Introduction
Gaining access to influential healthcare professionals is difficult because physicians often do not have time to see drug reps during the working day. Furthermore, drug reps often fail to make the most of the limited time they do have with prescribers. Over time this has caused drug reps to lose influence to patient requests during the prescribing process.
Scope
- Provides an introduction to the common challenges facing the pharmaceutical sales force in the US, the EU and Japan
- Recommends how sales representatives can best use key eHealth applications, such as eDetailing and eSampling, to improve access to physicians
- Identifies opportunities for pharmaceutical sales forces to be integrated into multi-channel marketing campaigns
- Provides an analysis of future trends in sales force optimization
Highlights
The prescribing decisions of surveyed physicians are equally as likely to be affected by patient requests for specific mediations as they are to be affected by office visits from drug reps.
The most effective way to influence word-of-mouth exchanges within the medical community is to provide a superior eDetailing experience. While this level of quality is what every pharma company strives for, Datamonitor’s research shows that 35% of surveyed physicians rated the quality of recent eDetailing sessions as only average or below average.
Datamonitor has found that an average of 44% of surveyed physicians cite "loss of personal interactions with sales representatives" as a factor that restricts the uptake of eDetailing services in general.
Reasons to Purchase
- Recognize the individuals who have the most influence on a physician’s decisions during the prescribing process
- Understand why technology enabled drug reps and detailing sessions are more effective and efficient than traditional detail delivery
- Examine the impact of sales force optimization on both the current and the future global pharmaceutical industry
ABOUT DATAMONITOR 2
ACTION POINTS 6
Scope of the report 6
Key points to take away from Datamonitor’s research and analysis 6
The pharmaceutical sales representative in today’s market 6
Meeting physicians’ needs using an Internet-enabled sales force 7
Moving from ’sales pitch’ to ’service’ 7
THE PHARMACEUTICAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE IN TODAY’S MARKET 8
Key challenges facing today’s pharmaceutical sales force 8
Loss of market share to generic drugs 8
Increased consumerism 8
Competition within a limited number of highly profitable specialty drug markets 9
Globalization / domestic and foreign price controls 10
Public skepticism and increased regulatory intervention 10
The changing pharmaceutical marketplace 11
MEETING PHYSICIANS’ NEEDS USING AN INTERNET-ENABLED SALES FORCE 12
Pharmaceutical sales representatives continue to be an important source of information for physicians 12
eHealth opportunities in the current market 13
Supplementing traditional physician details with eDetailing services 14
Physicians prefer a mixture of traditional and technology enabled details 15
Physician demand for eDetailing services outstrips current supply 16
Strong growth is expected in the use of rep-assisted eDetailing sessions 17
Peer-to-peer recruiting is a powerful, though greatly underused, recruitment tool 18
Word-of-mouth as a method of recruitment 19
Physicians are likely to request either a drug sample delivery or a follow-up visit from a sales rep 22
A uneven sample supply makes eSampling an attractive option for many physicians 23
In support of ’on demand’ sampling 24
THE FUTURE DECODED 26
Moving from ’sales pitch’ to ’service’ 26
eHealth technologies allow pharmaceutical sales reps to make process changes in real time 26
Integrating the sales force into a multichannel marketing mix 28
APPENDIX 30
List of figures 30
Research methodology 31
Datamonitor’s 2005 Consumer eHealthInsight Survey 31
Datamonitor’s 2005 Physician eHealthInsight Survey 32
Analyst Contacts 32
Related Datamonitor Research 33
Other selected research from the 'IT & eHealth' category:
Optimizing Sales Force Effectiveness: Using eHealth Applications to Improve the Quality of Physician Interactions
Bioinformatics Market - Advanced Technologies, Global Forecast and Winning Imperatives (2009 - 2014)
Other selected research from the 'Pharmacoeconomics' category:
Pharmaceutical Distribution in Europe: The Emergence of Direct-to-Pharmacy Supply
Insomnia - Wake-Up Call for a Sleepy Market