Take it to market
Some say after you get internal and external feedback, you create the value proposition. But Williamson argues that the two steps happen in tandem.
“You never have a finished product,” she says. “It’s really a complementary process that you’re going through — discovery and introducing your expanded services at the same time — which is really tricky.
“That’s another reason why a dedicated staff person that’s outside of the core business is really helpful. It’s important that that person isn’t perceived as a selling force at that point of the process. They’re not there to jam anything down clients’ throat. They’re just there to learn and tell people about our ideas and be really transparent about it.”
Holz calls the process soft launching, because as he pitched ideas, he was still open to suggestions.
“We wanted to reach out to those that were already doing business with C.TRAC and give them the idea of: ‘As we evolve this plan, does it make sense to expand it to other departments?’” he says. “‘Where do you see gaps we could fill? How do we make your lives easier?’”
Early on, you can calculate customers’ ROI by pulling from your company’s data that relates to the vertical and shows how you’ve already helped customers in that realm. Williamson used savings calculations and testimonials from other data quality projects.
Eventually, you have to show proof of how the new vertical can help the client specifically. Seeing is believing, at least when it comes to building buy-in, so Williamson offered free samples to potential clients called a patient data quality analysis (PDQA) to show what their benefits would look like.
“A C-level person doesn’t really understand the intricacies, but they definitely understand the savings,” she says. “Until you’re able to show them the ROI calculations along with your analysis specific to their data as opposed to a hypothetical, that’s really [when] they know what we’re talking about.”
Of course, you could go on researching forever. Williamson says the time to launch is when you feel confident that the value proposition will score at least some appointments and ultimately some deals.
At that point, start building a presence in the market. Holz reached out to centers of influence within the health care industry, targeting events tailored for that sector and publications that speak to his end users.
“You have to target your approach to those that buy your product,” he says. “It can’t just be, ‘We’re going to put a booth up because there’s a lot of people.’ You want to make sure you’re focusing your efforts on the highest probability of return, and it is understanding who your buyers are and being able to give your value proposition to them in a way that speaks to their needs. … Companies put too much on how great they are, but the value proposition has to be shared externally as needs-based.”
The branding should speak to those needs, and the more specifically it does, the better.
“We want the vertical to speak to the users,” he says. “We want it to be that we work specifically within your vertical with a product that’s just for you. We understand your needs; we understand where we can fix any of the problems you have or deliver value to meet your needs, and that’s exactly where we reside.”
Even the name should directly reflect your end users. C.TRAC looked into clinical terms that would jive with health care professionals and landed on a variation of “systemic,” which also indicated the vertical’s systemwide approach. When paired with “IQ” for improving quality — obviously with a nod toward intelligence — they had IQ•Systemix.
But launching doesn’t mean you stop listening to input.
That constant give-and-take is easier in this digital age because you can continuously update your offerings online as opposed to reprinting thousands of catalogues every time something changes.
“That’s what I think is very important is that ability to both know what you’re trying to accomplish but also to be flexible,” Williamson says. “It’s not the real world when you say, ‘I’m going to get this product or service ready and then I’m going to launch it into the market, and those are going to be two independent steps and they’re going to go in that order.’ It shouldn’t happen that way because you can’t optimize the offering without the input of relevant parties. … That learning process is really part of the launch, and if you wait until it’s ‘done,’ you would never do it.”
How to reach: C.TRAC information solutions, (440) 572-1000 or www.ctrac.com