I think the main point is that the large amount of give-aways and refreshments tend to come in the way of the message, making the business come across as less serious.

Functions of medical sales people actually includes not only sales and marketing, but also PR. Some how when we try too hard to please the customers with outrageous marketing gimmicks, we lost our image as a PR for our companies. There is a fine line for a balance of the two roles.

Medical professionals is a very niche group of people. THey are highly esteemed by the society because of their knowledge, high income and therefore their contribution to the society. Traditional marketing schemes seemed hard to reach the group which is already numbed by the overwhelming competition in the field. Outstanding marketers, especially among the listed companies, can’t give up but caught in the rat race and try their best to win the market, by all means.

Regardless of the high contamination chance of soft icecream, this was chosen by some companies to refresh the doctors during medical conference. Although our company didn’t consider such an idea, as banned by the two colleagues graduated from Food Science, I can understand the reason why the other drug companies chose this refreshment for display.

Afterall, there must be someone who started the icecream display and successfully attracted a multitude. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any followers.