3 Reasons Why Rare Disease Marketing Strategies Need To Start With Inside Sales

Over the past few years, rare disease drugs have seen an increase in research and development from the big pharmaceutical companies. Some of the many reasons for this are that rare disease drugs benefit from speedier clinical development timelines, lower commercialization costs, higher market valuation, and financial inflows for improving diagnosis and treatment approaches. The above factors can yield higher sales, making rare disease drug development extremely lucrative and desirable.

However, as the name alludes to, rare disease research is challenging to uncover because of the scarce data available. The power of inside sales begins here. There are three imperative reasons why rare disease marketing strategies need to start with inside sales, from research to awareness to better-qualified leads.

Market Research & Territory Alignment

Technological advances, process enhancements, new messaging formats, and social media platforms (such as Facebook, Linkedin, and even Twitter) allow inside sales forces to create specific rare disease market research for pharma companies. Additionally, physicians are implementing digital record keeping, which can provide access and direction to an inside sales team guiding their research and strategy. The powerful connection between crucial data points like the top pharmaceutical prescriptions is automated, creating direct relationships between data and leads. Consequently, the inside sales force can gather that data, organize it, and execute the most accurate market research. Additionally, inside sales are essential to rare disease marketing because they find critical geographical regions that fit the qualifications for rare disease pharma companies.

Inside Sales – A Cost-Effective Solution that Raises Disease Awareness

Inside sales is inherently a more cost-effective solution when compared to outside sales. The inside sales force incurs far fewer incidental costs, such as travel and lodging expenses. Additionally, many inside sales companies allow their salespersons to work from home or remotely. The low overhead costs make way for more funds to funnel the growth and expansion of the company.

The adage “time is money” is also applicable to the benefits of inside sales. The less time an inside salesperson spends traveling, the more time they can dedicate to selling, reaching out to clients, and performing the necessary rare disease market research. The number of physicians an inside sales team can reach is extensive as they can contact physicians country-wide and are not bound by geographical limitations.

The ability to cast this wide net of communication allows the inside sales force to collect more information to direct and formulate a suitable technique for converting leads to customers. The newfound data can help a pharmaceutical company reach new regions and make a more profound impact in local communities that need their products.

Territory Warming & Lead Generation

Territory warming is a productive strategy that can be used before the actual lead generation efforts. As with any good marketing effort, pharma marketing is much more effective when you have multiple touchpoints with a prospective lead.

Territory warming efforts can include calling on physicians for profiling before a field force is sent in, identifying the patient population and also educating on the disease state. These warming efforts are and can be positioned as educational efforts. After potential patients are identified, lead generation efforts can then begin.

Since patients can be located anywhere and typical rare disease companies place field reps within focused territories, territory warming efforts allow rare disease companies to expand their coverage and identify additional physicians and patients outside their normal call plan.

Lead generation can also be done via a multi-channel marketing strategy. Supplementing your existing field force with a remote marketing team is a great way to get started. Generating an increased number of qualified leads profitably can be a challenge if handled internally. A remote marketing team can increase leads without upending your budget.

While rare disease marketing comes with its challenges, inside sales make it easier to source data, generate leads, and convert leads into sales. Inside sales solve the issue of executing rare disease marketing strategies and bringing to life the financial and educational goals that are the lifeline to any pharmaceutical company.