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.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colby_Wright

Remote conferencing is a great new way to contact people in your life. This includes teleconferencing, video conferencing and web conferencing. A great reason why this is growing so fast is because people are becoming aware of how much cheaper it is to communicate using these means. This communication advancement bloomed in 2005, when it became a 5 billion a year industry.

Let us take a quick look at it and see what it has to offer us. We will start with teleconferencing. Teleconferencing is probably the most popular since it is the most inexpensive and easiest to use. Since it deals with the regular telephone, a communication device that we are all used to, the need to learn about a new gadget is not really important. Most telephone companies now have the conferencing option available for its subscribers.

One great thing about teleconferencing is its accessibility. The person you are talking to can just be on another phone or even a cellular phone and still be able to join in. However, a technical requirement should be observed. Teleconferencing software and hardware should follow the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) standard H.32 for transmission (audio) over voice-grade ITU H.320 for ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).

Next is video conferencing. This allows people to see and hear each other while they talk, for as long as all parties involved has video conferencing equipment like ISDN,DSL or DS3 (Digital Signal 3) connection of up to 45 MBps (megabytes per second) circuit. Most video conferencing is done via internet since the costs are relatively low. Video conferencing via the internet is made so easy that anyone wanting to try it out simply gets hooked on it.

There are 3 major types of video conferencing - the desktop, room and enterprise. Desktop video conferencing consists of a speedy internet connection, a web cam, a micro phone and software. For room video conferencing, a video camera is needed to capture the whole room and several micro phones are needed. Its software and equipment should follow the ITU H.320 video compression for communication over ISDN circuits.

Web conferencing is a growing trend and has the attention of many internet savvy individual. It is very simple to use and set up is not that complicated. What you will need is a fast internet connection, your computer, a web cam and a microphone. Now download the software from the internet (some are free just like Yahoo messenger and Skype). Create an account and add make you contact lists and then you can start your conference.

The newest would be the web conferencing. Participants not only see and hear each other they can transfer data, pictures, music and even present a PowerPoint presentation for all participants to see. A blank board is also available for added comments that would rather be typed in. All you will need is a speedy internet connection, a computer with a web cam and micro phone and the software, such as Skype or Yahoo messenger.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amer_Judes