The Majority Report: What Most Clinicians Say They Want

By By Tom Stovall and Dusty Grainger
of Stovall Grainger Inc.

In Stephen Spielberg's recent movie, "The Minority Report," we are introduced to a future vision of the power of humanity and technology. One interesting aspect of the movie, at least for us "gadget freaks," was the method used by advertisers to target their message to the individual. Tom Cruise's character is seen walking through shopping malls as the individual stores and 3D advertisements call out to him by name and pitch their products. Though this movie was futuristic, the idea of using information to target your message and win competitive advantage is far from new.

The ancient strategist, Sun Tzu, said that information is the key to competitive positioning. He said that "…those who use it will win. Those who do not will fall to defeat." Successful product positioning depends upon your ability to target your message to the specific needs of your customers and to their larger organizations.

We have recently completed several interviews with healthcare providers. This included physicians, pharmacists, hospital administrators, laboratory directors, purchasing agents, etc. Without fail, when we ask them how they would improve the relationship between sales professionals and themselves, they respond that they need more specific information that is relevant to both their clinical and business performance objectives. One sub specialty internist said that he was often confused by the messages he received from sales people. He felt that overlapping sales zone teams were ineffective because the messages were not consistent from one presentation (or presenter) to the other.

Clinicians all voiced a need for sales people to be more knowledgeable regarding the "business" impact that their products and services could bring to the practice. However, this requires a sales person to shift from a pure clinical message to one that incorporates a more thorough knowledge of the clinician's business challenges. Without fail, these clinician's said that they would spend more time with sales people who have a broader knowledge of the healthcare marketplace and demonstrate that in their dialogue.

The challenge to this is that it requires the sales person to take more responsibility for learning about the healthcare marketplace. Do you know what the top 5 business issues are for healthcare professionals? If you don't, then you might need to do some research!

The challenge of becoming more knowledgeable about your customer's world is yours. It isn't something that you can expect to download from some database or get handed to you by someone in the home office. It comes from taking the time to get more interested in what is going on in your customers' worlds. In an earlier article, we gave you some questions you might want to start asking. There is time to do it, and you must look at this as an ongoing process. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The old axiom that you shouldn't ask a question, for which you don't already have the answer, is for lawyers! Your customers don't expect you to have all the answers. They don't. That's why they do a diagnosis before they prescribe.

Access is the key! Those who have a more complete understanding of the challenges their customers are facing, will be able to position their products and services in ways that quickly grab the attention of their customers. This leads to time and dialogue with customers. And there is no way that quantity of calls can overcome quality of dialogue.

Your ability to gain and use targeted information to position yourself will lead to success. As Sun Tzu said: "Information that comes far from the field of battle is essentially worthless; it will impoverish the strategist."

About the author

Tom Stovall and Dustin Grainger are the founders of Stovall Grainger Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia. They are a consulting and training organization working exclusively in the healthcare marketplace. They can be reached through their website at: www.sgbci.com

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