IS THERE A NEED FOR DIFFERENTIATION FOR SPECIALTY DIVISION IN A CRM SOLUTION?

From our experience of being in the Pharma CRM domain for the last 8-9 years, it has made us realize that a specialty driven team/company works differently than a non specialty team/company. Before we jump to the intricacies of how a Pharma CRM solution, for both specialty and non specialty should be different, lets start by first highlighting the differences on how both these type of teams/companies work.

Specialty Team	Non Specialty Team
Product Knowledge is more complex and requires in-depth training. The sales team also requires re – training from time to time on anything new relating to the product.	Minimal training is enough to gain Product Knowledge
More Detailed Doctor Interaction on the usage of the brand, the side effects, the dosages etc	The doctors know all the qualities of the product and the visit is usually a Brand reminder call.
High entry and Exit barrier – Takes more time and investment to convert the customer. Once done, it will take lot of effort for competitors to win him/her over.	Low Entry and Exit Barrier – Easier to persuade the doctor to convert to the respective brand. Equally easy to lose the customer to competition
Medical Team involvement – The complexity of the Brand means the queries of the Doctor will also be evolved and will need help from the medical team	No Medical Team involvement – The doctor knows everything needed, very little need for help from the medical team is required in this case
The complexity means promotional input need to be very informative and in some cases will be more similar to a demo tool	Simple and straight forward promotional inputs

Disclaimer: I have never worked in a Pharma company. All my knowledge is through my interaction with my pharma clients.

How can a CRM solution address the needs of Specialty teams?

The CRM solution should be geared to do the following additional requirements that may be more relevant to a specialty driven team/company:

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