e-Technologies key to increasing sales opportunities
Independent market analysis firm Datamonitor says in particular e-sampling technologies could drive increased effectiveness among pharma reps.
By on Mar 21, 2006Independent market analysis firm Datamonitor says in particular e-sampling technologies could drive increased effectiveness among pharma reps.
In a recent survey, the group says 71% of physicians report that the availability of sample packets from drug makers impacts their prescribing, but 38% say they don'st receive enough samples through traditional methods of sample delivery and 22% say the supply of samples is generally unpredictable.
Sales reps must now embrace Internet technology to ensure the efficient distribution of samples to physicians and also take on the role of educators in their changing and dynamic relationship with physicians, the group says.
Pharma sales forces, they say, can be used to bolster a company's other physician-facing online efforts, by taking the role of educators.
Datamonitor reports that more than half of surveyed physicians in the US and EU and more than a quarter in Japan relied on a pharma sales rep as a source of medical information in the week preceding the survey.
Pharma reps can use Internet-enabled services, the group says, to improve influence and efficacy by supplementing traditional sales and marketing practices with e-health applications such as e-sampling.
There are three main ways, according to the group, in which e-sampling can be used to supplement traditional drug sampling methods. First, physicians can order samples online, usually through a third-party Web portal. The samples are then delivered by mail to the doctor's practice.
Second, physicians can print sample vouchers from the Internet and give them to patients at the time of an office visit. The voucher, accompanied by a prescription from the physician can then be redeemed by the patient at their local pharmacy.
And the last method allows patients to download vouchers from the Internet and present it to his doctor for approval. This method gives patients more influence over physician prescribing, but is not permitted by law in most markets outside the US.
Although 29% of the physicians surveyed say that they prefer in-person delivery of drug samples by a sales rep, the group says e-sampling does provide pharma companies with a cost-effective means to reach physicians who have been routinely under-covered by sales reps.
Through the improvement of services to physicians, patients are also better served, because the fact remains that patients are more likely to fill a prescription if their physician has samples on-hand, the group reports.
According to the survey, only 54% of consumers will fill a prescription regardless of whether they receive a sample, voucher or coupon. The rest, Datamonitor says, are most likely to fill their prescription only in the presence of a cost-saving supplement provided by their physician.
Drug sampling is a critical, but increasingly difficult aspect of pharmaceutical sales and marketing, says Datamonitor e-health analyst Kimberly O'sMalley.
Sampling, much the same as detailing, is a central part of the relationship between a sales rep and a physician, she says. However, the efficient delivery of drug samples suffers as physicians cut the time they spend with sales reps.
E-sampling, O'sMalley says, allows sales reps to respond more accurately to physician's demands and allows reps, over time, to anticipate physician's sample needs based on collected metrics.
Armed with this knowledge, pharmaceutical sales reps can expand their roles outside the traditional detailing and sampling responsibilities, she says.
Beyond ensuring that physicians get the information about a drug and the samples they need to start patients on the therapy, the sales force also can prepare physicians to field questions posed by patients, O'sMalley says. In particular, an overview of the messages patients receive through television and magazine ads, as well as through company-sponsored Web sites, should be shared with physicians.
In this way, physicians can begin to be integrated into the multi-channel marketing mix that their patients have come to know and in this way, can better support patient requests and queries, O'sMalley says.
To learn more about e-sampling and other technologies for improving sales and marketing effectiveness, be sure to register for eyeforpharma's e-Detailing and Online Marketing conference, May 8-9 in Berlin. For additional details, visit www.eyeforpharma.com/edetail2006