Field Alternative Approach for Increasing Physician Access in the New Pharma Commercial Model

8/14/2019 Field Alternative Approach for Increasing Physician Access in the New Pharma Commercial Model

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Publicis Strategic Solutions Group

Field-Alternative Multichannel Approach

Helps Biopharma Companies Access

Physicians When & Where They Want

Multichannel Message Delivery

Best Practices Series


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The U.S. biopharmaceutical industry is formidable, generating sales revenue approaching $300 billion per

year. However, biopharma now faces a host of significant challenges:

Reduced R&D productivity

Intense payer-driven cost pressures

Acute branded and generic competition

Increasing public scrutiny

Unfortunately, these are not the only issues facing biopharma leaders. Superimposed on these executive-suite

difficulties is a separate but related set of marketing-specificchallenges. Indeed, biopharma sales and

marketing is undergoing its own unprecedented upheaval. Gone are the days when drug marketers could rely

on a basic package of simple, accepted, physician-focused tactics such as face-to-face details, samples,

promotional gifts, and journal ads. Instead, marketers are facing several major trends as they work to influence

healthcare professionals and other key customers:

Regulation will continue to squeeze traditional marketing, making prescriber access even more

difficult

Most new drugs today are hospital-based instead of community-based (Pharmaceutical Executive, Nov 2008),

resulting in a new concentration on specialists, who often have different informational needs than

primary care physicians (PCPs)

Doctors today face more stress and less downtime, due to several factors: fee-for-service

insurance has given way to managed care, with its attendant demands for more (and shorter) patient

visits and mountains of paperwork; an aging patient population requires care that is increasingly

complex and time consuming; and medical knowledge is expanding more rapidly than ever before,

mandating that doctors find new ways to keep on top of new products, guidelines, trends, and other

information

Marketers are learning to use data-driven, consumer-style strategies and tactics to influence

healthcare professionals; after all, doctors are consumers, too

Physicians nationwide are making dramatic changes in the way they interact with biopharma:

(1) One in four physicians now works in a practice that refuses to see biopharma sales representatives

(AMNews, Mar 23, 2009); and (2) For the first time ever, more MDs now get clinical information online than

offline (MM&M, Jun 2008).

Introduction


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Today, 9 out of 10 doctors want a lower total number of sales representatives calling on them, and 69% of

prescribers prefer to see fewer traditional primary care sales reps. (What Physicians Want!survey conducted

by Publicis Selling Solutions and Sermo, 2008)

Also, doctors today want a higher level of sales representative to call on them, with 85% preferring more highly

trained, specialty types of representatives, according to the survey.

Eighty-four percent of physicians responding to the What Physicians Want!survey desire more or

significantly more availability of high-quality disease-state websites designed exclusively for healthcare

professionals. Seventy-four percent of physicians in the survey stated they would like more or significantly

more availability of branded websites designed specifically for healthcare professionals.

Further contributing to the need for a comprehensive range of message delivery channels is physicians

increasing use of technology. Eighty-eight percent of physicians now consider the Internet to be an important

source of specialty-specific information, with half of doctors spending at least 8 hours or more per week

searching specialty-specific information online.

Although the medical professions shift from hard-copy information sources to electronic sources has been

underway for several years, 2008 served as a tipping point. In 2008, for the first time ever, more physicians

received clinical information online (78%) than offline (76%). It seems clear that physicians use of online

resources will continue to grow in years to come.

What Physicians Want


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In response to these challenges, biopharma companies are beginning to employ a multichannel approach to

fulfill their physician marketing objectives. In fact, numerous indicators point to the expansion of multichannel

direct-to-healthcare professional marketing. For example, the table below includes the latest forecast from the

Direct Marketing Associations annual special report, The Power of Direct Marketing. Although forecasting

biopharma marketing trends is an inexact sciencenow more than everDMA projects that biopharma

companies will spend more than $1.7 billion on direct marketing tactics in 2009, with growth in all segments

through 2013.

Although face-to-face field representatives will no doubt continue to be a vital message delivery channel within

the biopharma sales landscape, forward-thinking executives are also beginning to adopt message delivery

tactics that easily accommodate physicians self-directed information-seeking behavior.

The Path Forward

Direct Marketing Advertising Expenditures: Pharmaceuticals and Medicines(Millions of Dollars)

CHANNEL 2003 2007 2008 2009 2013

Advertising (Misc Offline) 822 869 835 858 1,103Direct Mail (Non-Catalog) 78 89 85 88 110Direct Mail (Catalog) 73 78 75 78 94Telephone Marketing 120 99 90 89 102Direct Response Newspaper 59 50 44 43 49Direct Response Television 274 288 280 284 361Direct Response Magazine 118 126 119 120 145Direct Response Radio 51 46 41 42 53Insert Media 2 3 2 3 3Other Offline 15 15 15 15 19OFFLINE TOTAL 1,613 1,661 1,586 1,619 2,038

Online (Non-eMail) 31 75 83 95 Commercial eMail 1 2 2 3 5ONLINE TOTAL 32 76 85 98 169

GRAND TOTAL 1,645 1,737 1,671 1,717 2,207

Source: Direct Marketing Associations The Power of Direct Marketing, 2008-2009 Edition

(www.mmmonline, 2009)


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The key to future success in physician marketing will be to augment the traditional field sales force

model with innovative, integrated solutions that effectively deliver messages to prescribers. As

opportunities to access prescribers has become more challenging, biopharma companies are

demanding new approaches that get key information into the handsand mindsof customers.

As shown in the table below, eMarketing (including SEO, SEM, eDetailing, and eMail) is the leading alternative

to face-to-face detailing, preferred by 66% of drug marketers. However, other channels include healthcare

professional branded websites (42% of marketers), industry-sponsored continuing medical education (34%),

teleConferences/dinners (31%), direct mail (27%), and teleDetailing (22%).

Several specific emerging channels are showing particular promise in marketing to prescribers. These tactics

include: TeleDetailing: Experienced contact center sales representatives use their advanced training to

accurately deliver key product messages to target prescribers.

TeleSampling/TeleService: Remote representatives make live phone calls to target offices, develop

relationships, confirm sample needs, fax and retrieve sample request forms, and forward the requests

to the client's fulfillment supplier.

Live Video Detailing: Inside professional sales representatives (with field-level training) conduct live,person-to-person details using the web and phone. Healthcare providers see and hear sales

representatives via a webcam link, and the representatives hear healthcare providers on the phone.

During video details, sales representatives display on healthcare providers computers client-approved

content appropriate to answer their questions. Most video details are initiated on-demand by healthcare

providers who click on a brand-site web link.

% of Marketers Planning Increased Spending Over Next 12 Months

eMarketing 66%Website 42%Continuing Medical Education 34%TeleConferences/Dinners 31%Direct Mail 27%TeleDetailing 22%

Source: Survey by Arista Marketing Associates (2008)


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Inside Clinical Representatives: Phone-based healthcare professionals (eg, RNs, RPhs, and

PharmDs) engage physicians and other high-level targets in complex one-on-one clinical product

discussions, particularly in institutional settings.

Vacant Territory and White Space Management: Companies are managing vacant territories by

using a web-based interface available to internal and field managers 24/7, combined with outbound

TeleDetailing and TeleSampling. Live video detailing is also being used for vacant and white-space

territories. Sales representatives conduct outbound calling and invite healthcare providers to join a

video detailing session. Vacant territory coverage supports situational needs in geographic areas

currently lacking appropriate staffing levels. Vacancies can be identified by territory or physician.

The real promise in multichannel message delivery lies not in selecting the one best tactic, but in deploying abrand-specific mix of fresh, well-integrated tactics via multiple channelstrue multichannel marketing. For

example, this approach could combine primary sales representatives with clinical health educators,

teleDetailing, content-rich healthcare professional websites, video details, and online sampling.

Multichannel marketing realizes its best results when it is used to augment a field sales force, and all channels

are interconnected. In fact, ongoing interaction and collaboration with field representatives is vital. A common

platform and common standards should link all message delivery channels so that all physician interactions are

reported to the brand marketing and field sales teams.

A further refinement of multichannel marketing is closed-loop marketing, in which each healthcare professional

receives a continuously verified and modified, truly customized, multichannel marketing mix based on his or

her individual preferences. Closed-loop marketing is particularly useful because it integrates data gathered

from client-directed programs (both face-to-face detailing and alternative channel programs) with information

from external data sets. In this setting, the client receives a single source of integrated prescriber information

that can be used to manage and measure all message delivery tactics.

By helping biopharma marketers monitor the impact of specific content and channels, closed loop marketing

allows them to more accurately predict future business outcomes, thus driving overall program optimization.

Top-performing marketing services providers use complex data-management platforms to execute seamless,

end-to-end multichannel solutions, and provide a single source of integrated HCP information to manage and

measure program effectiveness.


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Here is an example of how a leading pharmaceutical company combined various multichannel message

delivery tactics for its suite of seven branded pharma products.

The prescriber target list included over 160,000 subspecialty and primary care physicians. The work of thecompanys field representatives was augmented with outbound message delivery tactics to reach no-see,

hard-to-see, and geographically inaccessible prescribers. These additional channels included live detailing via

Internet-enabled video and phone, supported by eMail, fax, direct mail, BRC sample request forms, direct-to-

healthcare provider sample fulfillment, and collateral material fulfillment.

A Case Study

Inbound Outbound

A team of inside professional

sales representatives worked

autonomously to support

multiple brands to four

specialty groups and primary

care physicians by respondingto website-initiated inbound

requests for on-demand, live

video details. All call activity

was entered into the

companys sales force

automation tool so field

representatives could see

relevant activity for their

physicians.

Inside Registered Nurse (RN)

representatives supported

multiple brands to a single

specialty of called-on doctors.

Each inside RN was aligned

directly with a geographicsales region, supporting them

by providing additional reach

and frequency via phone to

no-see, hard-to-see, and

geographically inaccessible

prescribers.

Inbound, live video details averaged 12 minutes in length, and outbound

phone details averaged between 1.5 and 2 minutes. Based on these data

and other proprietary ROI information, this initiative has been extended

and expanded several times by the client.

Results

Multichannel Field-Alternative Message Delivery


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Conclusion

Today, biopharmaceutical field sales forces need to be augmented with a wide range of field-alternative

communicators and an array of established and emerging technologies that create real-time, remote

interactions. It is critical that biopharma companies employ a complete, highly customized message deliverymix so they can access physicians when and where they wantand build and strengthen relationships with

them.


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For detailed information on field-alternative message delivery, contact:

Jim Reidy, VP Business Development, Arista Marketing Associates

[email protected]

For information on PSSGs full suite of multichannel message delivery solutions, contact:

Chris Dowd, EVP Business Development, PSSG609-896-4764

[email protected]

001061209AR

Publicis Strategic Solutions Group

2000 Lenox Drive, Suite 100 Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

609-896-4700 www.pSellingSolutions.com

2009 Publicis Strategic Solutions Group

Documents

Field Alternative Approach for Increasing Physician Access in the New Pharma Commercial Model