Pharmaceutical sales: Reaching physicians and pharmacies with remote sales

What does remote sales mean in pharmaceutical sales?

Remote sales is commercial engagement through telephone and digital conversation channels. In healthcare, it can include preparing a field visit, discussing approved product information or capturing a specific purchasing requirement. Pharmaceutical inside sales is a commonly used description of this office-based work.

HCP means healthcare professional. HCP engagement describes communication with these professional audiences. A useful programme connects relevant information with an appropriate commercial next step. That step might be a follow-up appointment, a product demonstration or an order, depending on the product and the person involved.

Physician engagement and pharmacy sales need different goals

A shared contact list is not an audience strategy. Identify who makes clinical decisions, who supports the practice and who purchases products. These roles call for different conversations:

• Physicians: Discuss relevant indications, approved product information and outstanding scientific questions.
• Practice teams: Clarify information needs, identify contacts and organise agreed next steps.
• Pharmacies: Discuss product interest, assortment needs, ordering processes and approved commercial terms.
• Dental practices and veterinarians: Understand product requirements and purchasing processes before defining the direct-sales approach.

How inside and field teams work together

Give every contact a clear owner. A field representative needs more than a telephone number when an inside team prepares a visit: the purpose, interest, objections and expectations should be available. After the visit, the remote team needs to know which follow-up it owns.

Example workflow: A pharmacy has requested product materials. An agreed follow-up establishes whether the product fits its assortment and whether delivery information is missing. Specific purchasing interest moves into the agreed sales process. Where a detailed discussion in person would help, the field team receives an appointment with a clear objective.

Handovers should work through a shared system. Separate notes, unclear ownership and overlapping outreach create avoidable work. A contact record therefore needs an owner and, where another action has been agreed, a due date.

Five questions for a practical project brief

Before more people start calling, the team needs a common working brief. These decisions turn a broad sales idea into an assignment that can be managed:

• Audience: Which specialties, practice types or pharmacies fit the product, and which do not?
• Purpose: Why is the conversation relevant now, and which outreach is permitted?
• Objective: What specific action should follow a suitable conversation?
• Handover: Who handles orders, medical questions, complaints and field appointments?
• Review: Which outcomes will be documented, and when will the approach be reassessed?

Which metrics show commercial progress?

Dial attempts measure activity. Management also needs the target people reached, qualified conversations and agreed next steps. A large call count says little if the people reached are not the intended audience.

Define a qualified conversation before comparing results. For example: the appropriate person was reached, a relevant need was discussed and an outcome was documented. Then measure the proportion that leads to an agreed next step. State the denominator for every rate so that teams and periods remain comparable.

For direct sales, confirmed orders, cancellations and repeat orders can provide additional measures where the data is available. In physician engagement, a positive conversation must not automatically be counted as a prescription. Feedback, actual prescribing and attributed revenue are different types of information.

What qualifications does the team need?

For pharmaceutical advisory work in Germany, the expertise required under §75 AMG also applies to telephone-based product information. Medical foundation training does not replace that requirement. Teams also need a defined process for recording and forwarding information about medicine-related risks.

The legal basis for outreach requires separate consideration. Germany’s §7 UWG distinguishes, among other things, telephone advertising to consumers and other market participants, and electronic advertising. A publicly available address alone does not authorise every form of promotional contact.

Sources: German Medicines Act, §§75 and 76 · §7 UWG: Promotional contact

When is a pilot useful?

A pilot is useful when the audience or conversation approach still needs to be tested. Select a defined group and a period long enough for the agreed follow-up to happen. Decide in advance which outcomes will lead you to continue, adjust or stop.

Compare the effort with results relevant to the assignment. An appointment programme should consider suitable appointments that actually take place; an ordering programme needs dependable orders. Increasing call volume without this connection makes the commercial contribution difficult to assess.