Rethinking HCP Interaction in the Midst of the New Normal

By Vishal Dass - July 14, 2020

In today’s ever-changing business environment, life science organizations must determine when and where to invest their sales and marketing dollars. No matter the maturity of the organization, this “new normal” has made the sales and marketing process much more complicated and risky.

Organizations cannot simply hire a rep who will detail the product within an assigned set of HCPs. They must consider a whole host of other issues, including access restrictions and a shift in focus for HCPs and patients, while struggling to manage the sales team at the same time.

The companies that will be successful right now and in the future are those that leverage technology to help them be disruptors in the marketplace.

No Single Solution

There is no single solution that will ensure success in this new normal. Instead, companies must consider alternative ways to interact with HCPs, including:

• Digital
• Inside Sales
• Rep-triggered emails and other content
• Tele-detail
• Remote detail
• Patient services/Engagement

Of course, proper use of these methods will depend on investment in the right people, processes, and technologies.

People and Processes

The people and processes are tied together. The sales team should be empowered to work alongside the marketing team to create and drive new strategies and tactics. Some examples of this are:

• Joint HCP targeting/segmentation
• Rep-triggered emails
• Rep-triggered campaigns/journeys

Additionally, processes should be implemented to ensure that customers don’t experience “campaign fatigue.” These processes should follow best-practice business rules to avoid concurrent campaigns and maintain proper time between interactions. An overall focus on customer engagement similar to the Netflix/Amazon personalized experience is ideal.

Technology

There is no shortage of tech solutions designed to resolve these issues. Unfortunately, since many of them are point solutions that are not truly integrated, an authentic omnichannel experience becomes difficult to achieve.

This is where the Salesforce platform comes in. By leveraging Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud as the anchors for campaigns and CRM, organizations now have the functionality and scalability to be effective in today’s climate.

Plus, additional platforms can be implemented to deliver a true omnichannel experience for life sciences organizations:

• Health Cloud allows for increased patient engagement
• Communities supports patient communication, medical information, reimbursement support, etc
• Tableau provides 360° feedback and analytics to drive actionable insights

A Case-by-Case Basis

The platforms an organization will use should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Here are the key items to consider when rethinking your strategy:

• Identify your business requirements today, and consider will they be in the next 1-3 years
• Review existing platforms and integrations to ensure you have an omnichannel view of all customer touch points
• Integrate disparate data sources to gain a single source of truth
• Leverage modern BI/Analytics platforms such as Tableau, Einstein, etc. to provide an easy solution for advanced analytics, including AI.
• Determine whether or not new, cloud-based platforms are needed, and quantify the level of effort required to implement them

If you consider these things, you’ll be able to identify the areas that would benefit from additional functionality and then decide which tools to implement. The critical takeaway is that in the midst of this new normal, you must review and revise your sales/marketing model in order to ensure success for today and in the future.

This post was originally posted on LinkedIn.