The topic of the 8th annual Connected Health Symposium was timely: Driving Quality Up and Costs Down:  New Technologies for an Era of Accountability.  Nevertheless, what made it a great conference were the fresh perspectives it brought to the fore.

Measurement, analysis, and communication are imperative

Brent James, the Chief Quality Officer at Intermountain Health Care, set the stage by describing how he and his employer, Intermountain, have succeeded in simultaneously improving health care quality and decreasing costs.  He credits this achievement to the incorporation of baseline protocols into the clinical workflow, followed by continuous improvement.

According to James, despite the explosion of knowledge and technology over the last 200 years, modern medicine has continued to rely on individual’s judgment rather than measurement.  James observes that this ongoing dependence on subjective recall has led to tremendous variation in the practice of medicine, a paucity of valid clinical knowledge about best treatments, long lags between identification of best practice and its dissemination (more than 15 years), and a “striking inability to do what works”.

The solution, James argued, is building standard baseline protocols into clinical workflows, which individual physicians are then free to override.  James says that this methodology is effective because standardization allows clinicians to spot what works–something they can’t do when everyone practices medicine a different way.

Then, it’s a matter of iteration.  Over time, employment of this process has helped Intermountain achieve better quality and lower costs than many of its larger, better-funded peers.

Better health depends on reducing income disparities

Next up was Kate Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.  Her perspective is a macroeconomic one.

Drawing on a number of statistics, Pickett argued that income disparity is the most powerful predictor of health at a societal level.  Displaying chart after chart, she demonstrated that citizens of countries such as Denmark and Japan have better health, and life expectancies, than citizens of wealthier countries such as the US and the UK where the income gap, from richest to poorest, is greater.

In a follow up interview, she offered possible explanations.  Among these are that inequality erodes trust–and that people in lower strata of society experience anxiety and stress when they believe there is no hope of upward mobility.

Many more perspectives covered

This post summarizes some of the insights from the first two keynotes.  Over the course of two days, each presentation added a different way of looking at the issues related to improving health care quality and cost.

The business of health care

There were sessions about reimbursement, medication adherence, accountable care, and financing health care.  And, there were lots of demos on innovative technology.

The psychology of motivating change

In addition, however, there were a number of talks about motivating desirable behavior.  Examples included sessions on using games to promote better health, biofeedback, self-quantification, and even tips for effectively communicating health information to the distractible multi-tasking consumers of health information that make up the next generation.

Connecting the dots

I found that I spent much of the conference thinking about not just the topic at hand, but about the implications of each talk for other topics discussed at the conference.  Luckily, the event producers recorded many of the panels, and presentations, as there was a lot to absorb in just two short days.

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The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium’s spring workshop on Analytics, Data and Accountability centered on how data and analytics must change as the U.S. health care system moves from paying for volume to paying for value.  Nevertheless, the ultimate message may have been, that as always, it takes people, process, and data to effect dramatic change.

Clearly, the devil will be in the details of the integration of these three elements.  The conference was rich with case studies of what works and warnings about where the challenges lie.

Employers seek health care value vs. volume

Dr. Allan Gorroll, MD gave a great overview of the issues from the perspective of practicing primary care physicians to set the context for the day.  He pointed out that employers, as the entities that foot the bill, are driving the change.

Clinical data trumps transactional data

Dr. Gorroll noted that we will require clinical data to measure performance and outcomes, rather than the claims-based transactional data we are gathering today.  Moreover, it must be reliable, available at the point of care in real time, and risk-adjusted by patients’ health status.

Need transparent, meaningful, actionable metrics

The metrics must be based on evidence and clinically meaningful to doctors and patients–and agreed to by all stakeholders.  Metrics need to measure the percentage improvement, adhere to rules of statistical significance, be transparent and actionable, and measure the full spectrum of care.

Admirable goal, much work remains

In addition to holding providers accountable for health outcomes, Dr. Gorroll said we will need to match risk and reward and reform liability.  My conclusions:  the goals are admirable; success depends on strong data; obtaining the necessary data will be challenging–and require substantive change by all stakeholders.

It takes time to enact improvements

Dana Gelb Safran, up next, spoke about Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA’s Alternative Quality Contract.  This 5-year contract holds providers accountable for health status across the continuum regardless of where patients actually receive their care.

Must pay for managing quality as well as cost

Providers receive a global payment for care that BCBS ties to performance and performance improvement.  Rather than growing by the health care inflation rate, increases depending on the much slower growth of the Consumer Price Index.  Providers benefit financially when they reduce the cost of the care they deliver, follow certain evidence-based processes, and achieve specific outcomes.

Providers amenable to pay for performance

Building on Dr. Gorroll’s talk, she noted that providers are anxious to receive pay for performance.  In fact, she said that the physicians that piloted her organization’s programs asked that outcomes measures get triple weight.

Few reliable health care measures exist

One of the difficulties is that few totally reliable measures exist.  BCBS, therefore, uses an approach developed by Dr. Beckman that looks at performance variation for very narrow episodes of care where guidelines do exist.

Change begins with awareness

What BCBS has found is that providers were previously unaware of the degree of variation of their practice with their peers.  Receiving this information starts a conversation that ultimately leads to change.

Money talks

Safran reports that the approach is working.  Providers with AQC contracts are outperforming the organization’s other providers.

Commitment and access to data essential

While initial improvements came from actions such as choosing less expensive sites of care, they are now beginning to see changes in the actual practice of medicine.  Safran attributes success to leadership, use of reliable measures known to create value, and monthly access to health status data.

Data must be useful and compelling

Dr. David Goodman, MD MS from the Dartmouth Institute shared data to show how his organization reaches conclusions about the source of variation across regions.  In so doing, he described its use of small area data sets to minimize regional variations and data sets from multiple sources to mitigate weaknesses in each one.

In a compelling talk, using a number of case studies, he demonstrated that:

• Utilization varies by region even after controlling for health status.
• Differences in utilization account for most of the differences in per capital spending
• Utilization depends on provider supply

Nevertheless, like Gorroll and Safran before him, he noted change will depend on the availability of better data.  Key steps in overcoming resistance to findings include adjusting data for population differences and precisely attributing measures to particular providers.

All Payer Claims Data will provide the big picture

Seena Perumal Carrington from the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy provided an update on the Massachusetts All Claims Payer Database.  This and other regional databases will begin to address some of the data problems the previous speakers referenced.  In particular, these databases will address the whole population and the whole patient.  Achieving this goal will depend on collecting data from a number of sources and scrubbing it for accuracy and completeness.

Right care in right place: provide care at the community level

John Donlan of Steward Network Services described the initiatives his organization is taking to deliver the right care in the right place.  In most cases, this means serving more people in the community through health coaching, home care, and community hospitals.

Achieving results depends on credibility depends on data

Nevertheless, he told us success will depend on convincing stakeholders that they will receive high quality care in a community setting–and raising purchasers’ awareness of the premium they pay when their employees seek care outside the community.  Key parts of his strategy have been engaging physician leaders, attracting primary care providers, putting in place infrastructure to support care measurement and accountability, entering into risk-based contracts such as the AQC to get providers’ attention, and posting relative quality scores to show patients that local care is better.

Achieving results depends on closing the loop

At the same time, his organization is playing catch up on initiatives that support profitability under a fee for service structure.  Chief among these is reducing leakage by identifying sources of the problem and making it easier for providers to make referrals within the system.

Collaboration is key

Francois deBrantes of Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute summarized lessons learned from the Prometheus Pilots.  His message: there are a lot of moving parts to coordinate as organizations shift from health care volume to value.

Here are some of his main points:

• Payment reform requires massive change
• You need to have a strategic plan and stick to it.
• Step one is CEO engagement since business models must change first
• You can’t change what you can’t measure
• You need clean and complete claims and eligibility data to get a whole patient view
• Clinicians need actionable data in real time
• A comprehensive medical record is a must
• Feedback and comparative reporting assures practice improvement
• Profitability depends on quickly shifting entire organization from high volume to high margin

Perhaps his largest point was that providers and payers need to work together to effect change–as each needs data and services from the other.  Although it initially makes sense for them to upgrade their systems in parallel, he noted that eventually the two systems will need to merge.

The last presentations of the day brought in the pharmaceutical perspective.  Unfortunately, I was unable to stay for them.

Ultimately, we’re all in this together

Together, the presentations did a great job of stating the goals for health care reform, the critical success factors, and the challenges from all perspectives.  It also gave listeners a sense of the importance of greater collaboration among providers and between payers and providers.  It’s this type of integrated, evidence-based thinking that will accelerate the progress of health care reform.

Barbara Bix is a health care marketing consultant in the Boston area.  She specializes in working at the nexus of health care and technology.

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Shortly after I got up this morning, I strolled over to Marketing Over Coffee for a quick shot before heading off to work and found this great article, entitled How to restore the faded luster to marketing by Rich Guha.  In my opinion, it’s a “must read” for anyone looking to build a business or aiming to build a career in marketing.

It’s about the big picture

Referencing management heroes such as Peter Drucker and Ted Leavitt, the article discusses what companies have lost as marketing becomes more specialized. Guha advises marketers that wish to add significant value to the business to:

• Step back from tactics and understand the “theory of the business.”
• Understand what are the ways to measure performance which drive market value.
• Understand which levers in the business will increase market value.
• Regard tactics as components that can only be used with an understanding of the entire business plan.
• Understand the customer and end user intimately.
• Focus on Product, how it is priced, presented, and where it is available to customers.

It takes intimacy and integration to hit the mark

In short, he emphasizes the importance to successful businesses of a) understanding customers’ needs across the spectrum (yes, back to the 6 Ps*) and b) understanding which levers in the business will increase market value.  Without these important capabilities, front and center, companies often end up missing the mark and spending way too much on “marketing”.

Guha quotes Drucker as saying, “If Marketing were to do its job perfectly, Sales would not be needed.”  In other words, if you really understand all aspects of a prospects’ needs , products would sell themselves.

This is not the same as “build it and they will come”.  The needs to which Guha and Drucker are referring, go way beyond the product features and benefits.

Upfront investments in market intelligence save money

Nevertheless, Marketing can’t do the job perfectly.  That would require mind reading.   Still, an upfront investment in marketing research can save a lot of money down the road–if either the product, or its promotion and distribution, will cost a lot to accomplish.

There  are many ways to gather prospect  information from surveys to customer shadowing to watching click streams.  The key is knowing what you’re looking for, and how to use the information you get.

Else, you’re likely to miss the market window.  Or, if you’re “lucky” spend a lot of money on  rework until you get it right.

Start with deep customer insights

Therefore, a lot of companies are investing in developing buyer and user personae before making the much larger investments in product development and content. They capture the “voice of the customer” and then create archetypes for the three to five most important roles at the companies in their target market.

To bring these archetypes to life, many companies give them names.  These examples help multidisciplinary teams discuss and figure out “What Jane would do” or how “Mike would like to receive information”.

Test, iterate, refine

The most successful companies do this in an iterative fashion.  They gather information, form hypotheses, test their hypotheses, and then refine their hypotheses until they hit the measures they’ve set as goals.

Use high-fidelity prototypes

In the development world, see Eric Ries and Cindy Alvarez’ work on lean start-ups (although there is broad applicability for other product development groups).  In the usability world, see Jared Spool’s and Carolyn Snyder’s work on high-fidelity prototyping.

Watch customer behavior

As for communications, hypothesis testing is now the province of analysts that study click streams.  There, however, companies are still working out the timing .

Since digital communications are relatively inexpensive to produce and deliver,  many companies delay testing until after they launch.  It’s too early to have definitive data on how early missteps affect branding, or the extent to which upfront research could have prevented extensive rework.

Marketing never stops, always changes

Nevertheless, it’s not a perfect world.  You can’t anticipate all customer needs upfront.

Things are always in flux.  Economic conditions improve. Regulators introduce new rules.

Technology innovations make the improbable possible. Competitors’ actions cause priorities to shift.  For these reasons and others, it’s essential to gather information on an ongoing basis.

Assess which actions will have the greatest impact

As mentioned above, however, it’s equally important to know how to use the information you gather–or as Guha notes know which levers will increase business value.  This is especially important in a tight economy where companies can only afford to take the most effective actions.

Too often, companies focus too much on one of the “P’s”, to the detriment of the overall marketing effort.  Engineering firms will sometimes focus all their efforts on fine tuning the product, while “marketing organizations” expend too much on a particular type of promotion, relative to the return they’ll get on that investment.

Embrace diversity

This is where true marketers, who work with multidisciplinary teams, add their greatest value.  By understanding the whole customer, his/her environment, and impending change, he/she can help the company optimize the resources it takes to unite customer and solution.

Wondering where to start?  Test your preparedness by drawing on your market knowledge to create a compelling value proposition.  Or, learn more about the value creation process, first.

*Product, positioning, packaging, pricing, promotion, placement (sales channels or distribution)

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Last week, two colleagues called my attention to Google Profiles–which now links to all your online activity.  The first showed me his new and improved profile.  The second stumbled upon it as he was researching a company we were discussing–and his search also displayed comments from one of his colleagues about the company.

The hub for all your professional and personal information

Google Profiles now encourages you to enter information about yourself: your employment, your education, your interests, your relationship, places you’ve lived, your gender, and your contact information.  It also allows you to link to other websites of interest including your social media profiles and publications.

One stop shopping

Through this peephole, others have the potential to access all your activity across the web.  As mentioned above, Google is already using profile information, in search results, to let your connections know what you’ve said about a particular topic.  A year ago, Wired magazine’s poster Ryan Singel warned that Google profiles threaten privacy and make it easier for others to target you for crime or advertising.

Applications? Implications?

Is this Google’s attempt to improve search results?  To ward off competitive inroads from Facebook?  Or, something else?

I’m curious about its implications.  This morning, I searched on Google profiles and found relatively little commentary.  Are you creating a Google profile?  Why or why not?

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I have a friend with a son who is a sophomore in high school.  This morning, she told me that she can’t believe how many money colleges waste precious funds on expensive direct mail communications.  She described the quality of the paper, the outsized packaging, and the heft of the packages they’ve been receiving–all of which she tosses in the waste bin.

Direct marketing mail campaigns are often cost-effective

As a marketer, I told her that her would-be correspondents may not be wasting their money.  After all, college tuition for four years is now in excess of $100,000–perhaps more than her fully loaded salary as a manager at a Philadelphia-based research organization.  If only 1 or 2 students that they contact eventually enroll, a school can easily justify the cost of the mailing.

Success depends on a compelling value proposition

I suggested she open a few to see if they had a message that would compel her to act, something that was important to either her or her son.  So, she opened one that arrived yesterday.

Sell, don’t tell

As she expected, it was just like all the others.  It started by pointing out that her son ranks higher than most students in the country.  They knew that.

The letter said that they are seeking students who want the types of challenges and experiences, from which others shy away.  Then, the letter told him they were looking for students.

Response mechanisms can erect barriers

Finally, before closing by asking that her son visit their website or send them a card, they said they were a prestigious liberal arts college–even though they confided, they prefer to think of themselves as a school that nurtures collaboration for big results.  The Admissions Director included his phone number under his signature.

Good design contributes to the message

The collage of pictures on the letter didn’t seem to add to the message.  In fact, if one just saw the pictures, he or she would be hard-pressed to guess what the sender was advertising.

Most prominent was one of the Dalai Lama.  Another was of clinicians in an operating room.

Others were of people talking, a building, an outdoor snapshot, a row of apartments, and kids kicking a soccer ball.  There were also headshots of people of different races and national origins.

Calls to action must resonate

The calls to action encouraged students to give the school a chance to get to know them before they apply–and offered to provide advice that would help them apply to any school.

She threw the package away.  Now perhaps there are students with whom one of these marketing messages will resonate–but I think the schools can do a better job of convincing their correspondents to take the next step

Capitalize on the data you have

Clearly, this school was able to get students’ names, PSAT scores, and zip codes.  Even without additional information, they could probably guess the student’s sex–and assume that he or she was a sophomore in high school.

Think through the implications

From just the zip code, they knew that her home is in a middle-class community several hundred miles north of the school.  From that they could have discerned that the recipients likely weren’t aware of the school and would probably require financial aid.  Yet, nothing in the communication addressed either concern.

Step into the buyers’ minds

The letter writer had sufficient information to recognize that the main marketing messages wouldn’t resonate.   Having had no previous interaction with the school, which didn’t have a national reputation, neither mother or son was likely to care that the school was seeking students–or wanted a chance to get to know the son before he applied.  Moreover, there was no reason to believe that the family would contact a complete stranger for help applying to other schools.

The letter also didn’t speak to the son’s needs.  In March of his sophomore year of high school, the son wasn’t seeking out more challenges.  Instead, like most boys his age, he’s focusing on the here and now:  his schoolwork, his friends, his extra-curricular activities, and sports.

Timing is everything

Unless the school could obtain information from the PSAT administrators that would enable them to speak to his current needs, a letter to the son was premature.  Also, the chances are slim that any teenage would call an adult and this marketing communication didn’t offer an email option.

I had to agree with my friend’s initial assessment.  Even organizations that seek small response rates can’t afford scattershot approaches.

Create campaigns that generate leads

How much more effective would this lead generation campaign have been if the sender had:

• Focused on its most promising prospects
• Spoken to their needs and concerns
• Tailored its message to where prospects were in their buying process
• Tested its calls to action
• Offered multiple response mechanisms

My guess is that the college could have gotten a far better return on their marketing investment–if only they’d thought a little more about the audience–rather than focusing exclusively on their own goals.  The question is how often do businesses make many of the same mistakes?

Need help confirming assumptions about your audience?  Try our Revenue Accelerator Quick Start program.

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For that reason, I advise my clients to get as much information as they can about prospects’ and customers’ priorities–and then develop marketing messages that address those priorities.  Nevertheless, I left out one important tip.

Here’s the tip: look to your customer service department for help.  Earlier this month, I learned this lesson by direct example.

Speak to prospects’ priorities

My landscaper came to trim the hedges.  While he was here, he noticed that a city tree, adjacent to my property, had branches weaving in and out of the electric wires.

At his suggestion, I called the city.  The forestry department said they would send over someone to look at it.  Sure enough, I soon received a note on my door letting me know that the tree was now scheduled for trimming.

A few weeks later, after the holidays, I called back to check on the progress.  This time, I learned that there was a two-year waiting list.  The representative, therefore, suggested that I contact the electric company.

Actions speak louder than words

I then contacted electric company.  An hour later, someone rang the doorbell and asked me to move my car.  To my surprise, it was a representative from the electric company who had come to trim the tree.

Since several branches surrounded the wire, I asked if he could do some preventive trimming.  He said he would cut an 18″ box around the tree–and then went to work.

The right message at the right time

A couple days later I received a letter from the electric company.  Figuring it was related to a service contract, I opened it up.

Imagine my surprise–and delight–when I read the following message:

“Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding tree trimming and/or vegetation concerns in your area.  As a result of your inquiry, we were able to identify and correct the issue you reported.

Your attentiveness is appreciated as it helps us  work to prevent future tree-related service interruptions.  If you have other questions or concerns regarding vegetation issues, you may contact us at the following number.”

Content that reinforces value derived captures attention

Wow! Nstar really gets it.

They fixed a problem that I found important enough to report.   That made a good impression.

They did so immediately.  That was impressive.

Then, they thanked me for letting me know.  That message reinforced the value they had delivered.

Content that resonates with prospects’ priorities elevates your brand

Their thank you note paraphrased my concern about preventive maintenance.  Not only does that capture attention, it makes a lasting impression.

I had always been pleased with Nstar’s services, and therefore had not responded to competitors’ offers.  That said, I had no distinct impression of their brand.

I do now.

The media is not always the message

The business-to-business letter with first class postage, reminding me of the value I derive from Nstar, was more memorable than any dimensional piece they might send me to retain my business.

What steps can you take to get into your buyers’ mind?  More important, do you follow up when they shout their concerns from the rooftops?  If you do, how do the costs associated with your follow up actions compare to your promotion costs?

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Software value proposition for health care providers

Here’s the value proposition:

[Our medical record reporting system] helps [hospitals] [attract physician referrals] by [making it easy for physician offices to produce reports on demand].  Whereas [getting data out of medical record systems typically requires custom programming], our system [enables office administrators to produce reports themselves using a few simple commands].

Starting this year, physicians need to demonstrate “meaningful use” of medical records to qualify for financial incentives.  [Sign up for our system today and attract more referrals by becoming the hospital that helps physicians increase the reimbursement they receive from insurers.]

Inertia favors the status quo

For many organizations, purchasing new solutions represents risk. For this reason, there are strong motivations to maintain the status quo.

These organizations, therefore, will only act when they believe that doing so will give them a significant edge–or that failing to act will take them out of the game.  Therefore, it is incumbent upon vendors to persuade prospects that circumstances have changed–and maintenance of the status quo is no longer acceptable.

Look for change that will disturb the status quo

In this example, the vendor that created the above value proposition, looked for change that would disturb the status quo.  He found it in health care reform.

As of today, more than 50% of physician practices have implemented EHRs.  The ubiquitous installation of medical records will once again change the status quo.

Disturbances to the status quo create opportunity

Once physicians have electronic access to patient data, they will want applications that will help them improve the quality of the care they provide–or streamline operations and reduce costs.  The problem is that most EHRs deliver only standard reports, thereby creating an opportunity for a vendor that can help physicians access the information they are now collecting.

Follow the money

To help physicians unlock the data in their new electronic systems for other applications, the vendor in question created an “ad hoc” reporting system.  Because the average physician practice is relatively small, the company decided to target hospitals and hospital systems, in competitive markets, with its new solution.  Following the lead of the EHR vendors, their aim is to sell hospitals on subsidizing physicians’ purchases–to increase loyalty and referrals.

Developing a value proposition that compels action

To develop a value proposition that compels action, look for economic, social, cultural, regulatory, or technology changes that have the potential to disrupt the status quo.  Then, compel your prospects to action, by raising their awareness of the implications of this disruption for their business–and offering them a solution that will capitalize on the opportunity or minimize the associated risk.

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Learn from the past, capitalize on success

At the end of 2008, in Shorten the sales cycle next year:  Year end marketing planning, I advocated taking stock of what worked and what didn’t—so that you can capitalize on your successes and avoid repeating what turned out to be mistakes.   In particular, I suggested focusing on buyers’ perceptions in four areas: the desirability of the solutions, the reputation of the vendor, the effectiveness of the communications, and the responsiveness of the individuals leading the sales or business development effort.

Sales enablement software prods companies to focus on customers’ buying process

Two years later, few companies do the kind of structured analysis I recommended on an ongoing basis.  Yet, prodded by their acquisition of sales enablement software, many more companies are beginning down this path.

They’re developing buyer personas (based on past experiences) and mapping their best customers’ buying processes to identify points where they can influence the ultimate outcome of the sale. So, we’re making progress.

Product teams incorporate customer feedback throughout the development process

On the product development front, product teams are increasingly using a process called “customer development” that calls for learning and iterating rather than linear execution.  This methodology, introduced by Steve Blank in the Four Steps to the Epiphany, and popularized by Eric Ries among others, advocates using minimally viable products (prototypes) to gather customer feedback throughout the development process.  This methodology also requires developers to validate the product market fit–before they launch new products–by finding early customers who will pay for the product under development.

Strategy trumps tactics

Last year, I questioned the seeming emphasis on demand generation and lead gen–at the expense of longer term strategic investments.  At the time, the economy was at its worst and  a lot of companies felt they couldn’t afford to invest in gaining deep customer insights.

Today, with increasing competition, many realize they can’t afford not to invest in learning about their best prospects’ buying processes.  Moreover, automation has dramatically reduced the cost of gaining deep customers insights.  No longer do companies need to invest a lot of money in travel or convening a group of users at a common location to get deep customer insights.  In fact, they have lots of relatively inexpensive options for doing so:  social media, online communities, web analytics, online marketing research, and online usability tests to name a few.

Automation prompts strategic thinking–and makes it affordable

Each of these avenues is:

• relatively inexpensive to administer (the bits travel, the administrators stay put),

• offers greater reach and access than more traditional research methods (anyone with an Internet connection can participate), and is

• more usable (automated tools for compiling and analyzing the data each creates are now accessible the non-statistician).

In fact, one of the experts I interviewed for a blog post, pointed out that digital marketing, by making it so easy to relate behavior to outcomes, has opened the door to strategy.

Customer research has crossed the chasm

I ended last year by asking, “Will 2010 be the year of the customer?”.   Twelve months later, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve crossed the chasm–and that we’re definitely marching in that direction.

Too bad I couldn’t locate that crystal ball.  I’m wondering what the future holds….

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Evidence shows that patients often forego treatment that could save their lives

The implication, although not explicitly tied to this finding, was that better engagement would increase the likelihood that patients would be less likely to foregoing life-extending surgery.  (The article references an earlier AMA study that showed that 1/3 of patient people diagnosed with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer opted not to have surgery that would extend their lives by 400%–from one year to four years.)

Would B2B marketing strategies, for the complex sale, apply to health care?

Assuming engagement matters, which one intuitively would believe it does, what was missing from the post were details about effective engagement.  In short, it begs the questions who, what, when, where, and how–the questions that business-to-business marketers focus on daily as they aim to change behavior in complex sales situations.

5 questions B2B marketers might ask before determining how to influence patient behavior

According to last year’s Pew study, the number one and number two sources people turn to for health counsel are their physicians and their social circle.  Follow up questions to the study cited in yesterday’s article (or at least the post about the study) include:

1) Who must communicate the information to increase the likelihood of engagement? The patient’s health care providers?  If so, should the communication be with the specialist, the primary care provider or another clinician?  Or, is it more important that family and friends engage with the patient?

2) When must communication occur? On the day of diagnosis?  A week later?  On an ongoing basis?

3) What communication is most effective? Statistics about health outcomes?  Recommendations as to how to proceed? Explanations of what to expect before, during, and after treatment?

4) How should communicators relay the information for maximum impact? In person?  Over the phone?  Some form of less personal communication?

5) What would make the communication more credible and powerful? Reprints of articles with information that patients may find useful? Videos of others’ experiences with the same condition?  Family members’ concerns about the impact it will have on their lives?  A Q and A session with the clinician–or the clinical team?

What’s the best way to influence patient behavior?

Have you seen other studies that address these questions?  If so, are B2B marketing techniques helpful when it comes to aiding patients (who are really consumers) make the complex decisions associated with choosing appropriate medical care?

Related posts:

1. Motivating Behavior Change: Where the rubber hits the road in health care and sustainability
2. How will Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) improve quality and reduce costs?
3. Enabling health care delivery in the community
4. Health care IT: Lives depend on good design

According to Marketo’s Andrew Spoeth, the average B2B buyer receives 20+ campaign touches per week. What this means is that prospects will only pay attention to that information they deem highly relevant to their situations.

Know  prospects’ priorities

If we want to capture prospects’ attention, engage their interest, and ultimately win their business we need to speak directly to our prospects’ highest priorities.  What that means is that we need a way of determining what these highest priorities are.

There are many ways to find out. Examples include social listening, reading analyst reports, or querying our sales forces.

Go to the source

Nevertheless, I’ve found that the best way to find out what prospects will find most relevant is to ask recent prospects. After all, they’ve just gone through the entire buying process–and likely still remember what information they were seeking at each stage.

Best of all, each of these accounts was a highly qualified buyer for our products or services. Else, we wouldn’t have spent valuable sales time with them.

Perform win loss post mortems

In a clever post yesterday, Jeff Henning made a similar point. He observed that while losing a customer is painful, failing to learn anything from that loss is even worse.

Nevertheless, few capitalize on the opportunity to perform win loss post mortems. In fact, Pragmatic Marketing, a company that trains product managers and product marketing managers on best practices, found that less than 25% of the population they surveyed engages in this process.

Cindy Alvarez, a strong advocate for customer feedback offered a number of reasons why companies rarely solicit feedback in her post The Real Reason Companies Avoid Feedback. Whatever the reason, my advice to companies that want to develop relevant content is, “Get over it”.

The new win loss analysis looks nothing like it did in the past

In a follow up post, I’ll describe how to get the customer feedback you require to develop relevant content. While, I recommend win loss post mortems, these are not your forebears’ win loss reports.

Those analyses started with the point the prospect first connected with Sales. Today, sales comes late to the party so we need to start much earlier.

Ready to start?  Download 5 actions you can take to generate more sales-ready leads.

Related posts:

1. Content that captures attention