DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SERIES - Don’t be afraid of being human

For the next interview in our DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SERIES, our founder Mehrnaz Campbell enjoyed an entertaining chat with Paul Simms, Chief Executive of Impatient Health.

Paul is a self-professed noisy introvert, and disruptive thinker, so you can tell this was going to be a little controversial.

They discussed how looking at what other industries are doing is something the pharmaceutical industry could learn from, doing things differently, and not being afraid to be human.

Pharma is about finding innovative ways to help people. If we align agendas we can build much healthier relationships. This is why I’m interviewing inspiring leaders in the pharma industry.

Paul Simms is the Chief Executive at Impatient Health; he is a regular speaker, host, author and commentator. He is really passionate about patients and created the Aurora project, a non-profit designed to make patient-centricity more commonplace in the pharma industry. He is also a Trustee at Fibro Flutters.

We’ve met several times but it was great to sit and pick his brain for a full 45 minutes. We share many common interests and look at the world in a similar way.

You worked for eyeforpharma for 17 years, what inspired you to found Impatient Health and what is your mission in this company?

So, I ran large events and they became influential which was wonderful but I felt I'd become a talker and I wanted to be a doer. I wanted to work on projects with people who were really moving the needle, like Cheemia. That's what gives me the satisfaction of working in this industry - we're a young industry. When you think about the potential to help the patients but also from a business perspective, we are at 1% of our journey.

You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that the Pharma industry is science-centric. How can the Industry become more patient-centric?

Being science-centric is not a bad thing. The thing we need to recognise is that they can be two different things. The way I think of it as the science is so exciting, you hear about discoveries every single day. It's on a curve and it's growing and growing very steeply. And if you think about the science that reaches the patients, that's a different, gentler curve.

The problem is the gap between those two lines is what we could do and don't, the science that exists but doesn't reach the patients. And some of that is because of regulations and testing. But it also represents deaths, people we could have cured, but didn't. That's pretty motivating as you can imagine.

I think of us as being a science-centric industry and there's no problem with that but the patient-centric part is about closing that gap. It's not just access, it's enabling the patient to use the medicine. There is so much storytelling we can do when we talk about medicine.

You're outspoken on LinkedIn. You posted recently that Veeva is signalling the demise of the traditional sales representative. Can you elaborate on this?

There is no such thing as a new normal, it's new normals. People think we are going to find this place where we can all relax again, but I don't think that's the case. Veeva is a huge influence and they recently conducted a very exhaustive survey, I was very impressed by the number of people that were consulted in this investigation they did. And it was found that digital communications which may or not include the rep were on average 3x more effective in actually influencing the position. I think everybody knows that rep impact has reduced over the course of the pandemic as we've pivoted to digital means as we had to do.

What people don't realise yet is that the rep doesn't lose their job, they need to be repurposed. It's very hard to accept if you've been doing a job for a long time, but people should not be scared. They just need to be willing to adapt. I highlighted the Veeva Pulse report as here is this company that has traditionally been the champion of the rep and the same company is now signalling that the effectiveness of the rep is diminished unless things change. It's not just a matter of going online, it's about having the skills, organisational design, and the know-how to do it properly. Confidence is a massive part of this, confidence to use the digital tools. The demise of the sales rep has been broadcasted falsely in the past, they are not going to disappear overnight.

Our industry knows that things have to change. It doesn't mean the sales reps are going, it just means the way in which we do things are different.

We talk about trying to be more agile within our organisations. Agility is about responding to customer feedback and being able to adapt accordingly. And who better than the sales rep - to provide that visibility? If we want to succeed as companies, we need sales reps, there is no question about that. But whether they listen as well as sell or what type of selling they do is what we need to look at.

What would you say to people that are sticking their heads in the sand and waiting for HCP engagement to go back to pre-Covid ways?

Those who are dreaming of returning to normal, I’m so sorry but that dream will become a nightmare. The recent Veeva Pulse report shows that traditional methods are less effective. Of course, sticking in your comfort zone can be very useful, and it’s very hard to go out of your comfort zone, but you have to unlearn what you’ve done before. We are in the era of the non-expert right now. It’s not about being the best, it’s about exposing yourself to the market more and being able to adjust accordingly. It’s the same concept as agility. It’s exposing your idea to the market and letting them decide. Who are the people in the organisation that would rush towards a burning building? Those are the people that are willing to go against the grain.

What new skills do you think sales professionals need to adapt to survive? What do they need to unlearn?

There needs to be a basic level of curiosity and willingness to adapt to change. They need to climb down from that ivory tower - which is hard. There may have to be a period where you are doing less well and I wish that managers would give a little bit of leeway to enable that a bit more, it’s not about hitting all your targets at the moment. Our customers don’t know what they want either right now. So, be willing to go back a step and have that curiously. Then recognise that communication has changed, that our customer’s communication has changed. Sales reps need to know how to communicate in both a face-to-face environment and with digital channels. Continuous learning and exposing themselves to training are key.

How do you think leaders can help their sales team to evolve?

I advocate looking at how we measure sales. I recently read an interview with the CEO of Google the other day and I was very interested that he is trying to reorganise Google by measuring effort rather than outcomes. By rewarding effort, you enable experimentation to continue. It’s a really interesting situation, if we change the metric to a market-based learning metric, I think we will see positive change. That’s going to hurt as immediately you will worry about hitting the top line. It’s a little bit controversial but it’s necessary to create a learning organisation.

What is your one top tip for organisations when it comes to the human transformation of HCP engagement?

Stop leaving yourself at the door when you start your work. I find it strange how we grapple with concepts like trust and transparency. All of these things we know how to do if we have a family or a relationship. Trust involves not being perfect, you don’t turn up to a date with your CV. Drop the professionalism and remind ourselves of humanism.

How do you spend your time when you’re not working?

I am a workaholic, I love my work and it’s what I enjoy doing - but we all need rest. I’ve always been interested in architecture and interior design and I enjoy property development. I also try to immerse myself in other subjects to see what could be on the horizon.