HIRC's Account Manager Performance report benchmarks 40+ leading pharmaceutical account management teams based on managed care customer evaluations of account manager skills and overall quality. The report provides insights into critical account manager success factors, as well as customer perspectives and expectations. The report addresses the following questions:

• Which very large, large, and mid-size pharmaceutical firms rank highest in account manager presence and quality scores?
• How do manufacturers benchmark across ten account manager core and consultative competencies?
• Which core and consultative skills are most important for account managers to demonstrate? What opportunities exist for improvement?
• How do pharmaceutical firms benchmark in engagement and quality ratings across health plan pharmacy director, health plan medical director, and pharmacy benefit manager managed market segments?

Key Finding: Leading account managers excel in both core and consultative stills by demonstrating an understanding of customer priorities/needs, acting as trusted advisors, and utilizing high-level knowledge of healthcare market dynamics and trends.

Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Lilly Rank Highest in Account Manager Quality Across Managed Market Segments. Merck earns the highest overall account manager quality score across pharmacy directors, followed by Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Spark. Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and BMS lead in medical directors' ratings, and Lilly earns the highest rating across PBM respondents, followed by Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline.

In addition, HIRC calculated manufacturers' overall account manager scores based on managed markets customer evaluations of account managers in two key categories:

• Presence: Ability to rate the account manager
• Quality: Overall quality of the account manager

The full report provides presence & quality scores for the complete listing of 40+ firms.

Leading Account Management Teams Excel in Both Core and Consultative Competencies. In addition to overall quality, managed markets key decision-makers were asked to consider account manager performance across ten critical core and consultative skills. The highest ranked account managers perform well in core competencies, such as demonstrating high-level knowledge of healthcare market dynamics and trends, and set themselves apart by excelling in key consultative skills, such as demonstrating an understanding of customer priorities and needs, and acting as a trusted advisor.

Account teams from Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer consistently lead in performance across the most important core and consultative skills to managed markets customers. The full report details account manager performance across 40+ pharmaceutical manufacturers. Additionally, benchmark data is segmented by the following:

• Commercial Health Plan Pharmacy Directors
• Commercial Health Plan Medical Directors
• Pharmacy Benefit Manager Executives

Research Methodology and Report Availability. In January, HIRC surveyed 86 key decision-makers from leading commercial health plans and pharmacy benefit managers. Online surveys and follow-up telephone interviews were used to gather information. The Account Manager Performance report is part of the Best Programs and Best People Service and is now available to subscribers at www.hirc.com.