There’s often a disconnection between what healthcare professionals (HCPs) need and what medical device or pharmaceutical companies think they want. To succeed in this competitive landscape, it’s crucial for sales reps to understand doctors’ expectations and provide genuine value, which in turn can open doors and drive sales success.
The Role of MedTech and Pharma Sales Reps
Successful MedTech sales reps bring the right knowledge and experience to support doctors during procedures, ultimately enhancing clinical outcomes. Similarly, pharma sales reps play a key role in helping doctors improve patient care during their visits. Despite the different perceptions doctors may have towards these two types of sales reps, both need to focus on improving the daily lives of their customer (HCPs and patients).
Access to Doctors: A Challenging Landscape
Access to HCPs has been steadily declining worldwide, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The “new normal” presents lower levels of access but also introduces new ways to interact with doctors, such as virtual and digital channels. Sales reps must adapt by developing skills to navigate these varied interaction methods, whether in-person, virtual, or digital.
Given the high competition for doctors’ attention, from medical devices to pharmaceuticals and beyond, sales reps often face skepticism. Visits are frequently viewed as distractions unrelated to patient care. As sales and marketing professionals, it’s essential to adopt a proactive approach that prioritizes the needs of HCPs, creating a foundation for long-term business relationships.
Effective Ways to Engage with Doctors
While there are several channels to communicate with doctors, in-person meetings remain a preferred method for meaningful exchanges. According to this market research, HCPs still consider sales reps as preferred communication channel with manufacturers. However, this doesn’t contradict the trend of reduced access; rather, it emphasizes the need to shift from traditional sales pitches to providing value as a trusted advisor.
Doctors are increasingly selective, allowing access to reps who offer resources that genuinely help them provide quality care and streamline patient management. Instead of repetitive product presentations, sales reps should focus on meeting doctors’ needs and delivering relevant information.
I recently met a doctor whom I had not seen for more than 10 years, and it was a great opportunity to reconnect and discuss what doctors expect from sales representatives. This friendly conversation confirmed some of the principles I developed during my time as a sales representative and also provided me with new ideas.
Although this is not intended to be a prescription for how to interact with doctors, it could serve as a good starting point.
Practical Tips for Sales Reps
Offer Value in Every Interaction: HCPs like to be approached as normally they interact with colleagues and the staff. Frequently, this is through short and effective exchanges. This kind of discussion allows communication without taking much time and creating backlog. Sales reps should aim to engage doctors with concise, relevant information that directly benefits their practice. Whether it’s a new drug or a medical device, focus on its clinical value, including indications, dosing, side effects, and usage tips. For devices, for example, tailor the information to the product category (Class I, II, III) and offer practical tips for effective use.
Present Financial Insights: Physicians are also interested in the financial aspects of products, such as cost, reimbursement, insurance coverage, and payments.
Support product use in a specific population: HPCs are open to listen about new studies supporting the use of a drug or device in relevant subset of their patients’ population.
Simplifying administrative tasks: Generally, physicians do not like to deal with non-clinical issues, like formulary listing, purchasing process, authorization prior to use. Frequently these processes are labor intensive, consequently, facilitating these processes can influence their clinical decisions positively, as doctors often prefer to avoid complex administrative tasks.
Support Clinical Decision-Making: Provide credible resources that help doctors navigate patient questions, especially in an era where patients frequently challenge clinical decisions with information from the internet. High-quality educational materials, patient brochures, and reliable online resources can empower doctors to offer informed care to patient.
Provide Access to Training: Especially for medical devices, clinicians value training and education programs that enhance their skills and knowledge. Understanding knowledge gaps and subtly helping doctors close them can solidify business relationships. Sharing useful knowledge and providing consistent support positions MedTech sales reps as valuable partners.
Consistency Over Sporadic Visits: Doctors often prefer shorter, frequent visits that provide ongoing support rather than long, infrequent meetings. Building trust and a strong relationship requires regular, consistent interaction tailored to the doctor’s availability and needs.
Use of free samples: Free samples should not be considered a door opener per se, although free samples of drugs or medical devices are welcomed by many HCPs. Samples should be used strategically, for instance to test the product and develop familiarity with it, to increase its use in a subset of patients, and to facilitate product acceptance, particularly for products that are entirely at the patient’s expense.
Conclusion
Gaining access to HCPs, capturing their attention, and building mutually beneficial relationships is challenging but achievable with the right approach. Sales reps must prioritize delivering value, aligning their offerings with the specific needs of doctors, and being flexible in how they provide support. As integral parts of the healthcare system, pharma and MedTech sales reps must evolve alongside the healthcare environment, continuously finding ways to bring exceptional value and meet doctors’ expectations. By doing so, they can not only survive but thrive in this ever-changing landscape.
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