Saturday 7 July 2007

E-detailing - Siapkah Kita?

Saat negara maju sudah bergerak kearah e-detailing. Negara kita masih berkutat dengan „cara lama“ dengan berbagai kendalanya, termasuk diantaranya tidak tahu cara yang paling efektif dari cara konvensional tersebut.

Barangkali kita sudah tahu dan mahfum tentang kualitas detailing MR kita. Berbagai istilah baru bermunculan untuk seseorang yang secara professional disebut Medical Representatives dengan “tukang obat”, yang nawarin obat ke kastemer, pemburu tanda tangan kastemer. Istilah tersebut sering kita dengar dari pasien yang melihat MR kita duduk, mengantri menunggu giliran di tempat praktek kastemer, hanya untuk suatu kunjungan yang berlangsung antara 20 detik hingga hitungan menit.

Wah saya biasanya tidak bisa menerima kalau MR perusahaan saya disebut demikian. Bayangkan kalau kita merekrutnya, melatihnya membuat simulasi detailing dengan benar, menghabiskan sekian juta hingga siap dilapangan, ternyata hanya disebut pemburu tanda tangan kastemer.

Harus diakui memang, semuanya mungkin tidak jauh dari warna umum industri health care kita, warna umum industri farmasi yang merespon warna dari para penentu penulis resep. Walau demikian warna apapun itu, merupakan perpaduan dari warna-warna yang ada. Saya hanya akan membahas satu warna yang seharusnya menjadi dominan dan berlaku universal, yaitu detailing yang seharusnya atau idealnya termasuk diantaranya mengutip 2 artikel tentang cara modern dari detailing : e-detailing

Sebut saja di Amerika atau yang dekat Australia, yang sistimnya memungkinkan MR detailing yang sesuai dengan yang diajarkan, bahwa seorang MR menyediakan input edukasi yang berharga bagi kastemer. Walaupun MR juga merupakan orang sales, yang mempunyai tujuan utama mendapatkan penjualan, tetapi tidak harus mengklaim hal yang tidak realistis dari produknya untuk menciptakan penjualan.

Proses sales harusnya merupakan proses komprehensif seperti terlihat dalam figure dibawah ini


Seberapa banyakkah MR kita melakukan process sales ideal seperti diatas. Apakah setiap point sales yang didapat merupakan feedback dari proses ini?

Untuk dapat melakukan tugasnya dengan baik, seorang MR dibekali material marketing yang semuanya didesain untuk satu tujuan : untuk menjual produk! Materi tersebut termasuk materi untuk melakukan kinjungan face to face dengan kastemer dapat berupa :
Detail Aid (sales Aid)
Leave behinds
Product information sheets
Brand reminders

Kenyataannya di Indonesia kita sering melihat MR hanya menyiapkan Call Card, sambil berjalan bersama kastemer di lorong rumah sakit. Entah karena Product Manager (PM) yang harusnya menyiapkan materi tersebut tidak membuat, atau terlambat dibelakang jadwal siklus detailing atau budget sudah habis, lebih ekstrim lagi PM berpendapat semua itu useless (dia tidak sadar bahwa dia juga useless). Tetapi kenyataannya lagi di Indonesia material tersebut hanya menjadi tumpukan sampah daur ulang rumah sakit, klinik atau tempat praktek kastemer.

Materi tersebut diatas adalah salah satu dari sekian proses sales, yang menurut saya merupakan tahap penting, tahap dimana memberikan kastemer bukti tentang keunggulan atau manfaat produk kita serta jawaban atas kebutuhan dan atau keberatan kastemer. Pertanyaannya adalah apakah kualitas isi informasi dari material tersebut jelek sehingga dibuang atau memang minimnya minat ilmiah dari kastemer kita. Atau dua-duanya. Wallahualam… setahu saya belum pernaha ada survey tentang ini

Coba jika ada sebuah survey untuk menjawab pertanyaan apakah yang paling disukai kastemer dari materi yang diberikan melalui detailing MR jawaban yang disediakan dari ektrim tidak perlu hingga penting serta media yanag terbaik, mungkin akan lebih mengefisienkan atau paling tidak memberikan arah kepada kita dalam usaha detailing yang lebih efektif dan efisien.

Cobalah bercermin dari survey yang dilakukan di Amerika dan Canada yang saya ambil dari situs tertentu dibawah ini mengenai e-detailing.

Setahu saya hanya ada sedikit perusahaan di Indonesia yang telah melakukan e detailing baik di tingkat MR maupun tingkat manajer level pertama. Mereka dibekali oleh laptop lengkap dengan semua materinya.

Seize the “e” day.
Author: Lisa Roner,

The signs are clear: e-detailing, e-sampling – e-technologies in general – are something doctors are interested in and that the pharma industry can use to build stronger physician – and even patient relationships.
The online survey to date has 380 physician and medical professional respondents from the US and Canada. It’s no surprise that just more than 41% of those are OB-GYN physicians. The remaining respondents classify themselves as other medical professionals (36%), general and family practitioners (nearly 8%), residents and med students (5%), other MD specialists (4.5%) and other maternal fetal practitioners (5%).

Among the respondents, nearly 46% say they find themselves spending less time than in the past talking with pharma reps, while nearly 33% say they spend about the same amount of time they have in the past. More than 14% say they don’t see pharma reps at all.

Just over 50% say they have never participated in an online detail. Of those, 31% say they are interested in doing so, however.

When asked how they would most prefer to receive drug and product information, 43% cite the Internet with an option to request a face-to-face rep visit or samples. Twenty-six percent (26%) say they prefer face-to-face visits only, while 12% say they prefer the Internet only. Still others say they would like to use the Internet with an option to enter a real-time chat with a rep (9%) and a final group prefers the Internet with a phone-in number (9%).

Many medical professionals (34%) report they would need no enticement to participate in an e-detail if they are interested in the product, but an equal number say a coupon toward a free medical book or merchandise of less than $15 would be an adequate enticement.

The most important features (multiple answers allowed) of an e-detail according to survey participants are: the ability to get information at their own convenience (84%), the ability to find out about new treatment options (79%), the ability to get feedback and questions answered by the manufacturer (60%), the ability to get supporting opinion leader advice about the product (50%) and the ability to request a face-to-face rep visit (41%).

Among those surveyed, 53% say they would like to get more product information delivered via the Internet in the future. However, 34% say online details should support but not replace face-to-face details.

It’s clear that doctors see a role for e-detailing and other e-communication and service technologies in pharma’s future.

Maximizing sales effectiveness with e-detailing

Technology is quickly changing the pharma industry’s approach to both sales and marketing. And E-detailing is just one breakthrough that promises to improve customer relationships and reduce costs.

At eyeforpharma’s recent 5th Annual Marketing ROI for Pharma Congress in Amsterdam, Marianne Anderson, marketing manager for Pfizer in Denmark, outlined the results of an e-detailing pilot her group completed in conjunction with Boehringer Ingelheim to promote Spiriva. The pilot, she says, has given the group an enticing glimpse of the increases in effectiveness that can be gained when reps are empowered with e-tools for detailing.

In Denmark, like most other countries, Anderson says, sales reps are having a tougher time getting time with physicians and seeing fewer than ever before. And that she says pushed Pfizer and Boehringer to pursue the e-detailing pilot for Spiriva.

“We had some basic concerns and issues to address,” Anderson says. “First, we had a complicated and information-rich topic to communicate and we also had a need for focus and structure in our detailing.”

In addition, she says, the group wanted to improve the quality and consistency of the messages it delivered and needed to win the attention and interest of GPs. They also needed to achieve more frequent and longer interactions with doctors and wanted to provide messages in a way that meshed with doctors’ decision-making habits and information needs.

“We think we know what reps are doing out there, but often the dialog between reps and doctors doesn’t exist or is not happening in a structured way,” Anderson says. “We needed a tool that would allow us to be there.”
Before launching the pilot, however, she says, her group had to convince many within the organization of the potential of e-detailing. And there were many considerations to be taken into account, such as whether e-detailing was something physicians wanted and how to make it simple for the reps to deliver. Anderson’s group also needed to consider whether e-details would improve the effectiveness and quality of reps’ meetings with doctors, whether such an approach would catch the attention of GPs, and if the physicians would be willing to participate in a second, traditional detail afterwards.

Anderson says they also faced obstacles that included technical problems and getting the reps “on-board” with the approach and getting them trained. The team worked with Agnitio through a series of kick-off seminars and training to launch the four-week pilot and analysis.

The e-detailing presentation, Anderson says, made a complicated topic simple and had just four basic parts that demonstrated the problem to the physicians, explained what it means for patients, revealed how Spiriva addresses the problem and offered solutions for physicians.

To measure the success of the initiative, Anderson says, the group needed to consider the general receptiveness of physicians and reps to e-detailing and to examine the effects on sales performance
Each of the 400 GPs that participated in the pilot was asked to complete a questionnaire that assessed their experiences. And reps completed written questionnaires as well as short telephone interviews to report on successes and failures during the pilot.

SFI (Sales Force Impact) Monitoring also was used to record all e-details to document the length, time spent on specific topics and data that was of the most interest to the physicians.

Ninety-seven percent (97%) of the physicians felt the e-detail was superior to paper-based details for explaining complex issues and 95% rated the presentations as “good” or “very good”. Most participants (92%) also say they believe the e-detail provided a good overview of the topic and 89% report it was a faster method by which to obtain information. And 80% recommended that the companies should continue with their e-detailing efforts.
The results of the pilot were equally positive among reps. Anderson says all of the reps participating in the pilot found the e-details easy to use and navigate. Eighty percent (80%) of rep participants say the e-details allowed them to get more time with physicians and 60% said it made it easier to sell.

The reps also say they did not find the second detail more difficult to complete after the e-detail. Anderson says the reps became better at the e-details with time and that was highly motivating for those participating in the pilot.

“Reps had control of the communication and were able to achieve a more structured dialog with physicians,” she says. “We won the GPs attention with this and increased the convenience of the message.”
Reps, Anderson says, can tailor the presentation to the needs of individual physicians. And that, she says, gave reps a lot of confidence.

The group also saw a willingness among GPs to schedule follow-up meetings that Anderson says was a direct benefit of the e-details. She and her colleagues are already working on a second e-detailing pilot
“This is not rocket science,” she says. “You just must convince others within your own organization that this is worth doing. The resistance is within our own organizations – not with the doctors. Physicians are open to this; they are ready.”