What Pharma Zonal Sales Manager Contributes to a Pharma Company?

If as a Regional Manager you perform well and pay meticulous attention to details, you can become a ZSM very fast. But as you achieve a higher position, much more responsibilities also come with it.

In every pharma company, there’s one thing that is even more important than just getting more and repetitive prescriptions from the doctor. And that is team management which a Zonal Manager does. Without team management, there is very less possibility of more sales.

As a Zonal Manager, the way you interact with RSM, the enthusiasm you bring to the team and improve the performance of MR with the help of the Regional Manager everything is very important. A ZM has to effectively manage the second and third line pharma sales team. Apart from this, revenue generation is also part of the ZSM job like any other RSM and ASM of the pharma company. Target criteria may vary from company to company. It can be given on a quarterly, monthly or weekly basis to the ASM of a pharma company.

Why does the company look for a sensible person for the position of Zonal Sales Manager?

A whole Zone is given to the ZSM for generating revenue and managing the team.

Within the team, there could be different mindsets of members. Some may want to just survive in the company and some may want to thrive every single day. But a Zonal Manager has to take care of all and get business for the company from that specific zone

When you become the Zonal Manager of a Pharma company you also get the responsibility of implementation of marketing activities and analyse its effectiveness.

A truly successful Zonal Sales Manager sets the example by pushing the standards in a way that generates enthusiasm within the team and empowers them to ask for more challenging responsibilities in future. Which I guess is a true achievement for any Zonal Sales Manager.

As a Zonal Manager, you may have to advise team members for making improvements because in case poor performance is accepted from your end and there are no repercussions after that then there are higher chances poor performance will become the new normal in your company. And this will surely impact your career growth.

With your spectacular skills and knowledge, you may have to tell your team the existing problems within the company and may also tell them how their everyday contribution through selling and coordination can solve this problem.

Often you also have to keep a close watch on sales performance and in case there is a lag in achieving the target by the team you have to discuss with the team and fix it. So that desired result can be achieved in no time.

For managing a zone, a pharma company always looks for a sensible and empathetic person. They may promote a regional manager within the company and also give him/her a good amount of increment or hire someone with competitive skill sets from outside the company.

When you have frequent conversations with an RM on a daily basis you get to know which Area Manager requires training. The training part is majorly done by the RSM and overview is done by the ZSM.

For any ZSM there is always a priority that his team is equipped with talented folks, not just with the ones who only love field jobs and are not serious about hitting the target every day/week/month/quarter. To make a high performing team, you have to coordinate with the RSM for hiring ASM, MR or even RSM. You have to see whether the candidate has the scientific knowledge and can translate it effectively in a simple language in front of another person. Along with this, with the active participation of RSM, you may have to test the candidate skills on various parameters.

It’s quite obvious that when you become a zonal manager you have effective communication skills. To make the most out of it you have to tell about schemes and offer to the regional manager and analyse its implementation later on. So that needful changes can be made on time.

For the role of Zonal Sales Manager, it is quite essential that you need to have excellent listening skills too. During joint work or meetings, you may have to seek inputs from your team members and see which one is the right and what will be the right course of action for the same.

Conclusion

Always remember there are two types of leaders: effective and ineffective. Effective ones manage to run successful and high performing teams in a company. Choose what you want to become and start working on it from today itself.

After all, demonstration of supreme leadership is how you connect with people, how you listen to their issues and lead them to a better future.

To understand the job responsibilities of Zonal sales managers you can enroll to the Course: Job Responsibilities Of Zonal Sales Managers in Pharma Sales Management