So you’re an MSL. You’ve completed your doctorate or medical training and you’re well prepared to meet with key opinion leaders (KOLs) and speak intelligently about your company’s products. But do the people who make decisions about your career – your boss, your boss’s boss, and so on – really know what you’re doing? Or how well you’re doing it? Furthermore, does senior management even know what an MSL does?

You’d be surprised how little top pharmaceutical executives know about medical affairs and the MSL role. That’s why tracking MSLs’ performance is so important to communicate the value that they bring to the organization.

MSL key performance indicators (KPIs) have evolved from solely tracking hard metrics, such as the number of KOL relationships and frequency of office visits, to incorporate more soft metrics, such as speaker capabilities and business acumen. Although soft metrics are notoriously harder to track, they’re really critical to showcasing the value that MSLs bring to the table.

Traditional MSL KPIs

Traditional MSL KPIs tend to be hard, activity-based metrics designed for liaisons to accumulate face-time with as many thought leaders as possible. These structures for these metrics originate from the sales rep model, where more details yield positive results for the company. But we all know that MSLs are not the same as sales reps and, therefore, their KPIs need to reflect something more.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely a place for hard-number KPIs to track MSL performance. Many of the traditional metrics demonstrate value to upper management. These KPIs include:

• The number of KOL relationships you manage – The analysis of the ideal number of relationships an MSL should manage goes back and forth. But the most common range is 35 to 45 relationships. But this number can and should vary for MSLs. An experienced MSL is likely able to handle more relationships. A newer MSL needs to build her KOL connections and nurture those relationships.
• The frequency with which you meet with KOLs – Senior executives want to know what you’re doing in the field. The number of times you meet with your KOLs is a common metric used to demonstrate how well the MSL team is covering the target audience. On average, MSLs schedule one meeting per business day with a KOL. MSLs aim to meet with each of their KOLs every two to three months.
• The number of KOLs providing feedback to the company – Although MSLs don’t truly serve a market research function, senior leadership does tend to place a high value on the feedback they gather from the field. Companies look for MSLs to bring back meaningful insight from 15% of their KOLs on a monthly basis.

There are many other hard metrics that companies use to measure MSLs, such as the percentage of time spent in the field, the number of medical conferences an MSL attends, and the number of scientific presentations delivered to healthcare providers. All of these present varying levels of value to the organization. But it’s MSLs’ soft skills that tend to bring the most value to the company.

Measuring Soft Skills with Soft Metrics

The idea of measuring a soft skill seems impractical. These skills aren’t something you can necessarily attach a number to. But companies want to see their MSLs possess certain characteristics. At the very least, top performers are rewarded for learning and demonstrating these skills. Let’s take a look at a few:

• How well you know your therapeutic area – This one goes without saying, but it still ranks highly for leaders when it comes to evaluating MSL performance. Learning your therapeutic area is something that comes with time, but also dedication. Are you putting the time in to learn the latest developments and treatments in your therapeutic area? Have you read the latest publications well enough to discuss them with your KOLs? These are the types of skills that top MSLs possess as they move up in their careers.
• Your business acumen – We know there’s a firewall separating medical and commercial goals. That doesn’t mean that an MSL can’t be a shrewd businessperson. So how do you measure business acumen? If you’re an MSL with eyes on success, you should know your business inside and out. That means knowing your therapeutic area, knowing your competitors and what they’re doing. And you should listen for information that your KOLs are volunteering about the diseases your company’s products treat. As you build that knowledge, you’ll be able to start demonstrating how all of this information impact’s the company’s direction. When you start doing that, your bosses will start to notice.
• Your speaking ability – Yes, you’re able to communicate with opinion leaders and HCPs. But public speaking is a skill unto itself. It incorporates presentation ability, both what you say and how you say it. This is a skill you can train yourself to be better at. With practice, you can walk into a room and deliver your presentation confidently. This will go a long way toward your perception as a leader within your MSL team.

Additional soft metrics that companies track include how well you train others, the depth of your KOL interactions, and the type of market insights you bring back from your KOL meetings.

You’ll Know it When You See It

Part of the challenge is that there isn’t a set of industry-wide metrics with which we measure MSL performance. If there were a consensus on what makes an MSL effective, it would have to combine the ability to build valuable KOL relationships (soft metric) with the number of those relationships the MSLS manages (hard metric). MSL performance is one of those things that’s hard to define and communicate up the chain. It boils down to knowing it when you see it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t skills you can’t practice routinely to improve as an MSL.