progress of SAM initiatives and providing ongoing support. Executives should address any challenges that arise and ensure that the SAM efforts receive the attention and resources they need to succeed.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Customer-Led and Team-Enabled

ABM is the R&D to the account team and the strategic account manager. It can support them with relevant insight (market and others ) that will be personalized to the account. ABM also owns the engagement plan which provides communication opportunities alongside the customer journey. It is deployed through an optichannel versus an omni-channel plan. ‘Opti-channel’ focuses on having an optimised and personalised plan to execute the engagement plan, starting with the account and customer pain points, versus omnichannel plans that are too often derived from an insideout approach.

• Customer-centric approach Traditional ABM often takes a marketing-first, sales-enabled approach, focusing on brand or product promotion rather than customer needs. In contrast, customer-led ABM prioritizes aligning with the customer’s buying journey to deliver personalized value, fostering long-term partnerships instead of transactional relationships.

• Integrated, outside-in thinking Next-generation ABM emphasizes an outside-in perspective, where marketing aligns with customer needs and decision-making processes rather than pushing products. This approach differentiates the company by creating customer-focused communication strategies and
leveraging insights that support both marketing and sales.

• Breaking down silos One of the biggest challenges in ABM is the siloed nature of marketing and sales efforts, often leading to disconnected messaging that frustrates customers. By integrating ABM into the SAM journey, companies can foster a seamless collaboration between departments, ensuring that the messaging is consistent and aligned with the customer’s needs throughout their journey.

• Optimizing communication touchpoints Customer-led ABM focuses on optimizing communication by delivering the right message at the right time through the appropriate channel. This strategic touchpoint management enhances the relationship and accelerates decision-making by aligning with where the customer is in their buying journey.

• Co-orchestration of account plans Marketing and SAM should co-orchestrate the account plan, combining their expertise to drive success. The SAM offers deep customer insights, while marketing brings a broader view of organizational capabilities, helping to differentiate the company. This integrated approach leads to more relevant, personalized engagements.

• Future-proofing with next-gen ABM Aligning ABM with strategic account management creates agility, allowing companies to anticipate customer needs and deliver value sooner. This nextgeneration ABM builds a roadmap that not only meets current customer expectations but also helps anticipate future needs, making the company a more forward-thinking, customer-centric supplier.

Key Takeaways

• ABM must go beyond product promotion, focusing on customer needs and journey.

• Integrated marketing and sales teams, co-orchestrating account plans, offer greater value to the customer.

• Personalized insights delivered at the right time differentiate the company in the customer’s mind.

• ABM isn’t just tactical but a strategic lever that future-proofs customer relationships and aligns with broader commercial objectives.

This customer-led, integrated ABM approach aligns perfectly with the broader transformation in SAM, where cross-functional teamwork is essential to unlocking long-term success.

Conclusion

Establishing a Center of Excellence (COE), securing executive sponsorship, and integrating Account-Based Marketing (ABM) are critical steps in accelerating and sustaining your SAM journey. Each of these elements plays a vital role in enhancing SAM practices, building stronger partnerships with strategic accounts, and driving long-term growth and success.

By focusing on these key areas, organizations can navigate the complexities of modern business environments, create value for their strategic accounts, and achieve sustainable success.