Pharma Digital Sales Rep Calls Overshoot?

After the pandemic, many pharma reps shifted to digital sales calls, but the effectiveness of these calls has declined. In spite of this, the industry is still experiencing mixed results.

According to a study conducted by ZoomRx, 44% of healthcare professionals prefer to conduct face-to-face sales meetings with pharmaceutical sales representatives. The study also noted that face-to-face meetings have gained positive prescription intent, which is 17% higher than before the pandemic.

The bad news is that only 24% of doctors still prefer to conduct face-to-face sales meetings, the effectiveness of digital interactions has decreased. The effectiveness of Zoom's measure of the likelihood that a physician will prescribe a product after a sales rep encounter has also decreased. In March, the percentage of healthcare professionals who said that sales rep meetings have a positive impact on their prescribing habits dropped to 50%.

Despite the various factors that affected the digital visit impact, the company still doesn’t see a recovery in the industry. According to Ty Harkness, the manager of ZoomRx, the decline in digital visit impact started in March and then gradually decreased over the past eight months.

Despite the positive response that the pharmaceutical industry showed last year following the pandemic, Harkness noted that it’s now time for companies to re-evaluate the mix of in-person and digital interactions. According to ZoomRx, 80% of sales reps visits are still digital.

The good news is that face-to-face interactions are still more valuable than digital sales calls. They can also help reverse the stigma that lingered around the practice prior to the pandemic.

According to Harness, it’s important to consider the various factors that affect a company’s sales effectiveness. One of these is the need to understand the channel that your customers are using. This will allow you to make the most of your in-person interactions.