The Biggest Challenges For Pharma Sales
The challenges for pharma sales are growing, so let's look at some efficient ways to address them.
The pharma industry is currently facing many challenges when it comes to maintaining sales channels. Sales agents need to expand the service, promote the brand, and manage the increase in product demand. Automation in sales does help with these problems, but it does not solve them in the long run.
Furthermore, issues like lower perceived product differentiation, the lack of more efficient communication channels, everchanging regulatory constraints that are becoming tighter, restricted physician access, and the growing number of non-physician customers are just some of the pain points of the pharma industry now. The challenges for pharma sales are growing in numbers, so let's look at some efficient ways to address them.
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Who are the buyers, and how do sales work?
When we talk about the buyers in the pharma industry, they can be people from the hospital pharmacy, doctors, and chemists. Pharmaceutical marketing needs to target these customers in a specific way and present the products. However, it is essential to research how pharma companies contact their customers.
Many pharma representatives from the same company visit primary care physicians and advertise various lines of products. The benefit of this approach is that you get to promote more products and potentially sell more. However, the downside is that you don't get to focus on what the primary care physician's needs are. Instead of advertising the most required medication, representatives advertise everything. Such a diluted way of promotion results in various products not being sold as much as others.
One of the solutions to this issue is to shift the sales from a product orientation and focus more on customer analysis. The idea is to segment the market and figure out what locations require what medication. Instead of sending all representatives everywhere to advertise all of the products, specialize them for specific groups of medicine, and assign an area most likely to benefit from the product they are promoting.
This approach allows a better understanding of the customers' needs and improves the number of sales.
Improve communication channels to accommodate different needs
The most common way of communication is face-to-face. The representative reaches out directly to a client, and they provide extensive details about the products they are advertising. However, there are two things to consider with this approach:
Do all customers need comprehensive information about the products? How to handle the number of representatives and the cost of face-to-face advertising? While this communication channel is very efficient, it is crucial to consider alternatives that will increase productivity while lowering the cost of advertising.
If we look at the pharma industry today, many customers want to choose where their investments go. They do extensive research on medication use, the delivery speed and the product's cost. Instead of waiting for representatives, they reach out to distributors on their own and order the products they need.
This is a fantastic opportunity. Instead of sending representatives, it is important to collect information on the shopping habits of these self-directed customers. Once you figure out a pattern that tells you what products they are ordering, in what quantities, and when, you can direct precise sales and form offers that will increase the number of purchases.
Furthermore, check in with the clients from time to time to proactively advertise whatever they are interested in.
Another thing to understand is that some customers will always prefer the face-to-face approach. This is where it is crucial to understand what the preferred communication channels are for each customer and focus on maintaining that connection.
Customer access problem
We already mentioned how some customers prefer a face-to-face approach, while others prefer to call and order themselves. However, what about customers who don't have access to representatives? Or customers that don't have full knowledge of all the possible communication channels?
There are also situations where a customer is willing to buy from a specific vendor but not from a face-to-face representative. Many combinations exist here, and finding the best approach to contact everyone is crucial.
The first thing to do is to research potential customers in the area. Whether you do calls or face-to-face visits, you have to contact them. Solve their problems by offering a preferred channel of communication.
Web stores for ordering products are necessary today and are the best way to boost your digital marketing efforts. They allow access to people who don't have other means of communication, whatever the reason may be.
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Target new customers
Primary care physicians are the number one customer group for the pharma industry. However, things are changing now. It is also imperative to start targeting pharmacies, patients, and payers. The number of non-physician customers is growing in all countries, and targeting new customer groups increases the number of sales.
When we talk about improving the sales pipeline, this is one of the most critical areas to pay attention to. Besides targeting new leads, you also need to nurture your leads properly by carefully researching their preferred way of communication.
Form partnerships
This is a prevalent strategy to use. While, in many cases, sales representatives visit various locations and advertise new products, there are also scenarios where pharma companies make deals with specific customers. The primary care physicians work closely with local pharmacies, and they recommend them to patients. Pharmacies also support the doctor's office by creating special deals for their patients. On top of that, pharma companies support this collaboration by providing discounts on specific products and making it easier for customers to access required medication.
This form of B2B digital marketing through partnerships is a common strategy that often results in increased sales.
The biggest challenges for pharma sales explained
While there are many challenges for the pharma industry, if we look at everything above, sales challenges are the most common. However, thorough customer research can solve even the biggest challenges for pharma sales. Understanding clients' needs and preferred communication methods will rapidly increase sales. There should be no more spending resources to advertise everything to everyone. The issues require a more personalized approach and segmentation of sales through various market locations depending on market needs. With that in mind, it is imperative that the pharma industry implements these changes as quickly as possible and stabilizes its sales.
For more on strategic marketing approaches in the pharmaceutical sectors, and how we can help you, visit our section on strategy.