Brand name advertising and detailing of prescription products can only be done directly to veterinarians in Australia. Zoetis utilises a representative sales force to detail Trocoxil in the vet channel.

Trocoxil is a new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug for the treatment of chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA) in dogs. Veterinarians have a range of OA treatments available to them, including established NSAIDs, and have entrenched prescribing habits with little motivation to change their behavior.

The uptake of Trocoxil was slower than hoped or expected. This combined with the fact that Trocoxil was still a very new drug, meant that the sales representatives tended to try to “tell” the full product story on each call, rather than “sell” the vet on the specific brand benefits that would resonate strongest, based on understanding the vet’s own individual clinical needs, behaviours and potential concerns about Trocoxil.

We identified the 6 most common barriers to prescribing Trocoxil and structured the detailer around the 6 key selling messages (KSMs) necessary to address these barriers. This enabled the reps to proactively explore and overcome each vet’s potential objections. Question-based detailing, animation and interactive multi-tiered data were designed to create a memorable and persuasive selling experience.

The result is an innovative, engaging, visually driven, interactive selling aid designed to challenge, convince and inspire vets to reconsider their current perception and use of Trocoxil.

There were 3 primary goals linked to the development of the detailer for use by the Zoetis sales team.

Goal #1: Provide an interactive detailing framework to enable and encourage the reps to discuss each vet’s approach to treating OA and the role for Trocoxil in that.

Goal #2: Ensure the information and data within detail aid was structurally tiered by level of importance to behavior change, in the way it was both presented and accessed.

Goal #3: Build analytics into the platform to provide ongoing insight into the content which was being utilised with the greatest effect.

Creatively, each selling story started with a highly visual or interactive representation of a probing question - making use of the technology afforded by the ipad – embedded videos, touch screen swipes, pinches and selections. Based on the vet response, the supporting information could then be accessed by the reps in “layers” of detailed data.

Once a rep had completed one of the 6 mini selling stories, they could indicate completion of the section with the touch of a button and the Key Selling Message for that section would be revealed. The completion of all 6 sections would therefore reveal the 6 KSMs and when put together, formed the basis of a quick summary 30 second sales call as well.

The ipad detail aid was launched with an internal sales rep training session and then used by the full sales rep team to detail Trocoxil.

From a communication goal perspective, the Trocoxil detail aid, guided and supported the sales representatives in conducting a more interactive, engaging style of sales call –which sought to uncover and discuss each vet’s own attitudes and behavior towards the use of NSAIDs, and Trocoxil in particular, in treating OA. The content, and the unique and engaging way it was presented, allowed the reps to clearly and emphatically provide the vets with compelling reasons and ways to factor Trocoxil into their prescribing behavior, whilst meeting their own clinical goals.

Tracking of the reps’ use of the detail aid confirmed that the sales calls were far more focused on the relevant KSMs than in the past.

Market research was conducted for the purpose of identifying the most significant objectives that could potentially stand in the way of increased prescribing of Trocoxil. Six main areas were identified and a mini selling story for each one was developed as the foundation for the detail aid communication. Each “story” began with a probing question about current attitude or behavior around that parameter, enabling the sales rep to discuss specific and relevant concerns or questions the vet may have. The sections were designed to start a with more persuasive and concise approach, leading on to more detailed data if necessary to further support the selling story.

Trocoxil is a new NSAID for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA)pain in dogs. Veterinarians have a range of established OA treatments available to them, entrenched prescribing habits and little motivation or perceived need to change. Being a new drug, with initial uptake slower than expected, the sales representatives tried to “tell” the full product story on each call, rather than “sell” the vet on the specific brand benefits that would resonate strongest, based on the vet’s own individual clinical needs, behaviours and potential concerns about Trocoxil.