3 things you can do to replace face to face interactions
Even before social distancing eliminated in-person sales calls from healthcare and pharma representatives, it had become increasingly difficult for sales people to get face time with clinicians. How do you connect with clinician customers when you're cut off from them by social distancing or other barriers?
Introduce Yourself With Video
As humans we build trust in relationships through subtle cues we exchange during in-person contact. Although we can't get the full impact of this kind of interaction with video, it does provide more information than a text email or phone call. Instead of sending a simple email to a clinician, attach a personalized video introducing yourself and your company.
Some suggestions for implementing this across your sales team are:
- Provide a script. Videos should be personalized for each clinician using his/her name and tailoring the messages for their unique interests or situation. However, it's important to provide guidelines for what should be included as well what options each rep has for customization. Also, remember to stay focused on what value you can deliver your customer through this interaction, rather than simply telling them what you want to say.
- Set rules to support your brand. Provide instructions for what attire should be worn, the setting where the video is to be filmed and provide training to your team on how to produce a professional looking video that reflects well on your organization.
- Have a clear call to action. Provide options for your customers to respond in a way that they are comfortable with. You might offer to set up a video meeting to continue the conversation or to send additional information such as a publication or marketing collateral for their review.
Use Webinar Format for Training
Providing in-service training for healthcare products is a critical part of successful adoption of a new product by your customer and a significant responsibility of the sales organization. Although "hands-on" training is not possible from a distance, the didactic portion of your in-service training that is usually delivered onsite can be converted to a webinar format. Using the same teleconference platform that your organization uses for internal communications for customer training can have some advantages. Your team is likely already familiar with its use and minimal training will be required for them to use it with their customers. It's also possible to bring in subject matter experts–such as clinical applications support, R&D or even KOLs–who would otherwise be unavailable for onsite training.
Also, consider upgrading your customer training materials. Ask yourself what could you deliver to your customer to enable them to better prepare to implement your product. Can you provide additional study guides, templates or checklists that would help your customers through the training and implementation process?
Shift Content Campaigns from Automation to Human Delivery
You've probably been successfully delivering content to your clinician customers for some time using marketing automation platforms like Marketo, but, now consider adapting some of your campaigns to enable your sales team to execute them in a more direct and personalized way. Instead of the emails coming from marketing, create a campaign flow that your sales reps can send to each of their customers personally.
Some suggestions for implementing this type of campaign:
- Arm your reps with a sequence of emails with a variety of offers. Provide pre-written email copy and calls to action that they can personalize and adjust with their unique knowledge of each of their customers' circumstances and interests.
- Set goals and limits on the frequency of email contact. Although clinicians have been increasingly more amenable to sales reps contacting them through email, you don't want to abuse the privilege. Invite your clinicians to opt-in to receive additional information, rather than continually pushing content.
- Set up a methodology for contact monitoring. If your sales force automation doesn't already track email interactions, develop a process for reporting and tracking contact between your reps and their customers.
If you’re still stuck, or need help implementing an idea, we’d be happy to brainstorm with you virtually over a cup of coffee. It’s our pleasure–and there's no charge–as we believe we all need to support each other during this challenging time to ensure that, when it’s over, we can all return to a thriving economy! Contact us if we can help.
Jacqueline Murray is the Marketing Strategist for DardenLentz, a B2B Marketing and Branding Agency focused on healthcare and technology. Jacqueline heads the firm's Ohio office, established to support the region's bioscience industry. She has held senior positions with global marketing responsibilities for both diagnostic and medical device companies.