Interview mit Niko Boos, Head of Corporate Reporting and Sales Controlling at MEDICE

Pharmaceuticals manufacturer MEDICE Arzneimittel Pütter GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1949 by Gustav Pütter in the German town of Iserlohn. The company offers a wide range of pharmaceuticals, including the cough medication Meditonsin, the ADHD medication Medikinet and various products for treating kidney, liver and gallbladder disorders.

Im April 2004, MEDICE restructured its sales territories for Medikinet with the help of GfK GeoMarketing and the geomarketing software application DISTRICT. We talked to Niko Boos, Head of Corporate Reporting and Sales Controlling at MEDICE, to learn the details:

Mr. Boos, what was the reason for the restructuring?

With the help of the latest research, we had managed to further improve Medikinet, one of our most important products in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry, and we were ready to expand our position in the market.

How did you intend to go about this? What was your objective?

To achieve optimum customer service among doctors and clinics, we decided to add four additional sales representatives to our existing eight-member team. This meant that we had to completely restructure our sales areas.

Which criteria did you use to restructure the territories and how did you preserve existing customer relations?

Naturally, we preserved existing customer-employee relations whenever possible. It was just as important, however, to create territories of equal size and market potential in order to give sales staff the same opportunities and a comparable level of travelling. The number and type of customers - especially clinics and doctors' offices - were also to be evenly represented in each territory as far as possible. Finally, we had to take into account our sales representatives' places of residence to ensure that they could provide adequate cover for their assigned territories. This involved looking at things like the transportation network as well as natural barriers, such as mountains and rivers. DISTRICT played a vital role in this regard, even giving us the option of taking into account the coverage areas of health insurance companies - a very important factor for the pharmaceutical industry.

How did MEDICE face up to this challenge?

The preliminary work consisted of a large amount of market research on potential levels, existing target groups for the product, analyses of the previous sales structure, comparisons with our competitors, etc.

It soon became clear that we needed more sales territories and staff, and that achieving this required a good geomarketing software application. We had previously worked with a GIS application, but this didn't have enough territory-planning functions and it also wasn't user-friendly. We compared various products and eventually opted for DISTRICT from GfK GeoMarketing. In addition to the impressive range of functions and good value-for-money, we were very pleased with the spectrum of consultancy and customer care services on offer. It meant a lot to know that there was someone to whom we could turn at any stage of the process if we had questions. We also liked the fact that we could obtain GfK market data that would fit seamlessly with the software and maps.

Are you now a geomarketing software expert?

More of an enthusiastic user! The range of functions contained in the software is so wide that you simply can't always remember them if you don't work with the program every day. But getting started with the software is very easy - before we began our territory planning, by the way, we took part in a DISTRICT software training course, in which we did exercises using our own company data.

So how did the implementation of the new territorial structure turn out?

We involved our sales representatives very closely in all phases of the planning, utilizing their specialized knowledge and skills. This benefited the product as well as the working atmosphere while also ensuring that all staff and customers fully accepted the changes resulting from the restructuring. In short, the restructuring and subsequent market launch of Medikinet were a complete success!

What kinds of insight did MEDICE gain over the course of the restructuring process?

Our belief in the importance of putting a lot of faith in our own staff's experience and expertise was affirmed by the restructuring process. Even so, the software and advice provided by GfK GeoMarketing were invaluable components of this and other restructurings. For example, at the end of 2004, we restructured our sales territories for kidney-related products as a result of a staff increase. More currently, we are preparing a comprehensive campaign for a new urological medication for which DISTRICT's analytic and visualization tools are proving invaluable.

So are you satisfied with DISTRICT?

Very satisfied! I use DISTRICT at least twice a week. The maps make everything much clearer than Excel tables and I can quickly take care of routine administrative tasks such as sending territory analyses and reports to staff members.

Was your company's purchase of DISTRICT money well spent?

Very much so! DISTRICT has quite simply become indispensable for our sales and territory planning - I've even recommended it to a colleague in a completely different field. Working with DISTRICT and GfK GeoMarketing consultants is always a real pleasure. We're looking forward to continuing our working relationship!

So are we. Thank you for the interview!