The Value of Humans in a Tech-Driven World

Sometimes the human element can make all the difference.

For instance, take the story of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who was piloting the U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in January 2009, when it hit a flock of geese, disabling both its engines.1

The flight’s systems suggested he should land at LaGuardia or divert to another nearby airport. But Sully’s years of experience and judgment told him those options were too risky. He made the split- second decision to land the plane in the Hudson River.

His calm and decisive action saved all 155 souls on board. In the analysis that followed, people realized it was exactly the right decision given the circumstances.

Despite advanced avionics and autopilot technology, that human element—intuition, expertise, quick thinking—proved crucial when technology alone wasn’t enough.

An Identity Crisis in Pharmaceutical Sales?
Today in pharma, people are asking a similar question: In an era of unprecedented technology, is there still value in the human sales rep?

With the focus on omnichannel engagement and the pandemic limiting access to customers, organizations are struggling with whether they can have “digital only” engagement and whether they really need humans. The short answer is: Yes. There is an irreplaceable value of a human in the sales interaction, centering around something technology can’t do—garner trust.

Right now, however, there is a lack of clarity regarding the value of the rep and where human reps bring the most value. We’ve seen this in recent ZS research, which points to what we’re calling an identity crisis in sales.2 For example, in the post-COVID world, rep access to healthcare professionals (HCPs) is at historic lows. But sales reps remain the No. 1 line item in pharma company budgets.

In oncology, the most restricted specialty in the U.S., companies are paying reps 50-75% over market rates.

With conflicting stats like these, it’s no wonder there’s an identity crisis in the sales force.

How the Best Pharma Sales Reps Set Themselves Apart
To better understand the true value of the sales rep in a technology-led world, ZS conducted 20 customer interviews across specialties, combining them with four days of office observations, insights from 11,000 sales rep interviews, and talent assessments conducted in the last decade.3 It turns out, the best sales reps do things that technology can’t do—just like Captain Sully did. Based on this analysis, there are five insights that get to the heart of what the value of a human sales rep really is.

    • The best reps focus on patients, not prescriptions. These reps are engaged in the community around their disease state, focused on the health and needs of patients over their product. They are focused on patient outcomes, not just patient onboarding. This means being honest and transparent. “I like the [reps] who know their product very well and they’re very honest. Something I like even more is they admit their product has some shortcomings. If they reveal that, it means they trust you,” one HCP commented.
    • The best reps are focused on the things they hear, not just the things they say. They understand the nuances of how each office operates. Most importantly, they’re empathetic. As a result, HCPs feel heard and validated. “[It’s good] when [the rep] has done some background work about what I like, what kind of research I’m running, what kind of patients I would be seeing, how their drug would be relevant to my practice,” an HCP told us. To this end, some organizations are experimenting with field feedback loops to understand what questions customers are asking and what barriers they’re facing. This context normally exists only in reps’ heads but is more helpful when it’s shared across an organization.
    • The best reps are focused on the questions they answer, not just the messages they share. They transcend scripted responses and can answer a question credibly and confidently. This confidence can be instilled through practice, education, and celebrating success.4 “Once you have an initial discussion with a rep, they can customize their responses to your needs. I can ask them a specific question about how I’m handling a side effect or how often it’s happening. That information would be hard to find elsewhere,” an HCP said.
    • The best reps help offices understand how to buy their product—not just why. In an environment of staff burnout and fatigue, the best sales reps aren’t insensitive to the realities of access or administrative challenges—even if they are not the one compliantly allowed to help. (This concept of the power of how to buy—not just why to buy—was inspired by Martyn R. Lewis’s book on outside-in revenue generation, “How Customers Buy…& Why They Don’t.”5 We heard in our research, “I want to work with reps and brands who make it easy to quickly and efficiently get patients on treatment. This can be things like reaching out to help with co-pay assistance, highlighting what keywords to use for prior authorizations, or sharing best practices to get a patient on treatment faster,” said one office manager.
    • The best reps focus on supporting the practice, not their product. Truly supporting the practice is a mindset and ethos for the best of reps. They build relationships with the office staff and work in tandem with them to resolve problems. “[The physician] considers their current team of resources to be ‘my reps, my nurses, and my staff.’ That’s how I get information to help patients,” one HCP said.

Breaking Through the Noise With Trust
Each of these five insights, when boiled down to its essence, is about low self-orientation, intimacy, credibility, reliability—which are the building blocks of how one builds trust. The best reps are building a deep sense of trust with customers—something technology just can’t do—which displays the unmistakable value of a human.

In a world where HCPs have many demands on their attention and are bombarded with information, trust is going to be paramount. One estimate said HCPs receive 1.4 touch points every working hour.6 In the past, reps have largely served as messengers—focused on making their case and proving it. But we don’t need reps to be messengers anymore. Our digital channels are far superior at making cases with evidence. We need reps to set the context for trust to earn the physician’s attention, to be believed, to be credible—so that brand messages can break through the noise. HCPs are unlikely to open blind emails, but they open their trusted rep’s emails much more regularly. HCPs are unlikely to click on banner ads, but you can believe they will click on an ad for the product “their trusted rep was telling them about.”

The best reps provide that context of trust. Instead of messengers, reps should be mainstays—the central pillars of support in an organization.7

Their true value is building trust, reliability, and support for the customer. This is how we solve the identity crisis.

“The best reps focus on patients, not prescriptions. These reps are engaged in the community around their disease state, focused on the health and needs of patients over their product. They are focused on patient outcomes, not just patient onboarding.”

From Messenger to Mainstay
A mainstay is something or someone that is the most important or central part of something, providing essential support and stability. In a broader sense, it can describe a person or element that others rely on because it consistently provides strength, reliability, and continuity.

For example, a key employee who is vital to a company’s operations could be considered a mainstay of the organization.

It’s true that companies still believe they need reps to deliver their messages. In fact, we observe many sales operations and effectiveness analyses that state the delivery of messages drives sales. But we believe the shift to thinking about reps as a mainstay will have a positive impact on the business. We know customers want to work with reps who demonstrate the behaviors above.

In fact, the best reps have already been demonstrating these behaviors for decades and consistently deliver 50-100% more sales. And if the reps set the context for trust, allowing an organization’s  messages and omnichannel to break through the noise, we see a further 2-3% lift in sales.

So, this shift isn’t in conflict with driving sales. It’s how you get your messages to break through to build trusted relationships. In an industry that has long overindexed on channels, this approach fosters relationships that drive context for trust building.

In previous articles, we’ve written about “unbundling the rep”: deploying reps in the most relevant contexts and letting other channels and roles do their parts.8 But today, we’ve finally shared how, and in what contexts, we should focus on the human element.

If we can empower our reps to foster the human connection and trust customers crave, and become the mainstays of our organizations and our customers, then we’ll be able to truly unbundle the rep. We will have solved this identity crisis and given them the gift of purpose back.

References
1. https://www.fieldmuseum.org/collections-canada-geese-andus-airways-flight-1549
2. ZS research, 2024.
3. Ibid.
4. https://www.zs.com/about/case-studies/enhancing-pharmasales-rep-training-with-ai
5. Lewis, Martyn R. How Customers Buy…& Why They Don’t.New York, NY: Radius Book Group, 2018.
6. https://www.zs.com/insights/biopharma-commercial-modeltomorrow-starts-today-personalization
7. https://www.zs.com/insights/value-of-human-in-ai-erapharma-sales
8. https://www.zs.com/insights/unbundling-pharma-sales-reppersonalization

 

  • Namita Powers
    Namita Powers

    Principal - ZS

    Namita Powers leads ZS’s Customer Models & Motivation practice area and is pushing the life sciences industry to think about disruptive value-driving engagement models. She is a thought leader on Key Account Management strategies and co-authored ZS’s book on the topic. Namita can be reached at namita.powers@zs.com.

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