Will e-Marketing (in the Pharmaceutical Industry) one day replace the role of the personal seller, as the NHS continues to evolve?
February 16, 2008
• HCPs including GPs and clinicians working in Secondary Care
• Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing Professionals
“No, but it will probably become more important than face 2 face. Primarily because doctors will begin to prefer it… time management etc.
Secondly because pharma companies can produce so many more metrics from the marketing to help understand their ROI
Major issue to be tackled is, ‘Where is the carrot’ - Reps visit docs with free samples of expensive drugs or take them to swanky restaurants - no matter how many semi transparent, glass effect buttons a flash website has it aint gonna replace that.
Final issue is how do we verify docs? - No pharma or 3rd party CRM DB is 100% correct, even if it is, how do we know for sure that the person logging in is Dr Smith?
Some sort of external authorisation using GMC registration numbers?”(UK Pharma Media Agency Director)
- Do you find time to see pharma sales reps? Why not? Are policies in place within your Trust to prevent free prescribing, or from you seeing reps?
- How important is it that you have a personal ‘human; relationship with them?
- prescribing decisions?
- drug education?
Which e-Marketing tools have proven most effective?
How would the future look without a salesforce?
Do you believe customers ultimately prescribe/buy based on:
- Your sales ability
- The strength of your relationship with the individual
- Your product is clearly the best option for the patient?
February 16, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I believe its clear that e-marketing cannot work without an accurate database. I come from a Direct Mail background and have lernt that the more you can tell a customer you know about them the more they will listen to you. Without those guys in the field seeing customers week in week out its never going to work.
February 16, 2008 at 8:14 pm
In my experience, which is in the antiretroviral market for the treatment of HIV, e-marketing will not provide an adequate replacement for the Hospital Specialist.
The first reason for this is the complexity of the area. Each patient has specific and changing needs that can be looked at on a case by case basis by the clinician and the hospital specialist. Resistance and tollererability factors will impact upon each patient differently, and I find it hard to imagine a web based service that will be sophisticated enough to provide adequate advice to the clinician.
In addition to promotional activities, the Hospital Specialist is responsible for coordinating many of the educational events funded by the pharmaceutical industry for clinicians. In this respect the Hospital Specialist can be seen more as a partner than a mere gateway to the products provided by their company.
However, e-Marketing does provide opportunities to enhance the service provided. Online training for CDP points, product information, conference information and booking capabilities are examples of how e-Marketing is being used in the area of HIV at the moment.
February 16, 2008 at 8:16 pm
What’s your view on agencies taking data direct from the NHS?
February 16, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I’m new to Pharma sales, but i’ll say this…
CRM is about ‘human contact’, the relationship between individuals. In Pharma producs are often so similar thats all it simply boils down to who’s offering the best incentive, or which rep do they like the most.
February 16, 2008 at 8:49 pm
In response to purchased agency databases…
Purched data bases from agencies are fine. Dr’s give permission to the NHS to allow them to updat recods they already have. This are fine for getting a Doctors name right and their email address. But, can they read what a customers thinking? What people say and think are two different things. Without a personnal relationship it would be difficult to segment based on attitude. An electronic survey would not give a true sample neither would it probe into how individuals buyer behaviour could be changed.
February 16, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Yes, I would agree with initial contacts are probably going to come from human interactions, although I think with clever profiling you can get your HCPs in different target groups based on categories you can introduce on some form of ‘Manage my profile’ web page. ie: I am a GP, I treat mostly elderly patients with mental illness. This would clearly help put this person in certain target lists - the difficulty is that you need to provide enough of an incentive to them to encourage them to dilvulge so much HONEST information about themselves - which will probably be in the form of aditional non-promotional email newsletters etc.
February 16, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Dominic Coghlan,
Yes, I’d agree, Secondary care reps (especially therapy area such as HIV)may never be replaced by methods such as ‘interactive eDetailing’ and animated websites.
Companies such as Merck have piloting virtual reps which are able to complete 13 calls per day (compared with 8 for field reps) spending an average of 9 minutes (compared with 3 for field reps). Can you see this ever working in secondary care?
With tighter regulatory controls, marketing professionals have been driven to look for new incentives. You mention CPD (Continual Professional Development) credits for completing on-line education? How did that work out?
Were you able to measure the ROI? Do you feel that the project added value to the product, or creates better CRM between brand and company?
February 17, 2008 at 11:55 am
As a manager of retail and sales orgainisations for the past seven years my philosophy on the topic in concern is as follows.
A consumers perception is that the internet may be cheaper. They also may feel that they have control of the outcome of the transaction without third party influence i.e sales people.
This has the effect of empowment and control as a consumer which can be a positive experience.
When there is a customer service query, the process when making a purchase online is then potentially a difficult one in terms of speaking to someone directly or sending an e-mail.
Things to consider are timescales, premium or local rate numbers or not having the option to speak to someone whatsoever.
My belief is that face to face business will have indefinite longevity if the company supplying the service has the correct business strategy. If this strategy is excecuted effectively in terms of sales, service, product availability, value for money and the brand has loyalty on the high street. This can overcome the potential issues an online consumer may encounter.
For example the product is faulty and they can go straight to the local retailer and have an instant exchange.
Another example is when customers do not fully understand their own needs and must be qualified so that a considered choice is made to help with the decision to purchase.
In short whether you are an online retailer or you are based on the high street the quality of service the consumer has recieved historically will dictate where they make a purchase. One won’t outweigh the other and dominate all purchases as some consumers like to buy face to face. Some don’t trust using card details online and the offers on the high street due to competition doesn’t differentiate massively compared to online deals.
February 17, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I think it depends upon the drug being sold in question, and the market in which it competes. In the Urinary Incontinence market HCP’s are not as interested in the treatments as they are seen as costly and the problem itself is seen as something that can be dealt with and ‘put up’ with. Therefore when the rep visiting the HCP is up against such viewpoints their success is always going to be questionable. Therefore the success of e-marketing may not necessary be any more effective, however its cost is much lower so therefore perhaps a switch to e-marketing is worth the risk. I think only in the case of where reps liase with consultants in this area, or HCP’s with a special interest in Urinary Incontinence they can make a unique contribution.
I think this viewpoint is verified by the fact the salesforce that I supported has been let go, as their worth was deemed to be not enough considering their cost. So therefore in a market where the problem is underestimated, or embaressing to talk about, e- marketing may be the medium of promotion for the future.
February 17, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Having worked for two separate, complicated business units within the pharmaceutical industry in both adult and paediatric psychiatry and having been lucky enough to be involved in the successful pilot of closed loop marketing through the implementation of tablet P.C’s, I believe that e-marketing serves a worthy purpose but I do not believe that it can replace the personal seller in many circumstances.
In my experience, a ‘personal seller’, or ‘hospital specialist’ has come to mean ‘business advisor’ to many of the secondary care clinicians in both the adult and paediatric psychiatry sectors. It is for this reason that I argue against the notion of e-marketing replacing the personal seller. A member of a sales team in a specialised, secondary care setting provides an awful lot more than a simple sales pitch to the clinician. In a setting where the needs and circumstances of individual patients are complex, I fear that an e-marketing tool will be insufficient in providing carefully structured and tailored answers to increasingly difficult and complicated questions.
A ‘personal seller’ should be considered as a ‘live’ competitive tool that can provide an instant and personal counter strategy to competitor actions and claims that are put forth by their clinicians. Clinicians in such an environment view their time with drug representatives as an opportunity to validate and discuss claims and data provided by competitors. Such experiences are relayed back to the central marketing team promptly, enabling an interfunctional awareness of competitor activities and the development of longer term coordinated counter marketing strategies. It can be argued that the medium of e-marketing will not be able to fulfil this aspect of the ‘personal sellers’ role.
In the secondary care environment gaining access to influential and ‘important’ clinicians is also something that e-marketing may not be able achieve. I also fear that de-personalising and altering the dynamic of the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and clinicians too much will result in negative consequences when it comes to recruitment for larger conferences and meetings whereby a stronger competitive drive is employed.
In a primary care setting, especially in the instance of a generic undifferentiated drug, I do believe that e-marketing may be able to provide a very useful solution and even replacement to the ‘personal seller’. Given the fact that GP receptionists are notoriously difficult gatekeepers, and the almost ‘uncooperative’ or ‘begrudging’ culture of GP pharmaceutical sales it can be argued that e-marketing can provide valuable solutions.
• GP’s will not be exposed to the ‘annoyance’ of having countless meetings with drug reps they would rather not see – the e-marketing tool will allow GP’s to access information at times that are more convenient and at their own discretion.
• Valuable GP appointments are not taken by drugs reps and can be given to patients who really need them.
• Pharmaceutical companies will not have to recruit and pay a whole sales team.
• A basic e-marketing campaign can be employed at relative low cost (in comparison to employing a national sales team), especially for undifferentiated generic drugs such as antibiotics.
• CRM activities can easily be employed.
The implementation of closed loop marketing with the use of tablet P.C’s has allowed my previous business unit to gather metric CRM data on clinicians patient trends and prescribing habits allowing a more targeted marketing approach when it comes to activities such as mailers, saving a substantial amount of marketing spend. It has also allowed central marketing teams to tailor and enhance their electronic sales aid on the basis of what pages are being accesses for frequently. It is on this basis that I recommended that e-marketing could be used to compliment personal sales and enhance value in the secondary care setting. The success of the closed loop marketing pilot has been felt in juxtaposition with the use of the ‘personal sales team’.
February 19, 2008 at 10:49 am
Unfortunately we do not see drug reps and marketing data tends to go straight in the bin.
June 6, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Hi There
How is your dissertation going? I am a pharmaceutical marketeer looking at launching a simplistic product to GP’s for which electronic media could be ideal.
Looking forward to your reply
June 6, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Thank you for you comments Kevin. Dissertation is all done and dusted.
I conducted in depth qualitative interviews across a range of primary care and secondary care prescribers.
In summary, my dissertation concluded that electronic marketing in most secondary care products was ineffective ‘alone’. However, e-Marketing used effectively as an integrated approach i.e. synchronising the appropriated messages and campaign themes created synergy and showed that the channel had potential to save sales force costs.
Primary care respondents told a different story altogether. All GPs within the study claimed they refused to grant reps access. Google was used as their primary source of information for branded products. However, GPS claimed not to used sponsored links (i.e., add words). All claimed never to have been sent an e-detail before. I’m not sure if this was down to email permissions or if they have not been targeted. I’m unsure as I have only had experience working in e-marketing within secondary care.
I’d be interested to hear more about the work your doing in primary care, as from what I concluded its seems a difficult area to market as attitudes are really against the marketeer to at perscriber level.
I’d be happy to forward you a copy of my final dissertation if it is of interest to you as it explores a range or areas around this topic? Please email myself at: imrie54@hotmail.com