L&D Enables commercial team to walk in the shoes of a patient during woRking day
- Embedded the patient experience at the heart of commercial learning to reshape how teams think, speak and decide
- Strengthened confidence and credibility in customer conversations by moving beyond clinical
- Aligned outcomes to commercial KPIs, enabling measurable behaviour change
INCREASING COMMERCIAL CONFIDENCE
A global pharma was preparing for the next phase of growth with a new brand launch. The commercial teams were regularly engaging with internal and external stakeholders, including HCPs, yet there was an awareness that those conversations were potentially focused on clinical and brand rather than the patient.
The organisation wanted to ensure that every commercial conversation was grounded in a truly human understanding of living with the condition – not on assumptions built over time.
Innovative Upskilling for Launch
The organisation had previously partnered with A Life in a Day to co‑create an immersive patient experience for this therapy area. The impact had been strong enough that commercial leaders made a clear decision: this experience should become a core part of how commercial capability is built year after year.
Rather than treating patient understanding as a one‑off initiative, the commercial learning was embedded into their wider performance framework. The goal was not awareness alone, but measurable shifts in confidence, empathy, and the quality of customer conversations.
I knew a lot about the condition prior to this experience. to know it is one thing – to OWN it and walk in their shoes – was eye opening. it’s a great way to understand the disease state, the comorbidities and the 360-degree view of self, others to self, and the silence endured by many – it’s a life altering ‘daily’ event!”
Aligned outcomes for Measurable ROI
By aligning learning outcomes with existing commercial KPIs, the experience became directly connected to how success was defined.
Changes and actions agreed through reflection workshops were shared with line managers, enabling ongoing discussion through regular appraisal and performance conversations.
The impact was sustained amongst the sales teams. With data validated by the company Advance Analytics commissioned on behalf of the client, their findings showed that following a three-month period there was a 20 percent increase in patient-focused conversations between the participants and external HCPs.
The pharmaceutical company identified that the benefits for the company go well beyond the increase in confidence and empathy but also in delivering on commercial objectives. Building on this success, A Life in a Day is collaborating with the pharma team across multiple therapy areas and departments, to improve wider business outcomes.
Despite years of experience in the therapy area, many senior members of the commercial team openly acknowledged gaps in their understanding after taking part in the experience.
Participants consistently reflected that they had underestimated the day‑to‑day burden faced by patients, particularly the small but persistent challenges that shape quality of life.
