How Guy ReINSPIRED his Sales Team During the Pandemic

In Belgium, Guy Verbeken is District Manager for pharmaceutical sales to hospitals operating in northern Belgium. Guy's parent company, Norgine, sells a large number of cancer screenings and colonoscopy pharmaceuticals. But, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything ground to a stop. Guy's team relied on their ability to sell healthcare professionals in person, but everything was suspended.

At the low-point of the pandemic, rather than give up, Guy chose to scale up. He, and Norgine, decided to accelerate their digital transformation. They invested in new digital tools and systems. They also invested in their people. They were aware that their sales staff needed training. Not just in adapting to the new technology, but with the nuanced differences of engaging remotely with healthcare professionals.

Enter Cheemia ReSET. Cheemia ReSET is a Remote Sales Engagement Training platform designed to help sales teams like Guy's cope with a rapidly changing digital marketplace. Cheemia ReSET empowers pharma representatives to make the transition from face-to-face sales to selling remotely.

Cheemia ReSET comes with a unique management tool - Cheemia ReINSPIRE – that equips sales directors, managers and all those responsible for training pharmaceutical reps with the tools to better mentor, evaluate and coach the progress of their staff during the digital transformation.

Here is Guy’s story of how he managed to re-energise and inspire his entire sales team, despite desperate times.

 

CHALLENGE: COVID-19’s impact on pharmaceutical sales

During the spring of 2020, the entire world braced itself for catastrophic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic - loss of life and loss of jobs. As Guy remembers it, "Hospitals were closing doors, for us and for patients. At Belgium hospitals, regular cancer and colonoscopy screenings were suspended to make way for patients with life-threatening ailments.” As District Manager for Norgine, this meant that their major brands were no longer required. His district sales team was facing impossible hurdles. "We saw a huge, decreasing impact on our sales," recalls Guy.

For his sales team, lockdown and furlough created a lot of uncertainty. “Our sales reps were on furlough for 15 weeks. The team felt a lot of confusion, a lot of doubt and uncertainty. It was a very difficult time," he recalls, "but I still felt responsible for my team."

One of the biggest challenges for Guy was not knowing what was going to happen. "How will we be able to pick up the work again? Will we be able to contact our customers, our doctors? What will happen in the hospitals? What will happen with our sales? So, it was all really uncertain," he says. "It was all new."

As the world was adapting to this new normal, pharmaceutical companies had to quickly restructure their entire sales approach. "We could restart at the beginning of summer, and we had to restart with remote selling, which was really unknown for us," Guy recalls. "In Belgium, we'd only had face-to-face contact before. So, no remote contacts, no remote selling.”

Digital transformation brought with it a different way of engaging with customers. "So, we had to discover and develop, for us, a new way of working, a new way of selling... it had a huge impact on us, in developing a new kind of world."

 

SOLUTION:  Cheemia ReSET & Cheemia ReINSPIRE

Norgine had already successfully trialled Cheemia ReSET and were now rolling it out across their global network.

"At the beginning, there were a lot of questions because they were thinking, 'Okay, it's another program, another course to follow.'" says Guy of his team. "We'd also had experiences that were quite negative, which meant technical problems."

But soon after implementing Cheemia ReSET, Guy says he began noticing a difference. "After the introduction, and the first training module there was a lot more confidence," he notes. "We saw a progressing level of knowledge with our sales reps."

One of the things that most impressed Guy and his sales team was the way in which Cheemia ReSET’s training modules are structured. "I think it’s a very natural way of training. It's very practical, not too much theory." In particular, Guy appreciated the delivery of the modules. "The trainers are talking to me, so I feel a personal contact with them," Guy says.

Among the tools that Guy personally found most useful was the management suite - Cheemia ReINSPIRE. "Training sales reps is one thing, but also motivating them, coaching them in the platform, is also very important," says Guy. "So, the tools we have in the management suite are really necessary."

Of the different tools available within Cheemia ReINSPIRE, Guy felt that the assessment tool was key to helping him be able to coach his team effectively, and remotely. The assessment tool, Guy states, not only gives management hard data on the digital skillsets of staff, but also "allows sales reps to measure themselves... What kinds of skills are they strong in, or not strong in."

 

OUTCOME:  Impact on remote engagement

As the Cheemia ReSET training progressed, Guy says he felt a direct and evident impact - on himself as well as his team. As Guy tells it: "I started noticing an impact during our own remote sessions, finding it easier to set up and use the camera and digital tools professionally for virtual meetings. But I also saw an increase in the number of remote calls we were making with our customers."

Throughout the training, Guy also solicited feedback from the sales reps themselves, taking note of the platform's positive impact. "One of biggest benefits was in the confidence in remote selling. The program really helped us in setting up our house, motivating ourselves, and also motivating our doctors to participate in remote selling, because for them it was also completely new."

 

KEY:  Continual improvement

What were Guy's key takeaways after using the Cheemia ReSET?

"The platform is focused on remote selling. But what I see, and feel also, is that our face-to-face contact is much better."

Cheemia's hands-on approach also means that Guy and his team remain supported by knowledgeable professionals. Cheemia ReSET is supplemented by monthly Cheemia ReCHARGE Boost Sessions, where industry experts and communication specialists impart their knowledge and where Cheemia ReSET members can ask questions. "It's not only having a program where after it's finished, it closes; but having a way to also follow-up, so we can continue improving our skills," says Guy. What a difference that makes.

We designed Cheemia ReSET, Cheemia ReINSPIRE and Cheemia ReCHARGE to help teams like Guy's thrive in during the transformation to digital engagement. Cheemia ReSET helps train your brand's representatives to make the full transition, from face-to-face sales to remote sales.

We asked Guy what advice he would give to any other pharmaceutical companies looking to train up their sales reps in remote sales engagement. "My advice would be to use the Cheemia ReSET platform, the sooner the better," Guy says, but with one caveat: "I truly hope our competitors will not use it because they will improve also, and that will mean competition for me."

If you would like more information about Cheemia ReSET and Cheemia ReINSPIRE, book a free consultation.