By using these four techniques, marketers can achieve an intimate understanding of how physicians think. By Leslie Rabin, director of account planning at AbelsonTaylor Inc. (abelsontaylor.com)
Observe or talk to physicians in their own environment where you can watch actual behavior.
Focus group facilities and Internet surveys take place in artificial environments, which generally elicit more top-of-mind information. Supplement traditional methodologies with techniques that allow you to observe actual physician behaviors in real time. Patient-physician interaction research is a great tool that allows you to question and probe soon after a behavior takes place while it is still fresh in their minds.
Design your research to include psychographic information.
Whether you’re conducting an ATU, segmentation, or standard qualitative, include questions that help you profile your “low hanging fruit.” Supplement your quantitative research with attitudinal statements that help you understand how physicians approach their practice. Several research companies specialize in emotional or “right brain” research designed to uncover latent motivators. At the surface, a non-prescriber may just look like a late adopter. Dig a little deeper and you may find that these physicians don’t empathize with patient suffering and aren’t aware of its impact on quality-of-life. Rather than writing them off, maybe they just need some enlightening.
Use segmentation and make it actionable.
Most marketers agree that segmentation provides rich and interesting learnings, but few know how to make the data actionable. Research companies can develop a short battery of questions that allow you to quickly assign a physician to an attitudinal segment. This allows your reps to tailor their messages and selling approaches based on a much richer physician profile.
Leverage your sales reps’ knowledge.
We spend the majority of our time telling reps how to speak with our customers but not enough time letting them guide us. Any good rep can segment his physicians into buckets. They can tell you how each physician practices, their motivations, and their barriers to prescribing. Make it a priority to periodically download with your reps. Find out how they might segment your customers, what works for them, and what isn’t working. They are in the trenches everyday interacting with your customer.
