Planning A Pharmaceutical Sales Call: Develop A Call Strategy

We're still in Module 2 of our new pharmaceutical sales rep guide on selling to HCP. We've touched on getting into customer's shoes, gathering info, and setting objectives.

And now let us move on to develop a strategy for the sales call.

You can quickly call this 'call plan' or choose your own word to describe it.

What should be included in a good call plan?

• Current situation

Look at what's going on in the HCP's current practice and working environment:

What are they prescribing for your therapeutic area?
What problem exists?
Any opportunity you can spot?
Any unmet medical needs?

• Opportunity

It does not, by any measure, implies that you need to be an opportunist.

What it means is, simply, to identify space that allows you to come into a partnership with HCP, like setting objectives we've talked about previously, it's a long term view of the situation.

Can you spot an opportunity to work together with them?

• Call objective

What do you expect from your call today?
What is your long term expectation?
Does your objective specific, result-oriented, and realistic?
Did you record it?

• Call strategy

Based on the objective:

What message are you putting across your HCP?
What are the key points?
Any visual aids to use?
Any clinical reprints you need to reinforce your statement?
What else do you need to get the message across effectively?

• Impactful opening

What can you say at the opening of the sales call, to pull your HCP's attention in?
How can you get a good time and attention?

• Potential resistance

What could possibly stop you dead in your track?
What could be the roadblock or possible roadblock?
What stops them in the past?
What's stopping them now?
What might stop them later?

• Question

What question you can ask to qualify your HCP?
What can you ask to manage their perception?
What can you ask to bring their attention away from roadblock to your key message?
What could you ask differently to move towards commitment?

• Asking for commitment

It could be singing purchase order, or as we've written about earlier, it could be to ask for more info, to try the sample, to attend a course, etc.

• Info to uncover

What did you learn from the call?
Can you see something palpable?
Did you have to assume things?
What did you get from the environment and support staff?
Was it helpful?
What else do you need to know to make better sales call?

Example of a call plan

HCP: Dr. Talktoomuch

Date: xx November 2012

Current situation:
Prescribing Medicine X for newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus type 2 patients. Not keen on using insulin because of the potential of losing them to the private hospital

Opportunity:
To partner with Dr to provide patients education programs on how to manage diabetes on their own. If possible, call in Diabetes Nurse Educator to run a support group for patients program.

Call objective:
To partner with a customer on a support program, for at least 10 patients, in two months

Call strategy:
Use the leave behind brochure for support program, and run a short 5 minutes slide presentation on iPad regarding support program.

Impactful opening statement:
Dr, did you know that only 30% of patients who engage in lifestyle modification, reach their target HbA1c goal? The support program has proven to increase that percentage very much higher.

Here, let me share it with you...

Potential resistance:
No available slots, small patients numbers, patients not educated, no support staff

A question to ask:
What do you hope to achieve with this program?
What resources do you need to pull this off?
What do you think of the support program?
Do your patients do self-monitoring?

Asking for commitment:
Can we schedule ten patients for a half-day session two months from now?

Information to uncover:
Who will assist Dr during the program?
Do they need refreshments?
What materials they need?