The COVID-19 pandemic certainly changed how we live and interact with each other, especially when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry. Although innovative technology was in place before the pandemic, now, pharmaceutical sales representatives are leveraging all the technology available to them when it comes to engaging with new customers. At Peak Pharma Solutions, we’ve learned to adapt and take advantage of the available technology in today’s ‘new normal.’
Here, we wanted to touch upon some of the ways the pandemic has forced sales reps and physicians to adapt their customer engagement processes.
Pharmaceutical Companies Were Forced to Adapt
In terms of pharmaceutical companies, the pandemic forced many to adapt their thinking in terms of how customers are reached, as well as readjust their supply chains, manufacturing processes, and clinical trials. Many that had relied on face-to-face sales and interactions with physicians before the pandemic had to make drastic changes to stay afloat. These changes consisted of implementing virtual sales practices to continue interacting with customers.
To give you a better idea of just how much pharmaceutical and medical sales representatives have begun relying on virtual interactions, here’s some information from a Global Data poll: In the study, conducted recently, 75% out of 456 respondents said that virtual sales technology would be here to stay, even post-pandemic.
Some of the Technology Being Leveraged by Pharma Sales Reps
In another GlobalData poll, 30% of more than 300 respondents stated that video calls were the best way to interact with current and potential customers. However, some of the other technology that is being leveraged by medical and pharmaceutical sales representatives include email, phone calls, messaging via Whatsapp and other platforms, online events and webinars, online engagement platforms such as Veeva, and communication via company websites and social media pages.
One of the main reasons why video calls are at the forefront of virtual sales technology is because they still provide that face-to-face interaction many found so reliable pre-pandemic. Although a video call can’t fully capture a sales rep’s or customer’s body language, they do capture facial expressions and other non-verbal cues that help establish rapport between clients and pharmaceutical sales representatives.
Contact us today for more about our pharmaceutical sales representatives!
Peak Pharma Solutions specializes in a range of services in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to our pharmaceutical sales services, we also offer hospital sales teams, customer service teams, virtual sales teams, as well as key account management services, and project management and training.
To learn more about what we do, contact us online today or call 1 (888) 226-0052.
Customer Engagement Practices Post-COVID for Virtual Sales Reps & Physicians
It’s no secret that the recent COVID-19 pandemic forced many pharmaceutical companies to shift their sales approach and methodologies. However, now that things are normalizing, the team from Peak Pharma Solutions Inc. has collected and is sharing important information to consider when it comes to your post-COVID sales approach.
As one of the leading pharmacy detailing and physician detailing companies in Canada, we have helped many clients and representatives find the right sales approach for a post-COVID environment and we wanted to share our insights with you.
Valuable Insights Drive Your Sales Strategy
These days, physicians are connecting with resources that go well beyond a traditional pharmaceutical sales reps’ offering, so pharmacy and physician detailing reps should follow suit. Being on top of what is happening in your therapeutic area, your brand, your competitors’ brands, along with what is in the pipeline showcases your investment in bringing relevant and timely information to your customers. You will be seen as a resource for valuable information, rather than simply an individual looking to only speak about their product.
Customization Is The Key
Having a clear idea of what your customers want is key. This means you’ll need to take a step back for a moment and consider what sales model and approach suits your clients best, whether it be a virtual sales approach or a hybrid model. Customization is the name of the game. Customizing your approach to each customer will be essential to your success. The pandemic has introduced many new platforms and channels of communication with your customers. It’s now your turn to understand what they prefer and meet them there!
Capitalize On Virtual Outreach
Although maintaining your close connections is essential, you may also have an opportunity to expand your reach. Due to the pandemic, and the virtual platforms available, you can now engage with customers outside of a traditional geographical boundary. This means capitalizing on white space geographies and increasing your territory potential. Virtual meetings will provide you with access to a wider range of customers in a shorter amount of time. Additionally, hosting virtual meetings and events will also make it easier for your team to conduct market research across your key customer segments.
Adaptability Is Essential
There are certain characteristics of a pharmaceutical sales representative that will always remain important, such as relationship building, providing value, etc. Due to the pandemic, there are others that have come to light as being crucial to a representative’s success. Creativity and flexibility are skills that every representative should acquire and hone. The environment for healthcare professionals has become so dynamic, and is changing and adjusting regularly, that in order to make an impact and bring value to these HCPs, representatives also need to by dynamic and adjust on the fly. It’s incredibly important that representatives remain open-minded, and consider new and alternative solutions that best suit their customers. It is not one size fits all anymore. You must create the opportunity that is the most customized and flexible for your stakeholders. Representatives that are able to do this with ease will rise to the top.
Contact us for pharmacy detailing, physician detailing, and more!
Peak Pharma Solutions Inc. specializes in physician and pharmacy detailing, as well as vacancy management, project management & training, key account management services, etc. With more than 50 years of combined experience in healthcare, the founders of Peak Pharma Solutions Inc. have been building and implementing solutions and managing successful pharmaceutical programs for more than 20 years.
Contact us online today for more about our services or call 1 (888) 226-0052.
Physician Engagement Post COVID: Areas to Consider When Re-examining Your Sales Strategy
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly flipped the script on many aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, especially where pharma events are concerned. With quarantines implemented and many practicing social distancing, face-to-face events drew to a screeching halt. But with the environment normalizing to some degree, many are wondering what the ‘new normal’ holds for specific pharma solutions towards event planning.
At Peak Pharma Solutions Inc., we’ve helped many clients determine the best way to connect with their customers by offering customized pharmaceutical solutions, alongside marketing, and medical solutions. Below we’ve collected some valuable insights regarding hosting pharma events post-COVID.
Hybrid Events – Defined
First, you might be wondering what hybrid events entail. Simply put, they’re a mix of content and event formats designed to provide your audience the information they need in the best way for them. This could mean hosting face-to-face events with a digital element, or digital forums online.
Adapt Event Timing
If you’re hosting a hybrid event with different components, such as one with both a digital and face-to-face element, staggering your events or doing one after the other may be a good idea. Doing so can help ensure the preferences of your audiences are met.
Expand Your Reach
Another great alternative to face-to-face events is offering events that are on-demand. This doesn’t mean you still can’t have a live event, but simply that afterward, those who missed it for one reason or another will still have access to it. This can help spread your reach and attract customers you may have missed.
Add Value
For those running priced events, it’s very important that you price them accordingly and think critically about the benefits you’re providing clients. For example, do virtual events call for a lower price point than face-to-face pharma events? Will live attendees have access to bonafide experts? Will there be a Q&A or networking session afterward? These considerations should affect the pricing of your event. Always consider the value being received by your attendees.
Attract Ideal Speakers
One of the foremost benefits of hybrid or virtual events is that they can be much more flexible for the speaker(s). These days, a reliable audio-visual team can connect you with people from anywhere in the world and create a seamless live experience, meaning you may be able to host events with speakers you never considered featuring otherwise.
COMMENTARY
Pharmaceutical events have been forever changed due to the pandemic. We have been forced to consider what we have lost from in-person events, versus what we have gained with the new digital event platforms. I have been fortunate enough to experiment with and experience many different virtual event platforms over the last year as a result of my leadership roles in the Ontario Pharmaceutical Marketing Association and the Women Leaders in Pharma. As we consider the future of live events, we have landed on a hybrid strategy, whereby many events will remain virtual due to the high-quality solutions available to deliver these events, but more importantly, the ability to have more people attend from all over Canada. Whether it be attendees or speakers, the virtual platform provides a greater opportunity to engage more individuals no matter where they are based. Having said that, there is an acknowledgment that the in-person event offers something beyond the virtual. The networking opportunities, and the chance to engage more deeply (versus via a screen), reinforce the need and desire to maintain in-person events in some way. Our prediction is that there will be fewer in-person events, but when they do occur, they will be very special and comprehensive. Alongside and interspersed, will be continued virtual events, allowing for disbursement of information in an effective manner for many individuals. PEAK Pharma Solutions Inc. looks forward to planning and engaging in these events for our associations and clients for years to come!
– Jennifer Meldrum, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, PEAK Pharma Solutions Inc.
Contact us for more pharmaceutical solutions today!
For those in need of physician or pharmacy detailing, vacancy management, project management and training, and other pharma solutions, contact Peak Pharma Solutions Inc. online today or call us at 1 (888) 226-0052.
Post-COVID Pharma Events: Hybrid, Face-to-Face, or Online?
These days, the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry have been compounded by COVID-19. Not only are pharma manufacturers faced with developing and distributing new vaccines and testing procedures, but they’re also tasked with continuing to provide innovative products to clinicians, patients, and the healthcare system. Supply chain solutions also present a problem as contract pharmaceutical sales companies continue struggling to maintain their bottom line.
At Peak Pharma Solutions, we’ve provided many solutions for pharmaceutical companies and have helped them weather the uncertain climate posed by COVID-19. However, with the threat of the pandemic receding these days, many contract pharmaceutical companies are rethinking their strategies and approaches to meet new challenges. If you’re wondering how to move forward under the ‘new normal’ conditions caused by the pandemic, we have some tips for you to consider.
Challenges Old & New
Even pre-pandemic, launching a new drug was rarely easy and straightforward. This is because there were always a variety of challenges manufacturers were forced to overcome, such as pressure when it came to pricing, increased competition, access to resources, as well as meeting the expectations of patients and caregivers.
The pandemic compounded these complications by adding increased delays to launches due to supply chain issues, the length of time for drug approvals, and other factors that resulted in huge financial losses in the pharmaceutical industry.
Reassessing the Traditional Launch Model
Due to many of the issues mentioned above, contract pharmaceutical sales companies are reassessing the traditional drug launch model, due in large part to a major shift in the way healthcare professionals interact with drug companies. Prior to the pandemic, there was a focus on face-to-face meetings, and it was easier to take a more general approach to engage with potential customers. Now, that’s no longer the case.
One of the primary results of the pandemic has been an emphasis on remote engagement. Healthcare providers have adopted more digital technology and rely on telemedicine now more than ever. However, this also means that they’re more willing to engage with pharma companies remotely. Pharma sales reps will benefit from practicing a digital approach that’s both localized and personalized.
5 Factors to Consider for a Launch Strategy
These days, having a successful drug launch means adapting to current market needs and customer and patient expectations. Successful contract pharmaceutical companies can do this by:
1. Probing for Relevant Personal Insights
By tailoring content specifically to the interests of the individuals you’re trying to reach, you’ll be able to generate more sales and attract more interest in your product. Offering custom-centric content nowadays will help you keep up with the competition. The best way you can do this is to cover the full spectrum of healthcare provider needs but ask your reps to provide insights from specific individual physicians to help determine the most effective launch modules.
2. Understanding Physician Preferences
Another way to give physicians what they want is to focus on analytics-enabled engagement, utilizing tools to help support the decision-making process on the part of sales reps. Such tools enable pharma companies to optimize their channels and content, foster learning about different products, as well as integrate user feedback. By developing predictive models and drawing on data sources like customer relationship management systems, sales records, and surveys, contract pharmaceutical sales companies can yield great results.
3. Developing Channels & Services Geared Toward Patients
You can develop services and tools geared directly toward patients that can help facilitate diagnosis, treatment, and administration in more remote settings. This helps you expand your reach. It’s no secret in the medical and pharmaceutical industry that patients yet to be treated for a new medical condition are also the ones most interested in learning about new medicines and treatments. You can take advantage of this by offering things like telemedicine diagnostic platforms via apps, voice, text and web.
4. Reimagining your Front Line
Rethinking your front-line operations strategy is beneficial for future operations. This is because, as mentioned previously, more healthcare providers are moving toward a reliance on digital technology. So, rethink your front-line operations and tweak them accordingly, offering analytic insights and learning tools, in addition to equipping your sales reps with all of the remote selling capabilities they need. Have sales reps practice deep listening skills to gather insight on physicians’ pain points and unmet needs, then add this information into a customer relationship management system. This can help you track trends and take advantage of niches in the industry.
5. Adopting Agile Local Strategies
Linking your local execution with launch plans can help generate insights and enable you to respond to changes in circumstances much more quickly. These days, many launches don’t follow a simple national or regional strategy but are specifically tailored for local contexts. This means the quicker you collected feedback, the better the results. Many sales reps need to respond to campaigns in real-time, to hone their targeting strategy and product positioning on a micro-level.
Contact us today for more contract sales organization solutions!
For those in the pharmaceutical industry looking to keep up with competition and shape new strategies for the future, Peak Pharma Solutions can help make it happen. We specialize in offering physician and pharmacy detailing services, vacancy management solutions, and project training and management services to those in the pharmaceutical industry.
With more than 50 years of combined experience in the healthcare arena, the team from Peak Pharma Solutions has been building and implementing sales solutions and managing successful pharma operational teams for more than 20 years. We achieve these goals by building strategic partnerships with all of our clients that foster honesty, transparency, and accountability.
To learn more about our solutions for contract pharmaceutical sales companies, contact us online today or call 1 (888) 226-0052.
Reshaping Your Pharma Strategy in the New Normal
COMMENTARY
The optimal representative profile has changed due to the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, the representative that had long-standing relationships with customers, was able to easily walk into an office and see their customer on demand, and execute a meaningful conversation regarding their brands was considered an optimal rep. Today, all of those things remain true, however, more has been added to the plate of the pharmaceutical sales rep. In the post-pandemic environment, the sales rep must be able to engage with customers in a variety of ways via various channels. This can include phone detailing, video detailing, emails, etc. No longer is the face-to-face call the only real way to “see” a target customer. The optimal rep will have honed these digital and omnichannel skills during the pandemic so that they can continue to offer their customers a variety of ways to engage. In addition, the representative today requires a new appreciation for customization. It is essential to engage with customers in the way they prefer. This can set you apart and bring value to the customer. Understanding the right message for the right channel is now a daily task. Finally, the pharma sales rep today needs to remain nimble and flexible. Being comfortable with a changing environment is required in the new normal. The representatives that can embrace these new skills and hone them will set themselves apart and likely experience greater success.
– Jennifer Meldrum, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PEAK Pharma Solutions Inc.