TEST CASE

Adaptive Selling
Mar-07 / 02
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1

Samit Mathur was a new Medical Representative for Ace Pharmaceuticals. He had
finished his MSc in Biology from Pune University and had been lucky to almost immediately
land a job with Ace which was one of Indias leading pharma companies. . At Ace, Mathur
received an intensive two month training programme which focused on product knowledge, but
also covered some selling techniques. On completion of his training, Mathur was assigned a
territory in the suburban Pune.
Mathurs territory had a mix of general practitioners, specialists, small nursing homes and
medical stores. Although this was his first job, Mathur was enthusiastic because he believed that
he had learnt a lot about Ace products during his training period. However, at the end of his
month in the field, Mathur was disappointed. He had followed all the selling steps suggested by
his trainers but he did not seem to be getting anywhere with the doctors and chemists in his
territory. Often he had to wait for a long time to meet the doctors who ran private clinics. He was
not sure if doctors were prescribing Ace products because chemists seldom ordered even the
popular Ace drugs. Mathur wondered if he needed more experience.
At the end of the second month, Mathurs comfort with his job had not improved, so he
spoke to his field manager who suggested that Mathur spend a couple of days traveling with Ajit
Palekar, the star Ace MR in the Pune region. At first Mathur was pained at the idea of traveling
with another MR who was almost his own age and had worked for just over a year at Ace,
however he decided to give it a try and requested his field manager to speak to Palekar and fix up
a joint visit the following day. Shortly thereafter, Palekar came up to Mathur and informed him
that they could meet at a popular restaurant at Ferguson College Road at 9.30 am the next day and
set out on the round together.
The next day, the two MRs finished a leisurely breakfast of idli and sabudana-vada, and
proceeded on Palekars motor cycle for the first call which happened to be a chemist shop in
Chatusringhi. Just before reaching the store, Palekar stopped his bike, alighted and took off his
tie, folded it carefully and put it into his briefcase. The store had just opened and Mr. Shanbhag,
the proprietor was relatively free. Palekar introduced Mathur and immediately started talking to
Shanbhag about a Marathi play Palekar had seen the previous evening. The conversation about
the play continued as the chemist made his own observations about the acting, the sets and the
lighting. Mathur was waiting for Palekar to steer the talk to pharma products and was surprised
that there had been no discussion of business till then. Finally the conversation about the play
ended and Palekar
mentioned a new drug that had been introduced by Ace, and highlighted a few of its
features. Mathur was dumbfounded at the sequence of events, they had spent almost 15 minutes
in the shop and yet Palekar had hardly talked about the products for more than a couple of
minutes. Even more amazing, as they were about to leave, Mathur heard Shanbhag tell Palekar
1

This case was prepared by Professor Avinash Mulky on the basis of generalized experience. It is intended to be used as a basis of
class discussion and not to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Adapted from What makes
him so successful?, in Anderson, R. Essentials of Personal Selling. Prentice Hall, N.J., USA (1995)

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that he would place a trial order for ther new drug with the Ace distributor salesman who was to
visit the shop later that day.
The next call was to Dr. Shripad Kale an orthopaedic surgeon Sanjeevani Hospital about
10 minutes away. Palekar had stopped before he reached the hospital and had worn his tie again.
After registering their particulars at the hospital security staff, the two MRs waited in the lobby
till they were escorted to Dr. Kales office by his personal assistant Mr. Madhavan. On the way
up to Dr. Kales third floor office, Mathur was surprised to hear Palekars conversation with
Madhavan. Palekar was enquiring if Madhavans daughter had adjusted well to her new nursery
school. Before they reached Dr. Kales office, Palekar pulled out some product brochures from
his briefcase and handed them over to Madhavan with a brief introduction about each product. He
also left a sample of a new Ace product. Mathur could not believe what he was noticing. It had
seemed to him that only doctors made decisions about drugs, but here was Palekar actually
promoting to a non-medical assistant. The MRs got only two minutes with Dr. Kale who was due
to undertake an arthroscopic surgery shortly. The doctor asked a few questions about the new Ace
drug before leaving. As he left, he said Leave your sample and brochures with Madhavan. On
the way back to the lobby, Palekar stopped off to see Madhavan again. I think Doctor will
prescribe this new drug. You can call me next week to find out if he needs any more information.
The next call was to an office in the basement which housed the purchase section of the
hospital. At the entrance to the office, Palekar ran into a nurse whom he greeted by her first nameMary. Mathur was again surprised to hear Palekar speak to Mary in a friendly way and enquire if
she had had a good trip to Kollam in Kerala. He also asked Mary if she had brought back any
pickle for him from her native place. Mathur thought to himself that this kind of behaviour was
completely unprofessional. How could someone who wasted so much time in small talk and
avoided all the selling steps taught in the training be considered such a good PSR in the company.
Palekar seemed to be changing his style and approach on each call.
The last call was to Dr. Batlivala in the Pune Cantonment area. Palekar had nodded to the
receptionist and had quietly sat down in the waiting room. Two patients were sent in to meet the
doctor and it was a good 25 minutes before the two MRs were ushered into the doctors presence.
Once inside the doctors room, Palekar was a model of seriousness. He remained standing until
Dr. Batlivala asked him to take a seat. He then opened his briefcase, took out some brochures, and
put them on the table in a way that the doctor could read the main points. Then he started out on a
rehearsed presentation just as the MRs had been taught in the training sessions. Mathur noted that
Palekar gave to- the- point replies to the doctors questions and avoided expanding on
opportunities to talk about other drugs in the companys range. Approximately 5 minutes later,
Palekar got to the end of the presentation and told Dr. Batlivala that he hoped the new drug would
be prescribed by the doctor. After a few seconds, the doctor agreed to write prescriptions as and
when he came across patients with symptoms the drug addressed.
It was almost lunch time and Palekar asked Mathur if he was hungry enough for a meal
of cutlets and biryani at Dorabjee.