The social, demographic and economic context in which the Pharma Sales Process operates is changing dramatically, with huge implications for the industry as a whole. All these challenges have major ramifications for the way in which pharmaceutical companies market and sell the medicines they develop. With these challenges comes pressure to gain efficiencies in all facets of the business, but perhaps no aspect of pharma operations is under as much scrutiny as the sales and marketing function.

The discrepancy between the growth in Pharma Sales force size and the decline in prescribing makes Pharma Sales Process Effectiveness the top challenge for pharmaceutical sales managers. Closed-loop marketing (CLM) is transforming the pharmaceutical industry from a mass market endeavor to one where individual physicians’ needs, attitudes, and beliefs are targeted. The CLM market is still small and evolving. Successful CLM pilots are those that embrace the full CLM potential with a limited group of representatives, rather than using parts of the CLM approach with the full sales force.

Firstly, CLM marketing is the way you can build a two-way communication with the target audience. The scheme is quite simple: you plan activities, engage customers into a dialogue, get real-time feedback and analyze it. The loop closes on the last stage: after seeing what your customers need, you can immediately modify the strategy and update all the marketing materials according to customer preferences. Thus, you can keep the information presented to your target audience always up-to-date.

Secondly, in pharma, CLM helps to reach integrated sales and marketing and focus on the customer. By aligning all the efforts of your teams with customer needs, you get a well-tuned strategy implementation. These digital solutions even grant an opportunity to plan and implement several marketing cycles for different products at once. While your representatives in fields communicate with customers, they are collecting feedback on the background. After the synchronization with the CRM system, Pharma Sales Process gets a clear picture of the market situation. On processing the information received, your teams can see the weak points in the marketing strategy, likewise the successful ideas, and easily adapt the marketing materials to the burning customer needs. Thanks to that, each key-message allows to hit the target – not the least piece of it is irrelevant or non-informative.

More stakeholders, more complexity

Now, some say they believe this situation is changing—not least because the pharma industry itself recognizes that it needs to change. Implementing true CLM far more is challenging than simply providing tablets to the sales force, says Chris Colapietro, VP of strategy and marketing at HighPoint Solutions, an integrator in King of Prussia, PA that has worked on CLM projects for several pharmaceutical industry clients. “It’s more about change than technology,” he adds. He believes implementation involves at least seven key stakeholders: sales operations, marketing, market research and analysis, training, legal and regulatory, and information technology. “It’s like herding cats,” he says.

Five years ago, there wasn’t much incentive to make that change, because the industry was doing just fine with the traditional reach-and-frequency sales model. Now, the picture is very different, as sales forces are slashed, more doctors refuse to see reps, and the industry’s image has slumped. These and other pressures could be the catalysts needed to drive change, Colapietro argues.

E-detail plus Internet

Vendors are, however, broadening their products to monitor multiple channels. Increasingly, physicians are turning to the Internet for information. Suppliers are seeking to extend their products so the same content that’s digitized for use on a tablet can also be presented over the Web. The interaction with physicians can also be tracked, just as it can with a tablet-based e-detail. For example, the e-detail can be presented in a “co-browsing” session in which rep and physician work through the content online rather than in the doctor’s office, or a self-directed detail that the physician accesses on the pharma company’s website.

Physician responses captured online could then be used to personalize content delivered by tablet PC on a subsequent visit, and vice versa. Skura’s Wessinger says he also sees the extension of this technology to social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook; for a few dollars, a branded ad can be displayed on a consenting physician’s page; clicking on the ad would direct the physician to an e-detail on the pharma website. “I think social networking will play a big part in the next generation of CLM,” Wessinger says.

How to test run successful CLM programs?

Successful CLM pilots are those that embrace the full CLM potential with a limited group of representatives, rather than using parts of the CLM approach with the full sales force. Recently, the situation has changed. Mainly because the industry itself acknowledges that it must change. Implementing effective CLM is far more challenging than simply equipping the sales force with tablet PCs.

Successful implementation involves at least seven key stakeholders:

Sales

Sales operations

Marketing

Market research and analysis

Training

Legal and regulatory

Information technology