How Novartis Broke Product Launch Records

The Challenge

As Executive Director, Head of Training and Development at Novartis, Kevin Kutler is responsible for ensuring that thousands of sales reps are prepared to represent their company.

A new product launch can be daunting. Reps must master hundreds of pages of complex scientific information. In a regulated industry like pharmaceuticals, it’s not enough for reps to simply understand the new information – they have to communicate that information in a compliant way.  Across a huge field force, making sure everyone is up to the right standard is a significant challenge.

Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, with revenues over $50B.

‍HQ: Basel, Switzerland
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"If you talk to any Head of Sales, what drives them crazy is inconsistency. When you have a field force of thousands, how do we create some consistency? How do we ensure we're using resources that allow reps to retain information and communicate it in a compliant way? And most importantly, how do we keep them engaged - how do we make it fun, so that they are prepared to do their job the best they can?"
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- Kevin Kutler, Executive Director, Head of Training & Development at Novartis
Prior to Learn to Win, sales reps needed to absorb PDF documents that were close to 400 pages long during the 4-week ‘home study’ portion of their new hire onboarding . During this home study period, reps had daily meetings with training managers  – but their managers had no insight into what reps actually understood and what they didn’t. It was too difficult and time-consuming to build a more efficient training approach in the legacy LMS, and there was no ‘off-the-shelf’ training available for unique Novartis drug information.

The Solution

Kevin chose Learn to Win because it combined actionable analytics for sales managers with learning science best practices.
"What attracted us to Learn to Win was the ability to get a ton of information to a representative in a digestible way. Product training modules usually involve close to 400 pages delivered via PDF. We used Learn to Win to convert those into microlearning, and up and down the line our reps loved it. They were more engaged, and it was easier for them to retain the information and execute consistently."
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- Kevin Kutler
Learn to Win partnered directly with sales trainers to transform the PDFs  into mobile-first micro-learning modules and assessments. Sales reps now had more effective tools for learning, and trainers gained visibility into rep knowledge gaps so they could teach more effectively during their daily meetings with reps.

How Learn to Win Upgraded Performance

In the pharmaceutical industry, TGaS benchmarking is used to assess a representative’s ability to retain, explain, and engage with new product information. When Novartis began working with Learn to Win, they already had a reputation for scoring well above benchmark. And Learn to Win pushed Novartis’ scores higher across every dimension!

Moreover, reps reported that Learn to Win dramatically increased their confidence, helped them master new material more quickly, and gave them feedback that helped them improve. Across the board, reps preferred training via Learn to Win.

From one of Kevin’s Training Leads at Novartis:  “I was a true skeptic at the beginning of this project. Now I couldn’t imagine doing training any other way.”

“We went all-in. We used Learn to Win for a specific product’s learning approach instead of the typical 400-page PDF learning module. Up and down the line, the reps that used the platform loved it.

They felt it was easier for them to retain the information, and our reps’ performance and engagement scores outperformed what we currently had at Novartis. I believe this technology will be a true competitive advantage for us.”
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Watch the Testimonial