What Happens When Pharma Starts Listening?

Update: 2025-11-13

Description

In this episode of Pharma Sessions, host Jonathan Kaskey is joined by Jens Øllgaard, Head of Customer Experience at Novo Nordisk, to discuss how forward-thinking pharma leaders are dismantling silos between medical and commercial teams, leveraging AI-driven insights, and fundamentally reimagining how field teams create value in an era of declining physician access.

What You’ll Learn:

How to reposition your field force from message-pushers to insight-gatherers
Why hiring 50% of your customer experience team from outside pharma unlocks competitive advantage
How to turn objections into product innovation signals using AI-powered debrief workflows
The RFM framework as an underutilized tool for pharma customer segmentation
Why customer service channels are goldmines of strategic insight that most pharma organizations ignore
How to engage younger physicians outside clinical settings where they actually have time to decide.

Jens is an innovative leader in Customer Experience and Commercial Excellence at Novo Nordisk, bringing a unique perspective shaped by dual expertise as a medical doctor and experienced pharmaceutical strategist. With a background spanning clinical practice, research, and medical scientific liaison roles, Jens has spearheaded the critical intersection of medical, commercial, and data-driven strategy, challenging traditional pharma approaches to HCP engagement.

Episode Highlights

[00:00 ] Introduction
[02:09 ] From Medicine to Market
[03:58 ] Medical vs. Sales: Who Really Listens?
[06:15 ] Customer-Centric Pharma Starts with Listening
[08:46 ] Flipping the Funnel: Reps as Insight Engines
[11:26 ] AI in the Driver’s Seat
[13:56 ] Experiment, Fail, Learn, and Repeat
[16:56 ] The Hiring Strategy That Works
[20:50 ] RFM in Pharma
[22:14 ] Meeting HCPs Where They Scroll
[23:18 ] Jens’ Advice to His Younger Self