Have you ever wondered who you could target that would spend the most money at your restaurant? Imagine a person who has thousands of dollars in their budget to spend just on lunch catering and dinners every month. Who are they? Your local pharmaceutical reps.
Did you know that an average pharmaceutical rep can have up to $2500 per month to spend on lunches alone! The money has to be spent somewhere. It might as well be YOUR restaurant.
Having a well planned marketing strategy to target pharmaceutical reps can bring BIG sales during lunch and dinner. However, there are many things you need to know in order to attract them, service them and get them to spread the word about your restaurant or catering business.
Some things to consider when catering to pharmaceutical reps for LUNCH:
Offer all major credit cards including American Express. Different pharmaceutical companies provide their reps with different credit card brands. The most common is Visa but some do use American Express.
Offer delivery and set up. The key to marketing to pharmaceutical reps is to make their life easier.
Provide quality packaging to offer great presentation. When a rep provides a lunch it is a reflection of them and their company. Presentation appeals to both the office staff and physician.
Offer drinks and dessert for off-site catering
Be On Time!
Always provide an itemized receipt or invoice of what was ordered. Pharma reps use this for their expense reports and having this available with every order will make their life easier and motivate them to use your restaurant more frequently
Provide flatware, plates and serving utensils FREE OF CHARGE. It is a major irritant when restaurants choose to charge for this service.
Have one person in your restaurant dedicated to handling pharmaceutical rep lunches. They prefer one point of contact and the ability to establish a relationship.
Offer them a Rewards Program. Pharma reps are spending their company’s money and a rewards program provides them a way to personally benefit from the money they spend on lunches and dinners.
Some things to consider when catering to pharmaceutical reps for DINNER:
Provide privacy with a private room. Dinners usually involve a speaker which requires the proper environment.
Have a screen and projection equipment.
If you are going to require a minimum, make it reasonable. An acceptable
A pre-set menu is acceptable as long as you offer 2-3 choices for the main entrée.
Have one person in your restaurant dedicated to handling pharmaceutical rep dinners. They prefer one point of contact and the ability to establish a relationship.
Offer them a Rewards Program. Pharma reps are spending their company’s money and a rewards program provides them a way to personally benefit from the money they spend on dinners.
How do I get started?
Now THAT is the million dollar question. For almost any consumer group you can purchase a targeted mailing list that allows you to market directly to them (see the Restaurantpartner.com Market Analyzer and Direct Mail Center). Unfortunately, mailing lists and personal data on Pharmaceutial Reps is much harder to come by. It's not impossible but the data is very expensive and it lacks quantity in concentrated areas.
The Restaurantpartner.com Direct Mail Center has created direct mail templates that cater direct to the doctors offices that Pharmaceutical Reps take the lunches to. Since it is the office that often dictates where the rep buys lunch, marketing to them can be almost as effective as going directly to the rep. The Direct Mail center also allows you to utilize mailing lists to doctors in your specific area.
Also on Restaurantpartner.com, you will find articles and quick tips on how you can get reps to spread the word about your restaurant, provide special incentives for the doctors offices and avoid mistakes that can cause negative word of mouth among the Pharmaceutical Rep community.
So get out there and start marketing to pharmaceutical reps in your area. You won't find a better group of people to charge up your lunch sales and spread positive word of mouth.
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