How Pfizer Adapts Its Sales Strategy for Latin America

Selling pharmaceuticals in Latin America is not the same as selling them in the United States or Western Europe. Right off the bat, I can identify four big differences. First, much of the population lacks health insurance that covers prescription drugs for common conditions such as hypertension, arthritis pain, and high cholesterol. So if a doctor prescribes a medication priced at 100 pesos, that is what it will cost the patient. Second, in most Latin American countries, pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to advertise directly to consumers. Third, Latin American countries offer limited protection for intellectual property, so consumers have more opportunities to choose generic drugs, which are often produced locally. Finally, the culture places a higher value on face-to-face interactions, so sales representatives tend to be granted more time with doctors. To be successful in Latin America, Pfizer has had to learn alternative ways — which take into account cultural, economic, and regulatory differences — to market our products. Latin American patients are extremely sensitive to price. As a result, we have devoted resources to working with pharmacists, who play an important role in helping patients choose medications. We focus on pricing and discounts or programs to help the pharmacist or pharmacy owner understand why it makes sense to respect doctors’ prescriptions for our products. The U.S. market is dominated by large chain drugstores, but most Latin American markets have many small, independent pharmacies. It is important to build commercial relationships with them. Because we cannot advertise directly to consumers in Latin America, we conduct extensive brand building, much of it through community outreach programs. For example, we provide free antiparasitic drugs for school-age children in many of these countries. We hope to improve their overall health — and we also hope that when parents are selecting medicines, they will recognize that Pfizer not only produces innovative products but is interested in the well-being of their community. In addition, we seek to position our brand in such a way that the emerging middle classes are open to choosing products from a recognized multinational company like ours. After all, most people want what the doctor prescribed rather than an alternative. When our Latin American sales reps meet with physicians, they are able to have in-depth conversations. During one visit, they might talk about the doctor’s successes and challenges in treating hypertensive patients who are resistant to first-line medicines. A few weeks later they might discuss how patients are responding to a cholesterol medication such as Lipitor. These sales reps receive the same training as our reps in the United States, Germany, France, and other countries. If you translated the conversations, you would find that they are similar whether they take place in France or in Mexico. However, in Latin America these discussions may start and end a bit differently, because many of our reps stay in their territories longer and can develop deeper relationships with doctors. One of the most fascinating aspects of our sales efforts in Latin America is that every country varies somewhat. When I started in this role, nearly four years ago, my new colleagues told me that Spanish is spoken a bit differently in each of these markets. They were correct. And the Portuguese spoken in Brazil, the largest market in Latin America, sounds very little like the language spoken in Portugal. Emerging markets are fast-moving places — you have to be able to form and test hypotheses in a timely manner and, if necessary, revamp them quickly. The capacity to succeed in Latin America rests in a company’s ability to build trust, adapt locally, and get close to its customers. This post is an excerpt from “The View from the Field,” a series of short essays in which six executives describe their sales-related success. The series appeared in the July-August issue of the magazine.

How Pfizer Adapts Its Sales Strategy for Latin America

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