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Company - Doctor relationship: Has it withstood the pandemic storm ? Marketing Communication teams had to pull up their socks as sales teams were refrained from meeting the HCPs due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Sangeeth G Kini, VP, Hemogenomics, gives an insight on how the medtech and pharma companies engaged the HCPs during lockdown by augmenting the digital outreach activities; and also analyses the criticality of sales function in the industry
Sangeeth G Kini, VP, Hemogenomics
Since March 2020, the healthcare landscape has been on a rollercoaster ride due to the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic as well as the changing governmental guidelines. Lockdowns, containment zones, travel restrictions, essential services passes to commute, etc have become the new normal between the two waves that we have witnessed. The healthcare delivery segment be it hospitals, laboratories, imaging centres, pharmacy shops; as well as allied healthcare facilities –had to make drastic changes in their operations. The professionals associated with these institutions – hospital administrators, doctors, nurses, paramedics too had to adapt to this new normal balancing their safety with the interests of the patients. While a lot had already been written about the newer ways of healthcare delivery system, the focus of my article is how the medical products industry such as pharma companies, diagnostics companies and other segments evolved to continue to engage with the doctors, hospital administrator and other stakeholders during and after the lockdown period, as well as to analyse the criticality of sales personnel for the medical companies.
The Lockdown The lockdown declared on March 24,
2020, was abrupt. Many companies were caught unprepared. Work from home became a compulsion than a choice for many professionals. The immediate questions in the minds of corporate leaders were how long would it take to get back to normalcy and what can we do to engage with the Healthcare Providers (HCPs) during this lockdown period. Traditionally, medical and healthcare companies are highly sales teamcentric. The salespeople would meet the doctors and other stakeholders in hospitals and clinics and promote their products. Over time, the sales person develops relationship with the Healthcare Providers (HCP) and the HCPs too find comfortable to deal with such sales professionals. Negotiations that took place across the table and deals were closed over fruitful face-toface discussions. It was easier for both sides to understand each other better over a cup of Coffee. All these had come to an abrupt stop on 24th March 2020.
Relationship Dynamics in New Normal Most companies were caught unawares, not sure how to stay connected with their core customer base. It was clear that we were heading towards a new normal where digital channels would
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