The advent of a new Value-Based Selling Model meant Janssen: Pharmaceutical Companies for Johnson & Johnson’s approach to sales training had to change. Faced with a volatile and complex payment system and high numbers of competitors, Janssen knows sales learning must take place at the speed of business. Successfully executing a new selling philosophy required a new way to transfer the learning and use deliberate practice.
Program Details
Value-Based Selling Model training and assessments rolled out from February to March 2016. Value-Based Selling Model components anchored the training and behavioral modeling and guided the measurement. The overarching strategy was to improve the field skills and ability while ensuring consistent, impactful message delivery across the country. The following steps ensured learning transfer:
- Knowledge inspection (to ensure understanding of the brand messaging)
- Marketing message recall
- Impact to the customer assessment
Through instructor-led training( ILT), coaching, and a personalized micro-learning gamification approach, initial training and “booster” sessions resulted in learning transfer and a state of continuous learning.
A key element of the training was the skill of deliberate practice included in the new model. The Sales Learning team conducted a pilot for Cardiovascular sales reps using the Rehearsal video platform. Thirty-one representatives were given a video scenario from their manager or Sales Learning. The reps were trained and responded to the scenario by video-recording themselves with a role-playing response back. They could use as many “takes” as needed to practice until they produced a response they were ready to share back with the manager and Sales Learning. The manager or training team then provided feedback on the role-play to the learner. The learners used the tool multiple times before submitting the final video for review, indicating that all had instituted a behavior of practicing as part of their pre-call planning.
Results
Janssen uses Corporate Executive Board’s Metrics that Matter (MTM) platform in its Human Capital ROI Reports to evaluate programs. It not only collects Janssen program results but also compares those results to other corporate training organization ratings. A 7-point scale (1=strongly disagree; 7=strongly agree) is used.
As with all learning initiatives, many variables contribute to performance success. Sales Learning believes it was a significant contributor to the following results for Cardiovascular sales representatives:
Level 3:
- The company sustained No. 1 in Cardiovascular Rep rating by health-care providers (HCPs) compared to other cardiovascular reps
Level 4: (February to August 2016 results)
- 29.6 percent increase in new market share for Janssen’s cardiovascular product
- 26.7 percent increase in cardiovascular product market share
- Janssen’s cardiovascular drug has the highest brand performance among competitors
- Call length with the HCP increased by 3.8 minutes to 11 minutes
