5 Best Practices to Optimize a Sales Call

Transcription

1 5 Best Practices to Optimize a Sales Call

2 Pharmaceutical sales is a job that demands endless creativity and planning. Reps have an average of 2-3 minutes to convince doctors that their drug is the best on the market. With the right planning and information, however, companies can empower their reps, increasing the chances of a successful sales call with every visit. In this article, we ve outlined the top 5 practices that can help reps plan every call more efficiently and effectively. 1. Develop a rigorous plan for each target. It may seem obvious, but call planning should not be a last minute exercise in the doctor s parking lot or coffee shop. Nobody wants to go into a sales call blindly or unprepared. Rather, a methodical business plan should be developed at the start of the sales period for each target that determines the business strategy and activities for that individual. Most companies provide a territory template to facilitate the planning process that encompasses such metrics as the state of the doctor s writing activity today, what the goal is, what is important to him (his needs), his typical objections, the planned call schedule and the messages that will be delivered over time to shift him toward that sales goal. In conjunction with home office marketing message guidance (from the POA), the plan should be followed yet, it should also be constantly reviewed and adjusted as necessary so that each physician receives a message tailored to his needs. Business planning should not be viewed as a one-time document, but rather as a process that evolves and is updated over time, as the business situation and needs evolve. And, this includes post-call planning capturing what was learned during the last call enables better preparation for the next.

3 2. Be flexible in your planning. While having a business plan sets the stage for the call plan, business situations naturally change and reps need to be agile in order to increase their effectiveness. Having the latest data at the rep s fingertips is paramount. For example, we ve seen clients that have a formulary win and want to quickly get the message out to the appropriate doctors. Providing the ability to easily see pull-through by plan enables the rep to deliver the message to those doctors affiliated with those plans and track their uptake over time. Another example involves access as we all know, the ability for a rep to actually see a physician is becoming more difficult. Having a geographic map of nearby doctors and accounts - where the rep can hover over each office to obtain key metrics - allows efficient, dynamic rerouting; perhaps another high potential physician can be called upon instead of (or in addition to) the no-see doctor or cancelled appointment. This type of functionality results in increased rep effectiveness and tremendous time savings, as reps aren t challenged with trying to determine where to go next. See Top Payers by Prescriber 3. Make it easy for the Rep. All key data about a physician or account should be on one screen and combine disparate data sets and metrics. Consider a dashboard that displayed information such as: Sales (own product and competitor) Anonymous longitudinal patient Rx data Payer information Call/sample history MD profile information (including geographic maps) Alerts to any trend anomalies requiring attention Even today, many companies still generate multiple, separate reports for the Field. In fact, we ve met with reps that maintain their own spreadsheets that assimilate data from these various home office provided reports. For example, recently one sales rep told us he spends five hours each week cutting and pasting data from disparate reports for each of his targets. When shown the Verix Pre-Call Planning app, he remarked what currently takes him five hours, he could do in three minutes with Verix, as everything he needed to see was already combined, calculated and presented in an easy to understand format via charts, lists and graphs. By having all the relevant data in one spot, the rep is up-to-date, moments before making the call, allowing him to see any problems and prioritize activities. For example, is the doctor switching patients from your drug to the competitor s? This can be easily seen and the appropriate counter-detail can be made during the physician call.

4 Be alerted to trend changes, dynamically plan routing on map and see key details, such as product switching information 4. Practice makes perfect. With an average detail time of two to three minutes, every second counts. Being succinct and on point is critical. While reps may conduct role playing at the annual POA, how often do they practice outside of that meeting? Role playing with the manager or fellow reps can go a long way in delivering a smooth presentation. For example, if during the last visit, the doctor made a particular objection, the rep should be well rehearsed and prepared to address that objection at the next call. Practicing various scenarios ahead of time increases the chance of a successful call. In addition to actually simulating calls, it can be helpful to set-up workshops where reps practice scheduling their routing. Since this can be a complicated task, full of cancelled appointments and closed doors, reps really need to plan their weeks out ahead of time, including contingency plans for when they can t see a doctor on their daily list. By knowing the frequency requirements for each target, where the rep is currently at with that target and the optimal geographic routing, the rep can plan his week out ahead of time. Having a map available of other nearby offices can facilitate this process, particularly with contingency planning, and take a lot of the stress out of the daily drive. Know each target s frequency attainment and plan accordingly

5 5. Track the success of the Call Plan. The Home Office has spent a tremendous of time determining who the right targets are and how often they should be called upon. Reach and frequency are tracked on a weekly basis to ensure the plan is being followed. Still, just because a call plan has been rolled out and the Field is following it doesn t necessarily guarantee drug success. The Analytics team and Sales Leadership should closely track reach, frequency and sales metrics. Are the expected results being obtained from the sales team s efforts? Are there any issues at the territory level that need to be addressed? Getting the Field to believe in the Call Plan is critical. One company performed an analysis of those reps that followed the Call Plan vs. Incentive Compensation Goal achievement. The highly correlated data proved that those that followed the home office recommendations had a higher bonus payout a very compelling story to the Field and a great way to obtain their buy-in to the Call Plan. In addition, another important way to obtain Field acceptance of the Call Plan is to explain the methodology behind how each physician was valued and assigned to the plan. Then, allow for some Field input into the initial target list when first rolling it out in order to gain Field intelligence and acceptance. Still, sometimes Call Plan adjustments may need to be made. Just because the Call Plan is being followed doesn t mean quality calls or the right message are being delivered. Perhaps the modeling used to determine target value is off. Or, maybe the actual delivery of the call could be improved, requiring manager assessment of call effectiveness. Or, perhaps there are other factors are involved. For example, one company was hitting all of its call plan goals, yet was not seeing any improvement over the competition. A primary market research study revealed that their market positioning was off they were emphasizing the wrong attribute (efficacy) during the sales call. The research revealed that doctors had more concerns about product safety than efficacy as compared to the competition. Once this was learned, the company changed its strategy to promote the drug s strong safety profile (in addition to its efficacy). Drug sales soon improved once this new message was delivered. Measuring Reach, Frequency and Call Plan Adherence may lead to other types of analyses or actions

6 We ve established that being a pharmaceutical sales rep comes with major challenges. There are things the company can do, however, to support their efforts for improved performance and sales. To review: 1. Develop a rigorous plan for each target 2. Be flexible in your planning 3. Make it easy for the Rep 4. Practice makes perfect 5. Track the success of the Call Plan For more information, send an to info@verix.com. About the Author Greg Barlow is a seasoned business intelligence executive and the Senior Director of Product Marketing and Business Development at Verix. He brings more than a decade of life science and pharmaceutical experience and an extensive background in strategic management, positioning Verix as the business analytics solution for Life Sciences. Verix Inc. 339S. San Antonio Rd. S2G, Los Altos, CA Tel: (650) Fax: (650) l info@verix.com