Forming Emotional Connections: The Key to Physician Engagement

The marketing world is shifting toward a focus on customers’ emotional experience, and the pharmaceutical field is no exception. In pharmaceutical sales, sales force effectiveness is typically measured according to the impact sales reps have on physicians’ prescribing behavior. Dozens of times each day, physicians choose which product to prescribe. If you’re in the pharmaceutical business, it’s crucial to track whether your sales reps have access to physicians—otherwise, they never have the chance to suggest a new product. Assuming access, how well do sales reps hold physicians’ attention? And how much do they impact physicians’ prescription decisions? These questions have driven pharmaceutical marketing for years. However, PeopleMetrics’ research shows that another question is more salient to long-term sales: Do your sales reps have a strong emotional connection with the doctors they sell to?

At its heart, every “detail” a sales rep delivers is really just a conversation with a doctor. Traditional pharmaceutical market research successfully evaluates the functional aspects of these sales rep-physician conversations. For instance, a customary evaluation of a sales rep may ask whether the rep knows how to use his or her detail piece, or whether the doctor actually remembers the sales message. What’s missing from this equation? Emotions.

For the full article see Resource for Physician Engagement

Additional Resources
Physician Engagement Study—Follow this link to receive a copy of the white paper that summarizes the research PeopleMetrics conducted about Physician Engagement.
Introduction to Physician Engagement Management

Setting New Hires Up for Success: How to Increase Employee Engagement from Day One

Every new hire aims to please. Fresh-faced and energetic, they begin with grand visions of how they can help their new employer (and how their new employer can help them.) For about 90 days, that is. By then, most new hires have reflected on their onboarding experience. Many of them have taken on the dominant attitude of the rest of the office. Even if you’re only bringing on one new employee, it’s important to remember that the first few days often set the tone for an employee’s entire experience with your company. In fact, employee engagement can begin even before you make an offer of employment. With a little strategy and careful planning, you just might be able to preserve that new-hire enthusiasm.

Why worry about enthusiasm?, you might ask. Isn’t it more effective to focus on an employee’s performance, rather than their emotions? Actually, employee’s emotions greatly impact performance. PeopleMetrics’ research indicates that engaged employees—those who are enthusiastic, loyal, and energetic about their work—are the ones who will best serve your company. Employee engagement has been linked to a number of key HR and business indicators, including lower turnover, increased customer engagement, better sales performance, and reduced sick leave.

In other words, an employee’s first few days are important. As in any relationship, the rules of engagement are determined fairly early on. Managers have a limited window of time to communicate to new hires that they are dedicated to keeping them engaged. HR expert Debbie Benami-Rahm suggests the following tips for employers who hope to encourage engaged employees, even before they’re actually employees.

For these suggestions and the rest of the article see Employee Engagement From Day One

Five Effective Real-World Approaches to Employee Recognition

Employee recognition has proven to be an influential factor in employee retention, engagement, and motivation. Organizations that successfully and consistently implement employee recognition enjoy long-term stability and higher profit margins. To better understand effective employee recognition, we’ve outlined five guidelines for this management strategy, along with real-world examples for each approach.

1. Tailor your recognition program to your organizational culture. No one company’s program should be exactly the same as another’s. Your employees are unique and part of a similarly unique culture; thus, they require a culture-specific recognition program.

Example: In Keeping the People Who Keep You In Business, Leigh Branham highlights Henley Healthcare, a Texas maker of non-invasive medical products. Henley Healthcare polled its office staff to learn what kind of reward they would like for working long hours. The results were clear: 42% preferred time off, 22% preferred clothing, and 20% preferred tickets to cultural events. This information allowed Henley Healthcare to create a recognition program that reflects what its employees actually want.

2. Money is not the catch-all solution to employee recognition; in fact, it should take a backseat to other methods. For instance, time, affirmation, and personally-expressed gratitude are much more valuable commodities.

For the full story see: Employee Recognition

5 Tips, 3 Approaches for Encouraging Peer-To-Peer Recognition

In his book The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard L. Florida highlights the factors that motivate creative workers like programmers and scientists. One of his conclusions is that increasing numbers of modern workers are motivated, at least in part, by peer recognition. This is why, even in today’s rocky economic climate, many people are willing to work for free on projects that they feel will win the respect of their peers. Fortunately, progressive managers are beginning to recognize the power of peer-to-peer recognition.

In addition to the motivational factor, many managers encourage peer recognition because they know that it is usually accurate. As Judith A. Hale explains in Performance-Based Management, peers may deliver more detailed, effective feedback, since they have more opportunities to observe their coworkers’ performance. As Ms. Hale writes, “It is not uncommon for the manager to be removed from where the work is performed and, therefore, rarely see what people do or how they do it.”

If you’re looking to develop a peer recognition program for your workplace, keep a few general feedback guidelines in mind:

1. Remember that specific feedback is more effective than general praise. Encourage your employees to be precise when complimenting their peers.
2. Additionally, you should involve employees in designing your peer recognition program. Avoid launching new recognition programs without ensuring that the whole crew is on board. Your new recognition procedures will be far more likely to take root if everyone in your organization understands why they are being implemented.

For the rest of the tips see: Employee Recognition