Market access is the comprehensive process of ensuring timely access to medicines and their affordability to patients. The success of any new drug or medical device depends on market access. All pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies have a robust market access strategy to ensure the success of their products as it directly impacts their bottom line.
However, implementing a market access strategy requires a robust market access training plan to set up the sales team for success. The healthcare landscape has seen its complexity increase post-pandemic, making market access skills indispensable for market access teams.
Is your organization’s market access training equipping them with the necessary knowledge, insights, and skills to navigate the healthcare system and position themselves for success? Do you think they could do better? In this blog, let’s explore three key market access skills your team needs, assess if your team possesses those skills, and apply the best practices to develop and improve those skills.
Three key market access skills pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device sales team needs
1. Business acumen
Business acumen means demonstrating to customers that you understand how their business works and how your product can improve their business outcomes. Professionals with strong business acumen skills are able to build strong, trusting relationships with customers by delivering effective solutions to their business needs.
In the healthcare landscape, building trusting relationships with various stakeholders requires the insight to navigate strict regulatory environments, being in the know about current policies and market trends, anticipate customer’s future, and being able to articulate value propositions in the language stakeholders understand.
Market access teams will benefit from specific understanding of the specialty environment they may represent in their product line. Oncology is one such marketplace that requires specific business acumen to engage with customers, navigate the environment, and drive results.
Our board of directors, Jeff Farber, MD, MBA, FACP, CPE, President & CEO, The New Jewish Home, Andrew Krumerman, MD, Montefiore Medical Center Division of Cardiology, Mark Sorrentino, MD, MS, VP Center for Pediatric Clinical Development, PRA Health Sciences, and Tim Kern, Global Commercial Operations, North America Training Lead, Pfizer (Retired) came together earlier this year to discuss the importance and value of healthcare business acumen training. Read their three key insights.
2. Value-based selling
When a salesperson is skilled in value-based selling, they’re able to put the customers’ needs first, proving how their product can achieve the outcomes the customer needs.
Selling in today’s environment requires development of a thorough understanding of value-based care and healthcare delivery networks. From being able to position the product within the Triple Aim framework to knowing payment approaches, market access teams need more than product and clinical knowledge to succeed in their jobs. Teams become trusted partners by clearly showing how patients, providers, and healthcare organizations are going to benefit from the product.
3. Retail selling
Providers in the retail space have limited time but demanding schedules. Showing the value of your product to these customers in concise, efficient ways makes your market access team more likely to engage effectively with these customers.
Despite facing fierce competition from fast contactless delivery, 24/7 phone and text support, and user-friendly mobile apps and platforms offered by mail-order and digital pharmacies, retail pharmacies still maintain their dominant position in providing prescription medications.
Help your sales teams understand the retail pharmacy environment, the challenges retail pharmacy leaders face, and how you can improve their performance. Educational materials and training to help pharmacies improve their staff’s skills and knowledge and equip them with the strategies to improve patient experiences are of tremendous help in retail selling.