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900% increase in marketshare among high-prescribing physicians,
$1.6 million savings in first year of implementation,
$4.7 million savings projected in three years

The Company
Using the SumTotal Systems learning management system (LMS), Wyeth Sales Training developed a new blended learning program that was able to consolidate more than fourand-a-half days of sales orientation and training into less than two days. The company saved $1.6 million in training costs the first year and projects $4.7 million in savings over the next three years.

As a result of this sales training, the company was able to increase marketshare of a product more than 900% among high-prescribing physicians, representing thousands of dollars per sales representative.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women's health care, cardiovascular disease, central nervous system, inflammation, hemophilia, oncology and vaccines. Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The company's major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.

The Challenge
Lengthy instructor-led training for new sales hires became costly and inefficient

Wyeth recruits between 700 and 1,000 new salespeople each year. Through its original new-hire training program, Wyeth required each new hire to attend a four-and-a-half day orientation-training program on site at corporate headquarters in suburban Philadelphia. This was followed by two or more days spent with district sales managers in the field gaining familiarity with local markets and procedures. The total annual cost for new hire training was about $10.1 million per year.

In addition to budget costs, there were also significant intangible costs. These included productivity lost from new hires waiting for the next training session; the four-and-a-half days new hires spent in training; and, for district managers, the time it took to reinterpret the corporate policy to new hires in the context of their respective state and local regulations.

The SumTotal Solution
Utilize SumTotal to reduce time and costs associated with new hire training

Wyeth needed a standards-based LMS to accommodate existing legacy content, both developed in-house and from third-party providers. In addition, the LMS would need to be highly scalable to reach a large, widely dispersed work force to reduce the high costs associated with on-site training.

By having training available through the Internet blended with in-person training, responsibility would be decentralized, shifting management to the district manager. So, rather than having to wait for a lengthy, on-site session at headquarters, district managers could schedule training days so that new hires could become familiar with their district. New hires could become productive immediately.

SumTotal was the ideal choice. Its standards-based architecture allowed Wyeth Sales Training to incorporate content from a variety of sources including legacy content, and SumTotal's Web-based platform could scale to accommodate thousands of users all over the country and the world.

The training is now a blend of online lessons, readings, and one-to-one training covering company procedures, product information, selling technique, and regulations. Regardless of the delivery method, SumTotal tracks each new hire's progress.

Ultimately, Wyeth's new blended learning approach allows district managers much greater flexibility in getting new hires in their regions up to speed on corporate policy and the local market (a benefit they describe as “priceless”). In addition, the program is highly effective in enabling new hires to become productive almost immediately after starting their jobs.

The Results
900% increase in marketshare, savings of $1.6 million during the first year, $4.7 million in three years.

Wyeth conducted an analysis to see what savings they realized from their SumTotal implementation. For the first year, Wyeth expects to save $1.6 million, and $4.7 million over three years.

“We can now deliver and track more information and training faster than ever before,” says Steve Wells, Wyeth's Director of Learning and Performance Group. “Our people want the knowledge they need to do their jobs better and more quickly.” Wells also explains that as the sales force becomes ever more computer savvy, Wyeth will be able to meet their
expectations for online training and information with SumTotal's tremendous ability to scale and incorporate dynamic new content and media.

The company also analyzed the effectiveness of the training, by focusing on the increase in sales of just one pharmaceutical product. The company found that it’s Aspen-powered sales training was so effective that its salespeople were able to move marketshare for this one product from .5% to 5% among high prescribing physicians – an increase of 900%.

Both district manager and new hires are enthusiastic about the new program as well as the sales results of new hires that go through it. District managers are thrilled to have a system with which they can get new salespeople immediately oriented to the company and their respective districts. A common sentiment heard from district managers is, “I’ll never go back to the old way again.”

For their part, new hires who may have had to wait as much as a month for training can be in the field in a matter of days, contributing to the company's revenue more quickly. Most new hires have requested that Wyeth use SumTotal for all its training programs.

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(SumTotal, SumTotal Enterprise and the marks relating to SumTotal products and services referenced herein are either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of SumTotal Systems, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.)

 

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