Welcome to The Adapter’s Advantage: Breakthrough Moments that Lead to Success. In this episode, launch training specialist Courtney Ness shares her experience as a commercial biotech and pharmaceutical trainer. Learn how you can adapt to remote selling, develop a virtual presence, and proactively set your company apart.

Courtney Ness is the founder of Field Factor Training, which helps biotech and pharmaceutical clients reach their highest level of preparation for product launches. She works with commercial, marketing and medical leadership teams to develop custom training strategies and solutions that target disease and brand awareness.

Courtney has over seventeen years of selling, instructional design, facilitation and training experience. While in the field, she held positions in specialty sales and sales training for Genzyme, MedImmune and Forest Pharmaceuticals and has launched in over twenty therapeutic specialties.

In the biotechnology and pharmaceutical realm, product launches can move rapidly. Listen to this episode to hear Courtney’s insights on building and mobilizing sales teams quickly, how to overcome unpredictable hurdles, and the importance of accountability when there is no room for error.

Episode 11: Developing Advanced Selling Skills | Courtney Ness

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“Decisions are made very, very quickly. You don’t want to waste a lot of internal time overthinking something. Be fearless then just do it. Go on your gut. Don’t overthink any decision during the launch because there’s no time for that.” — Courtney Ness

From This Episode

Host Mark Magnacca: “What are the biggest challenges that are facing your pharma clients in terms of product launch in this virtual environment?”

Courtney Ness: “Can you launch a drug virtually? I’ve done it six times since March. So the answer is yes. What you can’t do is force your customer to get on the phone with you via Zoom or have a reception for the five layers of staff in their office. What tools are you using to adapt to that as a sales rep?

“Historically, you booked the appointment face to face. You have small conversations face to face. That takes you to bigger conversations that take place face to face. We really haven’t had a situation like this where we’ve had to turn into inside sales reps to create the surround sound that we need for our business.That’s the biggest challenge facing all of our clients right now in biotech and pharma. Because it really is unique.”

Mark: “What strategies are helping your clients adapt in that capacity?”

Courtney: “We’ve got about seven or eight different tactics. All of your modes of communication and technology and then a follow up mode of communication or technology that could be your second step to that person. Is it text to a phone call? Or I reach out to you on Twitter and ask you for your email? Or I get your email on one of the journal papers that you’ve published? How am I trying to reach out to you a little differently than my peers and how am I going to do that compliantly?

“Sales and compliance should be working with each other to come up with a way that proactively sets the reps apart from other representatives in the industry. Because we’ve got, quite frankly, 65,000 sales representatives just in pharma, and they’re all trying to get face to face with the doctor right now.

“So what is your company doing differently that sets you apart? You’ve got to be ready for that. It can’t be a reactive response. It’s got to be a proactive response because what we will see is an evolution of physicians who are not going to go back to seeing anyone at all. They don’t like to take time out of the day from their patients. And a lot of physicians have been adopting the virtual method of communication with companies so that they can stay educated.”

About Adapter’s Advantage

Our podcast features leaders from sales, training, and industry who share their personal journeys of transformation and how they are adapting to an ever-changing environment. As your host, I’ll introduce you to some of the most interesting and inspiring people I’ve met over the last twenty years.

The conversations dive into the ups and downs of my guests’ journeys. We focus on inflection points—the aha moments that, in retrospect, had a critical impact on their success. These interviews will leave you with practical, real-world advice that you can apply to your life.

Our world is in constant change. This podcast helps sales training, enablement, or learning and development professionals gain valuable insights to help themselves and their organizations adapt to this time of tremendous upheaval.

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