In today’s Pharma world the acronym CLM is typically associated with Tablet detailing. This is unfortunate because tablet detailing by itself does not equal CLM, although if used effectively can be an integral piece of an organization’s master CLM plan. Too many individuals including myself misuse the abbreviation almost every day whereby creating a negative connotation to the term. With that said, tablet detailing software does offer the ability to capture more granular detail of your sales interactions, enabling a more intelligent approach to future sales activity, but by itself will not close the loop. This is where I believe the whole “tablet detailing = CLM” confusion lies.
In my opinion a lot of tablet detailing software has been sold with the promise of closing the loop between sales, marketing, and the customer. Simply put; deliver promotional content, track specific metrics such as duration, sequence, message response and re-adjust your campaigns accordingly. In theory this closes oneloop, but what about the other promotional channels? How does tablet detailing software help close the loop with these channels? The answer is; it doesn’t. You need to incorporate additional data and use other tools in order to actually claim you are doing true closed loop marketing. This is why I believe tablet detailing does not = CLM.
So, other than collecting important sales data, what value does tablet detailing bring and how do you really close the complete marketing loop?
Any sales activity, regardless of the industry requires a sizeable investment of time in pre-call planning, delivering presentations, then the CRM logging and follow-up. Those requirements which surround the sales transaction, albeit onerous, are vital. Tablet detailing or what I like to call “sales enablement” software should help automate and simplify these activities. Basically, it should provide the sales rep everything they need for their day to day field activities, and eliminate everything else. Preparation, presentation, call recording and follow-up should all be connected in one simple tool.
A true CLM solution should enable you to optimally allocate your valuable sales and marketing resources across all channels of promotion, within a brand, or across a brand portfolio to ensure maximum returns on your promotional investments. It should not only help you to effectively measure the impact of your promotion but also maximize ROI on various promotional channels such as: product/eDetailing, product/eSampling, web-detailing, meetings and events, mail based promotion etc. In addition, monetization outputs should allow users to discuss the ROI results in terms of sales dollars gained/lost due to a promotion over a given time period. Now, marketing campaigns can continuously adapt to the customers’ wants and needs, creating a true closed loop relationship.
At Skura we’ve built our business providing our customers with best in class tablet detailing (Sales Enablement) and predictive modelling (CLM) software. Together these applications provide our customers with the necessary tools needed to create better sales interactions, significantly reduce the amount of time spent on daily administrative tasks and help answer the million dollar marketing question: What is the ROI of a given tactic/promotion over a given period of time?
Check out this month’s MedAd News and you’ll be a step closer to understanding TRUE CLM!
