With restricted face-to-face interactions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, digital transformation initiatives within the Life Sciences industry had to take a frontseat in 2020. Kimberly Brue, Vice President of Commercial Excellence at P360 joined us in this chat to dive deeper into this year’s trends while highlighting some of the most innovative steps taken by P360.
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Hi Kimberly, welcome to SalesTechStar! We’d love to hear about your journey in tech and your biggest learnings and takeaways!
Well, my path has taken me from science to biotech and pharma, and now to a great company that provides technology-based solutions to the life sciences industry. Marketing in the life sciences industry is pretty varied, because the audiences are rather diversified…from physicians to drug manufacturers, suppliers and vendors; the marketing ecosystem within life sciences is wide-reaching.
Each audience has specialized needs, and preferred modes of engagement. For us marketers, this means we are always learning and innovating, because there are no “one size fits all” strategies and tactics within the industry.
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We’d love to hear a little about P360’s latest innovations in their sales platform, what are some of the upcoming features users can look forward to?
P360 fits within a niche client zone where we are both advisors and developers for specific client needs, bringing revolutionary solutions to clients and to the industry. We are constantly scanning trends to anticipate the needs of the market. Most recently, we released the BirdzAI ZING Communication Module.
ZING lets life sciences sales teams send custom branded, templated text messages and other digital assets (via already established text channels) to physician customers that are both personalized and compliant. ZING is a stand-alone product that helps reduce mass marketing inundation, and it integrates seamlessly with P360’s BirdzAI sales enablement platform to enable real-time decision-making that is powered by advanced AI capabilities.
Earlier this year released Swittons, Internet of Things (IoT) powered smart devices that now feature expanded enterprise-level capabilities for life sciences companies. The Swittons platform can be utilized across several functions within the same organization, with workstream-specific customizations for each functional vertical. Of the many use cases; for example, Swittons can now be used to automate processes between pharmaceutical labs, supply chains and sales teams at the click of a button.
How have you seen the last few months amid the pandemic impact sales and marketing in Life Sciences?
There was a significant impact to life sciences, but our experience has been a little outside of the norm. We saw an increase in sales during this time due to our Swittons IoT-powered solution, which enabled remote communication. Swittons was something that was definitely needed to fill the gap during COVID restrictions, which limit face-to-face interactions.
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In general, digital transformation strategies within life sciences have seen tremendous growth. COVID only expanded this trend and we were fortunate to have been in the right place, offering the right solutions during COVID.
Can you take us through P360’s experience during this time, how did your sales and marketing team have to realign to cope with the new normal and the current industry challenges, can you also talk about some of the top challenges you noticed sales teams in this segment face?
We are fortunate to have an agile organization, which is designed to be able to react quickly to changes in the market. Our sales and marketing is also done primarily via digital channels. However, we did have to scale back on some traditional tactics like in-person meetings and trade shows. But this didn’t negatively impact things, because the industry in general was on the same page. We were as positioned as well as possible for the disruptions that COVID created.
Some of the top challenges our clients faced were restricted pharma reps to physician visits. During the pandemic, they have had a great need to adapt to remote communication as their primary mode of engagement. This is tricky, especially for pharmaceutical companies, because of all the regulations that need to be kept in mind when reps communicate with physician customers.
For Field sales professionals who are now forced to transition to a more inbound role because of the pandemic, what are the top thoughts you’d share with them?
I’d say, be open to new technologies, this is a perfect time to innovate and make changes. Be comfortable with the new post-COVID work style (suits not required!). The industry might go back to some of the old ways, but many of the changes COVID influenced are here to stay.
What are some of the top innovations in sales tech that you feel Life Sciences sales-marketing teams should always consider adopting as part of their tech stack?
Remote communication devices are the new frontier for customer engagement. In addition, AI is helping sales reps make better decisions by making more out of enterprise data. A good CRM, AI-powered sales enablement tools and remote communication solutions are the foundational elements of a good tech stack.
Over the years, what are some of the top sales technologies you’ve commonly used to drive outcomes?
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- Powerful e-solutions (such as BirdzAI)
- Advanced marketing platforms (e.g. HubSpot)
- Advanced marketing research tools (e.g. ZoomInfo)
- Advanced AI Analytics and Reporting (such as Data360)
Can you talk about some innovative ways in which tech sales and marketing teams in B2B / Life Sciences have gone against the tide during this downtime, to build brand presence and growth?
A lot of organizations are doing a good job of utilizing branding within new, electronic communication channels (e.g. Swittons). And they are using tools such as the BirdzAI sales enablement platform to make better decisions about who to market to. This reduces mass marketing inundation, positioning companies as resources rather than nuisances.
A few top tips you’d share with new sales reps and sales executives moving up the ladder?
Set a good example, be a servant leader – be open to learning and collaborating, as well as teaching. Make the most of the resources available to you. Bring solutions to upper management, don’t be afraid to share ideas. And embrace change!
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Kimberly Brue is the Vice President of Commercial Excellence at P360