All the sales and marketing strategy that leaders planned initially for 2020, fell apart with the onset of Covid-19. But with an unprecedented challenge, the pandemic also presents opportunities for meaningful change. Now, while heading towards mid and long-term preparation, sales leaders can double down on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to rebound from the crisis smarter, better and stronger.
The pandemic may have jolted pharmaceutical like any other sector but the expectation of growth seems stable six months later. According to rating agency ICRA, In addition to strong domestic demand, moderation in pricing pressure for the US market, worldwide demand, new drug development, market share gains for existing products and consolidation benefits would drive growth for the industry and expects CAGR to be in the range of 4-6%. CRISIL, another rating agency, too predicts 8-9% growth this fiscal.
The sector however is doing all it can to trim the excess fat from processes, operations, infrastructure and accelerate transformation. It’s reimagining supply chain, building multilocation and nearshore API strategy from over-reliance on one country, and building capacity by partnering with contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).
Now that sales is at an inflection point amid this trying economic times., leaders are contemplating acceleration of transformation. How to sell in the face of absolutely new buyer habits? How to fulfil current customer mandates when the supply chain is at jeopardy? How to knit the gap between skills, process and technology? How to take care of sales reps, make them ready with digital transformation and yet promise a predictable, consistent revenue stream to the board when the timeline to recovery is still uncertain.
The need of the hour is a well-designed, well developed, a scientific data-driven process across and beyond the buyer’s journey. The fact that the traditional sales process is now ripe for disruption. The rise of AI and ML coupled with Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Big Data and Cloud are brining value from every customer touchpoint.
Sum of all this, the new state of digital transformation can help pharma companies realign sales and marketing to meet the demands of providers, payers, medtech companies and health care professionals (HCP).
- Reduced cost, improved sales
Pharma companies, broadly, spend about 25% of their revenue in sales and marketing, says Manish Gupta, Chief Executive Officer at Indegene.
Instead of traditional cost-cutting measures during adverse conditions, today, a growing number of companies are reaping the benefits of successfully applying new technologies like AI and ML into processes. 44% of executives believed the adoption of AI reduced cost for them and 63% reported an uptick in revenue. (McKinsey).
With the intervention of AI and ML, businesses can optimize marketing spend intelligently, without sacrificing revenue. They can evaluate path-to-purchase footprints, measure contributions of sales towards revenue growth accurately and in real time. Meaning, businesses can now mine, combine and analyse specific sales and marketing activities, discover obscure patterns to drive conversion and sales. The significant cost can be reduced and insight procured by consolidating vast amount of historical data. This not only frees up operational expenditure but also saves guesswork and tons of time from manual reporting.
Businesses which have multiple sales teams spread across locations, domains with silo-ed data and IT infrastructure – can leverage AI and ML enabled optimized sales performance. From data management and lead resolution to data compliance, at one place.
- AI & ML fuelled CRM
Only 12% of CRM users use AI in CRM but 75% are looking forward to blend, states a recent research.
But as much as we could be a proponent of AI-ML-CRM ensemble, it can’t entirely handle complex decision-making mandates that arise from the socio-eco-political milieu and not just from dry data. We need machine learning and strategic human mind working together to help focus on team activities, increase team productivity, ensure active engagement, accelerate deal progression, maximize win rates and give leadership visibility into the pipeline progress.
- Improved end-to-end efficiency
Buyers across life science and pharma industries are more connected and informed than ever before. Two years ago, more than 70% of the buyers fully defined their needs before meeting up with sales representatives and more than half identified specific solutions (Miller Heiman, 2018). Today, two years later, as the Covid-19 is still reeling in, buyer preferences triggered even more restrictions of access. Bain reports that, of the 75% of physicians who preferred in-person visits from medtech representatives before Covid-19, 47% now prefer virtual exchanges or less-frequent visits.
In such a tumultuous time, how would sales acquire, develop and retain fulfilling customer relationships?
By adopting AI with Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and AR/VR, Advanced Analytics, pharma companies are fortifying capabilities from sales operations to commercial operations, marketing management to field sales and are addressing every aspect of the customer experience.
While sales rep productivity can go up by up to 40% as per an Accenture research, a US pharmaceutical company by dint of AI enabled unique segmentation and increased sales by $25 million in six months.