iPad and Tablet Use in Detailing: Where Pharma is Going Wrong

Apart from the hardware, is everyone getting the most they can out of these?



The hardware is an important factor, but is your sales force utilizing these to gain a strategic advantage or are they using it more as a glorified PDF viewer? If the latter, what is missing is the ability to tailor interactive content to the explicit needs of the individual physicians at the time of the detail. Another aspect that seems to be missing is the capability for the rep to know, out of all content, which precise content is right to address a specific physician’s current concerns in that specific sales call.

Deliver the right personalized sales messages for individual physicians

24% of a sales rep’s time is spent searching for data. They’re expected to be more knowledgeable now than ever before in order to earn face-time with their physicians. Teams need sales reps to know exactly what messages are needed for individual physicians when visiting them to convert them to their brand. They also want to avoid physicians switching to competitors, and require reps to know which detail aid pages to show that are optimal for this purpose.

Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to the rep, and the company results, if the tablet/iPad could deliver more targeted suggestions to the sales rep on the optimal topic to be discussed with that specific physician, at that specific time, to address their needs around the condition and your brand at the time of the call?

The good news is… you can. Eularis are now delivering this right now for our clientele by applying Artificial Intelligence algorithms to individual physician data.

By using the power of Artificial Intelligence, one can create stronger and more personal relationships between reps and their customers, influencing their prescribing by addressing the concerns they are having at that point in time. The sales rep would get valuable insight on exactly what topics will move that physician at that point in time based on superior data and advanced intelligence.

Deliver Optimal Detail Aid Content Selection For Individual Physicians

Wouldn’t it also be helpful to the rep to have an actual customized detail aid, bespoke for that specific physician’s needs at that specific time, right on their tablet/iPad?

The majority of Pharma companies leave it to the individual sales rep to select what detail aid pages/interactive content to use with individual physicians. However, this isn’t chosen in any structured way. It might be that what the sales rep feels is best is used, or there could be biases towards what the rep is most comfortable discussing, or what the sales rep feels is most important. These could differ vastly from the messages that would sway that physician the most.

On the other hand, if one uses Artificial Intelligence from physician data to mathematically extract the attributes of physicians that would react positively to specific messaging, we could ensure that when a specific physician is selected in the CRM system, it will not only pull out vital information on that individual physician but will also create a customized combination of pages/interactive content from the detail aids that would most likely engage and influence that specific physician.

By intensifying physician engagement with Artificial Intelligence, one can ensure that the right content is shown to the right physician at the right time to guarantee stronger sales results with physicians.

By arming your sales force with a tailor-made Artificial Intelligence powered engine that will deliver content that is needed for that specific physician right to their tablet/iPad, they will naturally deliver stronger sales results.

Reps that have used this system typically have created 10-30% increases in sales. A pilot program done with a Eularis client found that reps using this gained 43% higher sales above baseline than the reps not using this.

At times of launch or with market changes, an even stronger impact on sales has been found from this alone. Your sales results will be far superior with Artificial Intelligence than leaving it up to the sales rep, and will enable you to gain a reliable boost in your sales results.

The devil is in the data

As you would imagine, this system excels in the US, with the availability of big data. The good news for other markets with significantly reduced data availability (e.g. Japan, APAC, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Australia, etc.) is that this can be achieved in those markets as well. We have found data sources enabling us to do this in all markets now.

Conclusion

Pharma teams who are embracing iPads and tablets for their detailing have made great strides forward with their hardware selection. It is now time for the digital teams to step up and reconsider their approach to the content contained in these for the reps. By creating custom content on-the-fly for individual physicians within the hardware so that the rep also has great personalized content - powered by Artificial intelligence, which delivers insight, intelligence and tools – this will serve to ensure greater engagement, conversion and retention of individual physicians to the reps brands at the time of the sales call.


For more information on this topic, or related topics and questions, please contact the author at Eularis.



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