Shailendra Tripathi, a Pharmaceutical professional reveals CRM practices and talks about sustainable business growth.

Q 1 -How have your personal and professional journeys been so far?

Ans – I have been an average student with a common dream like any other students of my time to have a degree that will help get a decent job. I attempted but could neither crack IIT entrance nor UPSC. With a baggage of failure, I went to become Medical Representative not knowing anything about the job. I was very lucky to have great mentors and excellent team members who helped me not only sustain but also to contribute to work place. Today I am a humbled pharmaceutical Sales and marketing professional who has been coaching people and building capacity to deliver superior business results and thus transforming people and business both over 20 years now.  Additionally, I have authored book “CRM in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing”  and have been contributing to academia as a visiting faculty for Customer Relationship Management. Besides, I am a Certified Transformation Coach. Thus past two decades have enriched me with experience in building customer relationships, business management, creating & re shaping markets, building differentiated products, driving belief shifts through disruptive strategies to dislodge the dominant belief and thus influencing the customer buying behaviours, acquiring and retaining them. Coaching & People Development with proven track record in cross geographies, cross functions, cross therapies of global patented & local brands, cross Global and Indian MNC organizations.

Q 2 - What inspired you to write book?

Ans – I wanted to give back to Industry that has given me so much. I realized that the word CRM has gained a different connotation in the industry. So there is a need to help people understand the real meaning of CRM in pharmaceutical and healthcare business driving the importance of customer centricity over product centricity and thereby creating a long term partnership over transactional relationship. Other realisation was that there is very low awareness among people about pharmaceuticals and healthcare, despite very high contribution of the industry to the lives of people.

Belongingness and relationship for humans have been core needs since inception and thus customer centricity has been guiding principal for businesses. However corporates focus has shifted to product centricity in order sell what is produced and is available rather than what is needed and required. This has led to inside out approach over outside in. Keeping products at the centre of marketing, corporates have talked more on the products creating a transactional relationship and thus giving a different and negative meaning to CRM. I believe there is need to set the perspective right.

Q 4 – How can CRM help with sustainable business growth ?

The marketing approach of pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors has been traditional that is undergoing a transformation due to changing business environment. Doing business is important but how you do your business is equally important.

Cost of acquiring a new customer and getting profitable business from them is always higher than the cost of maintaining existing relationship and enhancing profitable business from it. In pharmaceutical industry the drug discovery cost, marketing cost and customer acquisition cost are very high. On the other hand competitors gain prescribers on their products reducing your prescribers’ base. Thus the challenges are

• High cost of drug development
• High marketing cost
• Poor product differentiation
• High cost of customer acquisition
• Challenging customer retention

 This is why customer relationship marketing is important in pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to practice as a growth strategy to

• Create long term partnerships over transactional relationships
• Understand where is the sweet spot in prescribers’ loyalty mix?
• Importance of customer acquisition Vs long term retention
• Understand economics of relationship, zero customer defections, customer life time value
• Have appropriate sales automation and marketing automation tools to enhance marketing effectiveness

Q 5 – Given the opportunity, what would you like to do next?

Ans – I believe, every individual has potential to do better and achieve the fulfilment in the life. Being a marketing professional I would like to contribute at two levels a) Business transformation through hacking business growth b) People transformation- helping young professionals become better marketer and aspiring students become industry ready provided they are coachable and are willing to transform themselves.

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