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Interview
We have successfully implemented webcam, webchat and whatsapp.
States Theo van der Loo. The executive started his career in 1980 in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1988, he started working at Schering do Brasil as a Marketing director. Throughout his career, he held other major positions at the company like Marketing District Director at Schering AG for Latin America and Canada, General Manager of the company in Brazil, General manager of Schering in Spain and General manager of Bayer HealthCare in Spain. At the moment he is the president of Bayer Group Brazil.
Check the main parts of the interview to Top Team:
How is Bayer Brazil structured in terms of size and focus towards the sales reps teams?
Bayer Brazil has currently around 47000 employees as 2000 of them are part of our Bayer HealthCare division, including the factories. Within Bayer HealthCare, we have nearly 1000 professionals dedicated to sales force.
What do you expect for sales in 2014?
Our main priority for HealthCare in 2014 is to be successful when launching new innovative products as well as implementing strategies, like the one we used for the consumer division, for instance. However, 2014 is a challenging year. Competition is everywhere. We must be innovative and count on a highly qualified, experienced and motivated team. We have promising short and mid-term goals worldwide, as we have ten new molecules under development.
When it comes to Brazil, is this expectancy more or less positive than in other countries?
If we take into account all the divisions, Brazil has steadily grown. In 2013, they overcame Japan and became the fourth in market share of Bayer Group worldwide. In 2014, we expect highly positive results, despite fierce competition. Besides, we still don’t know how economy will be like after the World Cup. Some sectors of the Brazilian industry have suffered drop in sales. Concerning Healthcare, the highest challenge relies on profitability, as most of our products pass through price control. Over the last years, the average increase in prices has been below inflation whereas the salary adjustments have been higher. We´ve lost in sales on more traditional brands so we have tried for growth on newest brands and launches.
The pharmaceutical industry has increasingly invested in medical detailing through channels other than face-to-face, like, for instance, the multichannel marketing. What has Bayer Brazil done concerning this and for how long?
Bayer Brazil is the pioneer in the Group, and one of the first in Brazil to implement a program called “Medical Expansion”, which works with the concept of “Virtual Sales Rep” to identify and support physicians in remote places throughout the country. We implemented this concept in 2009 and the current “Expansion” counts on seven staff members dedicated full time to e-medical detailing either via internet or telephone, including popular apps like whatsapp, according to the physician´s preference. In order to consolidate this relationship, we have successfully developed instruments like webcam and webchat, like the participation of virtual sales reps in medical congresses.
Do you consider such actions (multichannel marketing) just a rehearsal or is it already a consolidated platform? Have results been satisfactory?
It is totally consolidated at Bayer Brazil, but still with room for expansion due to good results obtained. According to a research carried out after implementing the “Medical Expansion”, 76% of the physicians are quite satisfied or entirely satisfied with the platform. The financial returns and the possibility to take our innovations to remote places keep us motivated to carry on investing in this channel. If we consider Brazil´s geographic extension and the growth of several regions all over the country, we believe that we must be constantly innovating. Our main goal is to make physicians get familiar with our innovative products and make patients benefit from our research, anywhere in Brazil.
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