Sales reps and HCPs have less time and more information than ever before. Over the past few years, the global business landscape has significantly transformed, driven mainly by the pandemic and technological advancements. Remote and virtual selling has become the new norm, presenting unique challenges in building and maintaining relationships with healthcare professionals (HCPs). This means more time spent on communication and less time for face-to-face interactions. The advancement of technology has also made information more readily available, which means sales reps and HCPs must sift through a lot of data to find what they need.
Implementing customer relationship management (CRM) systems reinforces the sales process by providing reps with powerful tools and valuable insights into HCP habits, preferences, and past interactions with the company. CRMs can also assist reps in capturing crucial information, improving sample accountability, ensuring compliance, and optimizing internal and external communications in addition to other specialized and often customizable functions.
The Value of a Modern Life Sciences Sales Strategy
Life sciences is one of the most complex industries, with sales reps often juggling multiple tasks simultaneously. They’re responsible for educating HCPs on the latest products and treatments, tracking and managing interactions, collecting and analyzing data to understand target audiences better, ensuring regulatory compliance, and identifying opportunities for complementary products or upgrades while staying ahead of the competition. However, without the right tools and technology in place, managing these tasks can be a daunting challenge.
Enter CRM software. CRMs are applications that help sales reps streamline work and manage interactions with HCPs more efficiently. They provide a centralized platform for storing and managing customer data, assisting reps in keeping track of crucial information like customer preferences, past interactions, and purchasing history. CRMs can also provide real-time insights into sales pipelines, helping to make informed decisions and prioritize sales efforts.
In today’s industry, where remote and virtual selling has become the norm, CRMs have become even more critical and valuable. With the challenges of building and maintaining relationships through virtual communication channels, life sciences sales reps need tools to help them personalize their interactions and follow up with HCPs promptly and efficiently. The right CRM will provide the necessary functionality and insights to do just that, overcoming the technological challenges of the modern business landscape to optimize the life sciences sales process.
Challenges Faced by Life Sciences Sales Teams
While optimizing sales in a virtual world can be challenging, reps can significantly benefit from the flexibility of a hybrid sales process. With modern problems come modern solutions. This time, in the form of CRM technology. For example, consider the following challenges and CRM-enabled solutions:
- Inefficient Scheduling
With all the virtual work of today’s day and age, in-person meetings feel archaic. Sales reps often spend significant time commuting from one location to another, wasting time and productivity. CRMs can automatically organize schedules and routes to be more efficient, allowing reps to create cohesive hybrid sales processes and spend more time in front of HCPs—physically or virtually. With a CRM, reps can quickly identify the best times to schedule appointments based on the provider’s availability, location, and preferences.
- Virtual Access
HCPs might still hesitate to see reps in the office. A CRM facilitates virtual sales touchpoints by allowing reps to schedule remote calls, email information, and share web links. Reliable remote communication ensures that reps can provide healthcare providers with the information they need, even if they can’t meet in person.
- Poor Communication
Remote reps and managers across various locations need access to the most up-to-date customer information to coordinate efforts and maintain a consistent message. A CRM can provide real-time collaboration between reps and managers, ensuring everyone can access the same information and work together seamlessly.
- Manual Data Entry
Sales reps often spend significant time inputting data into spreadsheets, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors. With a CRM, reps can automate data capture, use e-signatures to streamline paperwork, access real-time data insights, and ensure complete and accurate data. This is incredibly important to an industry that makes up 30% of the world’s data volume and is constantly growing due to the ever-evolving technology landscape.1
- Time-Consuming Reporting
Sales reps often need to create reports for their managers or leadership. With a CRM, reps can automate reports and analytics, saving time and allowing them to focus on selling. A CRM can also provide real-time dashboards and visualizations, providing easy access to sales data and streamlining the transition from CRM to marketing materials that inform meetings, strategies, and results.
- Limited Visibility
Sales managers and leaders need visibility into the sales pipeline to manage team performance, track the status of leads and opportunities, identify roadblocks, and measure performance. A CRM can provide real-time dashboards and visualizations, making it easy to access and analyze data. With a CRM, managers can quickly identify areas of improvement and make informed decisions that improve sales performance.
- Compliance Tracking
The life sciences industry is heavily regulated, and failure to comply with regulations can result in significant fines and reputational damage. A CRM can track and store related data, making creating, downloading, and distributing reports and audits easy. With a CRM, reps can quickly access necessary compliance information and ensure all applicable regulations are followed, speeding up the sales process without compromising integrity.
- Lack of Customization
Generic CRMs may not cater to the specific needs of the life sciences industry, and it can be challenging to manage data effectively. A CRM built for the life sciences industry can provide custom fields, forms, and reports tailored to the industry’s unique workflows. This flexibility makes it easier for reps to manage HCP data and ensure customer and business needs are met.
While CRMs can help life sciences sales reps overcome several obstacles, not every CRM is built the same or offers the same capabilities. Therefore, choosing an advanced and highly effective life sciences CRM, like Customer Analysis and Targeting Solutions (CATS) from Synergistix, is the wisest option for the modern salesperson looking to augment their HCP sales process and relations.
Leverage a CRM Built for the Life Sciences Industry
CATS is a comprehensive CRM solely engineered to improve sales in the life sciences industry. By utilizing CATS, sales teams can manage all interactions with partners and customers from anywhere in one centralized location that provides a complete view of the customer journey, whether in the office or on the road.
- Expand Your Reach & Sales
CATS helps businesses access markets and grow sales. The platform provides advanced capabilities for tracking leads, managing sales pipelines, and analyzing customer data, allowing life sciences sales reps and teams to identify new opportunities and make data-driven decisions—adding depth to sales connections and relationships, all while saving time. - Get Dedicated Support & Expertise
To ensure its users get the most out of the platform, Synergistix offers a complete partnership network and support team. This foundation includes a team of experts who can guide best practices for using the platform, training, and technical support to ensure any issues or challenges are addressed quickly and effectively. With this support, businesses can feel confident using CATS to drive growth and achieve commercial goals without interruption. - Streamline Sample Managment
With CATS, sample accountability has never been easier. Our advanced CRM system offers complete visibility into sample usage and returns, with real-time data insights to help monitor sample activity across your organization. CATS allows you to track all samples by quantity, expiration dates, and lot numbers, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. With this life sciences CRM, you can easily manage sample inventory. Further, e-signature compatibility reduces the risk of errors or discrepancies.
CATS is a valuable tool for any business aiming to optimize sales and marketing in a modern life sciences landscape where reps and HCPs have less time and more information than ever. With comprehensive features and support, CATS extends your sales bench, ultimately accelerating commercial success.
Are you ready to optimize your sales pipeline? Request a CATS demo from Synergistix today to get started.
Source:https://www.rbccm.com/en/gib/healthcare/episode/the_healthcare_data_explosion
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