CRM Pharma SFA Challenges

The challenge

Today, pharma sales rep must be very well informed about the indications, contra-indications and interactions of their products. They must comply with the industry’s codes and guidelines and act according to government regulations. To support reps, CRM Pharma companies have moved towards sales force automation and customer relationship management tools. A number of wireless, electronic devices have been introduced, such as handhelds and laptops, but with limited success in the field. Since pharmaceutical sales calls can occur in unusual locations, sales representatives were often unable to take advantage of formal presentations using notebook PCs and have typically had to rely on printed collateral.

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The printed materials often lacked complete information and became outdated, making it difficult to have an informative dialog. Hence over the years many CRM Pharma companies have the decision to switch to tablet PCs and electronic promotional material.

Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca are among the companies that have widely deployed tablet PCs to the sales force. In the meantime, tablet PCs run applications that support the full pharmaceutical sales cycle, from accessing CRM-based contact information to getting an electronic signature for samples.

Will closed-loop marketing transform the pharma sales process?

What is CLM?

The term “closed-loop marketing” (CLM) has been around for decades. CLM refers to the feedback loop between the customer and the marketing message. Simply put, customer data and behavior is used to adjust marketing campaigns to direct and refine marketing strategy and tactics creating a constantly optimizing closed-loop system.

The CRM Pharma industry is actually behind many other industries like financial services or consumer goods in understanding the customer. CLM is about increasing the relevancy of marketing messages to lift conversion, grow revenue, and improve return on marketing investments (ROMI). In the consumer goods industry, they really know their customers’ profiles, demographics, needs, and buying patterns. In the pharmaceutical industry, doctors used to be simply decile ten or decile five on prescription charts.

By combining data on physician demographics, attitudes and beliefs as well as prescribing behavior, CLM enables the pharmaceutical companies to apply marketing strategies to that specific type of physician. CLM is transforming the pharmaceutical industry from a mass.

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