Reports of the decline of the pharmaceutical sales rep have been aired so often that some might believe the industry discharged its promotional foot soldiers en masse sometime late last decade. The reality is more complicated – and nowhere near as open-and-shut as the premature conclusions suggest.

Is it tough out there competitively? Has a perfect storm of regulation and shifting product mix prompted something of a crisis of confidence among longtime sellers? Yes and yes. But by no means have pharma reps outlived their utility. In fact, in the era of precision medicines, there’s a clear path for them to reclaim their relevance and their mojo.

Here’s how the decline-of-the-rep speculation calcified over the course of the last decade. Interested parties observed how the Sunshine Act, which mandated the disclosure of payments and transfers of value made by pharma and device companies to healthcare providers, removed a key weapon from the rep arsenal (not to mention made doctors more hesitant to meet with them, given the possibility that patients would negatively perceive such engagements). They heard ad infinitum about the practices and hospitals that, after closing their doors to reps during the pandemic, never got around to reopening them. Then they watched as massive leaps forward in digital technology and content creation supposedly diminished the importance of the human element in face-to-face drug education.

Taken together, these mounting operational and logistical challenges served to chip away at the confidence and value of pharma sales reps, in their own eyes as well as in those of their would-be customers. The shifts birthed a new and daunting ecosystem of uncertainty, an attitudinal sea change that largely robbed the profession of its swagger. Reps used to strut confidently into physicians’ offices and hospitals, knowing that the combination of access, groundbreaking products and their depth of experience would ensure that they were heard. Now many question their presence in these settings; they wonder whether they’ve truly earned the right to be there.

Which, of course, is ludicrous. Their mission is educational in nature and expressly calibrated to keep patients at the heart of every interaction. So long as the pharmaceutical industry is marketing new products with different mechanisms of action in a variety of disease states, there will always be a need for individuals able to clearly and concisely explain their risks and benefits.

With the caveat that the scheduling of and logistics around rep detailing visits must similarly evolve – the time crunch many HCPs are experiencing leaves them with increasingly little time for rep engagement, which could prove the most significant existential threat facing sellers – here are four ways pharma sales reps can recapture their swagger and affirm their value to HCPs and their employers alike.

Learn by doing: Any number of top pharma marketing executives either entered the business “carrying the bag,” as they nostalgically put it, or completed a sales rotation or two on their way up the corporate ladder. To a person, they rhapsodize about the experience – how it elevated their ability to connect with a range of audiences, gave them insight into HCP wants and needs, and taught them how to discuss high-science topics with nuance and verve. It also opened their eyes to the challenge of keeping somebody’s attention when they were one of many seeking that attention. It made them appreciate, and even cherish, the grind.

It’s easy to suggest that some people are born salespeople and others are not, and attribute success or failure in the role to some intrinsic traits. What’s tougher is creating the developmental infrastructure that instills necessary skills and confidence into the next generation of sales reps.

Embrace the competitive landscape: Not that long ago, reps selling Novartis’ Gleevec, Merck’s Keytruda and other dominant brands were the kings of the castle. As the pace of industry innovation has multiplied, however, fewer and fewer drugs have landed with such immediate impact – and those that did often found themselves pitted against a challenger brand sooner than later.

Mind you, nobody thinks the increasing volume of genuinely game-changing drugs is a bad thing. And while it may deprive reps working in crowded therapeutic categories of discussions anchored in novelty and innovation, it does afford them an opportunity to differentiate – to magnify slight advantages in efficacy or side effect profiles, for example.

The rep job, after all, requires a keen grasp of the art of the sell. Top-flight messaging in and of itself only goes so far; reps will always be needed to convey that messaging and engage in authentic conversations about what matters to the person on the receiving end of the sales pitch. This also provides an easy opening to…

Celebrate the science: Think about some of the products reps are selling – to use just one of many examples, oncology drugs that extend lives and even, in some cases, transform once-untreatable cancers into manageable chronic conditions. This isn’t selling cutlery door-to-door; this is true thought partnership in the best interest of patients. This is preaching the gospel of 21st century science and innovation. If that alone doesn’t bolster confidence, it should certainly serve as a significant building block.

Don’t make technology the enemy: Reps often reminisce about when they were first armed with iPads, warmly recalling the wow factor that came with using the then-groundbreaking technology in their detailing. They’re a bit less sanguine when they discuss the pandemic-era shift to Zoom meetings and promotional emails – the impersonality of which, they believe, impairs their ability to educate and forge meaningful relationships with HCPs.

Here’s the problem with this argument: The pendulum has swung back toward in-person meetings in a major way. According to ZoomRx, some 90% of rep/HCP interactions during the last two quarters of 2023 took place in person. In other words, reps should consider technology and non-personal promotion as key tools in their armamentarium that support, rather than compromise, their more traditional efforts and instincts. These technologies and techniques aren’t going anywhere; the many reps who continue to thrive have long since integrated them into their day-to-day tactics.

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There’s no easy salve to the pressures facing sales reps, but history should be instructive. Pharma sales reps have long been an essential component of the industry’s marketing ecosystem. With a few small changes to the way they go about their business, they’ll remain that way well into the future.

Do you have ideas about countering the perceived decline in influence of pharma sales reps? Drop us a note at [email protected], join the conversation on X (@KinaraBio) and subscribe on the website to receive Kinara content.