Oh Behave! Using behavioural science & Veeva CLM for remote selling excellence

This video provides an in-depth exploration of achieving remote selling excellence in the pharmaceutical industry by integrating behavioral science principles with the capabilities of Veeva CLM (Closed Loop Marketing) and CRM platforms. The discussion establishes that remote engagement is a permanent fixture post-COVID, citing data showing that 23% to 30% of healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not expect to return to face-to-face calls, necessitating a shift from achieving business continuity to striving for digital excellence. The core thesis is that marketing and sales fundamentally aim to create behavioral change (e.g., initiating product use, increasing usage), and leveraging behavioral science can significantly boost engagement and sales outcomes.

The first segment, led by Dave Pinnington, focuses on defining and driving behavioral change through content. He highlights that most marketing content is "wallpaper," failing to create positive sentiment or action, often because it is brand-centric rather than customer-focused. Pinnington introduces the concept of behavioral planning, urging marketers to define specific, actionable behaviors that unlock sales within key customer scenarios (e.g., adoption ladder stages). He emphasizes that content must be tailored to the customer's current state—a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective. Furthermore, he delves into cognitive psychology, noting that decisions are often made by the "system one" (autopilot/emotional) brain, not the rational brain, and that memories are encoded in stories, not clinical data points. To maximize impact, content must be tangible, relevant, and actively engaging, moving away from passive information presentation to achieve up to a 90% recall rate.

The second segment, presented by James Harper, focuses on optimizing Veeva sales materials and rep-triggered emails to enable the multi-channel rep. Harper defines "functional content" as materials that align with the sales process (assess, align, close) and are designed for interactivity. He cites data showing that highly interactive CLM materials (interactive for both rep and customer) yield the highest good sell outcomes (GSO). For remote settings, interactivity is crucial to combat the tendency of reps to slip into a "tell-sell" monologue due to the lack of non-visual cues. Harper provides a framework for designing effective sales aids: they must be focused (5-10 slides for primary care), interactive (encouraging two-way dialogue), impactful (readable even on small screens), and fully integrated into the Veeva ecosystem for maximum effectiveness and data capture.

Finally, the discussion covers the strategic use of Veeva Approved Emails (Rep Triggered Emails). These emails are positioned as the "lifeblood" connecting touchpoints, achieving high open rates (35-60%) because they originate from a trusted rep. Harper stresses that these must be genuine "rep triggered" emails, not bulk head-office communications, maintaining a personal tone of voice. He outlines essential email suites for orchestration (access, consent, invitation, follow-up) and task orientation (webinar invites, post-event follow-up). Both speakers agree that analytics, particularly those generated by Veeva Pulse and MyInsights dashboards, are vital not just for policing reps, but for creating a "virtuous cycle" where reps gain actionable insights (e.g., seeing a customer clicked on a dosing card) that inform their next engagement, driving better planning and utilization.

Detailed Key Takeaways

• Remote Engagement is Permanent: Post-COVID data indicates that 23% to 30% of HCPs do not expect to return to face-to-face meetings, making excellence in remote selling a critical, permanent necessity for pharmaceutical commercial operations.

• Focus on Behavioral Change, Not Just Key Messages: Marketing and sales efforts must be explicitly defined by the specific behavioral change desired (e.g., first prescription, increased usage). Content that merely repeats key messages often results in "key message tourettes" and is ineffective for driving actual change.

• Content Quality Drives Engagement: Most pharma content is "wallpaper" that fails to generate positive sentiment. Applying behavioral science principles—such as using movement to focus attention, ensuring readability, and leveraging emotional triggers—can dramatically increase content impact and engagement.

• Optimize Content for System One Thinking: Decisions, even by highly rational HCPs, are primarily driven by "system one" (autopilot, emotional) thinking. Content should be presented as a clear, tangible story relevant to patient management, rather than just raw clinical data, to boost trust and effectiveness.

• The Power of Interactive CLM: Interactive sales aids, particularly those that allow both the rep and the customer to engage, deliver a 71% improvement in "Good Sell Outcomes" (GSO) compared to non-interactive materials, making interactivity crucial for remote detailing success.

• Design Sales Aids for Assessment and Closure: Effective sales aids must align with the sales process: assessing the customer's needs/beliefs (e.g., using slides to gauge their view on a patient group), aligning content to those needs, and crucially, closing with a commitment to behavioral change ("Will you now prescribe?").

• Rep Triggered Emails are High-Value Touchpoints: Veeva Approved Emails, when sent by a trusted rep, achieve high open rates (35-60%) and click-through rates six times the industry average. They are the essential tool for orchestrating multi-channel engagement between calls.

• Maintain a Personal Tone of Voice in RTMs: Rep Triggered Emails must sound like they come from the rep, not head office. Using personalized greetings (e.g., "Hi John" instead of "Dear Dr. Smith") is a simple but critical factor in ensuring rep uptake and customer acceptance.

• Leverage Analytics for a Virtuous Cycle: Analytics (Veeva Pulse, MyInsights) should be used to empower reps, not police them. Tracking email opens and click-through rates provides strong buying signals (e.g., clicking a dosing card) that reps can use to plan their next, more effective engagement.

• Agile Content Development is Key: Traditional sales aid development (6-8 months) leads to static content. An agile, continuous improvement approach allows for rapid prototyping and iteration based on field feedback, ensuring content remains relevant and effective in dynamic market conditions.

• Focus on the Point of Prescription: A significant influential opportunity is often missed at the actual point of prescription. Marketers should develop fair and balanced materials or embedded triggers that influence the decision at this critical moment, linking back to earlier educational efforts.

Tools/Resources Mentioned

• Veeva CLM/CRM: The primary platform discussed for content delivery and customer relationship management.
• Veeva Pulse Data: Data source used to track industry trends in remote engagement and content usage.
• Veeva Vault: Content management system used by pharma companies for commercial content approval.
• MyInsights (Veeva): Dashboard framework within Veeva used to provide reps with actionable analytics.
• Oce/Omnipresence: Other platforms mentioned as alternatives to Veeva.
• Markify: Dave Pinnington's company, specializing in evaluating content using behavioral science.
• Stem Healthcare: Organization providing audit data on sales call effectiveness and good sell outcomes (GSO).

Key Concepts

• Good Sell Outcome (GSO): A measure of sales call effectiveness, defined as achieving a commitment to behavioral change from the customer during the interaction.
• Behavioral Planning: A strategic approach to marketing and sales that focuses on defining the specific, measurable behavioral changes required from the customer to unlock sales, rather than focusing solely on message delivery.
• System One vs. System Two Thinking: Based on Daniel Kahneman's work, System One is the fast, instinctive, and emotional decision-making process (autopilot), while System Two is the slower, rational, and effortful process. Content should appeal primarily to System One.
• Functional Content: Sales materials designed specifically to align with the sales process (assess, align, close) and enable the rep to achieve a GSO, rather than simply presenting campaign information.
• Rep Triggered Emails (RTMs): Personalized emails sent by the sales representative through the CRM system, used for orchestration (invites, follow-ups) and sharing specific content.

Examples/Case Studies

• Negative Marketing Example (Posters): Posters in doctor's surgeries stating "X number of people miss their appointment" inadvertently advertise non-compliance to compliant patients, potentially increasing missed appointments (a negative behavioral outcome).
• Memory Encoding: The example of KitKat's "Have a break" slogan demonstrates embedding a trigger that links a physical behavior to a product, making the product instantly recalled at the right moment.
• Sales Aid Navigation (Blades): An example of a highly interactive sales aid feature called "blades" (pop-up, infinite canvas) allows reps to handle objections (e.g., inclusion criteria questions) instantly without leaving the main slide, maintaining the flow of the core sales thread.
• Webinar Follow-up Orchestration: A framework for using RTMs to maximize webinar ROI by sending immediate follow-up emails (next-day email) to attendees and non-attendees, focusing on securing one-to-one follow-up conversations with the rep.