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Today's pharma sales reps are facing the challenge of reaching healthcare professionals (HCPs). Last week we discussed the types of pharma sales and marketing content desired by healthcare professionals. The following is a corresponding infographic to help further explain how to succed in the digital age of healthcare. 

The life science industry is undergoing a major transformation. Technology, regulations, competition, demographics, and behaviours across the value chain are all affecting the industry.

The challenge with these shifts is that they alter the way pharmaceutical sales reps (PSRs) interact with, and add value to the life science industry.

Today’s article will explore the continued decline in access to HCPs– the first of many impactful trends that are poised to shift pharma sales and marketing in the next 5 years.

Healthcare is going digital around the world, but many pharma sales and marketing executives are reluctant to experiment with newer digital channels.

This gap adds friction to a traditional sales process that is already eroding because of the influence of technological and social challenges – according to some.

Today’s article explores the need for e-detailing in pharma sales and marketing, and how digital detailing applications both enhance pharma sales and delight HCPs at the same time.

GUEST BLOGGER: Jeffrey Mortensen at DataXoom 

The rate of mobile device usage throughout the sales process has increased significantly during the last decade, and not by chance either. According to the Aberdeen group, 90% of sales organizations have invested in tablets as their newest digital sales aid, and 70% say they’ve already achieved a positive ROI. 

If your sales staff have not yet embraced a mobile sales application, they’re making a huge mistake—tablets have dramatically improved the way in which salespeople make sales. Not convinced that tablets are the way to go? Allow us to explain how tablets can improve the effectiveness of your team’s sales. 

The pharma rep of today will approach these three types of healthcare practitioners:

When iPads and eDetailing first crept onto the pharma sales scene, iPads were new and interactive presentations were novel. Pharma reps had the “ooh, aah” factor on their side, and it helped them to sell. Now, tablets are commonplace, with everyone from toddlers to senior citizens wielding them on beach vacations, public transportation and dinner dates everywhere. Without the shock value of newness, do digital tools like iPads and eDetailing presentations still hold water for pharma sales reps?

Yes! And, because the novelty has worn off, the attention is focused right back where it should be: on content presented and the know-how of the individual pharma rep. iPads are still more convenient than lugging a laptop, and eDetailing still holds advantages like remote viewing, analytics and other perks that are unavailable with PowerPoint alone. When used properly, digital tools like these will cut cost per contact immensely, and will grow in favor with healthcare practitioners. Over the next decade, digital sales tools will become a must-have for all pharma reps. The tools alone will not provide the “ooh” or “aah” that makes a sale. But, the skilled representative can still find a leg-up by giving strict attention to three factors: time, content, and data.

Marketing and Sales have always had to work together. It’s a game. Marketing is the point guard, setting up the play and passing the ball to the sales team at the perfect moment for the slam-dunk. But, setting up that “perfect play” is often easier said than done.

One of the main hardships of being unable to streamline the marketing and Sales process has to do with content. In fact, 41% of salespeople don’t know which marketing content to use, how to use it, or when to use it. Understanding which content to use and when to use it is a key element in every customer touch point. Luckily, there is a tool that can help solve this problem. 

As current technologies develop and change, it is our duty to evaluate and redefine the terms that have popped up in our collective lexicon over the past decade. The pharmaceutical industry has a growing affinity for the idea of eDetailing, and the word has taken on a suspiciously broad definition. Unfortunately, those who are searching for eDetailing platforms don’t know the intended purpose or power of effective eDetailing. How will you know when you’ve found the right eDetailing platform if you don’t know what you’re looking for?

Detailing refers to the process of salespeople informing healthcare professionals of the details about a drug. eDetailing refers to the same transfer of information, but denotes the implementation of digital detailing applications and a host of other digital sales aids to communicate. eDetailing solutions can remove the need for face-to-face detailing altogether, or eDetailing solutions can enhance face-to-face exchanges. Remote selling and face-to-face selling each create completely different exchanges between pharma sales representatives and healthcare professionals, and there are benefits to both methods. Which one is right for you? 

Web content is produced, edited and rewritten on an ongoing basis. While this allows for information to be fluidly updated with the newest facts, it also allows false information to exist, published online. When physicians who are potential clients surf the web to learn about pharmaceutical products, floating misinformation can deny pharma reps a sale.