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A Doctor’s Perspective on Detailing
By: Robert Cykiert, MD

As a doctor and a professor with over 20 years in practice, I see thousands of patients, give hundreds of lectures and I need to manage my time carefully. Besides patients and students, I’ve always struggled with my relationship to Detailers representing drug companies who keep trying to personally meet with me or phone me, especially when I am busy.

While Detailers provide a valuable service with drug information and samples, the time I need to devote to them can be overbearing at times, especially since I know there are better ways for drug companies to accomplish the same or better result. I know doctors are the most important customers for drug companies, and I do need the information and drug samples to treat my patients, but I wish drug companies would start taking advantage of new technology and new ways of thinking to deal with Detailing. I believe there is great potential to save my time and reduce costs for drug companies (ultimately health care costs).

Instead of meeting with me to give me samples and drug information, why not provide a service over the Web to accomplish the same thing. Saves on trips by Detailers, saves my time, and most important, I can deal with the Web when I have time, not when the Detailer walks in or calls while my reception room is full.

To get drug information, I don’t need fancy brochures and papers that I’ve asked my receptionist to discard anyway. I don’t have time to review these marketing materials and review ads in periodicals, and my office is filled with tons of paper work already that is of higher priority. I do need drug information, and I am not sure all those marketing materials have what I need, but I would prefer having a search engine on the drug company’s site so I can look up what I need to know, when I need to know it.

The Detailers serve another purpose. They ask questions and they try to better understand my needs—all noble gestures by drug companies who try to sell me on their brand. However, would it not be easier to send me surveys I can fill out when I have time? I can understand no one likes to fill out surveys, and I certainly don’t do it most times, however, I would not mind filling them out (especially if they offered to pay for my time) if they were more focused on my needs, especially if the results of the survey would be used to improve the Detailing services on-line and save me time. By filling out surveys, I would save on the time the Detailers need to spend with me, and Detailers can get more information faster and at lower cost than if they tried to see me personally.

One of the services Detailers offer is bringing samples of drugs. That is a worthwhile service, but it would save me time if my secretary could order them on-line. There is just no need for a representative to bring them to my office and disrupt my schedule. If I have questions about the drugs, I’d rather send email to my Detailer at my own leisure than have to meet or discuss the issue by phone, at least most times.

The biggest obstacle to my vision of how Detailers should deal with me is probably the drug companies’ belief that shaking hands, face-to-face meetings and socializations drive sales. There is no denying that face-to-face meetings and relationship building can influence sales, but the downside is the high cost for drug companies, and the high cost for my time leaves me little choice but to deal curtly with many of the Detailers. I deal curtly with them because even though I need them, I wish they would be more mindful of my time, especially if they upgraded their technology and mindset.

I spend an ever-increasing amount of time with email and the Web, yet I rarely get any email from Detailers. If I could, I’d make a deal with them to communicate with me over email rather than visit my office or call me. They would do better getting to me via email than by phone, since I personally read my email, while my phone is answered by my receptionist. I would also be more responsive with email because I process my emails at my leisure rather than when I am rushed dealing with patients.

The drug companies are slowly beginning to experiment with new technologies and new relationships, and it is not an easy thing to change paradigms after so many years of Detailing. However, change they must because my time is becoming more valuable to me daily, and cost pressure on drug companies is growing. Just as Amazon proved you don’t need a book store to sell books, and e-Bay proved virtual auctions can be much larger than real ones, so will the drug companies eventually discover that virtual Detailing (also called e-Detailing) can be more powerful than Detailing, not just for the drug companies, but also for their best customers.

I don’t anticipate seeing these changes over night. Drug companies, like giant ships, can’t turn on a dime. However, the new experiments I am observing drug companies starting to invest in with email and the Web make me hopeful that in the near future I can spend more time with patients (and my family), less on paper marketing materials, and more on getting the information I need rather than the information the drug companies think I want.

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