Healthcare Sector: Restoring Cohesion in a Post-Reorganization Context

The current healthcare market context combined with the pressure on the pharmaceutical sector is compared to a true ‘descent into hell’ by medical representatives. Indeed, their numbers have practically halved in six years: from 23,000 in 2008 to 12,000 in 2016. Furthermore, investments dedicated to medical visits have significantly decreased. A 25% decline in overall promotional spending dedicated to medical visits was observed between 2003 and 2013.

How can medical representatives be reassured and motivated to achieve their objectives in this context of global reorganization without making false promises?

Avoid Misinformation

First of all, it is essential to avoid misinformation and the spread of rumors and gossip that create a hostile climate between hierarchical positions within the company. Communication must be fluid, and information must flow between headquarters and the field to reassure your promotional teams about your intentions towards them and to establish a climate of trust.

Furthermore, it is important to maintain a feedback culture with easy information flow from field teams to management and human resources to quickly identify problems encountered with clients or competitors and find solutions.

To achieve this, leverage a mobile and digital communication platform that will strengthen bonds within teams and the company as a whole.

Engaging and Retaining Your Sales Force

Re-inject Fun into Your Teams

It’s not enough to have active and transparent communication. In a context of market reorganization, you need to focus on ‘fun’. Your communication tool should give you the freedom to personalize your messages with visuals (image, emoji, GIF). This may seem illusory, but a ‘fun’ aspect will help you break the ice and restore your team members’ confidence in the closeness you seek to maintain with them, encouraging their engagement.

Another technique to break down barriers? A collective challenge that will strengthen camaraderie and solidarity within the same team. Outside a professional setting, an example of a challenge conducive to collaboration and team building is making sports predictions on football team scores. This challenge can also be carried out by mixed teams – including medical representatives, KAMs, and liaison physicians – to ensure connection and collaboration between all types of stakeholders.

When organizing a challenge within a team, active facilitation is essential for its proper functioning. Indeed, it is necessary to maintain the excitement generated by a challenge and invite participants to engage on your digital platform.

Clarify the ‘Why’

Finally, it is important to return to the meaning of the sales representative profession by re-emphasizing its purpose – also known as the ‘why’ by Simon Sinek – to awaken the teams’ intrinsic motivation. You must value your promotional teams through the challenges set up by the manager, give them a strong sense of belonging, and empower them more to engage them.

Conclusion

In a context of organizational transition, bringing your medical representatives together has never been more essential. You must foster active and fluid communication, challenge your internal promotional teams to engage them, and return to the deeper meaning of the profession to restore its image.

Other articles that might interest you:

• Healthcare Sector: How to Facilitate the Digitalization of Your Promotional Teams?
• Healthcare Sector: Driving Medical Representatives’ Performance for a Drug Launch