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Three Ways Data and Analytics Can Change the Game for Salesforce Deployment
Are you creating dynamic deployment strategies for optimal results?
Apr 26, 2021
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, commercial teams were faced with less in-person access to healthcare providers (HCPs). At the same time, pharma has been aiming for leaner budgets through greater use of digital tools and cuts to their sales forces – all with an eye toward more efficient, productive commercial operations. The COVID-19 pandemic has only pushed these trends into overdrive – prompting swift transformation in how commercial teams manage customer engagement.
The industry is now rapidly working to embrace new approaches that leverage data and analytics to design the most advantageous deployment structure, align all promotional channels to the most appropriate HCPs, and optimize over time. The ultimate goal: The ability to monitor all promotional channels (personal as well as non-personal) and adapt in near-real time. With this level of insights, commercial leaders can adjust their strategies and tactics to maximize commercial productivity.
After years of discussion about how these models might work, it’s been exciting to see how many companies are taking clear action to bring them to life. I’d like to share three specific examples.
Lever 1: Identifying top targets
Identifying prospective patients for specialty therapies has been complex and challenging – something akin to finding a needle in a haystack. By bringing together diverse sources of data, it becomes possible to determine which HCPs are the “haystacks” most likely to have the “needles.”
Which HCPs have patients with medical histories that suggest a high likelihood of being diagnosed with a rare disease? Which have patients who have already tried first- and second-line therapies for a specific disease? And which HCPs have patients that initiated treatment but have seen poor adherence?
When you can precisely answer these kinds of questions, you can direct your resources to the right customers and deploy them in an optimal way – whether that’s sending in a medical science liaison (MSL), providing patient support resources, or asking a rep to schedule an in-person touchpoint with the prescriber. A growing number of customers are using our de-identified patient-level data and artificial intelligence/machine learning models to predict and identify patients with a specific disease – including those likely to initiate a second-line therapy.
Lever 2: Measuring performance of all promotional channels
Your sales force and marketing campaigns are all working toward the same goal. Yet too often, they’ve been deployed and managed separately. By unleashing the potential of data and analytics, you can begin to create an HCP attribution model that helps quantify how each piece of the puzzle is contributing to overall commercial performance.
Which ads are translating into results in which markets? What type of impact are your reps making? Are they influencing your target HCPs in a way that directly increases your brand’s ROI? Are you overspending on the pricy in-person channel when a more cost-efficient digital channel might be enough to meet your goals? On the flip side, are you over-rotating on digital with certain HCPs who would be more responsive to face-to-face interactions?
There’s no reason to guess; a learning model that measures HCP value and channel responsiveness will help illuminate what changes to consider – and why you should consider them.
Lever 3: Triggering rapid response
Sales teams can be deployed much more dynamically than traditional set-and-forget territory assignments. Consider the potential advantages of a sales team designed to respond to HCPs based on real-time opportunities ¬identified through predictive analytics or simple business rules. Another option is to frequently update call plans to reflect evolving market dynamics. For example, if an HCP is responding to the promotion tactics and is fully aware and educated on the product, you can change the frequency of in-person calls and increase the frequency of non-personal tactics to keep the momentum. Shift your high-cost sales rep’s focus to another set of HCPs who need education and other support.
Dynamic deployment is possible. Start by leveraging regular data updates to HCP response curves to promotional channels (including reps and other non-personal promotion). These insights support creation of dynamic call plans, along with a sales force that’s flexible in size and structure.
The bottom line?
No one has endless resources to pour into every sales and marketing channel, and no single approach works for every therapeutic area, HCP type, region, or brand. Make every promotional dollar count by using data and analytics to craft precision strategies, messages, and tactics – and then monitor and optimize them over time.
Dynamic Deployment
Drive brand performance with dynamic deployment.