GSK Creates a New Business Model with Innovative Marketing and Sales Practices

The pharmaceutical company ranks first in both trust and customer value, according to a survey of 4,000 US healthcare professionals. Tom Idle reports… 

It is hard to think of a more contentious business practice than the one historically used to sell pharmaceuticals. For the past 50 years, sales representatives have been compensated based on the total number of prescriptions written, without any specific regard as to patient need. Similarly, doctors have been paid to represent and speak on behalf of the same products and companies that the sector is keen for them to prescribe. 

It is a situation that has fuelled a widespread belief that the pharma industry cares more about profit than patient wellbeing. These traditional commercial practices have gone unchallenged—until now. 

Global healthcare company GSK has made a number of changes to the way it sells and markets its products around the world. Now, no GSK sales representatives are compensated based on individual sales targets. Instead, they are incentivised on their scientific knowledge of each product, their customer service feedback, and the wider success of the business. 

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