Putting the Customer Back in Customer Relationship Management

There was an underlying theme throughout the series of presentations at the eyeforpharma Pharma Sales Effectiveness USA Conference held in Philadelphia on October 30 and 31, 2003: The current sales model is not working and will continue to lose effectiveness. Enough with putting more reps in the field; the sales model for this industry must change. Those companies that recognize this and respond with new solutions have the opportunity to gain a significant advantage in winning quality physician access.

This article features the thoughts of Derek Evans, Vice President, Global Solutions Marketing at Dendrite International, on how to put the customer back in Customer Relationship Management. In addition to reinforcing the problems of too many reps, limited physician access, and physician dissatisfaction with the reps' level of knowledge, Evans emphasized the compound effect of excessive focus on high prescribers and the restrictions of formularies and government regulations.