Forming Emotional Connections: The Key to Physician Engagement

The marketing world is shifting toward a focus on customers’ emotional experience, and the pharmaceutical field is no exception. In pharmaceutical sales, sales force effectiveness is typically measured according to the impact sales reps have on physicians’ prescribing behavior. Dozens of times each day, physicians choose which product to prescribe. If you’re in the pharmaceutical business, it’s crucial to track whether your sales reps have access to physicians—otherwise, they never have the chance to suggest a new product. Assuming access, how well do sales reps hold physicians’ attention? And how much do they impact physicians’ prescription decisions? These questions have driven pharmaceutical marketing for years. However, PeopleMetrics’ research shows that another question is more salient to long-term sales: Do your sales reps have a strong emotional connection with the doctors they sell to?

At its heart, every “detail” a sales rep delivers is really just a conversation with a doctor. Traditional pharmaceutical market research successfully evaluates the functional aspects of these sales rep-physician conversations. For instance, a customary evaluation of a sales rep may ask whether the rep knows how to use his or her detail piece, or whether the doctor actually remembers the sales message. What’s missing from this equation? Emotions.

By examining the emotional side of physician-sales reps interactions, PeopleMetrics is spearheading the next generation of sales force effectiveness research. PeopleMetrics’ research on Physician Engagement shows, especially in this harsh economic climate, that it’s important for sales reps to engage with, not just talk at, the physicians they serve. As PeopleMetrics’ white paper on this topic explains, the execution of typical sales tactics is no longer enough—to be truly successful today, sales reps must “connect with physicians emotionally and forge a positive, personal relationship.”

Sales reps that do so enjoy more receptive physicians who are more willing to listen to tactical sales messages. PeopleMetrics has found that physicians who see their sales reps as friends are more likely to make time for them in their hectic schedules. And over time an established, trusting sales rep-physician relationship blossoms into more face-time, more opportunities to deliver key messages, and more prescriptions. (And, one hopes, better health outcomes for patients!)

So, if you’re searching for the “missing ingredient” in your pharmaceutical sales recipe, look no further. Physician Engagement is the characteristic that determines long-term sales rep effectiveness.

Additional Resources
Physician Engagement Study—Follow this link to receive a copy of the white paper that summarizes the research PeopleMetrics conducted about Physician Engagement.
Introduction to Physician Engagement Management

Tags: Marketing, pharmaceutical market research, pharmaceutical sales, Physician Engagement, physicians

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 10:23 am and is filed under Market Research, Physician Engagement, methodology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.