Barcelona 2015

Mar 24, 2015 - Mar 26, 2015, CCIB, Barcelona

Your Customer is in Charge.

Year in Review 2014: Sales & Marketing

What do customers want? Ranging from understanding how to reach women, through increasing disease awareness with digital campaigns, to coming up with solutions on how to personalize the experience of taking medication, we share the highlights.



1.      What women want from pharma

As women become more empowered and increasingly take control of their own health and wellbeing, their expectations from pharma are changing. Deirdre Coleman speaks to Pelin Icil, Marketing Manager, Bayer Healthcare (Women’s Health) about what women want. “They are looking for objective health information that is concise, trustworthy, and easy to understand. Because of time constraints, they want companies to filter that information for them to meet their needs and objectives to benefit them and make their lives easier and improve their wellbeing,” Icil says.

2.      Have you heard the one about disease awareness?

Pharma is currently going through something of a revolution, writes Nick de Cent. The so-called patent cliff is expected to cost the industry US$20 billion in lost revenue, and pharma urgently needs a new business model. One possibility is a model that will revolve around healthcare services rather than focusing on a single product, and IT tools will become the main pillar of offering those services. Technology will, for example, support doctors and patients in building disease awareness. Infographics, digital storytelling techniques, and interactivity will all play a big role.

3.      Time to rip up your list of competitors and start again

Fifty-nine percent of pharma executives believe that the industry’s main competition will soon come from outside of the industry, Deirdre Coleman reports based on the eyeforpharma Industry Healthcheck survey. eyeforpharma’s Industry Healthcheck is the first global, fully independent survey of executives across the entire industry. “Our mission was to find out what people really think at a personal level, testing the health of pharma and diagnosing areas for future improvement. What we now have is a fascinating range of questions and answers which we hope to repeat on an annual basis,” says Paul Simms, eyeforpharma Chairman.

4.      Customer experience: Winning the hearts of customers

Deirdre Coleman explores what pharma companies can do – beyond manufacturing effective medication – to encourage people to pick their brand. “Three primary drivers of engagement are personalization, relevancy, and superior customer experience,” says Stan Phelps, best-selling author of the Goldfish series on how to focus on meaningful differentiation to win the hearts of employees and customers. “Consumers want their medication experience to be personalized and meaningful. If their expectations are met, they’re more likely to follow the proper course of treatment longer,” he says and offers practical tips on how to achieve this.

5.      Beyond the pitch: Future-proofing the pharma rep

Deirdre Coleman revealed the results of eyeforpharma’s report “Innovative Sales Strategies and Metrics,” which looks at what leading companies are doing to optimize sales force effectiveness within and outside pharma. According to the report, future sales rep will need to hone many skills, and their training is likely to shift towards new areas that include: technology skills, therapeutic knowledge, health economics and how to be a facilitator.

6.      Reinventing the customer experience: The new battleground for customer loyalty

We explore Customer Experience Management, a program that collects and applies customer feedback along with other basic customer information to more effectively align business activities to customer’s wants and needs. But simply starting a CEM program will not produce results. The CEM efforts must be connected and coordinated to achieve well-defined objectives. “Implementing a CEM program takes management and commitment. Without a commitment of time, resources, and attention from the organization’s leaders, a CEM program will likely fail, in much the same way as any change initiative,” says Stefan Gijssels, VP Communications & Public Affairs, EMEA at Janssen.

7.      The path to KAM implementation: Moving towards collaborative partnerships

We investigate the practical complexities of implementing a Key Account Management structure in the pharmaceutical industry and how the correct approach can pay dividends. We interviewed Allan Mackintosh, Senior Business Account Manager at Grunenthal UK, who believes that companies on the cusp of implementing KAM approach should concentrate on key business principles behind KAM. “[KAM] is centered around building a high level of knowledge about your customer, the complex environment in which they operate, and the challenges they face,” Mackintosh shares.

8.      Why "closing the loop" is no longer enough: Progressing from automation to true engagement

There is a large, unstoppable trend where people are becoming increasingly resistant to being “sold to.” Modern buyers want to engage on their own terms and digital technologies allow levels of access and customization that were previously inconceivable. We look into how pharma can use CLM to create deeper customer engagement. 



Barcelona 2015

Mar 24, 2015 - Mar 26, 2015, CCIB, Barcelona

Your Customer is in Charge.