and priorities and then delivering
a product or service in a highly
engaging way that builds trust and
connection will ensure loyalty.
Eric Shapiro: We train the sales
force on some very specific scientific information, which is very
challenging. A diagnostic rep may
have a biology undergraduate or
graduate background yet still have
to present in a way that resonates
with the customer, while telling a
compelling story. One other thing
that remains critical is understanding what makes our offering
unique from the customer’s perspective. How do we communicate
why the customer should want to
work with us and our technology?
Eric Halvorson: Creativity is very
important to our organization. We
will not follow the same path as
the other players, we are looking
for differentiated people, products,
Services, and process to better
serve our customers.
Dave Saunders: Our company is
still in the preclearance stage for
our surgical robotics platform,
which gives us the advantage of
not needing to make changes to
our existing sales force when we
are ready to go to market. When
we are ready to go to market, we
will equip our sales team with an
updated playbook.
Wally Haddick: When we did
our work years ago improving
our product launch process at a
prior company, we saw one of the
biggest issues was a linear process
from customer requirements to the
eventual commercial launch. There
were hand-offs from one stage to
the next and one department to
the next. The institutional learning
about the customer experience was
lost in these transitions. The most
important organizational need is
to ensure “swim lanes” vs. “silos”
within key departments during
product and market reviews. In-
sights are not exclusive to market-
ing. When researching, develop-
ing, and putting the message into
practice, all shareholders need to
talk and at all stages of the product
lifecycle.
What do you have to do to
address the challenges in terms
of marketing?
Christie Blakely: From a marketing perspective it is becoming
more and more about delivering value and enhanced patient
outcomes than anything else.
Surgeons and facilities are being assessed more critically than
ever, and if a company cannot
provide savings AND a product
that performs consistently, then
they will not be successful. So for
marketing, we have to define and
articulate a solid value proposition
backed with clinical data. Period.
Eric Halvorson: Guerilla marketing. You will not see us advertising
in the major journals. You will see
and hear about us through social
media, KOLs, and MD to MD.
Eric Shapiro: I went to a course a
few weeks ago on biotech for managers, and the things that are being
learned at the cellular level can
give you incredible information
that was unimaginable just a few
years ago. In the past the industry
was much more focused on addressing a specific targeted disease.
Now we have multiple tests that
span a wide variety of syndromes.
The pace of innovation we have to
work with in the diagnostic space
feels much more rapid than when I
was in devices.
But marketing is still marketing.
It’s about identifying the unmet
need, and prioritizing that versus
other unmet needs, then building
a compelling business case with
an understanding of the opportunity relative to the total available
market.
Wally Haddick: Dixon and
Adamson note that 80% of marketing collateral winds up in the
trash and 30% of sales time is
spent reproducing the collateral! I
remember one call to a doctor as
an inexperienced pharmaceutical
sales person. I was giving my pitch
and handing the collateral over
Moving Forward
