The nature of the interaction between pharmaceutical sales representatives and general practitioners in South

Abstract

Purpose – The pharmaceutical company’s sales force, utilized to engage with general practitioners to promote the prescription of the company’s products, continues to be the most significant sales and marketing expense to date. To justify this level of investment into a specific marketing channel, the relevance of the pharmaceutical sales representative needs to be validated. The aim of this research is to investigate the nature of the interaction between the South African general practitioner and the pharmaceutical sales representative (a current marketing channel employed by pharmaceutical companies) from the perspective of the general practitioner, thus establishing whether the utilisation of the pharmaceutical sales representative is still effective and appropriate to the needs and wants of the general practitioner. Design/methodology/approach – A semi-structured interview instrument was utilised to understand the views of the general practitioners and identify potential themes amongst the sample selected. The interviews were conducted with general practitioners because they are considered one of the primary targets for the marketing efforts of the pharmaceutical companies. Findings – It appears that the interaction with the pharmaceutical sales representative as part of the marketing strategy employed by the pharmaceutical companies, continues to be preferred by general practitioners in South Africa. The general practitioners, however, want the pharmaceutical sales representative to provide new and insightful information on new and existing products and focus on keeping the doctors updated with the latest information that will ensure that they are providing their patients with the best standard of care. It is suggested that the pharmaceutical companies who fail to address the needs of the general practitioner could find their pharmaceutical sales representative blocked from engaging with the general practitioner. Practical implications – To reduce the dominant sales and marketing expense on a sales force, pharmaceutical companies might investigate more cost-effective alternative marketing channels. Due to the general practitioner’s continued preference for the face-to-face engagement with a pharmaceutical sales - vii - representative who is well prepared and focused on addressing their needs, the pharmaceutical company will have to keep this in mind when exploring alternative marketing channels as a potential substitute to the pharmaceutical sales representative. Originality/value – The research approach was focused on investigating the validity of the pharmaceutical sale representative as an effective marketing channel, but specifically from the viewpoint of the general practitioner. By not interviewing the pharmaceutical companies themselves, any potential bias regarding their developed marketing strategies was excluded. Limitations and future direction – The research has a few limitations. The interviews were conducted with only 10 general practitioners, thus future research could potentially include a larger sample size and other specialties. The research focused only the face-to-face interaction between the pharmaceutical sales representative and the general practitioners. This is only one perspective of potentially many others, thus further research could map other perspectives, test their relevance and develop a more comprehensive view on the all possible marketing channels the pharmaceutical companies can utilize. Keywords: South Africa, pharmaceutical sales representative, general practitioner, face-to-face interaction, customer needs, pharmaceutical company, marketing strategy