Leveraging Mobility to Maximize Pharmaceutical Sales Force Effectiveness

As pharmaceutical companies shift to multichannel approaches and scrutinize promotional spend, it is more important than ever for the sales force, which usually has the most direct customer contact, to maximize their effectiveness during sales calls. One way to improve direct customer interactions is to use mobility—mobile tools and applications that provide real-time information and productivity-enhancing features at a lower operating cost.

To achieve the full potential of mobility, pharmaceutical companies need to follow a broader and interconnected strategic approach with a core set of execution activities. Defining, developing and implementing a holistic mobile strategy for the sales force can help pharmaceutical companies drive sales efficiency and productivity, improve the customer experience, and maximize cost management initiatives.

While many pharmaceutical sales executives recognize the mobility trend, few have exploited the potential that mobile solutions can offer to increase sales force effectiveness, which can, in turn, lower service costs, simplify drug selection processes and improve customized message delivery.

Even more critical, the pharmaceutical companies that are moving ahead with mobility are primarily in the experimentation stage—piloting tactical or point mobile solutions, such as providing sales representatives with Apple iPads or iPhones for interactive detailing or delivering brand messaging, without much consideration for a broader and interconnected strategic approach.

Although the devices have helped make isolated improvements in sales representatives’ efficiency and also reduced operating costs, pharmaceutical companies still have not achieved the desired breakthroughs in customer interaction. The reason? Many of these pilots have been mobile applications that were developed on various platforms without connectivity to the underlying enterprise architecture.

Clearly, mobility is a powerful solution to help pharmaceutical companies reach their customers more economically and effectively. The question is whether your company is simply experimenting with mobility—or embracing it fully to maximize sales force effectiveness as part of a comprehensive multichannel strategy. The pharmaceutical companies that pursue a holistic approach to mobility stand to achieve the substantial revenue gains, productivity improvements and cost savings that drive high performance.