It can be said that the product manager is the central link of the company's product management system. In marketing practice, if an enterprise can give full play to the functions of the team led by the product manager, it will greatly improve the brand image of products in business difficulties, or quickly improve the visibility of products in the same industry. But the reality is that many pharmaceutical companies do not give full play to the role of product managers, which has a certain impact on the product management of enterprises. Then, what problems need to be solved in the role of product manager in China's pharmaceutical industry at present, and how can we better play the role of product manager? In this issue, three people in the industry are invited to discuss this issue.
You should improve your quality if you start late.
Our country's product manager started late. Because the product management system has been implemented in China for a short time, the decision makers of domestic pharmaceutical enterprises have insufficient understanding of its role. It is precisely because of this reason that enterprise leaders obviously lack experience and low understanding in the functional orientation of product managers, the coordination of related functional departments, and the talent selection mechanism, which makes product managers unable to better play the effectiveness of marketing planning and brand management. In this regard, domestic pharmaceutical enterprises should learn from the experience of foreign capital or joint ventures. In these enterprises, product managers have become the center of enterprise marketing. Most of them are MBA students who have received systematic knowledge of enterprise management. They not only have certain working experience, but also have rich knowledge of enterprise management. Have the comprehensive working ability of market research, marketing planning, cost accounting, profit and loss prediction and analysis, input-output index control, internal and external communication, etc. , and easy to obtain full authorization and good performance, making the company's products become the leading brands in the industry. On the other hand, in China, most product managers of pharmaceutical enterprises have not received formal training, let alone formal MBA education. Many of them don't know what role product managers can play in enterprise marketing, and some don't even know what they want to do and where to start. Many of them focus on sales, paying too much attention to local and short-term sales data, which is not much different from the traditional marketing department and does not reflect its own uniqueness; Some people pay attention to academic and medical professional knowledge, but lack market research and advanced market concepts, and the sales strategies formulated have little guiding effect on market sales. More sadly, some product managers are passive in service, just follow the sales staff, simply exercise the sales support function and lack the guidance function, which can not attract the attention of senior managers. In addition, at present, the information network construction of pharmaceutical market is not standardized, and the spread of some non-authoritative one-sided information affects the accurate judgment of product managers on the market, so it is difficult for product managers to make a difference. Because there is no action, they have no position in the enterprise.
In view of the above situation, the author believes that as a product manager, we should not sell ourselves short first, but should make more efforts to improve our quality. We should seize every opportunity to learn relevant business knowledge. First, we should participate in various trainings organized by enterprises. For a product manager who is looking forward to continuous improvement, the opportunity of professional training should be regarded as the best welfare treatment for employees and hard participation. Second, when there is no such training opportunity, do more self-study in your spare time, including learning business management knowledge and comprehensively cultivating your own quality. Only by improving their own quality can they play a greater role in enterprise marketing activities. (party) according to
Market chaos plays a team role.
The author has different views. In China, it is difficult for product managers to play their roles because of the big environment, which is different from western countries. The reason why the function of product manager is not well played is not only the product manager himself, but also the environmental reasons to a great extent. In China, the macro-control ability of the pharmaceutical market is weak, and the formulation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations are seriously lagging behind, which leads to some irregular commercial competition behaviors and corrupt atmosphere that disrupts the market economic order, such as "selling with gold", which everyone hates most. This highly irregular competitive behavior has seriously affected the normal play of the role of product manager. Because of this, the leaders of some enterprises look at the problem one-sidedly, only paying attention to sales performance and ignoring the long-term development of enterprises. When formulating market management policies, it is obviously short-sighted, and it is impossible to give product managers their due status and adopt their opinions well. In this case, it is impossible for the product manager to play a good role. In addition, China's market economy is still in the process of continuous improvement, and the introduction of some policies is often a process of continuous exploration, such as the well-known separation of medicines, centralized bidding, and adjustment of social security catalogues. We admit that the introduction of these policies is necessary, but to be honest, its impact on the market is also very great, which also makes some product managers difficult to grasp and at a loss.
In this case, the author believes that as a product manager, we must give full play to the collective wisdom, the potential of team employees, make the work effective, and let leaders and employees see the role of themselves and the team, so as to attract their attention and get their due position in the enterprise. Communicate with team members and constantly adjust product positioning and marketing strategy according to market changes. We should organize staff training regularly to improve the quality of staff, and don't make ourselves a supplement and vassal of the sales department of the enterprise. Of course, as a product manager, you must have professional qualities. When your performance is not good and you are not valued by the enterprise, you should also have a positive work attitude and not have resistance. As long as you are in office, you must do your best for the development of the enterprise. As long as you do this, I believe that everyone's eyes are discerning and will definitely give you a proper position. (Wu Xingbing)
Avoid "rule by man" and communicate with senior management more.
In my opinion, the influence of the big environment is only one aspect. Under the same blue sky, we can see that some enterprises play a better role as product managers, while others do not. What does this mean? The influence of the big environment is only one aspect. The reason why some product managers can't play their role is largely the problem of the enterprise itself. For example, it is true that the leaders of some companies attach great importance to sales performance, but as the top management of enterprises, they should also see the long-term development of enterprises and the strategic problems of enterprises. From these aspects, the top management of the enterprise should at least give the product manager the same status and policy support as the sales department, and should not favor one over the other and affect the work of the product manager. If decision-makers do not attach importance to the work of product managers, even if correct product strategies and plans are formulated, they cannot be effectively implemented. In addition, the traditional culture of China has deeply branded the enterprise: the rule of man. The bosses of many enterprises have a sense of pride in their bones, especially the bosses of some private enterprises. They think it is not easy to develop from scratch, and they always think that they are better than others, so that product managers can't communicate with them normally and effectively, and they can't get enough authorization or entrust them with heavy responsibilities. These factors also affect the function of product manager.
Therefore, the author believes that as a product manager, we must first have a quality, that is, communication skills. Without communication skills, you can't be a good product manager. It is necessary to communicate with the top management in time and effectively, be a good propagandist, let the top management realize the great role of product managers and create a good working environment for themselves. In addition, within the enterprise, product managers should be given their due status from the organization and should not be placed in the marketing department. It is best to report directly to the vice president or marketing director. Only when they have the same status as other departments can they work equally in the enterprise. Once you have your proper position, as a product manager, you should boldly carry out your work, establish your own prestige, implement and supervise all departments of the company to implement product strategies and plans; Supervise the relevant functional departments to strengthen the macro guidance of sales and the management of sales personnel, promote and publicize products according to the company's unified strategy and planning, and avoid irregular short-term sales behavior. Here, the product manager must find his own position and do his own job well in order to really play his role. (Wang) (Planning Dragon Sail in this issue)