The next obvious step is to have a loyalty programme as a frequency marketing initiative. An ideal loyalty programme would be able to identify its key accounts, reward them for their custom and encourage them to increase their spend.
This concept in case of the pharmaceutical industry has a twist since the customer (the doctor) is not the actual consumer (the patient) of the product. Thus there are ethical issues involved in rewarding points in return for prescriptions. One cannot have a reward programme based on the redemption of these points.One approach would be to set the whole programme based on the classification into which the doctor falls.
Thus the lowest rung would be restricted to the basic of activities. The number and the level of activities would increase as the important of the doctor grows. A branded programme can be started for the most important doctors. It is important that it is clearly defined at the onset what will be the objective of the programme and more importantly convey the exclusivity of the programme. The doctor has to be made to realise that he is the ‘chosen one’. All activities and inputs should only reinforce this communication.
The success of such a programme hinges on making the doctor covet the membership to the programme. Thus a continuous monitoring is required of the returns generated from the doctor. If they fall below a predefined limit then the doctor can be downgraded and his privileges reduces
This concept in case of the pharmaceutical industry has a twist since the customer (the doctor) is not the actual consumer (the patient) of the product. Thus there are ethical issues involved in rewarding points in return for prescriptions. One cannot have a reward programme based on the redemption of these points.One approach would be to set the whole programme based on the classification into which the doctor falls.
Thus the lowest rung would be restricted to the basic of activities. The number and the level of activities would increase as the important of the doctor grows. A branded programme can be started for the most important doctors. It is important that it is clearly defined at the onset what will be the objective of the programme and more importantly convey the exclusivity of the programme. The doctor has to be made to realise that he is the ‘chosen one’. All activities and inputs should only reinforce this communication.
The success of such a programme hinges on making the doctor covet the membership to the programme. Thus a continuous monitoring is required of the returns generated from the doctor. If they fall below a predefined limit then the doctor can be downgraded and his privileges reduces