Alexander Group’s latest research effort explores how this fast-growing sector’s commercial leaders are planning for the future.
How amazing are the accomplishments of Life Sciences and Analytical Instruments industry players over the last three years? The industry’s response to the pandemic was nothing short of remarkable. With those accomplishments in the (seemingly distant) past, the industry is turning to a period of sustained growth. Funding is pouring in from public and private sectors. Established companies are sitting on hordes of cash, activating growth investments and executing their M&A roadmaps.
Alexander Group took an opportunity to step back and see how this fast-growing sector is planning for the future. We conducted more than 30 interviews with marketing, sales and service leaders across 15+ companies. In addition, we refreshed our database of commercial productivity metrics ranging from total sales expense to revenue ratios (E/R) to job types, spans of control, pay levels and much more. Here is what we found on the latest industry trends and benchmarks.
What does the data tell us?
- Top-Line Growth is up 22% compared to pre-pandemic levels
(11.3% YoY vs. to 9.3% YoY) - Productivity is up 17% compared to pre-pandemic levels
($6.8M vs. $5.8M per seller) - Sales Expense to Revenue is up 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels
(9.7% vs. 8.8%)
What’s happening?
Industry players are riding a wave of funding and demand. Commercial teams (marketing, sales, service) are more productive, but less efficient. Why?
Let’s make sense of this…
Whether commercial leaders know it or not, they are in a market share battle. If leaders are not talking about differentiated growth (above market growth), they should be. The life sciences industry features some of the best run businesses in the world that operate highly productive commercial organizations and make disciplined investments. They know when and where to do more with less, and when to pour gas on the commercial engine to accelerate growth and take share.
Now Is NOT the Time to Throttle Back on the Commercial Organization
It’s easy to overlook share growth when propelled by tailwinds, but we identified that industry leaders are operating under two key imperatives as they deploy commercial investments to gain more share:
- Nurture a Customer-Centric Culture – Customer value drivers and journeys have changed. Sales organizations must actively monitor and listen, meet customers on their terms and deliver exceptional experiences.
- Lead with Science – Companies bring solutions to market that enable and advance science. Support scientists with the segment, workflow, application and technical expertise needed to achieve their scientific objectives.
Nurture a Customer Centric Culture
Whether you bring instruments, consumables or services to market, customer value drivers and journeys have changed. Customers across all segments – academia, government, pharma and biopharma, and other industrial and applied sectors – must make the most of their budgets. Sure, absolute budget values are up, but so are labor and raw material costs. Those increases in budgets also come with more projects. Buyers want vendors and partners that understand these real challenges and come with solutions. A delay in key raw materials has rippling downstream effects.
Scientific (and economic) buyers consistently report spending 2-3 days per week in the lab with the remainder of their time spent remotely. They want to see vendors and partners, but on their own terms. A “pop-in” visit is no longer preferred. An in-person meeting (planned or unplanned) without an express purpose does more harm than good. Scientists’ lab time is at a premium. They want vendors and partners to bring segment, workflow, application, product and technical expertise. Commercial teams must actively demonstrate how they help solve scientific problems, and customers will reward their partners well for advancing their project objectives.
In response, Marketing must tune messaging and campaigns to speak to contemporary issues including access to supply and technical expertise. Promotions should be geared to helping customers get the most out of their budgets. Customers want to hear how vendors and partners can help them improve lab operations and workflows. Winning mindshare requires marketing teams to nurture a continuum of needs and relationship-based interactions, whenever and wherever lab customers want to engage.
Sales and support teams need to shift to fully hybrid (digital and in-person) engagement models. Team members need to be adept at executing digital motions to engage customers outside of critical lab time. When coveted in-person time is granted, engagements must be impactful and well-received. Live interactions should feature technical resources that add real-time value. Customers have little patience for commercial resources who do not bring the needed expertise and insights at the point of interaction. Simply being able to navigate the organization on behalf of the customer is not enough.
Lead with Science
Recent years shined a planet-sized light on Life Sciences. Technology took a leap forward and the world took notice. Life Sciences suppliers forged partnerships with governments, pharma and biopharma companies, and others in the global supply chain. A new baseline for customer intimacy and partnership has been set and it starts with science.
Customers want to know how current (and future) products and services advance their science. They expect transparency into product pipelines. They demand commercial teams demonstrate an understanding of their unique needs. It’s not enough to feature product details and competitive comparisons.
Early in the customer journey, marketing must highlight the use case (workflow or application) and the impact the offering will have on the desired scientific results. As a customer moves closer to a purchasing decision, sales is expected to provide access to resources that can provide product and technical depth needed to make an informed decision. Post-sales, customers expect sustained access to technical expertise to quickly answer questions and solve problems. In addition, customers do not want to be responsible for “re-training” new resources that may be deployed in the post-sales environment. The concept of customer success is paramount to lab customers, and that means a continuity of customer knowledge regardless of stage in the customer journey.
To bring science to the forefront, study participants report investing in specialization. Specialist investments aim to differentiate based on quality and depth of coverage versus breadth delivered by legacy plays such as inside or digital sales. These specialists may be segment, workflow or product-oriented and they may report to marketing (to support content development and campaign execution) or sales (as an overlay to core account management models).
The ratio of specialists to sellers has increased from 0.17:1 (product specialists per organic quota carrying seller) to 0.19:1 (a 10% increase). This number is more pronounced among instrument-oriented companies (a 21% increase). A key aspect of this increase in specialists per seller is the investment in various types of specialists (workflow, application, end market) with a broader mandate than just deep, single technology product expertise which has defined most life sciences specialist models until recently.
The Market Share Battle Is Here.
Life Sciences and Analytical Instruments commercial leaders need to be talking about differentiated, above-market growth. Leaders need to make thoughtful investments that nurture a customer-centric culture and lead with science. It is time to feed the commercial engine and win a greater share of a growing market.
To learn more or to schedule a study readout, contact an Alexander Group Life Sciences practice lead.
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Not What You Were Looking For? Explore More…
Recommended Insights:
Article: The Digital Journey: Steps and Phases for Life Sciences
Life Sciences and Analytical Instruments Industry Trends Study Briefing
Author
Arshad Carim is a principal in the San Francisco office, with over 24 years of business and consulting experience. Arshad is a leader in the firm’s Life Sciences and Manufacturing practices. He also leads consulting engagements and teams, manages key account relationships, drives business development activities and supports talent development. With experience across multiple industries including life sciences, health insurance, medical device, high technology, and general B2B, Arshad leverages his cross-industry depth to create and implement high-impact solutions.
Jeffrey Danes is a consultant in the Chicago office. Jeff is part of the Sales Analytics and Benchmarking team that provides analytics and benchmarking insights across many of the firm’s projects and initiatives. He conducts data analysis, applies Alexander Group methodologies, and participates in client interviews and related fact-finding initiatives to provide recommendations to clients.
Matt Greenstein is a principal based out of the New York office. He works with clients across technology, life sciences and healthcare. He has responsibility for leading the firms Life Science and Analytical Instrument and Digital Transformation practices. His areas of focus include large scale transformation and integration across all commercial functions–tactical marketing, sales and service. Matt has global consulting experience and is known for his fact-based, hypothesis-driven, problem-solving style.
