Online Master Data Management Can Improve Sales Force Effectiveness

The world of pharmaceutical sales and marketing has forever changed. Recent research underscores that only 58% of physicians are “rep accessible,” while greater government regulations and drug patent expirations diminish exclusivity and drive intensified competition. Sales organizations, as a result, are faced with increasing pressure to satisfy the three pillars of sales operations --- reducing costs, increasing sales effectiveness, and satisfying regulators.

Optimal Master Data Management (MDM) is a key to effective life sciences customer relationship management (CRM). That’s because poor data wastes time and increases costs; slow-moving data makes sales reps less effective because they don’t have the latest details regarding the physicians in their territories, and duplicate data compromises compliance capabilities. Pharma leaders who strategically weave MDM and pharma CRM efficiently can improve timeliness, accuracy and compliance of the data.

Traditionally, a sales rep added a new health care provider (HCP) to a life sciences CRM system after a call. The record would then be sent to the server, and scrubbed by a backend system. The resulting validated and verified record may then be available to the rep for their next visit with the HCP, depending on turnaround times at the server. In this scenario the sales rep lacked the all-important details during that vital first contact with the HCP, making the call ineffective. Costs were increased by the need to scrub the data, and compliance was harmed by the rep potentially sampling when it was not authorized.

Good master data management practice involves verifying data before it gets into the database – of course you will still need to do a periodic sweep to re-verify and cleanse – but you have greatly increased your chances of ensuring good, clean data if you check it before it gets entered.

Combining MDM and life sciences CRM practices enables sales reps to have current and relevant data instantaneously, at the point of contact. Sales reps can have access to data on a physician before even speaking with him or her. The rep can then sample the physician with valid license numbers and view prescribing and segmentation information, making the first impression much more positive and effective. When MDM and CRM software are working together, basic information such as name and partial address can yield validated clean data on the medical professional in real time.

Partnering with master data management experts and global Life Sciences CRM or pharma crm leaders will ensure sales reps have the information they need before stepping in front of a busy medical professional. Not only does this ensure a significant competitive advantage, it gives the pharmaceutical manufacturer the opportunity to sell from the start – and doing so lowers the cost of sales, increases sales effectiveness and guarantees valid data.