Reinventing Pharmaceutical Sales Forces (PH127)

Pharmaceutical Sales Management Report Sample

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 1, "Incorporating eDetailing and Closed-Loop Marketing," section 2: "Customer Relationship Management and Closed-Loop Marketing System." The complete report provides full details on emerging sales tools.

With the pharmaceutical sales arms race now officially over and even reversing course, companies that help their reps stand out among those left in the field will earn the types of close-knit relationships with doctors for which everyone yearns. Sales leaders must deploy a knowledgeable, engaging and well-equipped force.

One way that companies can ensure that their reps stand out from the crowd is by installing and running customer relationship management systems as well as closed-loop marketing systems.

CRM Systems

Many companies have customer relationship management systems in place. As shown in Figure 1.22 [data shown in full report], 59.5% of companies surveyed now own CRM tools. CRM systems help companies identify which doctors to call on, how often to call on them and when it is time to visit them. CRM systems also allow pharmaceutical companies to capture all points of communication between customers and the company, including when doctors phone call centers, receive marketing materials, visit Web content or seek out help at conventions.

With this data, companies can manage all channels of contact with the target and connect them. So, for instance, if a doctor goes to a convention and requests something from a company representative at the convention, that person would upload the request into the CRM and the CRM system would send that doctors rep an email informing them of the request.

With CRM systems in place at virtually all of the top pharmaceutical companies and many of the mid-level companies, adding a closed-loop marketing system to coincide with a CRM application will bring the next generation of service and improve pharmaceutical sales forces' efforts tremendously...

The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 2, "New Age Field Force Tactics," section 2, "Maximizing Sales Rep Success." The full report examines strategies and tactics of the "new look" field force.

Best Practices for In-Office Interactions

One of the most interesting trends emerging in the field today is the cross-training of reps on managed care and market access issues. With this knowledge, reps are assisting doctors to get reimbursement for their patients and navigate what can be confusing formularies of their clients. Reps also relay the latest market access changes regularly to make doctors aware of evolving market access situations.

Physicians focus on getting the right medicines to their patients and do not have enough time to keep track of every formulary change across the numerous insurance plans of their patients. Sales reps can - and should — keep their targets up-to-date on changes that affect their brands. This added level of service is something that the next generation of sales rep will have to do to stay competitive.

At one interviewed company, this service helped maintain market share when one of the company's products dropped a tier on a major formulary. At this company, sales reps preemptively communicated the change to targets but also told physicians that the company was providing rebates to cover the difference in patient costs. This assured doctors that leaving their patients on the same treatment regimen would not hurt customers' pocketbooks.

In the future, as the US moves more and more toward socialized medicine, reps will need to understand and communicate managed care and market access information...