Non-Clinical Customers Are People Too

Non-Clinical Customers

Are People Too!

Coman Fullard

Senior Digital Strategist | Continuum

Strategic focus on

• value

• partnership

Relationship Aspiration

The Sad Reality?

Price

Haggling

Barriers to Aspirations

Treating Non-Clinical Customers as a faceless morass

Lack of engagement from customers

Lack of trust

Remember

Marketing

is NOT what you do TO people,

it is

what you do FOR them

See Non-Clinical Customers as Individuals

Who are they?

What are their needs?

How might one be different from another?

How? Segmentation!

Break non-clinical customers into sub-groups with

• similar needs &

• similar behaviours

Simple Non-Clinical Segmentation

Lo Hi

Lo

H

i

Resp

onsi

bili

ty

Strategic-Mindset

Simple Segment Characteristics …

Senior & tactical

Rebate focus

Senior & strategic

Total value focus

Junior & tactical

Discount focus

Junior & strategic

Trades for value

… & Tactics

Educate Convert

Avoid Support

The Benefits of This Approach

• Stop generic offerings

• Match individual needs to offering

• Highlight customers problems

• Use content marketing to ATTRACT segments

Buyer Personas

• Idealised representatives of segments

• Basis for content marketing programme:

• Describe their problems

• Offer solutions

• Show your role in solution

Persona Elements 1 – WHO?

Background – Job, Career, Family

Demographics – Sex, Age, Income, Location

Identifiers – Demeanour, Communication preferences

Persona Elements II – WHAT?

Goals

Challenges

What can we do to help

• Achieve goals• Overcome challenges

“Real Quotes

• About Goals & Challenges

Common Objections

• Why wouldn’t they buy your offering

Persona Elements III – WHY?

Persona Elements IV – HOW?

Marketing Messages

Elevator Pitch

Buyer Persona Worked Example

Terry The

Trader

Who is Terry the Trader?

• Will trade one cost for another

• Buys premium products providing

unique/efficient outcomes while

driving discounts on commodities to

cover premiums

• Tech savvy & inquisitive

• Junior & ambitious

• Strong grasp of role

• Broadly strategic in approach.

What are Terry’s Goals & Challenges?G

oals •Deliver efficiency targets

• Impact hospitals strategic

priorities.

What can we do to help?

• Communicate operational efficiencies

• Explicitly match offering to hospitals

strategic priorities

• Educate on new ideas in procurement.

• Provide support material to aid in

driving change.

Ch

allen

ges • Identify satisfyingly strategic

savings - easy options

already gone

•Drive changes despite

narrow area of responsibility

Why does Terry do what he does?

“I will pay more for

products that release

funding elsewhere in the

system, or support my

hospitals strategic goals …

and I will negotiate hard

on commodities to pay for

that up-front investment.”

“I need to pass through several

management stage gates before I can

drive a change through. This process

requires a lot of effort and evidence”

“I am happiest when I can take a

broader view of procurement

and how it impacts the system,

but I must balance my books as

well. That is how I am measured”

Why wouldn’t he buy now? Objections

There are no

efficiencies inherent

in your offering

Not enough evidence

to support your claim

of efficiencies

Too expensive based on your

products performance, I can

get cheaper elsewhere.

Satisfied with the incumbent,

the area you are focusing on

is not a strategic priority

right now

Your terms are too

restrictive.

Already carrying

multiple suppliers

in this category

How to describe your solution to Terry

• Link it to his hospitals strategic priorities & show it directly addressing those.

• Value that linkage – commit to a benefit.

• Demonstrate the evidence & tools to help him install this change.

• Show this change is in line with medical & strategic procurement thinking.

What next?

Now you know:

• Who Terry is

• What he needs help with

• How you can help him

Next:

• Build a content marketing plan matching Terry’s needs

• Develop promotional campaigns to attract him

• Nurture him through subsequent interactions

• Leverage marketing automation to qualify him

Conclusion

Non-clinical customers are online right-now,

searching for solutions to their problems.

Are they finding your content, or a competitors? Who do you think they will build trust with?

Treating them as humans increases the chance

to connect about more than price.

Coman FullardSenior Digital Strategist | Continuum

Follow me at

Twitter: @ComanFullard

LinkedIn: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/comanfullard

Website: www.continuum.iein.com/in/comanfullard