iPad Much, Much, More Than a Shiny Object

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explore the use of iPad technology for our company sales team. After researching iPad technology, I believe iPads are worth investing for Amrahp sales team. During my research, I discovered that iPad for our sales team has more advantage over company laptops.

Time Saving
As you know Mr. Anderson, awhile back sales rep used to introduce 3 to 4 product but now they have to introduce 5 to 6 products at a time to physicians. Meanwhile, reps used to enjoy 7 to 10 minutes with physicians, now they average 4 to 5 minutes. One of the benefits that our sales reps will receive when they start using iPad will be, time. They always ran out of time to introduce new products to physicians.  The iPad comes alive with the touch of a button, unlike laptops which take time to boot up. It also has a long battery life and the ability to provide clinical information in a visually stimulating and interactive format at the point of contact. It is clearly satisfying for both the healthcare professional and the sales rep. Sales reps need to engage healthcare professionals – they must do it on the move, they must keep their customer at ease, and they must work rapidly to communicate complex information.

Ease of  Use
The iPad’s ease-of-use and instant-on capabilities have already made it a preferred device for salespeople. Many physicians complain about “inadequate product knowledge” and the inability to understand their needs as common issues with pharma and life sciences reps. The iPad allows those reps to access product details and company updates anytime, anywhere, and tools like Slide Shark,  make it easy for businesses to ensure field reps only have access to the most up-to-date and compliant resources. Sales reps can present their materials more easily to physicians who use iPads. The new iPad is only about 1.46 pounds, it allows sales representative to easily hold and maneuver around easily. For example, the medical rep sees a three physicians during lunch time in the same room, realizing how the physicians have limited time to spare in between seeing a sales rep and oversee patients, its so much easier to provide all three physicians a tablet at the same at time.  So each physician has a tablet to view information regarding the product being introduced and ask question if any. Physicians have limited time and sales rep has that bonus time to explain and introduce new products to them. If sales rep carry laptop it’s impossible for sales rep to keep all three doctor on same page. With the right iPad application in place, crucial feedback from the field becomes immediately available so sales management and marketing teams no longer need to wait until the end of the week for the sales reps to type in their reports to gain front-line insights. The marketing team can react immediately to meet the needs from the sales force with instant alerts and actionable insights for the sales reps, greatly improving efficiency and productivity

Improved physician interaction and productivity

As you know Mr. Anderson, new product presentations has a very strong impact on sales. Laptop presentations are boring and no matter how compelling you’re offering, a PowerPoint deck simply doesn’t do it justice. The iPad provides a rich media platform that allows multimedia to add color and interaction to the sales call, making marketing messages more memorable. One of the iPad’s most powerful assets for sales is its vivid display. Sales rep can combine images, videos, PDFs, HTML 5 and other digital assets to quickly assemble a presentation that’s relevant to a particular client.  
Standard follow up practice is to leave behind a copy of your presentation—either in hard copy, on a USB key, or sent in an email. Most of time physician lose a hard copy or USB doesn’t work. Your client expects a follow up email with materials you presented. Instead of attaching a PowerPoint deck, provide a link to an app for download. That link allows them to download to his iPad your company’s app. Within that app is your presentation, to be sure. But there’re also white papers, references, information about your company, industry data, access to your online community, and a host of other features that give you and your client a chance to engage each other on an ongoing basis. Use the app as two-way communications and content channel. Once it’s downloaded to their iPad, they are unlikely to ever delete it.

Cost Reduction
In the beginning iPad require an initial investment in hardware, technology and supporting infrastructure, but in the long term they can help lower overall operating costs.  The cost of iPad for our sales team $1.5 million and our current sales rep Laptop are in fair condition and we can sell them and get good amount of money back.  After starting sales processes digitized and virtualized the costs of physical distribution and implementation are significantly lower. In addition, the overall increase in productivity and efficiency has the potential to result in substantial cost savings. All content ranging from marketing material to training content, can be pushed to the mobile device and made available almost immediately to  sales reps. Electronic sales materials can't be altered as easily as paper, helping to prevent potential marketing violations.

Clearly the iPad is a more convenient and easy to use technological device for our company as compare to laptops.