Technological advancements have been disrupting and revolutionising every industry, and healthcare is no exception. It is intertwined with all the processes today, and adapting to them is no longer a luxury but a necessity. It has become a top-to-toe disruption, affecting everything, including patient interaction, treatment, and even sales. Therefore, in a bid to adjust to the new realities, the key players in the industry have to change from their traditional models to technology-driven sales methods.
How pharmaceutical sales representatives engage with healthcare professionals (HCPs) has been permanently altered by the pandemic. As a result, the function of the pharmaceutical salesperson has evolved nowadays, and in order to increase productivity, they must resoundingly embrace technological integration.
Enhanced communication with HCPs
The medical representative should feel ready to offer information and solicit input from providers while they are standing at the doctor's door, ready to knock and begin the communication process. Therefore, offering the MR a practical CRM solution is an effective way to improve communication. Whether it's contact information, a job description, or precise comments on a product that's already on the market, CRM makes it possible to collect HCPs' data more efficiently. The top-notch CRM solution offers medical representatives a variety of pertinent communication alternatives, including the ability to make VoIP calls and schedule emails and messages. All of it improves the effectiveness and efficiency of communication between MRs and HCPs.
Facilitates time management
MRs can easily log a call by taking a picture of the nameplate of the clinic and/or the doctor's business card with the help of an efficient mobile application at their disposal. The MR is relieved of the tiresome work of manually entering the information after each meeting thanks to the app's ability to automatically understand the image and determine the location. Moreover, the application that consists of smart nudges could be used to provide a summary of the day and planned actions that need to be taken care of. By providing the field force with customer-specific data and inputs before they see any doctors, nudges also assist MRs in enhancing customer engagement. Additionally, through data analysis, sales representatives can assess current data about medical specialists, their prescription trends, and market trends, empowering them to make wise choices and thereby saving time and hassle.
Efficient data management
In today’s digital age, it is easier than ever for pharmaceutical companies to collect customer data. However, due to the huge amount of unstructured data, a large portion that businesses receive is sadly not being utilised efficiently to its full potential. According to MIT research, between 80% and 90% of the data that companies collect is unstructured, making it extremely difficult to use business intelligence models on it. Therefore, the sales team must be provided with effective data analytics tools in a bid to utilise the data effectively that comes from both internal sources and third-party vendors. By more accurately anticipating the team's capacity to fulfil deadlines, product specifications, and stock needs, data analytics can boost the performance of the sales team as a whole. One way to make the most of these data analytics is to have a strong sales reporting system (SRS) in place. It can enable tracking of sales visits, improve TAT (turnaround time) for feedback, and identify areas based on coverage to cross-sell and up-sell.
All things considered
Traditional management often entails a lot of physical files, paperwork, paper shuffling, printing, and difficulty before each call. Digital tools, on the other hand, enable anything to be easily stored, located, and shared over the cloud in an effort to overcome these difficulties. Version control difficulties are eliminated, and everyone in the team has immediate access to the correct information, regardless of where they are. As a result, the pharma industry will experience a paradigm shift as a result of technology's integration into the sales process. Today, with the help of new-age solution providers, MRs can be provided with applications that could increase their efficiency and efficacy while interacting with healthcare professionals by utilising tools like CRM platforms, virtual interaction, mobile applications, and data analytics.
Moreover, by adding AI to the application, the MRs can be provided with smart nudges, which could increase productivity, save time, and keep them ahead of the competition. Furthermore, integration of area planning to cover HCPs and pharmacies is also crucial to reducing hassle. In addition, the MR application must also be connected with the stockist in a bid to seamlessly share information between the pharmacy and the stockist. With all these add-ons in their application, MRs will be able to forge stronger connections, increase revenue by utilising targeted sales strategies, effective data management, seamless communication, and eventually boost their productivity.
This article is authored by Tushar Dhawan, Partner, Plus91Labs.
