Specialty Pharma Sales

Reducing bad promotion decisions in a specialty pharma sales force

38%fewer failed first-year promotions

The problem we were asked to solve

Promotion into first line sales management was decided almost entirely on territory numbers, so strong individual sellers were repeatedly moved into roles they were not ready for.
Nearly a third of newly promoted managers were struggling or exiting within twelve months, creating churn across regional teams and unsettling customer relationships.
There was no shared language for what good managerial capability looked like, so every regional head applied a different standard.

Ran structured interviews with high performing and struggling managers to define the behaviours that actually predicted success in the role.
Built a six-competency framework covering coaching, territory strategy, conflict handling, and customer-facing judgement.
Designed an assessment centre combining a field-coaching simulation, a customer escalation role play, and a business review exercise, with calibrated assessor scoring.
Trained internal assessors from HR and senior sales leadership so the organisation could run the centre itself each promotion cycle.

38% reduction in first-year promotion failures compared with the previous two cycles.
Every promotion decision now carries a documented development plan for the incoming manager.
The assessment centre runs in-house twice a year without external facilitation.

XALTEM