If Your Team Is Unconvinced, Maybe It’s Time To Rethink Your Narrative

THE BURNING ISSUE

A biotech company with an upcoming product launch was struggling to get their field force to embrace digital ways of connecting with healthcare providers. The business strategy called for a shift to purely digital customer engagements, in line with industry trends. When in-person sales calls got scrapped during the pandemic, it became even more urgent to go digital and omnichannel. 

But how were healthcare providers adapting to new digital interactions with pharma sales reps? Research showed that doctors and healthcare providers quickly shifted online during the first lockdowns, and a high percentage even preferred digital interactions with pharma reps to in-person visits. They had become accustomed to highly personalized online experiences (thanks Netflix and Amazon), and didn’t understand why pharma companies weren’t delivering that same experience.

So the customer needs and expectations were clear but field reps were out of touch with HCPs evolving wishes and preferences. Many reps said they awaited a “return to normal” and the old way of doing business in-person - and they were insecure about how their role would be changing. 

HOW WE WORKED TOGETHER

North Tangent worked with the company’s regional leadership to drive a shift in mindset and behavior in the field force of key countries with low adoption of new omnichannel technologies and systems. We created a robust and compelling narrative backed by research to tell the story of the digital transformation, focusing on current pain points in the customer experience alongside new expectations in a fast-changing, data-driven and omnichannel world. This helped field force effectiveness teams better explain the why behind the change, to spark excitement about customer-centric vision for the future, and be clear on the new skills and competencies that would be required by customer-facing teams. Then in partnership with the internal learning and development team, we co-created a “sales kit” to bring the narrative to life that included slide decks, companion videos, training material and research findings, for reps as well as digital leads to get buy-in and sponsorship by diverse stakeholders. In addition, we advocated for an aligned approach across the region to sales incentives structures that integrated new digital engagement targets.

THE OUTCOME

Through a compelling and clear narrative, and aligned incentives, the regional leadership was able to paint a picture of the future for the organization and shift hearts, minds and digital behaviors among some internal and vocal skeptics.