28b Veeva Insights - Episode 3: Functional content for better sales outcomes

This video provides an in-depth exploration of leveraging functional content within Veeva CLM (Content Lifecycle Management) for enhanced sales outcomes in the pharmaceutical industry. The speaker, James Harper, founder of twentyeightb, aims to help brand teams and medical communications agencies better understand and utilize the Veeva CRM platform. The episode focuses specifically on "functional interactive content" for Veeva CLM multi-channel presentations, often referred to as eDetailers, eSales Aids, or digital sales aids.

The core of the discussion revolves around defining and demonstrating the power of "functional content" compared to static or basic interactive content. Functional content is described as content that "works for a living," actively engaging both the user (Key Account Manager) and the customer (healthcare professional). It calculates, measures, records, and personalizes information to maximize impact, going beyond simple navigation or pop-ups. This advanced content not only drives greater customer engagement but also provides valuable market insights, monitors content effectiveness, and significantly enhances sales effectiveness.

A practical example is demonstrated using a hypothetical product that has secured a new pediatric indication. The critical success factor for this brand is to increase the recognition and treatment of children with this condition. The functional content enables a Key Account Manager (KAM) to initiate a sales call by asking a General Practitioner (GP) to prioritize various patient types (e.g., elderly, pregnant mothers, pediatrics) they see with the condition. This interactive prioritization, where the GP can drag and drop patient groups into an order reflecting their current practice, allows the KAM to understand the GP's perspective on treating children. This data is then saved against the customer's record within the Veeva CRM. This saved, personalized data is crucial as it can dynamically drive the rest of the presentation, ensuring the content is tailored to the GP's specific priorities. The same personalized priority order can reappear at the end of the presentation, enabling the KAM to close with a targeted commitment from the doctor, such as reprioritizing pediatric treatment based on the evidence presented. Furthermore, this data powers subsequent calls, allowing the rep to pick up exactly where they left off, reinforcing the discussion and moving the customer along the adoption ladder. The brand team can then run reports on this aggregated CRM data to gain critical market and customer insights, informing and enhancing future marketing strategies.

Key Takeaways:

• Functional Content Definition: Functional content goes beyond static "digital paper" or basic interactive elements. It actively calculates, measures, records, and personalizes content, making it "work for a living" to achieve specific sales and marketing objectives.
• Enhanced Sales Effectiveness: Implementing functional content significantly improves customer engagement, provides actionable market insights, monitors content impact, and ultimately leads to better sales outcomes by tailoring interactions to individual customer needs.
• Veeva CLM as a Platform: Veeva CLM multi-channel presentations (eDetailers, eSales Aids) are ideal vehicles for deploying functional content, allowing for dynamic and data-driven sales interactions within a regulated environment.
• Empowering Key Account Managers (KAMs): Functional content equips KAMs to effectively set up sales calls, deeply understand customer needs through interactive engagement, facilitate strong closes with personalized commitments, and seamlessly set up follow-up discussions.
• Data Capture and CRM Integration: A critical aspect is the ability of functional content to capture customer-specific data (e.g., patient prioritization, treatment percentages) and save it directly against the customer's record within the Veeva CRM.
• Personalized Content Delivery: The data collected through functional content can dynamically drive and personalize subsequent parts of the presentation, ensuring that the information presented is most relevant and impactful for the individual healthcare professional.
• Driving Future Interactions: Stored customer data can be used to power content for subsequent sales calls, allowing reps to resume conversations from where they left off, track progress, and reinforce commitments, effectively guiding customers along the adoption ladder.
• Valuable Market and Customer Insights: The aggregated data from functional content across the sales force provides brand teams with critical market and customer insights, which are invaluable for refining marketing plans, identifying trends, and optimizing strategies.
• Strategic Closing Techniques: Functional content enables KAMs to craft highly personalized closing statements based on the customer's input during the presentation, leading to more concrete commitments and measurable outcomes.
• Multifunctional Design: A single piece of well-designed functional content can serve multiple purposes within a sales call, from initial needs assessment to closing and even setting the stage for future engagements.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva CRM
• Veeva CLM (Multichannel Presentations, eDetailers, eSales Aids, Digital Sales Aids)

Key Concepts:

• Functional Content: Content designed to actively engage users and customers by calculating, measuring, recording, and personalizing information for maximum impact and specific outcomes.
• Veeva CLM: Content Lifecycle Management, a module within Veeva CRM, used for creating, managing, and delivering interactive sales presentations and eDetailers to healthcare professionals.
• Critical Success Factor (CSF): A key objective or goal for a brand or campaign, often used to measure success (e.g., increasing recognition of a new drug indication).
• Adoption Ladder: A conceptual model illustrating the stages a customer progresses through from initial awareness to full adoption and advocacy of a product or behavior.