Healthcare Data is expensive!

So expensive that the majority of Healthcare sales organizations never buy it.

Once it’s purchased it has an inherit diminishing value.  It’s data in a spreadsheet from a snapshot in time, which unless you’re a Marketing Manager or an Excel Guru, you will never understand, let along use.

Why Did it Become So Expensive?

Buying and selling healthcare-related data is a huge business. It all started back in the 1980s when it became commonplace for the pharma industry to track doctors’ prescribing habits and use that information for their gains.

This data, as one might expect, doesn’t come cheap. Big US pharmacies, labs, and others in the sector are selling their data for tens of millions of dollars. Companies like IMS Health, alongside IBM Watson, and LexisNexis are a few of the better-known companies that buy this information. They then use it to connect physician practices with pharmaceutical and insurance companies, as well as other players that are looking for all sorts of insights into the medical marketplace as a means of better promoting their products.

But like we mentioned before, these companies are worth billions of dollars and have data-purchasing budgets to match. It means that they are the ones who set this high price for the information, in the first place, making it next to impossible for their smaller competitors ever to use it.

It is a monopoly in pretty much everything, except the name.

The Misconception about Data

All of the companies mentioned above would like you to believe that the only way Healthcare Companies can utilize data is to stroke a check for a minimum 5-6 digits.  After all, they’re in the Data-Selling business.  That’s how they make money!

Low and behold, what if we told you a lot of the data you’re looking for is public?  Yes, that’s right, with a lot of time on your hands, some advanced database management experience and lastly some sort of tool to analyze and interpret all of this valuable data you could use it for free?

I guess “free” is a loaded term in this context.  The time necessary to find, identify, decipher, load, re-load, organize, re-organize, unify, re-unify, display and then FINALLY use this data would likely take an experienced team a few years to do.

So, what if there was a turnkey way to utilize all of this data? Already stockpiled, already organized, already ready to go, already ready to go on your phone?

Most importantly, not a snapshot in time.  An ever-changing, ever-growing system where data is continuously updated allowing for changes to happen just like they would in the real world…

The Solution is Here!

In the end, one of the things salespeople crave is data.

What physicians are doing what?

Who’s “In-Bed” with whom?

These are all things we as salespeople talk about during happy hour and text messages, but what if it was real?  Not just gossip? What if it was in the palm of your hand?  All in a tool that is simple enough for your kids to use?

Seems impossible right?

Conclusion

ProSellus is a data provider, analytics tool, and a CRM system all mixed into one. It combines all of these systems, and adds the user’s way of doing things, maximizing your results, in the process. But don’t take our word for granted.

Check us out and request a demo.  The Future of Sales Acceleration is here…

Old is a relative term, but usually when we talk to Sales & Marketing Leaders anything older than 1 quarter is considered “old.” So, back to our original question, ” Why do Healthcare Companies Buy ‘Old Data’?”

Wouldn’t it make more sense to buy data that tells the company which physicians will make the best customers based on your current customer base? The reality is not all customers are good customers. (This is the sort of thing your Marketing & Sales Ops Leaders dream of… no, really, they do.)

Doesn’t that sound nice?  A dynamic, data file (or software) which continually updates and changes pointing out exactly who the best customers are for your business based on too many metrics to keep track of yourself.

It all happens auto-magically.

That determination shouldn’t be placed on some old data that many would argue isn’t accurate to begin with… right?

According to the latest trends, the global medical device market is expected to reach somewhere around $343 billion by 2021. It translates to a 4.6% annual growth rate, pushed in large part by several factors including healthcare expenditure, growing health awareness, more treatment options, more extensive chronic health problems, more informed customers, an aging population, and emerging technologies, among others.

Increasing competition among medical device companies has led to a change in how the sector behaves and operates. Besides introducing new products and services as a means of increasing sales, these companies are also beginning to use data and data analytics to guide its teams.  

In an attempt at improving overall decision-making and most importantly its efficiency and effectiveness in gaining new revenue-producing customers, sales and marketing leaders are looking for the most advanced tools to make these decisions for them, you know… auto-magically.

So. Much. Data.

Public, Private, Self-Accumulated. There truly is no end in sight.. There is so much data to be had and companies are buying it like there’s no tomorrow.

How is it used?

Who’s analyzing it?

Is it analyzed appropriately?

Are the right people seeing it?

Does it actually lead to increased market share? or does it simply check the box next to the line item in the marketing budget?

There are as many questions about what to do with the data as there are about the data itself.

The biggest misconception about Healthcare companies buying data is this: Just because a physician did something a year ago (or longer), doesn’t necessarily mean that a sales rep should contact them today. Does it?

If salespeople had their way they would try to identify the high-potential new customers who are most similar to their current best customers. (The easy conversion, with minimal effort) But, does this “metric” exist today? Nope.

It doesn’t matter how much data a company buys, or how recent. Numerous dimensions of data need to be analyzed about current customers and prospects to identify the BEST opportunities to grow.  This analysis needs to be an autonomous, living, breathing machine of its own. The more its fed the more it produces.

The Solution

But what if this “machine” could provide that highly-coveted information? What if you knew which physicians within the community were most like your best customers? What if that information was based on hundreds of data points and could tell you: “No, don’t call on that doc, call on this doc, instead. He/She is the  one who best matches the full criteria build by your current best customers…”

Now, THAT would be the sort of data and software that would prove to be real game changers in the Healthcare sales world.

Never again rely on data solely based on what a physician did in the past but rely on thousands of data points that tell you the best physician to call on today!

We’re not quite there yet today but every day we’re getting closer and closer. Until then, we rely on tools like ProSellus; the fastest-growing Sales acceleration platform available today.

Conclusion

In this day and age, almost every industry works by making use of data. It’s up to us to determine what tools to use and what makes the most sense to us.

If you would like to learn more about ProSellus, request a demo today, feel free to check out our website at blog.prosellus.com or reach out to me directly: scottwalle@prosellus.com