The U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends over $30 billion per annum on sales and marketing efforts. Nearly 80% of these expenditures are devoted to detailing physicians by over 90,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives. Due to the large number of sales representatives, the change in provider reimbursement models whereby physicians are paid for volume of services performed, and the mirror-imaging of sales forces whereby a physician, particularly in the Primary Care area, may have up to eight sales reps from one company calling upon them, sales reps are faced with decreasing access to physicians.

In the Primary Care area between 25% and 40% of all physicians either totally ban or severely limit sales representatives accessibility to them, particularly as such calls have traditionally been made by the representatives when the physicians are focused on seeing patients. This "intrusion" on the physician/patient time has led to deteriorating relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical companies. This is not only true in the area of Primary Care but is now being felt in the physician specialty areas. By way of example in the Primary Care area, of the physician's offices that are open to sales representatives, only 20% of the visits by representatives result in a sales representative speaking with a physician. Furthermore, of the visits that result in a meeting with the physician, 90% last only 2 minutes or less.

This means that the industry is probably wasting a significant portion of the $24 billion spent on selling. It used to be that many physicians "loved" to have visits from their local rep. They were friends. They went to the ball game together or played golf. They had mutual respect. This is not the reality of today. Many physicians state that they don't know their local reps. The reps are always changing. They say that the companies have too many reps: that is too many reps from the same company, and too many companies having too many reps calling on the same doctor. Companies have tried all sorts of means to woo physicians but the pharmaceutical companies seem to be fighting a loosing battle.

An alternative sales channel for regular monthly, face-to-face video detailing sessions with busy physicians is offered by a relatively new company, Clinical Information Network, Inc. Pharmaceutical companies joining the growing network of busy physicians, get the opportunity to receive regular monthly calls "from" their targeted physicians. This is because when physicians sign-up for the Network, they agree to initiate two calls a week to Clinical Information Network's pharmaceutical sponsors. And because the targeted physicians place those video calls at times of convenience to the physicians they are far more receptive to listening to and discussing a company's products. It is for this reason that video detailing has been clearly demonstrated to drive up prescriptions and produce attractive ROIs.

It is also worth reviewing the comparative metrics between the typical field-based/office visiting sales representative and a typical video sales representative who may be located in a company's Video Call Center or even working out of their home.


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