If you've tried to schedule a doctor's appointment lately, you have no doubt come face to face with one of the major problems that pharmaceutical companies must contend with: Doctors are booked solid. Physicians' time is stretched tighter and tighter. Their daily routine is packed with scheduled patients and walk-ins, stacks of paperwork, increasing demands from insurance companies and hospitals, not to mention personal and family obligations. This rigorous agenda often renders drug sales representatives last on doctors' long lists of to-dos. And if you're a pharmaceutical company trying to get information and samples through to doctors to increase prescriptions and market share, that means physician time has your future profitability in a stranglehold. E-detailing saves doctors' time while cutting pharmaceutical companies' cost to serve. When applied effectively, e-detailing gives doctors the information they want faster -- which translates into decreased marketing expenditures for pharmaceutical companies. And though many companies already have e-detailing initiatives underway, pharmaceutical executives are skeptical as to whether or not physicians will adopt electronic detailing tactics such as telephone support, online physician portals, video conferencing and online drug sample ordering. In spite of the time issue, most companies have built good relationships with doctors based on face-to-face interaction and personal touch. So how can pharmaceutical companies create e-detailing initiatives aimed at gaining greater physician adoption without losing ground they've already conquered? By looking at e-detailing in a new light. Successful e-detailing is built on the premise of strengthening the physician relationship by helping to improve the way doctors work, enabling them to be faster, smarter and more proactive in an era when patients are demanding better, more informed care. Pharmaceutical executives who want to improve e-detailing effectiveness should consider the following key actions: - Build in trust. Doctors want unbiased, up-to-the-minute information that they can use to make informed decisions and serve patients, not the typical rhetoric found in corporate sales materials. Combine data from leading medical journals and professional conferences, as well as personal experiences from other physicians and peer-to-peer discussion capabilities -- along with drug company literature -- to build information sources that physicians value. Use physician testimonials plus information and endorsements from recognized and respected journals, associations and opinion leaders in the industry to reinforce your brand.
- Understand the needs of physician segments. Segment variables -- such as age, specialty, practice type and size, location (urban or rural), prescription frequency, tendency to switch products and the relationship with the field sales representative -- affect physician decision making and behavior. Understanding each segment's needs and preferences is key to determining the right e-detailing approach and offering the information and services that a particular segment values most. With the right mix of traditional and e-detailing tactics, tailored to different groups of physicians, you will be able to hone in on the segments that are most profitable to your company.
- Apply e-detailing tactics strategically. Make no mistake; e-detailing is not meant to replace, but to support your company's traditional detailing tactics. Effective e-detailing fills in the gaps that traditional detailing leaves open. For instance, while traditional detailing may be best for creating "buzz" for a new drug, e-detailing can be used to augment the outflow of information and increase interest during product launch. Or, you can combine traditional and e-detailing methods to educate prescribers on drug features, convert mind share to market share and deliver samples to interested doctors. Strategically applying e-detailing along with traditional detailing gives both physicians and pharmaceutical companies options to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Doctors have an additional avenue for detailing services at their fingertips, while pharmaceutical companies spend less to promote drugs and benefit from deeper market penetration.
Of course, no e-detailing plan or initiative will be truly successful unless it is fully integrated into your company's customer relationship management (CRM) strategy and execution. E-detailing tactics should share physician information that is integrated across all corporate channels. Integrating sales activities and the information gathered, both electronically and in the field, into your company's marketing systems will go a long way toward strengthening the physician relationship, as well as helping improve the way doctors work. And the better doctors -- the gatekeepers to increased prescriptions and market share -- perform, the greater the opportunity for your company to profit. To read what doctors had to say about detailing and find out more about how e-detailing can increase sales while cutting costs for your company, download the pdf file at the top of this page. |
