Pharmaceutical manufacturer account managers are critical to developing and maintaining favorable relationships with payer customers amid a complex managed care environment. HIRC's report, Best-in-Class Account Manager Insights, provides nominations of best-in-class account managers from managed markets key decision-makers, and examines the key characteristics of those nominated as best. The report addresses the following questions:

• Which very large, large and mid-size firms' account managers receive the most best-in-class nominations?
• Which firms lead in best account manager nominations across health plan pharmacy directors, health plan medical directors, and pharmacy benefit manager executives?
• Which account manager attributes operationally define the best-in-class?

Key Finding: The best-in-class account managers in 2024 are described as responsive and knowledgeable of their products, disease states, and customers' needs.

Account Managers from Novo Nordisk are Most Frequently Nominated as Best-in-Class. Commercial health plan pharmacy and medical directors, as well as pharmacy benefit manager executives, were asked to nominate the best account managers from very large, large, and mid-size pharmaceutical companies. Novo Nordisk leads with the greatest number of best-in-class account manager nominations, followed by AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer. Novo Nordisk is noted for their regular follow-up and understanding of customer needs, while AbbVie is noted as having proactive account managers with strong market knowledge.

The full report provides a complete listing of best-in-class account manager nominations as well as the rationale behind the nominations.

Six Descriptive Categories Operationally Define Best-in-Class Account Managers. Managed markets customers were asked to explain their rationale for best account manager nominations. Analyses reveal that their evaluations fall within six key descriptive factor categories: (1) Knowledge, (2) Relationship Management, (3) Role Expectation, (4) General Impressions, (5) Conceptual Skills, and (6) Interpersonal & Social Skills.

Account manager knowledge, relationship management behaviors, and fulfilling role expectations account for the majority of best-in-class nominations and should be among the key focus areas of training and development.

Research Methodology and Report Availability. In December 2023 and January 2024, HIRC surveyed 80 decision makers from commercial health plans and pharmacy benefit managers. Online surveys and follow-up telephone interviews were used to gather information. The complete report, Best-in-Class Account Manager Insights, is available now to HIRC’s Best Programs and Best People subscribers at www.hirc.com.