When there is a strong commitment to customer engagement, appropriate stakeholder relationships are established and maintained (by utilising suitable channels and content for that individual), facilitating the advancement of the agreed common goal to deliver impactful change and results for the account, patients, and the organisation.
Here are some of the most common situations that we see when ‘customer engagement’ is and isn’t working well…
Situation 1
When it isn’t working well
- There’s a tendency to go in and see customers that are easily accessible, or customers are seen just to ‘hit numbers’.
When it is working well
- People are seen/contacted because of the agreed common goal.
- New and existing stakeholder relationships are built/strengthened in order to drive the necessary changes for a common goal to happen.
Situation 2
When it isn’t working well
- Going to prescribers or brand advocates to deliver messages rather than seeing these people as a much larger network of people – all of whom need to be engaged with, particularly in order to access/gain the support of the decision makers who would have the biggest impact on an account.
When it is working well
- Recognition exists around the importance of building a network of people – establishing relationships with those that have most influence with important people/decision makers (either externally or within an account).
- Relationships that are seemingly ‘hard to establish’ are being built with those who can help with the progression of the common goal.
Situation 3
When it isn’t working well
- When planning customer engagement, the emphasis is on meeting specific metrics rather than delivering substantial value, often focusing on questions like ‘who do we need to meet?’ and ‘how often should we meet them?’. As a result the plan is about hitting these numbers rather than about delivering value.
When it is working well
- Real thought is given around how to engage and deliver messages to those aforementioned key stakeholders through multiple channels – this is driven not because a multi-channel policy exists, but because we understand how to keep people engaged when we aren’t in front of them; we know what channels they prefer to use; and (most importantly) what topics they want to be engaged on/have interest in because it is related to how they move things forward.
