DO YOU HAVE MULTIPLE SPECIALTIES, AND YET A “ONE-SIZE FITS ALL CRM” PROBABLY MEANT FOR PRIMARY CARE?

I had a visitor the other day: head of a company that has a few specialty business divisions, including Oncology. I asked him: what brings you to Bangalore so often?

And he said he has been personally visiting Bangalore once a month for the last 4 months, with a view to visit a large Cancer hospital, to win the account. It was yet to happen.

That set me thinking. It is obvious that Specialty business in Pharma has many differences from Primary Care, and yet I don’t hear of companies adopting a different approach to their CRM-SFE software, necessarily. Those in the industry would know the different needs that they have. I am not going to dwell too much on that here, except to highlight a few below:

• Most specialties need a strong (Key Account Management) KAM module plus perhaps a lighter “small institution” , with all the standard features needed for KAM/p>
• A very strong Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) oriented field- work module, that should have E-Detailing as an aid to CLM
• Team collaboration capabilities within the software
• Interface with ERP with configurable rules to fetch and map Sales Data

The diagram below is a partial illustration of the needs:

In this blog, I am also keen to explore what benefits would accrue to a company that invests in a differentiated CRM software for Specialties?

• You can do away with parallel XL or other desk top applications to plan, and carry out activities with leads
• Very clear definition of goals with each Key Account, and tracking all the steps to reach these goals would mean that results will improve
• The company can reap substantial benefits from CLM approach, in terms of Account wins and retention: BECAUSE YOU ARE LISTENING and RECORING WHAT THE CUSTOMER IS SAYING
• All special commercial arrangements (discounts and special prices) can be monitored

These are the reasons why more and more companies with Specialty divisions are planning to invest in differentiated software that combines the traditional “Lead to Conversion” process with the Pharma needs of DCR, E-Detailing, Call Plans and more.

And so, if you are using the same “one-size fits all” CRM, it is time to rethink.