Co-creating a series of outstanding virtual events in the Covid era
Our client, a world-leading pharmaceutical company, has always been at the cutting edge of addressing unmet medical needs, even more so now in the context of the global pandemic.
Against this background, and with the opportunities presented by developments in digital technology, the IT function is raising its game to even better serve their internal stakeholders and play their part in enabling the organisation to bring forward life-changing medicines for patients.
Recognising that outstanding levels of employee engagement would accelerate the impact it could make, an important team in the IT portfolio reached out to Axiom to partner with them.
However, with nearly 500 colleagues – in multiple countries and spanning several time zones – the challenges to align the actions of teams and individuals, on a global basis, were plain to see. Factor in the difficulties presented by the global pandemic, including a ban on international travel and the demands of remote working, and the task gets tougher still.
As part of a holistic approach to employee engagement, we co-created, with the client, a series of bespoke virtual events for both the Leadership Team and All Hands audiences, using Zoom, MS Teams, Slido and Mentimeter applications.
We provided a menu of services that the client called upon to augment their in-house strengths and capabilities. These included: pre-event research to understand the current communications climate, virtual event best practice advice, agenda design, interactive exercise development, behind-the-scenes speaker and facilitator coaching, the design and facilitation of virtual social events and advice on post-event evaluation.
The power of the partnership between the client and Axiom was felt immediately by both the leadership team and the wider population.
We are now working with the client to build on those solid foundations and raise the bar still higher, through even better virtual meetings and the ongoing development of the in-house resource.
What our client says
“I really enjoy working with Axiom and greatly value their advice and expertise on a wide range of engagement topics, especially virtual meetings and events. Their highly flexible approach has stood us in good stead, particularly in these turbulent times. They have enabled us to play to, and develop, our strengths, knowing that we are in safe hands as they play to theirs.”
Project Lead
Virtual event participant, verbatim comments
“Thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions. Well-coordinated. I found it better than F2F engagement”
“Really excellent day with some great collaboration/discussion”
“I think the virtual aspect of the meeting worked really well and didn’t distract from the effectiveness”
“Well planned session. I got a lot from it!”
“Encouraging. Awesome. Actionable. Proud. Positive. Interesting!!”
Driving up the adoption of a game-changing digital tool at a leading pharmaceutical company
A global pharmaceutical company has developed an award-winning and game-changing digital research and development (R&D) tool.
R&D is how pharmaceutical companies safely translate science into life-changing medicines. This requires very heavy investment so improving productivity, while driving down cost and time, is critical to success.
The tool transforms how data from clinical trials is visualised and reviewed – transforming with it the lives of those working with that data. What used to take months can now be done in days and what used to take days can now be done in minutes. The results add up to delivering new medicines to patients faster; transforming lives.
To fully realise the remarkable potential of this tool as quickly as possible, our client needed to do more than simply ‘release’ it. They needed to make colleagues aware of it, excited about it and, ultimately, demand it. That’s where Axiom came in. We partnered with the project team to design and deliver a communications campaign that would drive up the adoption of the tool company wide.
Having conducted significant stakeholder research, we co-created a compelling narrative for the tool and developed a multi-channel awareness campaign, designed to drive up attendance at a series of highly interactive roadshows.
Respecting how busy potential participants were, we provided a highly flexible roadshow experience so that people could choose from plenary sessions, deeper dives with peers who had already benefitted from the tool, and live one-to-one demonstrations with subject matter experts.
The results of the roadshows were outstanding; with good levels of attendance, including highly influential stakeholders, and remarkable levels of advocacy once stakeholders understood the power of the tool.
What our client says
“I’ve really enjoyed the approach Axiom brought to this project. Their engagement expertise and communications creativity shone through and complemented our deep subject matter expertise. I’m delighted to say that as a direct result of the engagement campaign, we’ve seen a significant lift in the numbers of people expressing an interest in making the tool part of their everyday ways of working.”
Project Director, Leading Pharmaceutical Company
Work continues with Axiom to further embed the business benefits of the tool and take the roadshow further afield globally.
Transforming sales: A force to be reckoned with
The UK’s medical landscape is transforming faster than any time in history. With an aging population, an NHS on life support and the confusion caused by Brexit, times are challenging for the industry and its suppliers. Yet our client – an established and leading medical products company – is determined to turn these changes into chances and drive a double-digit sales increase.
Unfortunately, the off-the-shelf, paper-based, sales process they were using was hindering not helping them to realise their sales potential. The 80-page tome looked impressive but was generic and cumbersome. So, their salesforce often ignored it, left it in the office or car boot, and did their own thing. This led to an inconsistent customer experience.
With a clear need to revolutionise and industrialise the existing ways of working, Axiom partnered the business to design, deliver and help drive an entirely new sales process.
We started by organising workshops with business leaders to explore what good would look like.
“Axiom’s two-day workshop for senior managers was invaluable. The outcome was a robust collective ambition. This strengthened our vision for the future and provided a clear path for the new, collaborative sales model to begin.”
Project Lead and Sales and Marketing Effectiveness Manager
And, we listened to the needs of sales staff and their support colleagues. Together, we co-created six steps for delivering success.
“Axiom facilitated workshops with our entire salesforce. They gave our teams a real sense of self awareness. They also reinforced the need for flexibility and agility in our communications with others, giving us a strong foundation from which to move forward.”
Project Lead and Sales and Marketing Effectiveness Manager
From there, we worked together to design and develop a totally bespoke sales process from scratch. Then we populated every step in the new process with helpful checklists and additional digital resources. These resources included client produced papers and videos together with TedTalks, to bring the process to life, secure its fast adoption and set the salesforce up to win. Moreover, the design of the digital tool enables additional content to be added by the client, without further involvement from Axiom.
“I find the additional resources of videos and patient stories extremely helpful to show customers. In a nutshell it’s clear, concise and full of practical resource.”
Sales force team member
With multiple business areas selling to the public and private markets, across a range of channels, we built the new sales process with an element of flexibility. It means each business area can work within the umbrella process but tailor content to meet their unique needs.
Portable iPads and mobile devices, with a ready-loaded, interactive, six-step sales process, replaced the non-navigable and weighty paper manual. This digital tool helps ensure success before, during and after a sales call.
“This tool helps me focus and concentrate on what I intend to obtain from each call and what the benefits are for that particular customer.”
Sales force team member
We provided a mirror process for office-based, customer service representatives to replicate the same steps to success. This helps ensure a consistent and high-quality customer experience at every stage of a sale.
To fully embed the new ways of working, we also co-created a complementary field visit process. This enables regional and area managers to coach compliance against the six new steps.
Then, to get the entire nationwide, salesforce adopting the new sales process, Axiom co-created, with the client, an interactive, memorable and fun face-to-face launch event. Engagement and enthusiasm were high as colleagues interacted with the new digital sales tools.
Work is now underway to build a series of workshops – designed to further improve the organisation’s capability against each of the six steps in the sales process.
What our client says
“I’m delighted with how Axiom partnered with our business. We now have a bespoke, digital, sales process to truly meet the needs of our business and techniques to bring it to life, every step of the way. Axiom’s expertise in sales management, design and engagement shone through at every stage. I can’t wait to reap the benefits of all this work as we enter this new decade.”
Managing Director
“Our existing sales model was inherited and had undergone many different iterations. Not only was it outdated but the salesforce was disengaged. We had no marketplace continuity and customer experience was fragmented and inconsistent. Our collaboration with Axiom, and the ultimate output from our partnership, yielded a positive re-look at the traditional sales model. Our new sales process has moved away from a traditional linear process to something more fluid. It’s a cyclical model that values review and reflection. It constantly reinforces the question ‘are we adding value and significance to our customers?’ This is a complete digital sales tool. Representatives click into each step to see role-specific considerations, tasks and activities. This supports them, enhancing their performance at every step in the sales process.”
Project Lead and Sales and Marketing Effectiveness Manager
