Docs more receptive to reps at industry confabs

Here's a tip for sales reps barred from certain physicians' offices--catch them at a meeting instead. As the number of doctors who readily accept calls from pharma reps continues to shrink, sales folks are looking for work-arounds. And one that seems to work is chatting with docs at industry meetings, a new survey shows.

Even "no-see" docs would chat with reps at live events, a survey by educational-meeting provider Pri-Med reveals. Some 71 percent of them, in fact, actually have done so, the survey says. "It's about the right location and the right time," Sam Bishop, Pri-Med director of research, tells Medical Marketing & Media.

Now, Pri-Med has a vested interest in making educational meetings sound attractive; those meetings are its business. But the observations make sense--like many people, doctors are probably more receptive outside the office, where they aren't pressed by schedules and surrounded by staff. And they probably apply to other sorts of meetings besides the theater presentations and product forums that Pri-Med sponsors (and studied). So, maybe drugmakers should look at cutting their doc-office detailing budget and spending more on travel to physician meetings instead.

- check out the MM&M story

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