How Qualiphar builds lasting relationships between sales reps and pharmacists
The independent Belgian pharma player steered a change of go-to-market strategy on customer feedback — without ever losing sight of the pharmacists it depends on.
Qualiphar is an independent player on the Belgian pharmaceutical market, and active in France as Gifrer. It operates in a B2B market with a team of sales reps who sell directly to pharmacists — and its ambitions reach as far as those of the major players, which is why it adjusted its go-to-market strategy.
During that process, Qualiphar wanted to avoid losing sight of the customer. Customer feedback shows whether customers respond well to strategic changes, so the company can intervene and maintain the relationship between its sales reps and their pharmacists.
Hello Customer arrived just in time, as we wanted to be able to monitor strategic changes closely and understand how our customers responded to them, in order to prevent churn.
What they needed to solve
Independent pharmacists aren't obliged to sell any specific brand — which makes the relationship the whole game. Three things had to work during the strategy change.
Qualiphar wants to reinforce its market position in Belgium with a sustainable growth strategy — a change process where companies typically look inward and too little at what the customer thinks.
Products are distributed mainly via pharmacies, so the one-on-one relationship between sales rep and pharmacist needs close follow-up.
Awareness of the customer's importance had to grow as part of the strategy, involving more departments in the CX programme.
How Qualiphar uses Hello Customer
When pricing changes drew negative feedback, the numbers told a subtler story: the changes didn't actually hurt customers — some sales reps just hadn't communicated them clearly. Qualiphar picked that up quickly and improved its communication, using feedback as an opportunity to explain decisions better. You can make changes, but when the relationship starts to fail, it makes little sense to go through with them.
Feedback after a visit is shared with the sales manager and the rep, who work on concrete action points and are mature enough to participate in closing the loop themselves. Customers are often surprised by the speed: 'I've only just completed the survey, and you're already calling!' That immediate interaction helps customers understand decisions — and reinforces the rep's knowledge of each pharmacist.
A constant flow of feedback enters the conversation, and all managers receive the insight reports — not only commercial management but production management too. It keeps the project alive and shows exactly where customers' sensitivities lie, making feedback negotiable in every part of the company.
Results
Sharing post-visit feedback with sales managers and reps strengthened the one-on-one relationships that carry the business. By using feedback as an opportunity to explain its decisions better, Qualiphar increased market share in specific submarkets like coughing medication and sore-throat treatments.
And the programme now lives throughout the entire organisation: on both the business and the production side, employees take the sensitivities of Qualiphar's customers into account on a daily basis.
Hello Customer provides us with a tool to keep an eye on the customer and to do something with their feedback in the midst of our change process. The tool makes customer input part of the discussion and ensures that we keep the customer in the back of our minds.An De MulderBusiness Unit Director Belgium, Qualiphar
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