AmerisourceBergen: Building a smarter, data-driven sales engine (2024)

AmerisourceBergen is one of the world’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors. During the pandemic, they saw the opportunity to design a new go-to-market model to better align their sales resources to accounts of various sizes, which include healthcare systems and pharmacies. The goal: to set sales reps up for success with more specificity and customized care. To tailor coverage models to customers’ unique needs, AmerisourceBergen identified two areas — assigning accounts to sales reps and providing real-time data to help sales reps improve performance — to address within its new organizational structure.

To start, improving the efficiency and accuracy of sales rep assignments was critical. Historically, AmerisourceBergen applied an intricate set of guidelines across more than 200,000 accounts — an arduous process. They needed a fast, consistent way to pair accounts with the sales group that had the right customer knowledge.

Next, AmerisourceBergen wanted to increase the sales teams’ effectiveness by having more targeted customer conversations based onreal-time data and insights. Previously, to prepare for weekly customer outreach, sales reps had to scour data from a multitude of sources. They spent hours planning, instead of using that time to identify opportunities or deepen customer relationships. Sales management also wanted to provide insights to boost seller productivity by cutting down on the time sales reps spent getting up to speed on an account.

Determined to give sales reps what they needed to deepen customer relationships, AmerisourceBergen’s Sales Center of Excellence (SCOE) turned to PwC to help bring out the most of its new coverage model.

Building trustthrough results

The newly defined sales plays turn data into statuses and suggestions that help drive performance. Rather than waiting for the sales operations team to share learnings from monthly reports, sales reps have an on-demand aggregated overview of their personal and team performance. By tracking lead execution and call script usage, AmerisourceBergen can adjust the tool to improve future lead conversion.

The SPM tool’s daily updates give sales reps a holistic, real-time view of their portfolio. It helps them answer key questions like how they are performing, how their portfolio is performing and what relevant sales plays they may want to initiate that week. For example, if a customer contract is up in the coming months, the system triggers a multistep sales play. Sales reps receive proactive insights and predictive scores assessing each customer’s risk of noncompliance. PwC also built in a feedback loop so AmerisourceBergen can fine-tune its process toward customer satisfaction and revenue in real time.

A sophisticated enginefor pairing accounts and reps

AmerisourceBergen’s process of assigning sales reps to customer accounts needed automation. The rules governing assignments relied on complex data that in some cases was siloed offline. PwC helped AmerisourceBergen understand its master data and decide how assignments would be made. To consolidate data from these different sources, PwC developed a custom rules engine using Alteryx, working with the SCOE to codify and program over 200 assignment rules to automate the workflow.

To tie this new tool back into AmerisourceBergen’s existing customer relationship management system (CRM), PwC created territory records inSalesforceto serve as a stable link between accounts and sales reps. With no exceptions and fewer bandwidth constraints, the rules became standardized across the organization with seamless linkages between platforms.

Now, accounts fed intoAlteryxare automatically assigned to a territory in Salesforce, instantly matching the customer, lead and referral to the right sales rep. The rules engine also audits and updates territory records daily, proactively correcting potential errors caused by movement and attrition.

Results

Unlockingbetter sales and customer service

AmerisourceBergen’s sales team has reclaimed time to better understand its customers, proactively anticipate their needs and share new offerings to drive growth. The SCOE automated over 200,000 accounts through the rules engine, while the SPM tool has been widely praised by sales reps.

Thousands of hours previously spent on pre-call planning are now directed toward executing data-backed sales plays. More than simply a timesaver, the tool is also a revenue generator. Highly engaged SPM users grew their sales by 3%-4% compared to those that had not yet fully adopted the tool and its insights into their customer service approach.

Most importantly, the tools PwC delivered have supported AmerisourceBergen’s mission of top-tiercustomer service. AmerisourceBergen now has the confidence that all of its customers are dealing with the correct sales reps, equipped withdata-driven insightsto handle their needs.

3%-4%

Revenue growth in accounts serviced by a seller that used the sales performance solution

75%

Reduction in time spent assigning accounts as a result of the rules engine

200k+

Account-to-territory associations automated, creating a 50% increase in account performance visibility