Self-detailing in Pharma.
Self-Detailing in Pharma: 4 questions to Florent BÜHLER
Digital Marketing Innovation Director - MSD France
January 2024
Q1: According to Forbes, in a recent article*, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Sales Representatives to secure appointments with doctors (even through video calls). Do you have a similar feeling?
* Forbes Aug 22, 2023
Overall, yes, we observe this trend. But it needs to be nuanced. Before COVID, doctors' behaviors towards the pharmaceutical industry were very homogeneous. The vast majority of them were willing to meet with a representative.
After COVID, a great heterogeneity of practices emerged: some wanted to see us, others did not, or only through video calls. Doctors sometimes wanted to see us less... but better. Today, our biggest challenge lies in this diversity of expectations because it persists. Consequently, for the industry, we can no longer have only one value proposition; we must be able to respond to each use case.
My conviction: if we bring value to doctors, they will open the door to us. The phenomenon described in the Forbes article is a general trend. Companies that did not bring value were probably quickly excluded from consideration. On the contrary, others have managed to maintain relevance in the content and interactions offered. For these, the level of appointments remained good.
Q2: Do you consider engaging with non-visited doctors to be a significant challenge, or do you think it is better to focus on a target audience receptive to in-person visits?
Both are opportunities to seize. Focusing on those who want to meet us is obvious. The pharmaceutical industry never creates as much value, as all studies show, as when we are face-to-face with the doctor and having a real conversation. We would be foolish to neglect these interactions when they are valued by doctors. In this use case, the digital strategy must serve these interactions by creating an ecosystem that will increase the ability to connect with doctors while increasing the relevance of what we have to tell them. Reach and relevance!
On the other hand, we have doctors who have closed the door on us or whom we have never visited due to lack of resources. Our Sales Force has a certain size, and we cannot afford to see everyone. It's a missed opportunity! In this case, of course, digital opens up the ability to engage in a much deeper, relevant, and learning way since we can analyze the content browsed or read. Therefore, the two should not be opposed, and digital will allow us to address both. For non-visited doctors, digital marketing must go all the way to conversion. For visited doctors, it must serve the Face-to-Face visit channel.
Q3: Do you think the Pharma industry should be working on self-detailing strategy?
It is the doctors who have the answer to this question. If they believe there is room for self-detailing, then it is imperative for the industry to go in that direction!
What I see as an opportunity and a threat around this:
We are in a pharmaceutical world that is constantly evolving. For healthcare professionals, learning is inherent in their daily practice. As industry professionals, we have always been facilitators; it is part of our role in the healthcare ecosystem.
Now, self-detailing, like ongoing professional training in companies, takes time. And time is something healthcare professionals don't have much of. How can self-detailing integrate into a medical practice that is already very busy in terms of timing? This seems to me to be the main challenge. In general practice (France), a patient leaves the office every 17 minutes. For hospital professionals (France), they already struggle to attend crucial meetings such as Multidisciplinary Team Meetings. So is there room for Self-Detailing?
There are undoubtedly real obstacles in terms of time to be devoted to it, hence perhaps 'small bites' formats that could be interesting.
Q4: How would you consider measuring the effectiveness of such a strategy?
Probably by implementing a test in specific areas, with, on one side, a group in self-detailing and, on the other side, a control group approached in a more traditional way.
Care must be taken to ensure that all Personas are also represented in each group: those receptive to visits, those not receptive to visits, digital natives... Then work on a feedback loop, either in the form of direct client feedback or in a post-test to measure the level of message memorization.