Case Study No.356

Navigating and
Implementing an Early Stage
Commercialization Strategy

Client

• An emerging biotechnology company

Critical Challenges

• Product represented a new approach to disease screening
• No experience in marketing directly to end user physician marketplace
• Existing client nine-person sales force limited to selling
  capital equipment
• No alignment of territories or systematic rationale for physician
  target list
• Lack of experienced, professional marketing support to develop physician marketing and sales aids and collateral materials
• Areas of skepticism concerning the effectiveness of a physician-based field force

Objectives

• Provide comprehensive commercialization functions, including:
  (1) market analyses and product potential market assessments,
  (2) territory mapping for optimal sales force coverage, and
  (3) hiring, training and deployment of district managers and
  sales teams
• Generate product acceptance with the busiest ob/gyn
  practices nationwide
• Develop and implement effective promotional materials to support strategy, positioning and messaging

Solution

• Source, hire, train and deploy a 105-rep field team on time and on profile
• Deploy team to overlap client 130-member specialty neuroscience team
• Provide coverage for exclusively assigned physicians and mirrored client targets

Results

• PDI-exclusive sales force produced better share-change results than either overlapping forces or client exclusive team
• PDI-exclusive team drove 15.7% increase for Product 1, 27% increase for Product 2
• Combined efforts pushed Product 1 to all-time high market share of 14.05%, for 25% growth during program year
• Product 2 reached all-time high market share of 10.5%, for 20% overall growth