{"id":2273,"date":"2017-05-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.comindex.php\/2017\/05\/16\/pinup051617\/"},"modified":"2019-02-06T02:14:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T02:14:41","slug":"pinup051617","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/news\/pinup051617\/","title":{"rendered":"PinUp: Physician Marketing vs. Education, Digital Transformation, Faith in Sales Reps, More…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pharma Industry News Update<\/b>: 16 May 2017 <\/p>\n\n

Former Lilly President Praises Sales Reps<\/p>\n

[From www.pharmexec.com<\/a>] Alex Azar, who recently served as president of Lilly USA, spoke at a recent industry conference about the so-called “demise” of the pharma sales rep.<\/p>\n

Azar believes that in many instances the sales rep position is still the highest ROI tactic for many brands.\u00a0The problem, Azar says, can be access.<\/p>\n

“Access [to doctors] is getting worse, but it’s not as bad as some suggest, especially if you are an established pharmaceutical company,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Azar touted non-personal communications with physicians, such as peer-to-peer videos, direct mail, email, etc. He said Lilly was able to convert 18% of those who never saw a rep from its bottom tier to its top tier of advocacy.<\/p>\n

“That tells me it can work, but I don’t think it can replace the rep,” Azar said. “Sales reps don’t just do short sales,” he said. “They build relationships over the long term and add value over time.”<\/p>\n

More here…<\/a><\/p>\n

This topic was covered in a recent issue of Pharma Industry News Update on Linkedin:<\/em><\/p>\n