DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SERIES - The everything and nothing of the customer experience
I was delighted to have a conversation with Dario Safaric as part of my Digital Transformation Series.
Dario, in addition to running the NEXT Pharma Summit events, is the VP of Sales and Marketing at Media-Soft. They operate in over 40 countries and it's his responsibility for creating and running global marketing initiatives. He's organised more than 25 events in 14 countries.
He loves spending time with his family, reading, cars and sports. He's also a big fan of the Premier League and a Tottenham supporter.
When we first met online, I remember reaching out about the NEXT Pharma Summit in Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was on my bucket list; the whole city looked unreal. It was one of the easiest decisions I've made to attend last year. It was such a good experience and I really got to know Dario when we met in person; he has such an aura - he is both creative and genuine.
His event was so different from others I've attended. So fun and creative—no cliché chats. It reminded me of the good old sales conferences where you got a lot done but left feeling energised as you've also had fun. He did a great job - it wasn't just an event but a really good experience.
I'm so excited to attend this year and reunite with my colleagues. Funnily enough, some of the people I've interviewed on this series, I met on the dancefloor at the after-party.
What drew you to the pharmaceutical industry?
I entered Pharma over fifteen years ago, and my entrance was into our family-owned company. I now hold the position of VP of Sales and Marketing. Pharma is a complex industry. I consider it a club that's super hard to get in, but once you're in, you're in.
The industry is quite conservative yet refreshing because it's always looking for alternative ways to do things differently.
How do you customise marketing strategies and enhance that customer experience in such diverse geographies?
Good question, but I'd say the answer is quite simple. At the end of the day, Pharma has the same needs across the globe. If you look at sales teams in France, Brazil, Serbia, or any other country, the majority of those people are working in the same way. You have to make that value proposition and differentiate yourself.
One of my greatest pillars of how you can do this is through customer experience. If you think about Amazon, Apple, or Netflix, it doesn't mean they are the superior product, but the customer experience is much better. It all breaks down to customer experience. This is my DNA - I really try to make memories and create great customer experiences.
Do your three teams sit together or how do they communicate?
We do talk! They have distinct areas where they are active. For example, we are working on a project where we created an avatar that uses Generative AI to provide patients with answers regarding one of our products. The analytics team are experts with Generative AI and the DSpace are experts at developing digital solutions, this is where you start to see more connections. Together they can even achieve more with established functions like medical commercial or even market access.
What makes you so passionate about customer experience?
Customer experience is everything in life, right? You have some super products and super brands, but they can fail due to very bad marketing or reputation.
The financial industry is a good example. If you look at the average bank, you see huge marketing budgets, great ads, then you go to the bank, and at the front desk you see an unhappy face, and they're not delivering that experience. You see a huge gap between the promise/the value proposition and the delivery.
Let's go one step back, I learned that customer experience was the most important thing from the hospitality industry. I'm a huge fan of great restaurants and hotels; I love to travel. You really see the difference from average to superb.
Especially in a restaurant, if you add great customer experience to great food, this is a game-changer. This was the moment when I realised that customer experience is the most exciting thing. The most important part is how can you implement it across your channels and across your whole organisation. This is the most critical part for Pharma as we are still working across the different silos: medical, commercial, marketing and the silos are not speaking to each other. How can we actually have a unified customer engagement strategy if we're not unified? Imagine you visit a restaurant and the hostess isn't synchronised with the waiters and chefs?
Do you have a specific example of how you've brought the customer experience into channels?
That's an interesting question. There is no one-size-fits-all. Everything starts with your customer. You need to know your customer. You need to know what they want and need. The majority of the industry still has the mindset that everything is structured around quantity.
In the CRM, we still put the number of visits, but there's no data that describes the quality of the visit or the need of the HCP.
Secondly, I'm very surprised that we still have the mindset that we need to cover all HCPs. I think that is just impossible! Why? Because, for example, it's impossible for us to have everyone in the Pharma industry visit NEXT Pharma Summit.
We should focus on the real customers, on the real HCPs, and deliver added value to those particular HCPs as it's impossible to cover everyone. The third key pillar is all about the personalisation of the channel. Ask your customer what channels they want to use, then deliver that particular experience. It sounds simple, but we know it isn't.
Do you think Pharma really understands the pain point and delivers it or do they just push messages?
I would say we are still in this push marketing environment.
Time is one of the most critical parts when it comes to customer experience because at the end of the day if you deliver the message the HCP wants at the wrong time, you won't be successful. How do you know the time is right?
Again this leads us to insights. You should know what the HCP wants and when they want it and at the end of the day, you should deliver what they want. Put that into insights and repeat that.
I love the way you focus on customer experience!
The most expensive channels for Pharma are the reps. What has changed in the last ten years when it comes to the rep? They still use the channels more or less in the same way. There are now different capabilities and different types of software, but at the end of the day, the role hasn't changed that much.
What inspired you to start NEXT Pharma and what's your main goal behind this initiative?
During my time at Media-Soft I have attended all the major Pharma conferences in Europe and what I felt over the years was that the conferences were repetitive. You see recycled content and recycled faces. They had really bad on-site production and you still see old-fashioned tech being used.
Then I went to my first conference in the States and it was really mind-blowing. I thought it would be nice to have something like this in Europe.
I saw how a conference should look like. It was all about looking into the future and sparking discussion. It had an atmosphere where people weren't afraid to speak. I had the idea to start my own conference and back in 2018 I said ok let's start the journey and launched our website in October.
It was super tough as many speakers declined in the beginning as we didn't have the track record. But there was a small group of people who recognised what we were trying to do.
Our first year we had about 140/150 delegates, then we got momentum as we received very positive recommendations. We heavily prepared for 2020 and suddenly Covid hit. Of course, it was a tough thing. In February 2020, everyone was afraid. I immediately knew it wouldn't be possible to host an in-person event in May so we postponed for September. People were shouting, saying I was crazy and asking why I was doing it. I saw the compounding of new cases.
So, we got stuck into virtual! Long story short during 2 1/2 Covid years we had seven virtual courses and engaged with 26,000 attendees and we grew the business and our reputation. During COVID, we changed the business model to attract our future conference by offering free registration for virtual conferences if you had a Pharma email. The vendors still had to pay. We really adjusted and found an interesting model that allowed us to grow by initially giving something for free.
2022 was a great year and 2023 was a super amazing year in Dubrovnik. We are doing the very same things today. It is a journey and I would still consider ourselves the new kid in town.
How did Vienna go and what did I miss?
The Dubrovnik event is all about commercial, digital marketing, AI and tech and we structure the agenda so that everything is related across those challenges and functions.
In Vienna, we took a different journey; we really wanted to put the problem at the heart, which is the customer experience and how Pharma can finally move from that engagement mindset. So, instead of counting visits, delivering a much more customer-authentic experience. We ended up with two super different events.
The Vienna event was all about inspiring Pharma peers about how to move the needle. We proved that Pharma speakers wanted to be key note speakers and roughly 80% of delegates were Pharma professionals, not vendors.
It was a great event in a beautiful city. I actually lived in Vienna for seven years and consider it to be my second home.
Talking about tech! How do you integrate GenAI to tailor your marketing strategies and does that help you spot trends and customer communication to local market dynamics?
GenAI is a buzzword, we should explore and use AI in the fields that would benefit our audience. I don't want to make AI the problem; I want to make it the solution.
There are some places where AI is just not applicable but you have an area where it is. On the marketing and sales side, we are using GenAI. It's not just thinking about what AI could solve, it's breaking down what the customer needs and what the industry needs.
For the Vienna event, I initially thought that everyone would want to speak about AI but less than 5 percent of all titles used the word AI. If you want to solve the issue of customer experience, you have to be candid fair and open, and AI won't solve those problems and at the end of the day people realised if they wanted to move the needle they wouldn't speak about AI. It may be part of the solution but it's not the final solution.
AI will change everything and nothing. For example, if I visited McDonald's I would be fine with AI being used. But imagine if went to a Michelin-star restaurant and everything was based on AI. It's just not applicable. There are certain industries where it just won't be used.
But we as humans are super bad at predicting the future, otherwise, we would have flying cars like was predicted 20 years ago. No one knows what the future of AI will be.
We need to focus on listening to HCPs and pivoting to what they tell us. What do you think?
That's why we have two ears and one tongue. Listening is so important, and everything breaks down to the customer's needs. The whole experience flow starts and ends with the customer. If you don't understand that you will fail.
Maybe we should think about how to rebuild the foundations to create a different journey.
If you could have a lasting impact on the Pharma industry what would you want to be your legacy?
I'm too young to speak of a legacy.
The journey which we've started is about creating a platform where Pharma can move the needle, where Pharma can collaborate and think about how to be better. I don't consider NEXT a conference; I consider it a community. I think we have really loyal people who really want to come to NEXT.
For the time being, my legacy is building a Pharma platform where we can collaborate and think about ideas. In terms of a long-term legacy, I see myself definitely in Pharma. Who knows where the journey will lead us/me!
Conclusion
Dario has made his mark; he has been disruptive and visionary, and he has created a platform and community for Pharma professionals to engage and create magic together. Dario has created a Nirvana that Pharma could strive for when it comes to internal events.
I'm absolutely gutted I missed Dario's event in Vienna but I can't wait to head to the NEXT Pharma Summit in Dubrovnik again in May! See you there?