Unlike a bottle of wine, your doctor database does not improve with age. In fact, your valuable list of doctors deteriorates at a rate of about 15 percent each year.

Let’s put this in terms of dollars. If you have the names and addresses of 100,000 doctors, and your database has not been updated in 2 years, then about 30,000 of those contact records are likely to be spoiled. If you mail a promotional piece that cost $3 each for printing and postage, you’ve just wasted $90,000 of your precious marketing budget.

Worse yet, maybe some of these doctors who were mailed your promotion or called on by one of your sales reps have retired, moved to another practice or, heavens forbid, passed away. Now you’ve shown a lack of judgment and respect. You’re credibility is history.

The Need for Data Quality

Data quality is a critical business issue. Bad data costs enterprises over six billion dollars a year, according to findings from The Data Warehouse Institute. But companies who have added data quality initiatives to their plans have benefited, adding millions to their bottom line from increased sales, lower distribution costs and better compliance.

For the pharmaceutical industry, the need for clean, actionable data is more critical than ever. With fewer feet on the street following recently announced downsizing, pharmaceutical sales reps and managers need to work smarter, and that means working with information that is accurate and up to date.

Pharmaceutical companies rely on quality data assets to help them in market analysis, sales force planning and other strategic moves. Understanding not just doctors but which medical groups they are part of, where they practice, what they practice, and who is among their support team, helps sales forces operate more effectively.

The Benefits Outweigh the Costs

Without updating their list of doctors at regular intervals, pharmaceutical companies risk wasting thousands of dollars in missed appointments, undelivered mail and low telephone connects. Even more expensive is the opportunity costs of not getting their messages through to a qualified decision maker.

The benefits far outweigh the costs. In fact, the cost of a doctor database hygiene service can easily be recaptured after just one sales or marketing event. A scrubbed database enables you to send information that is more relevant, put sales reps on the right course, improve office relationships, make smarter decisions about segmenting, and contribute positively to the bottom line.

Half Good is not Good Enough

As an example of the value of data hygiene, a U.S. pharmaceutical company submitted its database of 140,000 physicians for updating to the SK&A Research Center. SK&A’s source doctor database of 670,000 practicing list of physicians is telephone-verified every six months and is often used in the industry for matching and appending.

Comparing its database against SK&A’s, the pharmaceutical company found that 45 percent of its names were valid and correct, 34 percent were corrected with a simple address change, 14 percent were invalid because the physician had either retired or was deceased, and 7 percent were likely invalid records because they could not be verified. In the end, 93 percent of the pharmaceutical company’s database was resolved. Had it not taken this initiative, the pharmaceutical company would have been working with data that was less than 50 percent accurate.

When the data is refreshed you have a more complete view and thus increase your opportunities for success.

Pharmaceutical as well as other stakeholders are eager to put data in, but rarely do they take it out. In fact, they often rely on individual sales representatives to help in the clean-up effort. Knowing the habits of salespeople, that solution rarely works! Data verification is an ongoing process and not just a one-time event or periodic task. It requires a data mentor and support at the highest levels of management.