Needle in the Haystack: How Virtual Sales Reps Optimize Omnichannel Strategies
Virtual sales reps as orchestrators in omnichannel strategy connect rare disease patients and providers with therapies faster and more effectively
In the realm of rare diseases, identifying the right patients, at the right time where they are seeking treatment is often compared to finding a needle in a haystack. Rare diseases affect a small percentage of the population and identifying the right patients in a timely manner is crucial for delivering life-changing treatments.
Enter the power of omnichannel strategies—an approach that integrates multiple communication and engagement channels to help identify rare disease patients faster and more effectively. Omnichannel strategies enable biopharma companies to reach patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) effectively by leveraging various digital and in-person channels. This approach ensures targeted engagement at scale, helping identify patients faster and more efficiently.
Virtual sales teams are crucial for optimizing patient identification by providing personalized, data-driven engagement.
Virtual Sales Teams: Driving Results with Personalized Outreach
Omnichannel approaches combine digital and in-person teams, capabilities and processes across stakeholders to create a more holistic and efficient patient identification solution. These strategies involve a wide variety of touchpoints from targeted campaigns, patient registries, real-world data and importantly, the role of virtual sales representatives.
Virtual sales teams are crucial for optimizing patient identification by providing personalized, data-driven engagement. As seen in a recent case study, Syneos Health deployed a virtual sales team to engage HCPs, manage key tactics, and serve as orchestrators within an omnichannel strategy. The team maintained a balance of 70% virtual and 30% face-to-face engagement, helping to scale outreach efforts effectively. In just the first eight months, four hybrid representatives generated 142 qualified appointments, resulting in 29 new patients starting a rare disease medication.
This demonstrates how virtual sales teams can accelerate patient identification through proactive engagement with the right providers. By targeting key channels, these teams efficiently navigate large geographies, ensure timely follow-ups and convert leads into patient enrollments. This targeted, personalized outreach ultimately results in faster patient identification and improved outcomes for rare disease patients.
Accelerating Access to HCPs
Using real-world data from medical records, insurance claims, and other sources to identify patients who are at risk or showing early signs of a rare disease can significantly reduce the time it takes to locate patients. By filtering vast amounts of data, these tools can pinpoint those who meet specific criteria. For instance, HCPs may have patients with symptoms that align with rare diseases but haven’t been diagnosed. Digital tools can flag these cases for follow-up, alerting both the physician and the biopharma team to a potential match.
One essential component in making this process more effective is Channel Selector, a tool that enhances HCP engagement by tailoring communication based on individual preferences. Drawing from a variety of data sources, including CRM systems, digital marketing platforms, and event registrations, prescribing behaviors, and HCP engagement metrics, Channel Selector helps identify how and where HCPs prefer to engage—whether through email, virtual meetings, or in-person visits—and adjusts outreach accordingly. This personalized approach not only strengthens relationships between HCPs and biopharma teams but also optimizes the efficiency of rare disease patient identification.
By leveraging Channel Selector, virtual sales representatives can ensure they are using the most effective channels for engaging HCPs, allowing biopharma companies to streamline their outreach and follow up on targeted messages promptly. This data-driven approach to understanding HCP engagement preferences enables faster identification of at-risk patients, helping prevent potential matches from slipping through the cracks.
The Future of Rare Disease Patient Identification
As the biopharma industry continues to advance, the need for faster, more effective patient identification will only grow. For rare diseases, omnichannel strategies represent a transformative approach, combining the latest in data analytics, digital marketing, and virtual engagement, helping companies cut through the noise, find those elusive “needles in a haystack,” and ultimately connect patients to the treatments they need.
Virtual sales reps are key to making these omnichannel efforts truly effective. While technology provides a strong backbone for identifying the right providers and potential patients, it’s the virtual sales reps who orchestrate the strategy, ensuring personal and tailored outreach at every stage. By leveraging real-time data and predictive analytics, teams can identify patient populations and conduct outreach through multiple targeted channels.
Ready to learn more about how Syneos Health can help you accelerate patient identification? Download our case study to learn more about how we can help you transform your omnichannel strategy for better patient outcomes.
Contributors
Amy Jamison | Senior Vice President, Engagement Center
Ben Smallen | Senior Director, Engagement Center
Michael Minschwaner | Senior Director, Engagement Center
George Basmadjian | Program Account Manager, Engagement Center
