Pharma Voice

Indian women in pharma marketing and sales

Have women done justice to their new role in pharma marketing and sales?

Mala Raj

Today it is a common sight to see a lady medical representative (MR) or lady field executive waiting alongside a group of male MRs for her turn to call on a doctor. Likewise, at cycle meetings and product launch meetings, the sight of a lady Product Executive (PE) or lady Product Manager (PM) conducting the meeting is also a familiar sight. But such was not the case two-three decades ago.

Traditionally, in the 1970's and early 1980's, the Indian pharmaceutical industry, like most other industries, was a male dominated industry. Girls graduating in pharmacy in 1980's were chosen mainly for quality control or packing department, while post-graduate ladies were chosen either in analytical development or formulation development or they ended up teaching at pharmacy colleges. On their part, ladies too, preferred to tread only on the tested paths and hardly dared to experiment with newer career options.

Then came a wave of change in the late 1980's. With more girls opting for pharmacy than boys, a few girls ventured into the unexplored terrains of pharma marketing and sales. Indian companies such as Gufic Laboratories, Unichem and Lupin Laboratories were among the foremost to give ladies a chance in the typical male-dominated jobs such as MRs and PEs. Have women done justice to their new role in pharma marketing and sales?

With regards to presence of women in pharma sales, a few sales managers have expressed that lady MRs have good employment potential for they are highly punctual, disciplined, good at planning the day's work, persistent and persuasive by nature and they showed high commitment and dedication. However, they are more suitable for metro cities rather than interior towns and many preferred working part-time in the mornings and afternoon only. Critics however express that they are more suitable for general practitioner (GP) based selling or hospital working rather than work for speciality divisions. They prefer to finish their calls early and many do not like to wait for late night calls on important specialists. Further, after marriage, most of the lady MRs take

long breaks for maternity leave, which affects the sales and growth of the territory. This is an issue that we have to accept. Balancing her biological role as a mother and the demands of a selling career can be very tough and in all fairness, family takes precedence over career for those few months or years. Increasingly, many mothers are returning back to their career in sales and many, with their persistent efforts, they have made it to higher levels of Area Sales Managers, Regional Managers and a few with that extra drive have even assumed responsibility for national sales.

Likewise in pharma marketing too, ladies have risen from being Medical Executives and Product Executives to even VP-Marketing and Sales. Coping with frequent touring has been the only major deterrent faced by some lady PMs with small children at home. While many take a full break for a while, a few have tried out other novel approaches. It is said, 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. The necessity of being closer to home during the early years of motherhood has led many lady PEs and PMs to set-up their own small consultancy services in product management, medico-marketing, designing, advertising, etc. While they are away from the mainstream, they have still managed to stay tuned-in with their industry and have managed to strike a balance between the different roles that they play.

On their part, to curb the tendency of resignation after childbirth, the industry will do well to work out a flexible option of working from home for lady Marketing Executives for those critical months/years after childbirth or have a policy of 'no-tours' for a maximum of one-two years after childbirth. With the internet connectivity of modern day, it is possible to be physically away from the work place, yet send in your output by the end of the day. A few adjustments at the organisational level may be required but the loyalty that comes with such an approach is tremendous. In Western countries, companies have already experimented with such options and have expressed total satisfaction with the results. Some of men folk cry foul and accuse women of wanting to have their cake and eat it too. But the mature among them are wise enough to realise that such accusations are shallow and that a professionally committed individual, irrespective of their gender, will always give their best to their career.

In conclusion, it is often remarked that most Indian women, including your mother and grandmother, are naturally gifted with management abilities. She is creative; she is sharp; she is willing to try out new ideas to solve problems; she is adept at multi-tasking; she can recall and take care of 'n' number of things to be done without a formal reminder memo or without the use of modern electronic gadgets to help with such tasks. She is good at managing people and getting work done and is a great source of strength and support and much more. In yester years, these abilities were put to use mainly within the confines of the four walls of a home but now thanks to the emergence of a 'modern India', these abilities are being put to use right from formulation of 'selling and marketing strategies' to 'boardroom decisions'.

(The author is a marketing consultant and can be reached at malaraj@hotmail.com)