"Using Tablets to sell Tablets----is that The Best Pharma Can Manage?”

Thinking Pharma would like to WELCOME its first Guest Blogger,
Chris Thomas from Oxford PharmaGenesis – UK.

Appearing at the Thinking Pharma Blog in the last week of every month!

I seem to have been attending meetings for the last 20 years or so where the breaking news is:

“The End of the Big Pharma Sales Force is Nigh.”

Big Pharma employs some of the most advanced thought leaders in R&D and marketing, but still see face-to-face encounters as the primary channel of promotion.

I do see evidence of a move towards more sophisticated selling models and structures.

For example, embracing key account management, but where is the paradigm shift in thinking?

Where is the use of the new technologies in which other industries uptake appears so advanced?

When will Pharma break away……

When will Pharma break away from the Sales Call?

Using technology to increase sales effectiveness is not a new concept.

Utilising Tablet PCs to sell tablets is where the smart Pharma Companies have been looking as they strive to capture more mind-share than their competitors.

The evolution of the technology assisted sales-force has seen us journey through ETMS to CRM systems, from laptops to PDAs, from smart-phones to Blackberry devices.

But, could the development of Tablet PCs really spell the end of the traditional paper-based detail aid in many a Pharma Sales-Force?

Such a development begs the question: “Is the online, interactive, technology enabled sales call more productive and how do sales representatives relate to Tablet PCs?

A New Model for Pharma Sales

Traditionally sales management models have been inside-out in that they focus on assessing internal sales process and performance.

Now, thought leaders and early adopters in big Pharma are turning towards models usually more associated with consumer goods sales and marketing.

They are identifying the customer as their primary asset and adopting customer centricity as their mantra.

Implicit in this approach is a strategic shift to a physician-centric service model.

So from a representative’s perspective, they have a maximum chance of success if they can deliver tailored messages personalised to the physician.

Tablet PC technology integrated with a CRM system allows collection of the multiple company touch-points experienced by the physician including previous calls, insight analysis of this information in real time, and pre-call brand assets engine management for the representative.

For example, structuring of the ‘detail flow’, delivering tailored information and targeted messages for key physician segments and even individual physicians.

Hence the essence of this “closed loop technology” is the real time application of customised content to customers.

Accenture have reported that Pharma companies piloting CLP have increased average physician face time from 90 seconds to 5 minutes and significantly improved call productivity.

Can a New Sales Model Make a Difference?

Are there real life examples of technology assisting sales performance and impacting on the bottom line?

Well I have looked extensively and cannot find really robust data to support a positive impact of CLP on the bottom-line.

Indeed Rich Bavasso, President of Exploria, is quoted as stating that the analysts have reviewed CLP progress over the last 8 years and found that results indicating an increase in sales are hard to come by.

However, the analysts also points out that without tablet PC ‘detailing’, eSig, multi-channel marketing, unified communication and other desired customer touch point integration is simply not possible.

Where to Next for Big Pharma Sales?

So who will break the mould? Can the mould actually be broken?

Who will facilitate technology-enabled direct access in real-time to product information, investigators and KOLs?

Will any big Pharma company take the quantum leap and drive channel access rather than peddling product information by face-to-face encounters, no matter how sophisticated?

The latest technology explosion is in the area of Social Media. Typically, in its risk averse fashion, big Pharma has been slow to adopt.

Take a look at www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-pharma-social-media-wiki/ which houses every social media project created by Pharma to date.

Sure there will be a myriad of problems to address, not the least of which will be regulatory and code of practice issues.

But will Pharma wait while companies like P&G, Tesco and Toyota show the way?

When will big Pharma and its brands become all-a-twitter?

(Biog: Chris Thomas is Marketing Partner at Oxford PharmaGenesis™, a global medical content and strategic marketing consultancy. He can be contacted at chris@pharmagenesis.com)

(Tomorrow’s Blog: Social Media – Someone’s going to have to Pay for this?)