Growing a pharma business requires a strategic approach considering the specific context of your company and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. Here are some general pointers to get you started: Market and Customer: Identify your target customer: Deeply understand the specific needs and challenges of your target audience, whether it's doctors, patients, hospitals, or other healthcare providers. This helps tailor your products, services, and marketing efforts. Focus on unmet needs: Look for gaps in the market where existing solutions are inadequate or unavailable. Addressing unmet needs can give you a competitive edge and drive innovation. Track market trends: Stay updated on regulatory changes, technological advancements, and emerging diseases to adapt your approach and anticipate future opportunities. Products and Services: Invest in R&D: Develop innovative products or differentiate existing ones through unique formulations, delivery methods, or combinations. Remember
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Chapter 4: Identify Would be Customers (Prospects) in Pharma Franchise Marketing
First rule of sales is to identify prospect. A prospect is an individual or business whom have possibility of becoming your customer in near future.You can’t waste your time to call or approach every person/business in pharmaceutical sector to introduce your product or ask for becoming your franchise. This is frustrating and useless way of spamming. You call fifty of persons daily and e-mail to hundreds of e-mail Id’s but get back hardly any.
Problem is not in your efforts but problem is that you are approaching to wrong persons. Like other businesses, in pharma franchise marketing, you need to know who could be your future customers and to whom you need to reach to ask for becoming your franchise distributor.
In this chapter, we will try to identify who can be your prospect or future customer. For completing a sale, a business needs a product/service, a salesperson and a customer. Here pharmaceutical company is a business having pharmaceutical products. Registered medical practitioners i.e. doctors are prime customers in pharmaceutical sector as prescription drugs can be sold only against prescription of registered medical practitioner. OTC drugs can also be sold without prescription of RMP and chemist and pharmacies could be potential customers for otc drugs.
Now we have product/services and customers i.e. doctors and pharmacies. Now come to salespersons. In pharmaceutical sector, medical representatives are the bottom line of sales team. Other members of pharmaceutical sales team are area sales manager, regional sales manager, zonal sales manager and general sales manager etc.
Medicines are promoted through sales team to doctors and doctors prescribe these to their patients. Patients purchase medicines from Pharmaceutical retailers i.e. chemists, medical stores and pharmacies. Pharmaceutical retailers receive medicines from pharmaceutical distributors. This is how pharmaceutical distribution channel works. One more part of pharma distribution channel is Carrying and Forwarding Agent (CnF). Generally big players appoint CnF and small pharma companies avoid to appoint Cnf and directly distribute through distributors/stockists/wholesalers.
Our purpose of discussing above detail is to understand that how many types of persons involved in pharmaceutical distribution channel and to identify which may be targeted person as prospect.
Let’s explain about each link of distribution chain.
Doctor’s are prime customers for pharmaceutical companies. A doctor or hospital may have less or more number of patients (Outdoor or Indoor). Doctors may be good prospect in pharma franchise marketing but problem is that doctors don’t have time to handle both practice as well as marketing. Some doctors and clinics tie-up with pharmaceutical franchise companies directly and purchase medicines from them at monopoly basis.
Some Pharmaceutical Retailers (Pharmacy, chemist and medical stores etc) have good relationship with doctors especially retail stores inside hospital premises. They are in direct contact with doctor’s and authorized persons of hospitals. Pharma retailers having potential of market products on their behalf could be good pharma franchise distributor sign.
CnF and distributors in pharmaceutical sector also have strong professional network. They have good links with doctors, hospitals and retailers. They can market and sell pharma franchise products as good extent.
Above all prospects have possibilities but have limitations to grow in pharma franchise. They are limited to their practice, hospital or network. But one prospect has unlimited possibility and capability of generating sale and becoming good pharma franchise distributor. This prospect is sales person in pharmaceutical sales team.
Pharmaceutical sales team members are one of the best prospects in pharma franchise marketing. They have links with good number of doctors in particular territory. They have experience in selling and promoting medicines. They even know how to penetrate into new territory with their skills.
Due to their experience and knowledge in pharma sales, sales team members are considered as one of the best prospects, you should concentrate to give your pharma company distribution.
All above mentioned prospects also have great potential.
Things to consider:
Not all doctors indulge in franchise business, not all retailers or distributors will associate with you. Not every sales person is willing to start own franchise business. Above mentioned prospects are in large in numbers. This could be defined as broad audience type having all persons that may be interested or not.
From this broad audience, you need to refine your audience i.e. prospects that may be interested to associate with you.
Now we have understood about our targeted prospects. In next chapter, we will learn about how to refine your audience and approach your prospects.
Next: Chapter 5: Lead Generation and Approaching the Prospect (would be customers)
Previous: Part 2: Sales Process
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