Revisiting the Role of the Sale Rep in a Digitized World

A question I get asked every week is ‘Will AI replace the sale rep?’. The issue is not quite that straightforward. Many tasks that the sales team used to handle themselves now are handled digitally far more efficiently and effectively with the help of Artificial Intelligence. From precision doctor targeting, to identifying the key sales messages required for an individual physician at that point in time, to answering physician questions 24/7 to sales coaching from AI while the sales reps are on the sales call are now all being handled for the rep with Artificial Intelligence. Companies can get so much additional value from their sales teams using this data-driven and AI-powered digitization for decision making. This doesn’t mean a sales rep will be replaced per se, but it does mean that many tasks currently done by sales reps will certainly be replaced and the role of the sales rep will have to change to a more value-added role.

Patients, Physicians and Sales Reps All Have More Insights

Pharma companies have been lamenting the demise of physician access for many years now and the covid epidemic seemed to exacerbate that leading to enhanced digitization of the sales process.

Because access to information today is easy for both physicians and patients, this has significantly changed the sales journey process from the old widely believed sequence of
Awareness from Sales Rep > Lead Gen > Lead Nurturing > Sale > Contract.
These days the customers gain awareness about a brand and engage with the brand before the sales rep is involved at all. In fact, today the sales process itself is not even linear. Customers engage in a looping process across a typical B2B purchase, revisiting each of the buying jobs of Problem identification, Solution exploration, Requirements building, and Brand/supplier selection multiple times and often simultaneously.
According to Garner, because of the increased sophistication of customers, 77% of the B2B buying decision journey is completed without any sales involvement. Research from CEB also shows that on average, 5.4 people are now involved in an average B2B buying process. This is also true for drugs.

What this means is we need to understand the detailed process for our customers and deliver a customer-first approach that delivers what the customer needs at each stage of this journey – even when no rep is involved in that stage.

The impact of customer-first and the delivery of unique personalized digital buyer engagement journeys are two key criteria often missed across sales management processes in Pharma, with disparate digital efforts all being conducted in a piecemeal way. This needs to change.

The impact of customer-first

Customer first is the mission of Amazon and led the company from a small online book sales business into becoming the biggest company in the world and surpassing the previously largest company Walmart. The largest pharma company in the world is dwarfed by Amazon, a company that has only been launched since 1994.

Amazon (and other brands) trained people to expect 14/7 personalized service, immediate response and this expectation has flowed into all businesses. This is also true in Pharma. Patients, physicians and other stakeholders are interacting with brands before they ever use them. Pharma are not utilizing this enough in their digital planning process, and if they are, it is not done in an engagement-led way.

Data Driven

When I started in pharma many years ago, many decisions made by executives were driven by gut feel. However now we are in an era where everything we do is data driven. The challenge is having the right data, and enough of it (rather than a small sample) to make the right decisions. That is where AI comes into its’ own. AI can analyse trillions of data points from digital footprints to sales calls, to medical information calls, and more to discover insights for improving sales force effectiveness by focusing on the right customers, at the right time, in the right way. Artificial intelligence can handle all of these aspects in an integrated manner.

Multi-channel immediate engagement

Because of the non-linear process involved when physicians are making their brand/product decisions, they are getting information from multiple sources. The receive information from journal articles, company websites, online videos and online discussions as well as sales teams, medical information teams and emails and other channels.

There are so many channels being used for information that leads into the customers decision that pharma need to start designing channel mixes that fit that individual customers’ needs in that moment, as well as delivering up the best combination of touch points and content that are exactly when the customer needs it, in the channel they want it in. These channels need to work together consistently so the online channels, as well as the off line such as sales reps all work together. Today, using Artificial Intelligence, this is not only possible but already being delivered in pharma.

Designing unique digital engagement journeys:

53% of customer loyalty is driven by the sales experience. So, customers value how sales reps spend their time. What this means is that architect-ing a unique engagement journey supported by the right content ecosystem and commercial insights are mandatory to achieve sales success. The way we do this is by utilizing Artificial Intelligence driven insights to understand:
• the different stakeholders
• stakeholders’ unique customer journeys
• what content and channels will influence the different stakeholders at different points in their buying cycle

We then need to deliver tools for sales reps to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time, as well as plan digital channels to do the same. This means that one must align internal enablement capabilities to how customers buy your product(s) and/or beyond the pill solution(s).

Surprisingly, many organizations don’t consider the impact that internal sales enablement has on commercial transformation, and do not spend enough time or focus on designing unique demand generation, challenging content and marketing communications strategies as well as sales readiness support tools for their organization and their customers.

So, both sides of the coin must be taken into account. Firstly, understanding the buyers and the new digital buyer engagement journey, and delivering the right content in the right digital channel at the right time to the right customer is crucial. Secondly, ensuring that the sales reps make influencing sales messages a reality, helping them understand what to say when, the manner in which they should say it, and how to keep the approach alive in their day‐to‐day activities is critical.

The optimal way to do this for both of these aspects is not to do piecemeal digital activities but to analyze the customers and their journey, and influence content and channels utilizing Artificial Intelligence. Design the journey to sway them maximally.

Also, for the sales reps, one should optimally use Artificial Intelligence that analyzes the customer and messages required on the fly for them, and deliver a customized message for each customer in their CRM system. This can reap significant lift in sales.

All this requires the skills and understanding of the business issues affecting markets and audiences, as well as the buyer’s decision-making steps and value experience, to equip teams with the tools that make a difference in their customers’ lives.