Filling the gaps with commercial services reps

By Mike Stout, president, Ashfield Commercial US, part of UDG Healthcare plc.

In essence, we all want those boots on the ground to drive commercial value. Yet, not every high-priced pair of shoes delivers the desired ROI. Physician access time or practice location, and position of the brand in its life cycle, often make the cost of deploying a traditional field rep undesirable. Yet, many brands benefit from a personal visit to the office. The survey recently conducted on oncologists by Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions confirms this. 64 percent of respondents found the key value-add for sales reps to be delivering information on patient access and assistance programs, 42 percent found providing staff education and 24 percent providing patient education materials to be of value. We have found over multiple client engagements that there is a very cost-effective field option to deliver the information needed and desired, while driving commercial value on loss of exclusivity (LOE brands) that might otherwise go unrepresented and launch or growth brands that might fail to resonate with the prescribing HCP or pharmacy; namely, the commercial service rep (CSR).

The commercial service rep delivers a non-clinical office call to maintain personal contact with prescribers and their office staff. CSRs provide promotional messaging and patient support on brands that would otherwise go unrepresented. In so doing, these reps actually complement the field sales rep model by reinforcing the brand and cutting through the digital noise that results from many multichannel campaigns. And they do so at a cost that ranges from 50 to 75 percent less than sales reps.

Commercial service reps deliver such cost-effective coverage for a variety of reasons. Although college educated, they do not necessarily require previous pharmaceutical experience or a science background. In most cases the individuals hired have a strong service background and are strongly motivated in having performance-based targets on number of visits and delivery of samples and resources versus reaching sales targets. They can support 20 or more brands from a bag that can contain multiple portfolios from more than one manufacturer. They will service one to six brands in an average office visit, although as many as ten brands can be represented. Customers are targeted based on where they can be optimally reached. Group practices within a territory typically covering a 50 to 75 mile radius within a major metropolitan area are best. As a result of this configuration, service reps typically make 15-20 calls per day over 220 days in comparison to 190 days for traditional sales reps.

CSRs are fully trained within compliance standards to provide physician offices with samples, literature, reimbursement and access information, as well as co-pay cards. They are effective because they offer product brand support services to the HCP and office staff in a quick, maximum of two minutes, office visit. As a result, HCPs and staff are generally amenable to this type of pharma support call.

We have found the commercial service rep model to be effective in a variety of engagements. Some CSRs cover loss of exclusivity (LOE) brands. Others supplement coverage with sample drops or by providing managed care information on launch or growing brands within specific regions. The ultimate success of the deployment is based on laser-focused back office analytics and flexibility in deployment to react to changing field conditions at a moment’s notice.

The commercial service rep can play a key role in a brand’s commercialization strategy delivering strong ROI well into a brand’s mature phase or helping to drive a stronger launch at a reasonable cost. Developing a field strategy that optimizes both traditional and service face-to-face calls will drive stronger brand recognition and develop the kinds of loyalties that ultimately result in a greater return on investment.