For UK pharmaceutical and life sciences leaders
Your reps are hitting call targets but your sales are not moving
High activity with flat outcomes usually means a targeting, messaging, or access problem, not a motivation one. With UK field reps costing tens of thousands in base salary alone, a misaligned field force is an expensive way to stand still.
Two minutes. Solva follows up with specific field force optimisation options.
- High call rates but stagnant or declining prescription numbers for key products
- Field reps reporting difficulty securing meetings with target HCPs or getting past gatekeepers
- Sales forecasts consistently missed despite high activity levels from the field team
- A disconnect between marketing campaigns and the messages being delivered by the field force
- Wasted resources on ineffective sales activities and travel
- Increased administrative burden for managers tracking unproductive efforts
- Significant revenue loss from underperforming products and missed sales targets
- Increased cost per acquisition of new prescribers or market share
- Damage to the company's reputation among key HCPs and healthcare institutions
- Perception of the company as less innovative or customer-centric
- The primary root causes stem from inadequate targeting strategies, leading field teams to engage with healthcare professionals (HCPs) who are not key decision-makers or prescribers for specific products.
- This is often compounded by generic messaging that fails to resonate with specific HCP needs or market dynamics, and significant barriers to access, such as restrictive clinic policies or competition for HCP time.
- Systemic issues like outdated CRM systems, lack of integrated data analytics, and insufficient training on value-based selling further exacerbate these problems.
80% of sales outcomes are typically generated by 20% of sales efforts or clients (Malbek.io, 2026)
How to fix it
Analysing call data against actual decision-maker mapping typically reveals the gap within two weeks. The intervention is usually a combination of territory redesign, message refinement, and access strategy.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this problem persist?
Field team effectiveness problems are rarely motivation problems. They are almost always targeting, messaging, or access problems. The team is calling on the wrong people, with the wrong message, or without the access they need.
What is the cost of leaving it unaddressed?
The average base salary for a pharmaceutical sales representative in the UK is around £55,000 (Aaron Wallis, 2024)
This is exactly what I do with UK private practices. Answer the few questions above and I'll come back personally with where to start. Paul.