FROM “WILD CARD“
TO “MASTER OF THE MESSAGE“

From “Wild Card“ to
“Master of the Message“

To improve performance and reduce risk, biopharmaceutical companies need to transform their field reps from “Wild Cards” to “Masters of the Message.”

But, what is a “Master of the Message”?

A “Master of the Message” in pharma sales is someone who is competent and confident in their knowledge of the most recent product, disease state, clinical evidence, market access, competition, and new indication information.

“Masters of the Message” are current and comfortable with the information HCPs need and want to make prescribing decisions. They are effective in their delivery of the information because they listen to the HCP’s questions and they know the answers. Because of their deep understanding of everything the HCP might want to discuss, “Masters of the Message” can be efficient and concise in conversation, which demonstrates respect for the HCPs’ busy schedule and limited time.

With each interaction, “Masters of the Message” deliver value to the HCP, establishing them as a trusted advisor. This powerful blend of competence, confidence, credibility, and trust results in high-quality HCP relationships that can impact brand performance by converting interest into intent.

What do HCP’s want from reps?

The industry has long surveyed HCPs to understand what they want from biopharma companies, and the results are clear and consistent: HCPs want to engage with “Masters of the Message.”
In a survey conducted in 2023¹, over 2000 HCPs in the US, EU5, and APAC were asked to indicate what drives an optimal customer experience with biopharma. In a long list of options, the top three drivers, in priority rank order, were:

Knowledgeable staff
Easy to contact/engage with
Respects my time

40% of MDs would like to receive more medical and scientific information from biopharma companies.²

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All three of these top drivers are related to rep interactions. Reps can delight HCPs in all three areas if they are “Masters of the Message.”

The importance of rep relationships and the value they deliver in HCP interactions is also reflected in the following quotes from members of Veeva’s HCP Advisory Board in a recent report: ³

“When reps come to the office, if there is time, I’ll go up front and talk to them for 30 seconds. The reps you have a relationship with, you give an extra 30 seconds. The reps you don’t, it becomes more like 20 seconds.”

- Dr. Ashish Verma
Internal Medicine and Sleep Medicine

“Reps who come in and just want to regurgitate a glossy are not really helpful to me.”

- Dr. John Panozzo
Family Medicine

So, how do you transform your pharma reps from “Wild Cards” to “Masters of the Message”?

Message mastery comes from understanding information, refreshing on it to stay sharp, practicing via verbalization, and getting feedback to continuously improve delivery. With this comes competence and confidence.

You don’t want to interfere with productivity by pulling reps out of the field, so you need to provide them with the tools and resources they need to make this transformation “on the job.”

Three Ways to Turn “Wild Cards” into “Masters of the Message”

Make sure learning doesn’t end with training

Make it easy for reps to refer back to training resources
Provide them with concise micro-resources tagged by product, disease state, or therapeutic area so they can refresh their knowledge in a matter of minutes

Help reps identify and address knowledge gaps
Provide them with a way to quickly assess their knowledge, followed by intelligent, personalized learning paths that will strengthen their expertise

Make sure reps are using
sales aids

Make sales aids easily accessible for reps
Allow them to find sales aids with smart voice-enabled search, so they have the material they need in a matter of seconds in their moment of need

Help reps understand the
sales aids
Provide them with quick, easy-to-digest “talk tracks” or context for each sales aid so they can speak to it with HCPs in an accurate and personalized manner

Make sure managers are coaching for impact versus compliance

Make sure coaching is not a check-the-box exercise
Ride-alongs are a great opportunity to observe “Wild Card” behavior and coach to create “Masters of the Message,” but Field
Coaching Reports (FCRs) must be treated as meaningful sales tools, not compliance requirements

Help reps by making
FCRs actionable
Provide links to personalized reinforcement training, and videos of “what good looks like,” get feedback, and
set goals to achieve
message mastery

Finally, pharma reps live in their cars and operate off of smartphones and tablets. They are always on the go. So the tools you provide to support their transformation must be frictionless and optimized for this environment.

From a usability standpoint, this means tools must be:

Mobile friendly
Voice-enabled

Intuitive
Smart (AI powered)

By supporting your field reps in a way that is easy and non-disruptive, you increase the likelihood of truly changing behavior. With newly minted “Masters of the Message” in the field, you will see a lift in HCP engagement that leads to brand performance.

Footnotes

1 Across Health: 2023 Global Trends Report
2 What HCPs Want: How Biopharmas can Deliver Better Support at the Moment-of-Need
3 Pharma Industry Changing Doctor Expectations