The role of the pharmaceutical consultant is changing along with the size and shape of the industry in general. Recessionary forces have caused some significant developments in almost every major industry and the healthcare business was certainly not immune. As the recession unfolded, the way that pharmaceutical sales companies approached their clients started to change. As budgets were being squeezed from every angle, companies were not so keen to hire sales representatives anymore. As such, a pharmaceutical consultancy should recognise that this is the time for innovation, especially as healthcare professionals were starting to look at other ways to educate themselves as they processed their pharmaceutical needs. Company executives need to fully understand what the social media revolution means, while they are also looking for more productive and efficient ways to sell a product.
The market research firm Cutting Edge Information tells us that a quarter of all healthcare professionals are really interested in pursuing the concept of e-detailing. This was up from maybe only one in 20 just four years back. We need to consider if doctors will be more accessible through this approach and if they will exhibit less resistance to communication as a consequence.
Pharmaceutical marketing training must evolve to counter the effects of the great recession and welcome the effects of the media revolution at the same time. Many companies may begin to put less emphasis on the hiring and training of sales representatives and more emphasis on Internet skills and social media communication.
In the past, it was not uncommon for a typical doctor to be inundated with communications from sales reps, often from the same company. As these reps may have had different levels of training and come with a variety of diluted messages, it’s easy to understand why the average doctor would become frustrated. This approach to communication was, after all, far from efficient and we can now see why there has been so much backlash. Doctors have started to retreat into their offices, especially as sales representatives seemed to grow in number. If you add into the mix the slowdown in the number of products on the market, it’s quite easy to see why we are now seeing a reduction in the number of sales representatives. Indeed, it is estimated that in the last three years, the total number of pharmaceutical sales representatives in the United States has shrunk by 20% or more.
Not surprisingly, pharmaceutical marketing training must recognise that the newer sales representative is far more likely to be in touch with his or her generational approach to communication. We can expect them to be far more at ease with the Internet and the social media revolution. As these new reps infiltrate the company, the pharmaceutical consultancy should help company bosses to change the way that they approach their marketing, so as to not fight this ever emerging trend.
Considerable challenges face the industry as we all know, and we’re yet to see how the US federal health-care changes shake out. There are certain to be more pressures on companies to cut their overheads and as such, we can expect the pharmaceutical consultant to concentrate more and more on “e-detailing” and the way that this wave of the future can help to restructure pharmaceutical sales.
Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.
- Inspirational Suggestions On Undertaking A Trial Session When Hiring Anyone So it’s time to go out and hire a virtual...
- Inspirational Suggestions On Making Use Of Conference Chairs To Persuade Virtual Participants How are you going to get a lot more people...
- Inspiring Suggestions On Marketing – Segment to Survive Have we been focusing on a “one-size-fits-all” approach to sales...
- Inspirational Suggestions On How Cafe Chairs Were Intended For A Particular Purpose When you sit outside your “sidewalk cafe,” the chances are...
- Some Incredible Guidelines On Having Pity For Sales Reps Do you overload your sales reps, or do you treat...