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Why do some pharmaceutical telemarketing programs work, while others fail?

There are a few reasons why pharmaceutical telemarketing program don’t always work. In this blog we will discuss what these reasons are and how to design a successful pharmaceutical teledetailing program.

Reason One: The teledetailing program doesn’t have clearly defined goals and objectives. Like any marketing program if you don’t know what you want to achieve you probably aren’t going to be happy with the results. Before starting a pharmaceutical teledetailing program work with your teledetailing partner to ensure clearly defined, reasonable goals and objectives that align with your brand strategy and can deliver a positive ROI.

Reason Two: Teledetailing is performed with no supportive materials or prescription samples. If the teledetail representative doesn’t have an incentive to offer it will be a huge challenge to get a physician or nurse onto the telephone. If you are investing in a pharmaceutical teledetailing program it is essential to provide the representatives with resources that will prompt healthcare providers to jump into a phone conversation.

Reason Three: Too often teledetailing is run as a stand-alone program. Ideally, teledetailing should be part of a multi-channel pharmaceutical marketing approach that also includes fax, email, edetailing, direct mail and other channels. Every doctor has a preference for how they want to receive a branded pharmaceutical message. A multi-channel approach gives you the best chance at reaching all of your targets. A robust multi-channel approach can also be used to support a pharmaceutical field force by profiling physician offices before launch and helping to access difficult or no-see physicians.

Reason Four: Many companies claim to have teledetailing services, but it is not their core competency. For the best chance at success make sure to work with a company with a sole focus on pharmaceutical multi-channel marketing. Be careful to not just hire your sample fulfillment company or CSO because they say “Oh yea, we can do that.” To be successful in this realm the company and its team need to be passionate about multi-channel marketing and have the experience to leverage the power of various channels including the teledetail.

Executing a successful pharmaceutical launch plan is a challenge even in the best of times.  Unfortunately, these are not the best of times so the challenges for pharmaceutical marketers are exacerbated.  In fact, according to Pharmaceutical Executive, only three out of every ten pharma brands launched over the last five years have recovered their research and development costs.

So what can product managers do to increase overall ROI for their newly launched products?

The key to success is a strong emphasis on ROI.  In today’s healthcare environment there isn't room for excessive spending, especially for specialty pharma products.  Every strategy and every tactic need to be ROI driven. 

Here is part one of a list to think about as you develop your pharmaceutical launch plan:

Run a lean and mean operation with a smaller value-added sales force.

• Physicians are tired of being bombarded by a never-ending onslaught of pharmaceutical representatives.  The best way to get in to see physicians is to deliver value on every call.  

Focus on your brand’s core advantages that differentiate it from the competition.

• Physicians want and need to know why particular brands are a better choice in specific patients.  Deliver messaging that helps the healthcare provider to match your brand’s advantages with specific patient profiles.

Revise brand positioning and key messages to dominate a niche.

• If you’re marketing on a budget don’t be afraid of niches.  Often, it can be better to be a big fish in a few smaller ponds than a tiny fish in a large ocean.  Evaluate the market opportunity in niches that match up well with your product’s advantages.  If you can dominate a niche or two your overall market share might see a nice bump.

Use targeted tactics vs. shotgun advertising.

• An easy and effective way to market on a budget is to pinpoint target your advertising dollars.  For example, if you have a cardiology product, advertising to the entire universe of primary care physicians will be a lot more expensive and wasteful than advertising to the primary care doctor known to write similar cardiovascular products.  Choose marketing vehicles that give you the ability to target.

Keep an eye out for part two of this blog.  Feel free to comment and provide us with your tips on pharmaceutical marketing in a slow economy.

Can you be the best product manager you can be if you aren’t meeting with pharmaceutical marketing companies regularly?
 
Pharmaceutical marketers question how a physician can stay up to date on all of the prescription drugs on the market without seeing sales representatives regularly. Pharmaceutical marketers could probably ask themselves a similar question. If you don’t take the time to meet with pharmaceutical marketing companies you may miss essential tools to successfully address your strategic marketing plan.

One of the most efficient ways to learn, especially as a new product manager, is to meet with companies that offer proven or innovative pharmaceutical marketing programs. When meeting with marketing companies:

• Think about your marketing strategies and how their program(s) might support your goals at a tactical level.
• Keep an open mind. You won’t be able to use every marketing program you learn about, but during brand planning season you will be well prepared to select the best tactics to ensure execution of a successful pharmaceutical brand plan.

Plan meetings into your schedule

There are too many marketing companies to possibly meet with all of them. A good approach is to try and set aside an hour or two every week to meet with new companies. Select companies with varying programs and capabilities to gain a broad perspective of the pharmaceutical marketing tools that are available to you. Reputable companies and their team of experts can be a tremendous asset to any brand team as they develop their strategic and tactical plans. When it is time to craft your brand plan hopefully your team will be ready with a solid list of companies to help your brand achieve success.

Would you agree delivering a tailored message to healthcare providers based on their individualized needs and preference is better than a shotgun blast of a one-size fits all message?  And what about controlling the message being delivered?

Traditional Sales Models Are Becoming Less Effective
In a traditional sales model it is very difficult to control the message being delivered.  It is tough to know for sure if tailored messages are being delivered.  Too much potential for human error exists.  Only when a marketing team member or district manager rides along on a sales call can you be certain your pharmaceutical brand message is being delivered as it was crafted.  Unfortunately, too many physicians have become accustomed to just signing for samples and not giving time to really discuss brand features and benefits.  Many sales representatives also hesitate to use marketing brochures and literature. Yet, if you’re fighting for market share, is a sample drop going to effectively move the needle against the market share leader?
 
Even with the best pharmaceutical representatives, more and more physicians in their territories are becoming no-see physicians.  Those physicians are often high-decile targets.  If the sales rep can’t discuss your message with them, how are you going to reach them?

A Measurable Multichannel Approach is Critical to Your Success
If you want to control your message with precision, and reach even no-see physicians, you need to implement a multi-channel approach.  Multi-channel marketing includes your sales force activity and enhances its effectiveness.  If your campaign is managed properly, you can begin to build a customer profile that includes channel preferences, medical practice characteristics, patient types and relevant features and benefits for your brand that can increase prescription drug usage. 

Imagine the impact on your pharmaceutical or biotech brand if every touch point with your target market was coordinated to deliver optimized product messages.  By combining faxes, direct mail, e-communications and teledetailing along with your sales force call plan, promotional dinner meetings and conference exhibits you can greatly extend your reach and frequency.  More importantly, a coordinated CRM system can gather and analyze channel and message preferences.  Plus, the addition of non-personal promotion ensures your brand message is delivered precisely in text, electronic, and voice scripted format.

Your pharmaceutical brand will benefit from happier customers, receiving the right message, at the right time, through the right communication channel.