Good pharmaceutical salespeople, much like fine wine and cheese, can get better with age. Then again, like fine wine and cheese, they can also go bad if they’re neglected or improperly cared for. As Rayna Herman of HealthStrategies Group points out, there are certain tenured sales representatives who, after a period of growth and steady improvement, become complacent and unconsciously allow their skill levels to drop.

Herman says that these reps, who she refers to as “fallen heroes,” have typically been operating in the same territory or market for a long time and come to feel that they can sell “on relationships.” For such representatives, she says, the issue of “waning skills” is a primary concern.

Herman believes that sales managers should be the key figures in watching for signs that tenured reps may be sliding into fallen hero territory.

“This should be a constant focus for sales managers,” Herman says. “Having a competency model with regular skill assessments, and tying the representatives’ career ladder to skill development can help. Most leading organizations are changing the way they think about tenured representative training from a set curriculum to continuous learning throughout their career.”

This “continuous learning” needs to be updated to reflect the needs of the veteran sales rep, however. To avoid generating a “been there, done that” attitude, Herman says, sales organizations should develop training that engages tenured reps with its ready applicability.

“Organizations should provide a choice of courses so that managers can work with representatives to select courses aligned with individual developmental needs,” Herman explains. “Trainers need to link all programs to the ‘real world’ trainers should ask themselves what participants will do differently in their territory the first day after attending training. Tenured representatives are energized by the opportunity to interact with and learn from their peers so case studies and hands-on exercises with brainstorming are also well received. Finally, trainers can engage tenured representatives as facilitators to ‘champion’ concepts within courses with a mixed audience.”

But the hardworking trainers’ efforts to keep tenured reps engaged don’t end with the reps themselves, Herman notes. Managers too must be brought into the loop to adapt their coaching style to emphasize areas that will keep more experienced salespeople “in the game.”

“Trainers can help sales managers adopt a more ‘consultative’ approach as tenure increases,” Herman says. “Managers should be skilled at working with representatives to identify areas of development. Trainers can also encourage sales managers to share company perspectives to provide representatives with context for their day-to-day objectives.”