In many countries the brand plan arrives in the field as a finished presentation. Marketing built it. Sales is told to deliver it. If the year works, both claim it. If it misses, each blames the other.
As a country manager you sit above all of these functions, and the market only sees what they do together. When marketing, medical and supply chain pull in different directions, the doctor and the pharmacist feel it first.
Step 6 of the Pharma Career Ladder for country managers is working across functions. There are 3 relationships I'd look at first.
One plan with marketing
The fix for working with marketing is one plan, built by both. Put first-line managers in the room while the plan is written, not only when it's presented. Check segments on double visits before they go into the plan. The field knows which customers really behave the way the slide says.
Get field input on materials early, while they're still drafts. Then the full medical, regulatory and compliance review. Input shapes the draft. It never replaces approval. And hold one review, with one set of numbers, where both functions sit on the same side of the table. Marketing owns the brand. Sales owns the customer. The plan belongs to both. If sales and marketing have 2 plans, the market sees neither.
A clear line with medical affairs
Some commercial people think of medical affairs as the department that says no. I think of them as the reason doctors believe anything our teams say. The line between medical and sales protects the doctor, the patient, the company and the rep standing in the clinic.
In my teams it stays clear in a few ways. Sales promotes within the approved label, and medical answers the science. An off-label question from a doctor gets referred, never answered cleverly on the spot. Medical colleagues have no sales targets and are never sent in to help close a sale. Anyone who hears of a side effect reports it promptly, sales included. Only reviewed and approved materials reach the field. And we still plan the year together, with the roles kept clear.
The hardest moment is the end of a slow quarter, when someone suggests medical "have a word" with a doctor who isn't prescribing. That's exactly when the line matters most.
Own the forecast with supply chain
When a brand runs out of stock, the first question is usually what happened in supply chain. It's often the wrong question. Supply chain plans from the forecast, and in most markets I've worked in that forecast comes from the commercial team. That's why working with supply chain starts with owning the demand forecast. Commercial signs it.
Build it on sell-out, what pharmacies and hospitals actually bought from the distributor. Sell-in can hide stock waiting at the distributor. Agree one number every month, with commercial, supply chain and finance in one meeting. Tell supply chain about a tender result, a moved launch date or a competitor out of stock the day you know, because lead times are long. And never push extra stock into the distributor to cover a forecast miss. It rescues one month and damages the months after it.
Your checklist for this week
- Invite your first-line managers to the next brand planning session
- Check 1 marketing segment against what your managers see on double visits
- Confirm every material in the field has been reviewed and approved
- Remind your team how off-label questions and side effects are handled
- Compare last month's forecast with sell-out, brand by brand
- Book one monthly forecast meeting with supply chain and finance
That's Step 6. Next week Step 7 begins: leading the leadership team, starting with the shift from leading reps to leading managers.