Oncology drug sales
reps can sharpen in-office visits with doctors with specific actions. That’s
according to a ZoomRx study of in-office oncology promotions across 120 brands
during the past five years.
The findings?
New information, short visits and visual aids resulted in more impactful
visits. For instance, visits where sales reps delivered novel data or
information were considered “highly impactful” by 40% of oncologists versus
just 24% when no new information was presented, the digital health consultancy
found. That’s an opportunity for reps. because only one-fifth of visits contain
new information, according to ZoomRx’s surveyed oncologists.
Visuals are also
important. Forty-three percent of visits where sales reps used visual aids
rated as high impact versus 35% of interactions without visual aids. Notably,
digital information—shown on an iPad in this case—versus traditional print
materials did not make a difference in doctors’ assessment of high impact
meetings.
Another way
sales reps can make an impression is to keep visits short and stay focused on
the product. ZoomRx estimates the median length of oncology sales visits are
just 10 minutes.
To collect its
data, ZoomRx’s team records individual oncology healthcare professional (HCP)
interactions with pharma sales reps and tracks general details of how the visit
went and what was discussed. ZoomRx then returns to the same HCPs two weeks
later and asks what they remember, if anything, from the encounter.
The method
collects both immediate and later perceptions, allowing the consultancy
to understand whether the pharma rep’s message is getting through to
create a lasting impression.
“That gives us a
good sense of how ‘sticky’ the interactions with sales reps are and understand
the impact of the messages themselves,” said Aravind Nagarajan, associate
principal at ZoomRx.
ZoomRx’s clients
include Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, Genentech and
Amgen.
As in any sales
encounter, the closing ask is also key in pharma rep visits, the research
found. When doctors were asked to prescribe a drug, 46% of HCPs rated the visit
high impact versus 34% when the rep didn’t ask, ZoomRx found.
