Three Steps for Omnichannel Field Excellence

When sales teams use connected data to orchestrate their engagement strategy, the results are clear. Biopharma company Organon saw its interactions with priority healthcare professionals (HCPs) increase by 46% in nine months after introducing headquarters (HQ) and marketing data to its segmentation and targeting.

Yet many biopharma companies fail to fulfill their growth potential because their teams, systems, and data are siloed. To be effective, they need a unified approach so that there are no irrelevant customer encounters or missed opportunities. They need access to connected data and insights when making decisions. And field and marketing activities must be joined up with digital advertising so that messaging and communication are consistent.

An integrated approach to data can drive smarter resource allocation, higher engagement and return on investment, and ensure efficient execution across global markets. As Maciek Wojtaszewski, omnichannel customer engagement director at Organon, says: “Without clear segmentation and targeting, our efforts were like throwing darts blindfolded — pure chance, not strategy, guided our execution.”

Maximum impact with minimum effort

Step 1: Build an HCP-centric engagement plan

Historically, life sciences companies prepared field plans around channel availability. While this approach works for multichannel cycle plans, a customer-centric approach requires a transition to omnichannel.

To unlock the full potential of omnichannel engagement, sales teams need seamless interaction between different channels and centralized information management. This improves the overall HCP journey and ensures they receive the right message at the right time, preventing overlapping communication or conflicting messaging that could harm the HCP experience.

Step 2: Synchronize field and marketing activity

Data unlocks customer understanding for field teams so they can personalize their communication. When marketing data is incorporated into territory activity, biopharma companies gain insights into HCP preferences, behaviors, and engagement patterns. Field team members benefit from access to accurate territory information, compelling messaging, and the right content for their customers. Yet many biopharma organizations have not optimized how they coordinate field activities and digital advertising. Veeva analysis shows that field teams do not approach 73% of HCPs in the three months after their exposure to digital media.

To break down the silos, field and marketing teams need to work on a platform that centralizes their activities. This way, they can collaborate on HCP engagement plans and optimize the customer experience. Accurate territory information and synchronized interaction plans will make their outreach to HCPs more effective.

Step 3: Integrate global HQ and field data

Affiliates play a crucial role by ensuring local teams are aligned with the global strategy and are well-prepared to implement it. However, it’s a big challenge to ensure that different global teams have access to the same information.

To bridge the gap between strategy and field execution, biopharma companies need solid global governance and shared tools for sales and marketing teams. They need to be able to work with integrated data from HQ and the field to avoid conflicting messages and duplicated efforts. Integrated data could even help identify unseen opportunities, such as:

• Better engagement with high-value HCPs. Real-time data from HQ and the field can pinpoint high-value HCPs while understanding their challenges and preferences could inform more effective choices of messages and channels.
• Build relationships with potentially unvisited HCPs. One in every five HCPs has never been visited, even though the uplift potential of unvisited HCPs is nearly 50%. This means that one in two could go on to prescribe a recently introduced drug.

Pioneering omnichannel field planning

Leading life sciences companies are building a rock-solid omnichannel strategy today by:

1. Simplifying and automating processes in response to rapid market and industry changes
2. Synchronizing field and marketing activities for greater impact
3. Ensuring a single source of truth to convert data from marketing, customers, and third parties into actionable insights

A 46% increase in interactions with priority HCPs in just nine months. Omnichannel customer engagement director, Maciek Wojtaszewski, gives an inside perspective on Organon’s journey to omnichannel field planning. Check out the video.