3 Strategies to Elevate Your Life Sciences Sales Reps to Digital Superstars

B2B buying behaviors have undergone a dramatic transformation. Today’s buyers are more informed and autonomous, with 65% of B2B purchase influencers initiating the buying process through self-guided research, according to Forrester. These buyers average nine different self-guided interactions across all phases of the buyer journey. They expect seamless, personalized experiences and quick access to relevant information. For life sciences sales reps, meeting these expectations is crucial.

This is where you can help. By integrating digital selling and enablement technologies into the sales process, you can empower your reps to meet buyers where they are and provide the information they need precisely when they need it. Picture a sales rep who leverages data analytics to understand buyer behavior, uses social media to build relationships for social selling, and utilizes virtual meeting platforms for engaging, remote interactions. They have access to a rich, self-serve content library filled with high-quality, relevant sales materials, and benefit from ongoing virtual coaching that enhances their skills and confidence.

With these strategies in place, you make it possible for your sales reps to easily navigate the complex regulatory environments they operate in, engage with highly educated buyers who demand value and relevance, and deliver personalized, timely content that addresses the unique needs of their audience. Your sales team is no longer burdened by outdated content repositories or ad hoc training programs. Instead, they benefit from a well-organized, just-in-time content library and a holistic, AI-powered enablement stack that streamlines learning, content management, and buyer engagement.

The result? Higher productivity, more effective buyer engagements, and increased sales success. Allego’s AI Research Report shows how AI-powered enablement tools are already improving life sciences sales teams. Their top use of generative AI is digital selling (41.67%) followed by sales coaching (33.33%). These approaches are helping them improve sales rep knowledge, improve sales confidence, save time, increase the average deal size, and shorten the time to first deal.

41.67% of revenue enablement leaders in life sciences use generative AI for digital selling. — How AI is Shaping the Future of Revenue Enablement, Allego

What Is Digital Selling?

Digital selling uses digital tools and technologies to enhance the sales process. It’s about meeting buyers where they are and providing the information they need when they need it. This includes leveraging social media for engagement, using data analytics to tailor outreach, and utilizing virtual meeting platforms for remote interactions.

For life sciences sales reps, digital selling is essential. It allows them to navigate complex regulatory environments, engage with highly educated buyers, and deliver personalized, timely content that meets the unique needs of their audience.

Key digital selling tactics include:

• Data-Driven Insights: Using analytics to understand buyer behavior and tailor sales approaches.
• Content Marketing: Providing sales teams with valuable, relevant content that addresses buyers’ needs and positions your company as a thought leader.
• Customized Digital Buying Experiences: It’s difficult for reps to get in-person meetings with healthcare providers (HCPs). As a result, reps must create engaging digital buying experiences when engaging with them.

Help Your Reps Succeed in a Digital World

Download the Sales Success Playbook for Life Sciences to learn obstacles that prevent life sciences sales teams from implementing a digital sales strategy, plus get five best practices to enable their success. Get the eBook.

How Sales Enablement Can Help Life Sciences Reps Succeed with Digital Selling

Sales enablement plays a crucial role in equipping life sciences sales reps with the tools, resources, and training they need to succeed in a digital landscape. It involves aligning sales and marketing efforts, providing ongoing training and coaching, and ensuring your reps have access to the right content at the right time. Effective sales enablement helps reps to be more productive, engage more effectively with buyers, and ultimately close more deals.

Digital sales enablement strategies and practices can address the challenges posed by changing buying behaviors and enhance the overall buying experience. They can help:

• Shine a Light on the Right Sales Stories: The most valuable stories, lessons, and coachable moments already exist within your organization but are often trapped in outdated content repositories or the minds of your experts. By leveraging a modern sales content management solution, conversation intelligence, and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, you can capture and curate these insights. This enables you to create an agile, peer-to-peer content engine that drives learning across the sales team.
• Align Revenue and Buying Teams Through Collaboration and Modern Experiences: Effective sales enablement fosters collaboration across sales, marketing, and enablement teams. By centralizing data about sales rep and buyer actions, modern enablement technology helps the entire revenue team understand what’s working and what isn’t. In addition, the analysis tools within digital sales enablement platforms generate insights on content usage, training effectiveness, and buyer engagement. These insights enable marketing to create better content, sales leadership to coach and train more effectively, and sales reps to engage buyers with compelling messages.
• Scale Success with Integrated, AI-Powered Technology: Modern sales enablement takes a holistic approach to technology integration, reducing the number of tools sales reps use, increasing productivity, and cutting costs. And the AI technology they run on streamlines custom learning paths, role plays, skill development, content recommendations, coaching, and forecasting. In addition, Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs) provide a convenient, self-serve buying experience that modern buyers expect. They centralize content, track engagement, and allow sellers to tailor their interactions based on buyer behavior.

3 Sales Enablement Strategies for Life Sciences Sales Teams

Now that you know what to do, how do you do it? Here are three digital sales enablement strategies to get you started. More best practices and advice can be found in the Sales Success Playbook for Life Sciences.

1. Create a Self-Serve Sales Content Library Filled with Content Reps Will Use

A self-serve sales content library empowers reps by providing them with easy access to the content they need to engage buyers. This library should be organized, searchable, and filled with high-quality, relevant content that addresses common buyer questions and pain points. Examples of useful content include case studies, white papers, product brochures, and regulatory compliance documents.

>> Real-World Example: Johnson & Johnson Vision transformed their sales training from instructor-led sessions to a learner-driven educational model. They created an on-demand content library called Get Equipped, which made learning materials more accessible and usable for their sales reps. This shift resulted in 1,300% sales growth in regions that used the model for product launches.

2. Use Virtual Coaching to Improve Sales Performance

Virtual coaching leverages technology to provide sellers with ongoing training and feedback, regardless of their location. This approach allows for more frequent and flexible coaching sessions, tailored to individual needs. Virtual coaching tools can include video conferencing, AI-driven feedback, virtual role-play activities, and interactive training modules.

>> Real-World Example: Baxter Healthcare implemented a video-based sales coaching program. This program allowed sales reps to record their pitches, receive feedback from coaches, and access a centralized content library. As a result, Baxter enhanced their sales reps’ performance and maintained high levels of engagement.

3. Use DSRs to Help Reps Meet Buyer Preferences and Sell More

Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs) are secure, online spaces where sellers can share content, communicate with buyers, and collaborate on solutions. These rooms provide a centralized hub for all sales-related interactions, making it easier for buyers to access information and for reps to track engagement. DSRs also offer analytics to help sales reps understand buyer behavior and adjust their strategies accordingly.

>> Real-World Example: Enovis used DSRs to engage customers during the pandemic. These rooms allowed sales reps to share personalized content and track buyer engagement. This approach helped Enovis maintain and nurture buyer relationships, ultimately leading to more successful sales outcomes.

Unlock Life Sciences Sales Success

As B2B buying behaviors continue to evolve, it’s crucial for life sciences sales teams to stay ahead of the curve. Implementing these digital sales enablement strategies ensures your sales reps not only meet but exceed the demands of today’s informed and autonomous buyers. With the right enablement tools and a cohesive approach, your sales reps can achieve unprecedented success and build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their buyers.

Help Your Reps Succeed in a Digital World

Download the Sales Success Playbook for Life Sciences to learn obstacles that prevent life sciences sales teams from implementing a digital sales strategy, plus get five best practices to enable their success. Get the eBook.