In the midst of a global pandemic, shelter in place, lockdown, and imposed public health measures drastically impacted how field representatives could interact with their physician customers. This blog series will explore the road back, through the eyes of our forces on the ground, providing observations and lessons learned while attempting to answer the question: How will the experience of this pandemic inform - and if at all, change - the way we conduct business now and in the future?
What Every Field Force Should Know About Dorsal Fins
July 30, 2020
Working in healthcare, most of us have some idea about the major muscle groups. Biceps and triceps. Abs, quads, and hamstrings. Thanks to COVID-19, you may even have signed up for a virtual workout to train these very muscles.
What you don’t see online is any video explaining how to train your dorsal fin. And that brings me to the subject of this column: the field force of tomorrow. (Hey, it’s the middle of July and we’re in a heat wave. Let’s go with it.)
Zoom and Webex Offer a Preview of Our Tech Enabled Future
July 6, 2020
In conversations with our field teams in recent weeks, I’ve heard how the pandemic created unusual stress and uncertainty. There was so much we couldn’t anticipate about risks of exposure to the virus, hurdles in technology adoption, the threat to business continuity, work/life balance, and other unknowns.
Every rep has a story about risks, persistence, and ultimately, about courage. The stories fill me with empathy and admiration. And I’ve come to understand our business in a new way. COVID-19 was unique, but Acts of Nature and tests to business continuity are inescapable.
What we understand today—something merely theoretical back in February—is that extreme events cannot be allowed to interrupt the delivery of accurate information, which enables medical teams to save patients’ lives. We play a crucial role in this process and technology is our ally. Perhaps most important, technology is not standing still...
Virtual or Face to Face, Field Engagement Is Still About Relationships
June 16, 2020
If anyone had doubts about the power of virtual engagement, telemedicine and digital health, COVID-19 has laid them to rest. Throughout the pandemic, technology has kept hundreds of thousands of patients, HCPs and field teams connected, engaged and productive.
Case in point: In a five-day period in March, our Syneos Health Deployment Solutions teams essentially flipped a switch and moved sales reps from 99% face-to-face interactions to more than 90% virtual. Without tools like Veeva Engage, Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams, our work would have ground to a halt.
But even more important are the relationships our sales force has cultivated with providers and hospital staff...
