By Rob Kinslow, Sr. Strategist, Brand Communication, KHJ Brand Activation
I’m just back from a morning conference called "The Doctorectomy: Charting Commercial Success with the Rise of the C-Suite Decision-Maker." Kudos and thank-you to Tom Sommer of MassMEDIC for once again assembling a stellar group of presenters and panelists. Although the 1 physician on the panel objected to the title of the conference, reminding everyone that physicians are still part of the purchase decision, the topic couldn’t be more timely: How do medtech companies sell to a much wider swath of stakeholders (e.g., value assessment committees) that includes executives who have never cut open a patient?
Not surprisingly, panel and audience didn’t come up with definitive answers in our 90 minutes together. But future success also requires asking the right questions, and I would say that many of us left that meeting with better questions.
For me the epiphany was this: Instead of asking "How?" try asking, "What if?"
- What if a hospital could say (and prove) that people living in its catchment area live longer? Healthier? Isn’t that an ultimate measure of accountability? Wouldn’t that be a powerful marketing message for that hospital?
- What if the hospital offered innovative cardiac technologies, for example, enabling it to show that heart disease was lower in its communities? (Or at least not going up?)
- What if you as a medtech provider could help the hospital say and prove these points?
- What if you could prove, either with actual data or with data projections – data modeling – how your device could contribute to that live-longer-live-healthier value proposition?
If they aren’t already, people are going to grow more painfully aware of how much of their daily bread is eaten up taking care of their health. Today, many spend more time shopping for a car than they do for a primary care physician or hospital. All of this is going to change.
If you as a device provider have to prove to a hospital or GPO committee that your device is an excellent value, don’t forget that these decision-makers will also have to prove the same to their constituents – the patients. What if you could you help them do that?
What if?
This is the Brand and Beyond™ blog, a new resource for the medical device industry. Brand and Beyond™ is sponsored by KHJ, headquartered in Boston, MA. KHJ is a strategic brand activation firm that is passionate about helping people see and realize what’s possible for themselves and the world around them.