The Situation
A globally recognized leader in nutritional science had a problem. A strategic focus for sales growth centered on leveraging a non-technical sales force to promote their active lifestyle and medical nutrition portfolio to office-based health care providers. Research showed that physician advocacy of such products was key to converting patients with metabolic challenges, mothers pre- and post-delivery, those undergoing oncology treatments, and geriatric patients to brand use and loyalty.
Several challenges existed:
1. All existing promotional materials were focused on retail consumer audiences.
2. HCP advocacy was contingent on seeing detailed, compelling, data-driven clinical evidence.
3. The sales force was not trained to knowledgably discuss medically relevant information.
4. Office-based detailing allowed for only very brief sales conversations, requiring easy-to-understand materials and messages that could be delivered quickly with maximum impact.
The Plan
⚙️ Assemble a cross-functional development team consisting of clinicians, brand marketers, and sales leadership to identify the most relevant and impactful research & messages and translate them into compelling and easy-to-understand evidence-based data visualizations and infographics.
⚙️ Create an interactive, tablet-based sales tool to facilitate brief, fast-paced selling efforts in the office setting.
⚙️ Develop office leave-behinds including sample closet coupons for free products, and retail discounts including QR codes for patient activation and opt-in for online educational materials.
The Results
Q1: Initial sales force training, piloted campaign rollout and implementation in test markets.
Q2: Preliminary results show modest increases in retail sales in pilot areas. Campaign & program tweaks and implementation in additional markets.
Q3: Measurable uptick in retail sales in initial test markets. Final campaign and program refinements and national roll-out.
Q4: Year one results demonstrated up to an 8% increase in retail sales in initial target markets representing over $25 million. Year 2 projections: $50 million+
“You helped us achieve what everybody said was impossible… we now see the sky is the limit!”