This case is about how you can build strong relation with Doctors with effective marketing

1. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Case Analysis of given case titled
“Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
with respect to Internal Evaluation
Service Operation Management
MBA (Pharmaceuticals)
Semester- IV
Submitted to: Prof. Nirav Joshi
Prepared by: Milan Padariya
Roll No: 63
Centre for Management Studies
Ganpat University
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2. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Brief of Case:
Indian Pharma Industry-Background
• Very fragmented market
• Market worth Rs. 140,000 million
• Healthy 10% growth rate
• 16,000 players both in organized & Unorganized
• Glaxo Wellcome -No.1 player with 5.8 % market share
• Market share of top five companies put together < 20%
Branded Generics Market
• Indian Pharma market recognizes process patents and not product patents
• As a result India is a branded generic
• 50 brands for every molecule.
• Total 30,000 brands in India
• Even smallest player meets highest quality norms
• This typical scenario brings in a challenge of Brand differentiation in the
crowded brand names.
Doctor Population
• Approx. 5 lakh doctors in India registered under Indian Medical association
• 60 – 65 % are General Practitioners (GP) with MBBS degree
• Specialty doctors like Physicians, Gynecologists & pediatricians constitute 35-40
%
• Pharma companies cannot meet more that 1,25,000 doctors out of the 5 lakhs
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3. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
• As a result doctors are being met by atleast 60 – 100 companies
Promotion
• In an ethical market Product promotion is directed towards qualified doctors
• No advertising mentioning brand names is allowed in the lay press
• Medical representatives play a major role in the promotion process by directly
meeting the doctors and promoting their products
• Other medias like Direct mail, journal, advertising and conferences also play a
role but a limited one.
CRM Initiative
• Keeping in mind the challenges of typical pharma industry IDIC model by Don
Peppers & Martha Rogers is used to understand the steps to a CRM initiative
• Steps in IDIC Model
 Identification
 Differentiation
 Interaction
 Customization
• Identification Process:
First step is to identify your target customers
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4. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
 Each Medical Rep maintains a list of doctors which is acquired by
interviews with stockists, retailers and from peers
 This list is called Must See List (MSL), Must Visit List (MVL),
Customer list etc..
 The list contains Name, address, telephone no, specialty,
qualification, visit timings etc..
Other sources of data collection
• Membership directories of associations like Indian Medical Association
• Individual specialty doctors association directories
• National level specialty conferences
• Doctor referrals
These lists are finally consolidated and this data can be mined for details of specialty
wise breakup, geographical coverage etc to serve as a tool for marketing decision making
process.
Differentiation Process
• Success of any loyalty program lies in differentiating its key customers
• Doctors are classified using ABC method as Core, Important and Others
• The classification is made based on the amount of business each classified doctor
group generates to the company.
• The whole differentiation process is performed in subjective terms of the
perception of the local MR
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5. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Interaction Process
• During interaction process the idea is to know the doctor intimately, his hobbies,
likes, dislikes, family details etc..
• Individuality of doctor is to be maintained and decision on how the data collected
will be used is to be decided with utmost importance
• Interaction can be at two levels
• One, the MR can personally collect most of the information from his day to day
interaction with doctors.
• Second, at corporate level by sending structured questionnaires and seeking
further details by email communication
Information collected is then incorporated to basic database with the following details
• Personal information - Birthdays, Anniversary, Family
• Hobbies and interests
• Professional interests – Speciality, Journals read
• Ownership details – Household durables, vehicles etc.
Customization Process
• Customization involves utilizing the colleted data to provided personalized
service to the doctors
• Like greeting on birthday, anniversary by simple card personally signed to a
phone call to wish them
• Even gifts, bouquets can be delivered at doorstep
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6. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
• Major importance lies in how to customize the interaction with the doctor based
on the data collected
• Gifts based on interest and hobbies can be presented
• The success of the whole CRM programme depends on how well the companies
can pass on the data of the doctor to its field force and train them on how to use
this data
Loyalty Programme
• An ideal loyalty programme would identify its key accounts, reward them for
their custom and encourage them to increase their spend
• But in Pharma context the doctor is not the actual consumer. Thus ethical issues
are involved in awarding reward points in return for prescriptions.
• One approach would be to set the whole programme based on classification of
doctor groups. The lowest rung doctors would be restricted to basic activities.
• The number and level of activities would increase as the importance of doctor
grows
• A branded programme can be started for most important doctors
• The objective of the programme has to be clearly defined in the onset and the
exclusivity of the programme has to be communicated to doctors to make them
understand that they are the “Chosen One”
• The success of such programme hinges on making the doctor covet membership
to the programme. Thus continuous monitoring is required to measure the returns
generated from the doctor
• If they fall below a predefined returns limit, then the doctor can be downgraded
and his privileges would be reduced
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7. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Direct Marketing
• A valuable tool for effective CRM
• Brand awareness campaigns, new launch mailers and contests all can be
conducted though direct marketing initiatives.
• An cost effective method which can reach a large audience at cheaper costs
• Easily measurable with reply devices which can gauge the efficacy of a campaign
• The primary rationale is to save the time of the field by promoting low
involvement products, promote brand recall for new product etc..
• Media like telemarketing and web have also been tried interms of direct
marketing
Call centre
The medium lends ear to 3 types of customers
• Doctors who would like to know more about the drug profile, discuss a specific
case and ask for references on the use in a specific condition
• Patients seeking counselling, the nearest physician or chemist shop. The telephone
provides anonymity to the called to discuss on taboo subjects.
• Retailers asking for pricing details, product availability
• Doctors would not prefer their queries being answered by a lay person and so
most medical queries have to be escalated to a qualified physician.
• Call center is an excellent medium to come closer to customers.
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8. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Measurement Systems
• Any programme must have an effective measurement system to gauge its
effectiveness.
• The measurement systems would require study of
 Prescription profile of doctors who are in CRM vis a vis a control
sample who are met by field force but not exposed to CRM
 Prescription give by doctors over a particular time frame.
 Amount of prescriptions before and after exposure to CRM
programme.
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9. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Q. 1: Explain IDIC model, suggested by Don Peppers and Martha
Rogers, as CRM initiative to building relationship with Doctors for
effective marketing.
Ans: IDIC MODEL: The IDIC model was developed by Peppers and Rogers. This
model suggests that companies should take four actions in order to building, keeping and
retaining the long term one-to-one relationships with customers.
Identify
Differentiate (value, need)
Interaction
Customize
Identify
First a company must identify who is actual customer and should know about deep
knowledge of their customers. It is not only necessary to know about your customers but
you have to know about more and more your customers so that you can easily understand
them and serve them profitably.
Differentiate
Differentiate your customer on two bases: value and need
Value: Differentiate your customer to identify which customer is generating most value
now and which offer most for the future. Give more value to those customers who are
generating more value for you.
Need: Differentiate your customers according to their needs. Different customers have
different need and serving the in profitably ways need more knowledge about their needs.
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10. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Interaction
Company must emphasis on interaction with customer to ensure that you understand
customer’s expectations and their relationship with brand. Company must consider
Interaction with customers according to their needs and value that they are providing you.
Interaction directly with customers makes believe that company has concern with them
and company wants to serve them individually. These efforts make customers loyal and
help company to build long term relationships.
Customize
When you differentiate your customers according to their values and needs, after that,
you have to customize your product according to their needs and values. Customize the
offer and communications to ensure that the expectations of customers are met. Interact
to customize is information to customers about your ability to cope with their need.
Failure in the third step means something wrong with second or third steps. So return or
go back to previous steps study them again and search out more and more and rearrange
these steps.
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11. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Q. 2: Which kinds of information should be collected by Pharmaceutical
Company in CRM activity?
Ans: Following data is collected by pharmaceutical companies in CRM Information.
The structured questionnaires requesting further details can also be mailed to doctors with
each response entitled to a token gift, etc. This approach typically would yield a lower
rate of return but the quality of information would be superior to the first approach as it is
coming directly from the doctor. The information collected is then incorporated to the
basic database earlier formed. Just to give an idea of the type of information collected by
companies consider the following:
Personal information: date of birth, marriage anniversary, details of children,
qualification and experience, etc
Hobbies and Interests: Activities during spare time, tv channels watched, general
interest, magazines read, favorite vacation destinations, etc
Professional Interests: Type and name of medical journals read, professional
membership of associations, attendance at national conferences, etc
Ownership Details: Household durables owned, vehicle ownership, etc
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12. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
Q. 3: Explain the loyalty programme, Direct marketing and call centre
as an effective CRM tools.
Ans: Loyalty programme
The next obvious step is to have a loyalty programme as a frequency marketing initiative.
An ideal loyalty programme would be able to identify its key accounts, reward them for
their custom and encourage them to increase their spend. This concept in case of the
pharmaceutical industry has a twist since the customer (the doctor) is not the actual
consumer (the patient) of the product. Thus there are ethical issues involved in rewarding
points in return for prescriptions. One cannot have a reward programme based on the
redemption of these points. One approach would be to set the whole programme based on
the classification into which the doctor falls. Thus the lowest rung would be restricted to
the basic of activities. The number and the level of activities would increase as the
important of the doctor grows. A branded programme can be started for the most
important doctors. It is important that it is clearly defined at the onset what will be the
objective of the programme and more importantly convey the exclusivity of the
programme. The doctor has to be made to realize that he is the ‘chosen one’. All activities
and inputs should only reinforce this communication. The success of such a programme
hinges on making the doctor covet the membership to the programme. Thus a continuous
monitoring is required of the returns generated from the doctor. If they fall below a
predefined limit then the doctor can be downgraded and his privilege reduces.
Direct Marketing
It is a valuable tool for effective CRM. Since a captive database has been put into place it
can easily lend itself to direct marketing initiatives. As the primary fields captured are the
contact address a program through mail is easiest to accomplish. Brand awareness
mailers, new launch, contests all can be conducted by mail. Information technology has
several advantages
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13. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
It is very cost effective: A large audience can be touched at a relatively cheaper cost as
compared to personal selling. It can be targeted and specific to the right target audience in
term of specialization or geographical area.
It is measurable with use of reply devices one can immediately gauge the efficacy of a
campaign. In fact since the target audience for a brand is usually sharply defined in terms
of their specialization e.g. An allergy product to ENTs, Dermatologists and GPs, the
response received is usually much higher than that accepted as a norm in other industries.
A response of 15-20% can be easily achieved through such communications. Most of the
pharmaceutical companies have realized the advantages of this mode of communication.
The primary rationale is to save the time of the field by promoting the low involvement
(for the doctor) products, promote brand recall for a new product, exploit alternative
avenues for brand promotion etc. Apart from mail other DM media like telemarketing
and web have also been tried. While telemarketing has been tried for promoting new
launches to get instant feedbacks the web has still to achieve its potential. The PC
penetration in India is still very low which handicaps the growth of this mode. Using the
e-mail to correspond and interact with doctors is being tried. It is especially useful for
targeting higher specialties, which is more technology savvy and information hungry.
Call Centre
In case of chronic therapies like hypertension, serious conditions like AIDS, the call
centre provide the answer.
The medium lends an ear to three types of customers
Doctors, who would like to more about the drug profile, discuss a specific case; ask for a
reference on use in a specific condition.
Patients who seek counseling, the nearest physician or chemist shop. The telephone
provides anonymity to the caller especially when discussing taboo subjects.
Retailers asking for pricing details, product availability
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14. “Building Relationship with Doctors for Effective Marketing”
With the advent of paging companies who can provide a single number nationwide,
facility of leased lines from DOT and the toll free numbers in select metros this medium
is set for take-off. There are certain factors to be borne in mind whilst setting up a call
centre. The sheer diversity of the country means that callers would speak different
languages and may not be comfortable with English. This is especially relevant if the
centre would cater to calls from patients. Also doctors would not prefer their queries
being answered by a lay person without any medical knowledge. Thus most medical
queries have to be escalated to a qualified physician who responds to a doctor’s queries
within a set time limit.
These limitations notwithstanding, the call centre is an excellent medium to come closer
to the customer and pharmaceutical industry is realizing the potential.
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