The first and foremost reason given by the Doctors for prescribing any brand is that they expect the Medical Representative to visit their clinic a minimum of 2-4 times in a month, which means a minimum once in a fortnight or once in a week. Once the doctor, sees the consistency of the Medical Representative, he develops confidence in the MR. Thereafter, he starts closely interacting with the MR.
After knowing the verbatim detailing story as given by the Product Management Team of the Pharma Corporate, the Medical Representative is expected to deliver it during the call. Verbatim detailing ensures, the doctor listens to all important aspects about the molecule and the Brand attributes or in other words, Unique Selling Points. This helps the doctor to make a decision, whether, this brand is better than any other brand, he/she is currently prescribing.
In case of totally new, first, in India or world molecule, the Doctor, may ask any query related to the usability of the Molecule. The doctor may ask for any scientific literature in support of the use of the molecule. This information, MR may carry with him, or for any new query, MR may seek help from his Brand Management Team or Medical Department, which may take 10-15 days. SO, in his next visit, the MR may present the information to the Doctor. This impresses the doctor at the moment.
If the Medical Representative is able to give the correct & satisfactory answer to the query, then the doctor gets convinced to prescribe or at least try his medicine/brand in few patients to see the response. Many times, in the scientific literature, there is a mix of articles, that is, some are in favor of your molecule, in some cases, the doctor may point out the negative article. Some, reputed Pharma Companies, provide all these articles even negative, and let the doctor decide whether he/ she would like to still prescribe this molecule. In such cases, the Doctor is happy, as the Pharma Corporate has not tried to hide the information, with the fear of losing the prescription. And, he/ she support the Brand wholeheartedly.
Once, the doctor is convinced to prescribe, he asks for the price and availability of the brand. This information, Doctor, wants to know from the interest of his patients. This gives him an idea about the cost of therapy. Availability determines, his patients would get the brand if he/ she prescribe it. Here comes, the importance of chemist visits for Medical Representatives, as it finally decides, if the brand would be sold at the chemist counter once the prescription is presented.
This is how the Medical Representative convinces the doctor to prescribe his medicines/brand.