Doctor Calls Are Broken: How Indian Pharma Can Win Back Attention with Precision and Presence

Doctor Calls Are Broken – How Indian Pharma Can Win Back Attention with Precision and Presence

A couple of days back I posted a quote from David Ogilvy. “Never mistake quantity of calls for quality of salesmanship”.

It evoked a great deal of intellectual responses not only from LinkedIn but also from other social media where I posted it. One of them was from the industry thought-leader, Sankar Das. His exchange of thoughts is the inspiration for this essay.

Is David Ogilvy’s saying relevant for our business today? In many pharma companies during sales review meetings, they talk about how many doctor visits happened (quantity), not how good those visits were (quality).

It is essential for brand managers and senior sales leaders to engage directly with the field by observing medical representatives and front-line sales managers in action. This firsthand exposure provides valuable insights into day-to-day operations and customer interactions. Equally important is fostering thoughtful dialogue around strategy and execution—understanding how plans are being implemented, identifying areas for improvement, and exploring ways to elevate performance.

Of course, you can’t ignore when someone is under-performing or the expected number of visits, especially to important doctors, the influencers, the KOLs and the KBLs. But the question is: how do you communicate? Is there empathy? How is the tone of your voice? How is your body language, your eye-contact and your facial expressions?

How much time do you spend on what happened before and giving feedback? And on feedforward? This means how much time do you spend on looking ahead and discussing your action plan for the future? Are you empowering your medical representatives and the front-line sales managers?

That’s the key point.

THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF PROF. CHITTA MITRA

Please let me share the principles of my Guru, Prof. Chitta Mitra, who always said that the health of a brand is directly proportional to the quantum of prescriptions generated for the brand.

1. Physical Response.
2. Perceptual Response
3. Character of Response.

That’s what matters the most in figuring out excellence.

Let me elaborate on all three and how it can improve the quality of a call on doctors who matter – like KOLs and KBLs.

Physical Response

Physical response has no bearings on the value sales for a brand. It is an outcome of the quantum of prescriptions – the actual number of prescriptions generated for the brand.

Just seeing a doctor, a multiple times (repeat visits without adding value to the earlier call on the doctor during a campaign) may not result into more prescriptions for your brand.

Instead, the real value of a brand can come from the following.

1. Evidence-based marketing: The pharma company can generate HEOR outcomes to communicate the benefits of the brand. How well is this evidence-based promotion communicated?
   
   
2. Authentic CRM: For many chronic or semi-chronic brands, patient-centered approach (an off-shoot of H2H marketing principles) in your brand strategy can help you truly develop relations with doctors.

• Story-telling techniques: Science based stories blended with emotions is powerful brand communication. One caution – start with emotions and then move to science or evidence-based promotion. This will truly guide your brand to the first step of physical response.

• Simplicity: Equally important is the simplicity of the language for an increased physical response. Even if it’s for a high-tech product for the super-specialist doctors, the communication has to simple and jargon-free.

Perceptual Response

It’s the response from a doctor to the medico-marketing communication for your brand.

Bhavesh Jani, the brand manager at Proxima Pharmaceuticals was given charge to manage the new brand of the PPI esomeprazole. Bhavesh did a prescription analysis and found that the category was skewed towards GERD and acid-peptic disorders. Bhavesh also noticed that a sizeable number of prescriptions for the PPI category also came from orthopedic surgeons as a co-prescription with NSAIDs like aceclofenac, and etoricoxib and more (fictitious names).

So, to differentiate, Bhavesh decided to STP the brand in gastritis caused by NSAIDs. Bhavesh sacrificed gastroenterologists and CPs with gastro practice. Even the brand name was suggestive of a brand for orthopedic surgeons – Zorthozo.

Four months later when the prescriptions audit firm presented its 4-monthly report, Bhavesh was surprised to find that a vast majority of prescriptions were for acid-peptic disorders and GERD and not for NSAID-induced gastritis.

The perceptual response to Zorthozo was not healthy. While the STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) and medico-marketing promotion positioned it as a co-prescription with NSAIDs, Brand Zorthozo was perceived as a brand for acid-peptic disorders and GERD.

The reasons for the poor perceptual can be discussed in another essay.

Character of Response

You’re very welcome! Here’s how your revised sentence could be expanded into a full paragraph for a professional essay:

The character of response refers to the profile of doctors who are prescribing your brand.

Are the right doctors prescribing your brand?

Understanding this aspect is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of marketing strategies and identifying whether the brand is resonating with the intended target audience.

By analyzing prescribing patterns, you can determine if your efforts are reaching high-potential segments or if adjustments are needed to better align with strategic goals.

This insight not only informs future promotional activities but also supports more precise segmentation and targeting.

Let us take the case of Zorthozo forward. Bhavesh sacrificed gastroenterologists, CPs with gastro practice and focussed on doctors who prescribe NSAIDs for extended periods. These doctors included general surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists.

So, it is expected that the vast majority of prescriptions for Zorthozo should be coming from general surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists. If this happens, the character of Zorthozo is robust.

Zorthozo was again getting more prescriptions from gastroenterologists, CPs with gastro practice, and even a few from GPs – in acid-peptic disorders and GERD but hardly any from general surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists.

In this story, not hust the perceptual response also the character of response was extremely poor.

Why this is happening can be discussed in another essay, however, back to the main topic – the definition of the quality of a call and in-clinic performance.

The quality of a call can be considered excellent when the Medical Representative at Proxima Pharmaceuticals gets get substantial ‘physical response’ a high level of ‘perceptual response’ and a top-class ‘character of response’.

Responsibility for the quality of a call and in-clinic performance is shared among field managers, brand managers, sales training managers, and the head of marketing and sales. However, the first-line sales manager is ultimately accountable.

Nevertheless, the head of marketing and sales should use executive presence, communication acumen (verbal and non-verbal) and leadership skills to ensure this quality and performance are achieved.

Phygital Intervention

While it’s tempting to believe that strong detailing and excellent communication are enough to capture a doctor’s attention, the reality is far more complex.

The reason is fairly straightforward. The number of pharmaceutical companies has been growing rapidly, and as a result, doctors are becoming increasingly selective about meeting medical representatives. A recent study (November 2023 to January 2024) by B – Black Belt Brand Builders (formerly known as The Enablers) found that, on average, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and Key Business Leaders (KBLs) give medical representatives just about 15 seconds to make their case. And in those 15 seconds, what can a poor medical representative realistically communicate?

Secondly, the pharmaceutical industry is struggling to attract high-quality talent. Even top-tier companies offering competitive salaries are facing a talent shortage. In this environment, attrition rates are high, and the quality of interactions with doctors often suffers. As a result, leaders are often forced to step in and operate one or even two levels below their actual roles, making it difficult for them to focus on the responsibilities of true leadership.

One promising way to address this challenge is through phygital marketing strategies.

Phygital Marketing 

Phygital marketing is a blend of physical and digital experiences designed to create seamless, engaging interactions with customers.

In the pharma context, this means combining traditional in-person visits with digital tools such as brand microsites, doctor-specific social media, webinars, e-detailing platforms, AI-driven content personalization, and mobile engagement apps. The goal is to support consistent, high-quality communication with healthcare professionals—even when face-to-face time is limited.

For example, through the information I received from my industry colleagues, Indian pharma companies like Lupin, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and a few more have adopted phygital approaches by integrating CRM systems with digital content delivery platforms. These tools allow medical representatives to follow up with doctors via email, WhatsApp, or app-based portals after a brief in-person interaction.

By leveraging phygital strategies, companies can reduce the burden on field teams, improve the quality of doctor engagement, and ensure that brand messaging stays consistent and impactful – even in a talent-constrained environment.

That’s the “Modern Quality of Call” for you.