Intro to Core Capabilities of The Brooks Group

As one of the best healthcare consulting firms, The Brooks Group strives to facilitate improvements that benefit both healthcare organizations and the patients they serve. To that end, we offer an array of different services that allow organizations to address specific business goals. Today, we will be offering a closer look at our three core capabilities: our research and insights services, our Learning eXperience service, and our strategic advisory services.

1. Research and Insights

As all successful enterprises can attest, knowledge is power. That is why The Brooks Group works to deliver cutting-edge research and insights that make outstanding business outcomes possible.

Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research, our company synthesizes critical first-party data to generate the insights you need to drive meaningful change. Learn how your customers really feel about your organization with our Equity Scan research or evaluate your team's performance based on feedback from our Voice of the Customer report. Consult our syndicated market research report on patient advocacy in the healthcare industry (The Advocate) to learn more about patients' needs and brand perceptions. If you have any specialized research needs, we are also available to conduct custom studies upon request.

If you want to begin your learning immediately, you can also consult our vast repertoire of online resources. We regularly publish an array of primers, podcasts, and other materials to help account managers and other healthcare sales professionals stay up to date with the latest in the field.

2. Learning eXperience

Whether you are interested in improving your team's performance or creating a new onboarding training program, our Learning eXperience service can help.

Using a team led by experts in instructional design and gaming, we apply our subject matter expertise to create engaging, interactive blended learning courses. All of our courses include a custom curriculum as well as enhancements like professional graphics, animations, and voiceovers. Our holistic educational approach ensures that the knowledge imparted is not only learned, but retained.

As part of every course design package, we also include access to our cutting-edge analytics platform. This platform helps managers and other stakeholders quickly review and assess learners' progress. Automated tools can be deployed to provide targeted learning suggestions that build each team member's knowledge base in the areas where it is weakest. Over time, you can hone your team's knowledge and competencies enough to gain an edge over your competitors.

3. Strategic Advisory Services

Is your healthcare organization facing new and unprecedented business challenges? Our strategic advisory services help healthcare companies devise strategies to successfully navigate the complexities of managed markets and other common industry hurdles. Through business reviews, advisory boards, and other mediums, we assess your company's needs and offer the guidance you need to prevail.

Our services encompass many aspects of business in the healthcare industry, including organizational design, national and international brand planning, and access and reimbursement. We also offer specialized healthcare executive coaching and strategic account management training to help leaders in the field improve key skills such as effective communication and developing succinct and relevant sales pitches. Depending on your needs, we can offer our services virtually or through field visits to your office location.

Set Your Healthcare Organization Apart

If your healthcare organization is in need of some strategic assistance, choose The Brooks Group for superior service and results. We would be honored to apply our expertise for your benefit and play a part in your continued success. Contact us today to learn more about our services or to arrange an initial consultation.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/06/intro-to-core-capabilities-of-the-brooks-group/

3 Unique Aspects of the Brooks Group Learning Experience

Knowledgeable, well-rounded team members are the building blocks of any successful organization. However, while it is reasonable to expect employees to enter the company with some key information and skills in place, companies must also be prepared to offer their workforce the training they need to upgrade their skills and keep up with new developments in their field. This is especially important in the fast-changing, knowledge-intensive healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

The Brooks Group’s Learning eXperience service exists to help organizations in these and other industries easily disseminate specific knowledge throughout their team. Whether you need a new strategic account management training course or an onboarding training program, our custom training experiences are strategically engineered to foster superior learning and retention. There are three unique elements that make this program special: our blended learning approach, our instructional design focus, and our cutting-edge analytics platform.

1. Blended Learning

In today's fast-paced world, traditional classroom instruction often feels outdated and inefficient from learners' perspectives. While there is no denying the value of an authoritative and knowledgeable instructor, conventional learning experiences force all participants to work on the same objectives at the same pace, all at a specific time and place.

Our Learning eXperience courses incorporate web-based modules that can be accessed at any time, allowing participants to engage with the material at a time, place, and pace that is most comfortable for them. Many of our custom courses also provide short modules of mobile learning for busy professionals who can only spare a few minutes at a time for their studies. These alternative formats allow learners to complete courses at their own pace without sacrificing the benefits of live instruction.

2. Instructional Design

Not all individuals learn effectively by reading text. In fact, few learners are able to fully absorb written information. Even fewer retain it. In corporate environments, this issue can quickly lead to poor compliance, reduced customer satisfaction, and lost revenue.

In addition to conventional text-based lessons, our Learning eXperience services also provide alternative learning experiences to reinforce critical information. Interactive elements like quizzes, simulations, and gamification all provide participants with the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they have obtained and understand its importance. Course content is also equipped with custom infographics, animations, and other multimedia elements to enhance user engagement. Modules can be made to cover company-specific topics (like onboarding training programs) or general industry topics (like patient advocacy in the pharmaceutical industry).

3. Analytics

Just like students in traditional academic settings, participants in corporate training programs must have the results of their learning quantified. Our in-depth analytics platform makes it easy for managers, executives, and other stakeholders to appraise a participant’s progress at any time. Using individual learning profiles tied to a central portal, stakeholders can access detailed information on lesson completion, test results, and other key metrics that provide insight into how well each participant is engaging with the material.

This platform can be used to verify course completion, but it is much more than a simple tracking tool. The data it provides can be harnessed to drive improvement in specific competencies that are tied to your organization’s unique business goals. Further, it can help identify any strengths and weaknesses in your team’s capabilities and knowledge base. Any weaknesses can then be addressed with further instruction or more intensive services, such as healthcare executive coaching.

Create the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Training Resources Your Staff Needs

Upgrading your employees’ skills could be the deciding factor that clinches and maintains key business relationships. Invest in your team’s skills today with custom courses made by one of the best healthcare management consulting firms in the industry.

Courses created by The Brooks Group’s Learning eXperience services deliver accurate, applicable, and memorable information that will give your team the knowledge they need to drive your organization forward. Contact us today to discuss your training needs and learn more about how our industry-leading custom courses can help you meet them.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/06/3-unique-aspects-of-the-brooks-group-learning-experience/

The Power Of Patient Advocacy In Pharmaceutical Development :The Advocate

Patients deserve to have their voices heard by the healthcare industry. Their input can not only improve the quality of their own care, but also that of many others with similar needs. It also sheds light on under-recognized sources of demand in the industry and opens up new opportunities for professionals who have the skills to fill that demand with new solutions.

To this end, our research team at The Brooks Group publishes an annual report on patient advocacy in the healthcare industry. Our pharmaceutical market research publication (The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice) has all of the information you need to assess the state of patient advocacy in the healthcare market and determine how to better align your company's offerings with patients' stated needs.

What Is The Advocate?

The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice is an annual market research report published by The Brooks Group that first debuted in 2018. It was preceded by our publication STAR: Successfully Targeting Advocacy Relations, which ran from 2010 to 2017.

The Advocate comprises information from 103 healthcare companies and 37 professional organizations spanning over 18 therapeutic areas in total. It includes both quantitative and qualitative data to create a more holistic and compelling picture of patient needs.

To complete our data set, we also conduct 45-minute follow-up interviews with a selection of the top organizations in the healthcare industry. These interviews give these organizations a chance to comment on their patient advocacy efforts in more detail and outline the areas they plan to work on in the near future.

Our Goals for The Advocate

In each edition of The Advocate, we strive to:

• Help the pharmaceutical community better understand patients' needs
• Provide an overview of how each organization is viewed by the patients it serves, facilitating improvement both internally and within the industry as a whole
• Create a set of consistently measured annual benchmarks that can be used to chart progress toward major patient-centered goals

Why It Matters

Patient advocacy is more than a professional courtesy – it is a fundamental duty within the healthcare industry.

The goal of all healthcare is to improve patients' health and quality of life. Providing treatments for disease only accomplishes part of that goal. Patients must have a platform to express their needs and priorities. Patient advocacy gives this vulnerable population a voice and makes it more likely that they will receive treatments that suit their budget, lifestyle, and overall health requirements. Advocacy work may even prompt companies to develop therapies for some conditions that are currently overlooked.

Since patient advocacy information is essentially an expression of demand, it also has significant repercussions for the sales side of healthcare. Major payers often shift their buying habits in response to patient feedback. Top healthcare consulting firms emphasize the importance of this relationship when advising clients on how to navigate changing markets.

Account managers who do not take the time to keep up with the latest patient advocacy reports may suddenly discover that their pitches are no longer resonating with their clients. In contrast, keeping up with this information on a yearly basis allows healthcare sales professionals to make timely propositions that address concrete, documented patient goals.

Bridging the Gap Between Patients and Industry

Investing in patient advocacy research could significantly improve your company's ability to close sales and make meaningful investments with appreciable ROI. The Brooks Group makes it easy to upgrade your workforce's skills with account management training courses, healthcare executive training, market research, and more. Contact us today to learn more about how your organization can receive access to The Advocate or to sign up for our any of our industry-leading healthcare sales training courses.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/05/power-of-patient-advocacy-in-pharmaceutical-development-the-advocate/

How is Digital Health Revolutionizing the Healthcare Industry?

Digital technologies have crept into every facet of daily life, and the healthcare industry is no exception. Digital health is the latest trend set to revolutionize the healthcare industry.

This new model of care will change everything from research and development to patient care outcomes – no aspect of the field will be left untouched. Understanding this phenomenon, its benefits, and the opportunities it presents can help healthcare and pharmaceutical professionals adapt their practices to the new digital paradigm.

What is Digital Health?

Digital health is the process of integrating new digital tools into the healthcare industry. Using technologies like wearables, connected devices, and software applications, physicians and other healthcare professionals can collect vast amounts of health data from patients. This allows them to get a more well-rounded, accurate, and timely picture of each patient's health status, sometimes on a real-time basis. They can then offer high-quality care even at long distances.

Benefits of Digital Health

Healthcare providers who adopt the digital health paradigm benefit in many ways, including:

• Better communication. Patients who are treated using digital health technologies can communicate directly with their doctor for most of their treatment, facilitating trust and openness between both parties. Patients do not need to discuss their health information with receptionists, assistants, and other people who may be present in a typical clinic setting.
• Accelerated treatment. Because digital health solutions are usually extremely efficient and require very little human input, patients treated with these technologies can receive treatment much more quickly than someone being treated using conventional methods.
• Lower costs. Digital health technologies make it easier to deliver quality care with fewer resources. This benefits healthcare providers, insurers, and patients alike.
• Increased accessibility. Digital technologies like telemedicine solutions allow more people in need to access healthcare services, even when they live hundreds of miles away from the specialists they need to see.
• Improved knowledge of patient profiles. Digital health allows healthcare providers to access patient health data directly using a single touchpoint, improving their ability to assess each patient's condition and relay accurate information to them.

Digital Health and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Digital health has also made a noticeable impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

Now that electronic health records are more widely used, patients' health information is being recorded in a standardized and easily accessible format for the first time. This shift gives researchers and healthcare providers access to more detailed patient health profiles, including current vitals readings and records of any comorbidities each patient has.

This information unlocks a whole new realm of possibilities for drug companies. Researchers can use it to develop drugs that are targeted to specific presentations of a particular condition. They can also determine which type of patient responds best to each medication and market their products appropriately. This process can be aided by AI-powered drug discovery methods that can experiment with thousands of chemical combinations to find the formula that produces the desired effects.

Digital Health and Pharma Sales

These opportunities presented by digital health technologies have additional implications for pharmaceutical sales.  Account managers who factor digital health advancements into their services and pitches will be the most successful in this new reality.

To do this, salespeople will need access to specific tools. Pharmaceutical market research is critical to keeping abreast of new developments powered by digital health technologies. Account management training courses can refine professionals' ability to tailor their pitches to customer needs. Pairing the two together gives account managers the skills and knowledge they need to seize the opportunities before them.

Don’t Let Your Company Get Left Behind

As one of the top healthcare consulting firms in operation today, The Brooks Group recognizes the importance of staying up to date with the latest digital health developments. We offer a multitude of services designed to improve market knowledge and sales skills in healthcare professionals, including healthcare executive training and managed care training. Contact us today for more information on any of our world-class training programs or to sign up for an upcoming session.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/05/how-is-digital-health-revolutionizing-the-healthcare-industry/

Career Advancement Tips for Pharmaceutical Sales

Working in a pharmaceutical sales role is a challenging task that many professionals find very rewarding. However, most people strive for improvement in status, recognition, and responsibilities, continuing over the course of their careers. Whether you are just starting out in this field or are hoping to make some progress after a few years of stagnation, these five tips will help you set the stage for the career progression you desire in pharmaceutical sales.

1. Set Clear Goals

You know you want to develop your career, but have you given any thought to what that development should look like?

You may want to develop professional renown based on your in-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry. Perhaps you would like to make it into the executive suite one day. You may even want to shift your focus altogether and break into the medical device, or biotechnology space instead. Identify what meaningful career progression looks like to you, then use that information to determine which skills you need to develop through education or practical experience. This will help you chart your course to greater heights.

2. Develop Your Resiliency

Even the best sales representatives will encounter the occasional roadblock during their career. Not all your pitches will be well-received, and you may even lose some long-term clients due to problems like economic downturns or corporate restructuring.

These things are disappointing, but they are also unavoidable at times. A good salesperson views failures as an opportunity to learn and improve. Instead of becoming discouraged over these setbacks, ask yourself what you could do better next time. These reflections will help you identify the weak points in your sales approach and determine what needs to be done to improve your skills in that area.

3. Network Frequently

Finding success in pharmaceutical sales often comes down to relationship-building – not just with your current clients, but also with other contacts within your field. Trade shows are an excellent place to find new prospects with whom you can slowly establish trust. Professional organizations like the National Association of Pharmaceutical Representatives are another good resource.

4. Find a Mentor

There are many things about sales that can only be learned through experience. Finding a mentor allows you to learn from their experience instead of having to find these things out on your own.

Connecting with a more experienced sales professional gives you access to someone who can guide you through the finer points of your role. Your mentor may also have received additional training that you have not. For instance, they may have undergone advanced courses like healthcare executive training to prepare to step up to higher roles. They can impart some of this knowledge to you and let you know which types of training have been most valuable to their career trajectory.

5. Invest in Continuing Education

Finally, be sure to keep up with your professional education over the course of your career. Earning a postgraduate degree is one way to show your customers you have advanced scientific knowledge. This can help you win their trust, but it will not necessarily make you a better salesperson.

A better approach is to invest in individual continuing education courses. Many top healthcare consulting firms offer training specific to the pharmaceutical industry. The knowledge imparted through these courses is immediately applicable to your daily work. You can use this information to generate impressive results and have a tangible impact on your company's bottom line. Proving your value in this way makes you an excellent candidate for the raises, promotions, and other benefits that establish career progression.

Get Ahead with Professional Healthcare Sales Training

Your career will not build itself: it is up to you to take the steps needed to accomplish your goals. Invest in your future potential with professional training from The Brooks Group. Our pharmaceutical market research services and account management training courses have helped many a trainee develop into a leader in the healthcare industry. Contact us for more information on any of our healthcare training courses and begin working toward industry prominence.

This blog was originally posted in https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/04/career-advancement-tips-for-pharmaceutical-sales/

The Onboarding Process and Its Link to Retention

Employee retention is a major concern for companies in all industries, but the specialized knowledge required for healthcare sales roles makes turnover a particularly salient concern in the pharmaceutical industry. After putting significant amounts of time and resources into finding and training the best candidates, you want that talent to stay with you for many years.

Building a robust new hire onboarding training program is one of the best ways to build employee loyalty. A warm and purposeful welcome addresses many of the common concerns employees have when starting a new job and helps them overcome many productivity roadblocks that keep them from performing at their best. This generates high employee retention and produces results that delight both parties.

The Emotional Stakes of a New Job

When an employee starts a new job, emotions are always running high. New employees are eager to make a good impression, feel the expectations of their new environment, and settle into their new roles. They are unaware of any pre-existing team dynamics and company culture pressures, but most are conscious of this weakness and will happily work to remedy it.

This early period is a crucial time in the employee’s tenure with your company. Their experiences at this stage frame their expectations for the job overall. If they do not receive the support and resources they need to thrive, many will assume that thriving is not possible in their role. From their perspective, this leaves them with no choice but to resign and move on. 

Delivering on Your Promises

Emotional fulfillment is not the only benefit of a well-executed onboarding period. Many companies claim that all employees are valued, integral members of the team. This is an effective mindset that promotes greater team cohesion and individual empowerment, but it means nothing without concrete action to support it.

Team members who are hired and given little to no orientation often do not feel valued. In some cases, they may not even be sure how to contribute to the team. They lack the context they need to apply their efforts to larger organizational goals and end up feeling abandoned and adrift.

This disconnected team environment is not conducive to high productivity. Even when employees decide to remain with the company, they cannot use their skills effectively for your benefit. They also have no insight into their team’s strengths or weaknesses and cannot even attempt to fill the group’s needs.

Smoothing the Transition with Onboarding

To assuage new employees' fears and help them better integrate into your organization, consider increasing your investment in onboarding training.

Onboarding training establishes an initial framework that helps both employers and employees get what they need. It helps new team members become accustomed to your company culture and expectations through a formal channel with clear and consistent messaging. When paired with a relational component like a buddy program or mentor system, a good onboarding training course can give new employees the sense of direction they crave in those critical early days. This has been shown to improve retention by up to 50%.

Onboarding training does not have to be done on a set schedule. Virtual onboarding training courses allow new employees to learn at a pace that suits their needs. If they have a large chunk of free time one afternoon, they can spend it working through the module. If other matters must be prioritized, the module can be put on hold for a while. Learning how to complete training initiatives at a self-guided pace also sets employees up for success with future training initiatives, such as account management training courses and other continuing education. 

Receive Quality Custom Onboarding Training from The Brooks Group

A well-crafted onboarding training program can mean the difference between a stable team and a revolving door of constant new hires. As a leading biotech market research and healthcare management consulting firm, The Brooks Group has developed custom onboarding training programs for countless healthcare leaders. Contact us today to discuss your organization’s training needs and get your employees off to a better start.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/04/onboarding-process-and-its-link-to-retention/

Amplify Your Sales Team's Effectiveness in Managed Markets

Managed care is the process of delivering health services based on agreements made between an insurance company and a network of healthcare providers. Under this agreement, insured patients receive care at a lower cost than they would if they were treated by a provider outside of this network.

This type of care has become extremely popular in the US market, particularly in the context of employer-sponsored plans. As of 2017, more than 70 million Americans rely on this type of coverage for at least some of their healthcare needs.

This high market penetration signals the need for healthcare providers to satisfy the demands of managed care providers in order to receive payment for their services. This has significant implications for how account managers should approach sales proposals when managed care plans are a factor in their clients' decision-making processes.

How Managed Care Changes Sales Dynamics

In addition to a thorough understanding of the pharmaceutical market in general, a specialized approach is required when working with accounts that depend on managed care billing. These accounts have unique concerns that influence their purchasing decisions. If they purchase a drug that is not adopted by many managed care plans, they risk being unable to generate a profit from that purchase.

Which types of drugs are favored by managed care plans? Budget is often a major factor in this decision. Managed care plans emphasize affordability and must stretch a relatively small pool of funds to cover all the drugs and treatments they will offer.

Managed care insurers are also much more likely to be interested in drugs that can be prescribed to a wider patient base. Niche solutions are rarely appealing to this type of payer. On the other hand, drugs that can be used to treat a wide variety of conditions may be more attractive.

Why Managed Care Training Matters

Developing a deeper understanding of what drives this market is critical to successfully pitching products to providers who operate within it. Account managers and pharmaceutical sales representatives must demonstrate that they are familiar with the decision-making process within managed care contexts to gain providers’ trust and match them with profitable solutions.

In recognition of this knowledge gap, healthcare management consulting firms have begun offering specialized training to help account managers adjust their approach to better suit the needs of this segment of the market. For instance, our upcoming Managed Care 101 training course offers an overview of managed care markets and the information needed to make a convincing proposal that will secure new business. Topics covered include:

• Who pays for healthcare products and services in the US market

• How pharmacy benefit management and integrated delivery networks work

• How to use evidence-based criteria and player guidelines to determine appropriate product suggestions

• How to establish a pull-through relationship with clients to promote the use of your products in the context of managed care

Perfect Your Managed Care Sales Tactics

Managed care market dynamics will only become more important in pharmaceutical sales in the coming years. Deepening your sales team's knowledge of managed care now is key to maintaining your competitive advantage.

The Brooks Group offers a full catalog of account management training courses designed to help sales representatives hone their skills, as well as instructional design services for creating custom training content. Contact us today to sign your team members up for our Managed Care 101 training course (currently scheduled for May 30) or any of our other industry-leading courses for account management professionals.

This blog was originally posted in https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/03/amplify-your-sales-teams-effectiveness-in-managed-markets/

It's Time to Embrace Branding as a Necessity

Many healthcare companies feel that branding efforts are a waste of their time and resources. This mindset is a holdover from past markets, and it is problematic in today’s market conditions.

In the past, healthcare markets were much smaller, and there may have been only one or two products available to treat any given condition. Now, there might be dozens of different options to choose from.

Building a stronger brand is one of the best things you can do to ensure that your company can thrive in this crowded environment. The following five benefits are just some of the many reasons to establish and nurture your healthcare brand.

1. Crystallize Your Competitive Edge 

What makes your healthcare company different from all the others in your niche? You know the answer well, but your prospective customers may not. Strong branding highlights your company’s unique value propositions and allows you to prove your worth to patients and healthcare providers alike. It gives customers a sense of what to expect when buying from you, and this may be enough to cement their decision to choose you over your competition.  

2. Build Trust in Your Company 

New drugs, technologies, and equipment often represent million-dollar investments for healthcare providers; choosing which ones to purchase is no easy decision. Products that are backed by an established brand are seen as less risky than those that are not. Branding makes the products feel like more of a known quantity than what competitors are offering, making it easier to justify the decision to buy from you. We speak from experience on this matter: as one of the country’s top healthcare consulting firms, we have taken care to ensure that our own brand is synonymous with integrity and reliability. 

3. Drive Patient Empowerment 

Good brands resonate with patients as well as healthcare providers. They cultivate patient trust by keeping a close eye on their needs through market research and patient advocacy, then implementing key insights from their findings to better reflect patient needs. They also build a reputation for transparency and trustworthiness, providing patients with all of the information they need to confidently direct the course of their treatment.

4. Contribute to Financial Security 

Even the biggest healthcare companies may see sales numbers dip from time to time. However, a strong brand has staying power that outlasts small roadblocks. People will always gravitate to brands they know and trust, even when budgets are tight. This means that products from strong brands are often some of the last line items to be cut in times of crisis. 

5. Confer Power During Mergers and Acquisitions 

Effective branding can also be an excellent asset during mergers and acquisitions. A company with an established brand has significantly more negotiating power in these propositions. If you are interested in an acquisition, you can command a higher price for the sale. You can also count on the strength of your brand to deter low-quality offers that are not in the best interest of your company; bigger brands are perceived as more difficult targets, even when the company behind them is relatively small. 

Build Your Brand with Quality Training Initiatives 

A strong brand starts with an exceptional team. You can home your staff’s sales, strategy, and interpersonal abilities with advanced professional courses from The Brooks Group. 

Here are some popular training courses we conduct for healthcare executives - 

Executive Level Presence - https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/training-programs/healthcare-executive-training-program/

Excellence in Account Management - https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/training-programs/large-account-management-training/

Get into Pharmaceutical Sales - https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/training-programs/get-into-pharmaceutical-sales/

Managed Care 101 - https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/training-programs/managed-care-101-training-seminars/

Contact us and let us help your team upgrade your company branding today.

This blog was originally posted in https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/03/its-time-to-embrace-branding-as-a-necessity/

5 Reasons Your Company Needs to Invest in Key Account Management

Acquiring new customers is the most obvious way for healthcare organizations to drive growth, but it is not the only way. More and more healthcare consulting firms are offering key account management training, an innovative new approach to account management that teaches professionals to focus their efforts on a few key accounts in their portfolio. Here are a few of the benefits of investing in this type of training for your firm’s account managers.

1. Retain Existing Customers  

Keeping the customers you have is always easier than finding new ones. Existing customers know what you have to offer and have found your services satisfactory over the months or years they have been working with you. 

Key account management training can help you build on that existing trust to forge iron-clad relationships that benefit both parties. When customers know that you will go above and beyond for them, you can win their loyalty for a lifetime.  

2. Grow Existing Accounts 

It is easy to think that the goal of customer retention is to maintain consistent income from that account over time. This is not true. Your existing customers may actually have much more interest in purchasing additional solutions from you than either of you realizes.  

A well-trained account manager understands that key accounts in their roster have untapped potential. They should always be looking for opportunities to show their clients some new product or service your organization offers that will meet their clients’ needs, even before those needs have been expressed. Doing this will allow them to capture more revenue from these accounts and easily achieve sustainable growth. 

3. Develop Your Understanding of Your Target Customers 

When you know your current customers like the back of your hand, you also gain knowledge about what future customers will respond to. Products or services that are popular with several accounts will probably be appreciated by similar organizations and may merit greater investment from your firm.  

Key account management training teaches your staff to observe trends in their customers’ needs and apply them to later sales opportunities. This tactic is especially effective when excellent account management skills are paired with additional information from pharmaceutical market research companies and other sources of real-world customer data.  

4. Secure Long-Term Revenue 

No firm can rely on project-to-project income forever. Every organization must build long-term sources of revenue to continue to grow and expand.  

Key account management training gives your staff the tools they need to deliver outstanding service on a consistent basis. This keeps customers satisfied and happy to keep giving you their business for many years to come.  

5. Drive Word-of-Mouth Marketing 

When your customers know they can depend on your organization for innovative solutions and excellent service, they will happily recommend you to other organizations in the industry. This allows you to build momentum based on your past successes and organically grow your customer base. 

Key account management training helps your staff further develop their skillsets to meet the needs of even the most discerning customers. With this knowledge to guide them, they will have no trouble delivering the high-quality service that will get you those coveted recommendations.  

Get Key Account Management Training from a Top Training Organization 

Healthcare is a highly competitive field, and your firm needs every advantage it can get to stay on top. Key account management training can help your staff master the advanced customer service skills they need to make your biggest accounts even more lucrative.

The Brooks Group provides a full curriculum of training programs for account managers in the healthcare industry, including employee onboarding training and strategic account management training. Contact us today to learn more about how you can enroll your workforce in these programs and set your company up for success. 

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/02/5-reasons-to-invest-in-key-account-management/

Account Managers: Conduct Winning Meetings Starting Today!

Account managers regularly conduct meetings with some of the busiest professionals in the healthcare industry. These meetings offer a critical opportunity to exchange thoughts with clients, receive feedback, and explore new pathways to grow the account. However, it is just as easy for these events to go awry.  

As an account manager, you owe your clients the courtesy of proper preparation. Here are five easy steps you can follow to plan winning meetings that will deepen your client relationships and secure new business for your firm.  

1. Take Time to Prepare 

Every successful meeting begins with thorough preparation.  

First, decide who will attend. Keep meetings as small as possible. If possible, find out how many people the client is bringing and make sure to include relevant people from your own organization.

If you do not know some of the people in your client's party, be sure to check their LinkedIn page to learn more about them before you meet them in person.

Make sure that everyone who is set to attend the meeting knows when and where it will take place. If the meeting is online, make sure that everyone has access to the right software and has received any links or account access they need to participate.  

Finally, figure out how long it will take you to get to the venue on the day of the meeting, then add an extra half-hour or so to account for detours, delays, and last-minute preparations. This ensures that you will have more than enough time to arrive before the client and set up the room.

2. Sort Out Your Logistics 

Once you know how you want your meeting to go, think about what you will need to have ready to make things go smoothly.  

Do you have backups of all the files you need for your presentation? Is the conference room's equipment working properly? If there is an online component to the meeting, is the office's internet connection stable? Are there enough chairs for everyone? If you will be serving coffee and snacks, how will you get them to the conference room? Will someone be taking notes, and if so, who? 

Planning for all of these factors minimizes the number of interruptions you will experience during your meeting and makes you and your company look like consummate professionals.

3. Establish a Framework 

Before the meeting begins, ensure that everyone is on the same page by quickly reviewing your goals for the day and how much time you have allotted for the event. It may also be helpful for you to use your strategic account management training to create a brief elevator pitch for any products or services you are planning to bring to the client’s attention.

Laying these details out in advance gives your meeting some direction and a clear endpoint that respects everyone's time. Setting these guidelines in advance reassures your clients of your professionalism and makes it easy for you to keep the meeting focused and productive. 

4. Account for Different Communication Styles 

The way you present information in a meeting can have a significant impact on that meeting's outcomes. Some people enjoy some social chitchat up-front to break the ice, while others prefer to get straight to business matters. Know your audience’s communication style and adapt your presentation style to suit them. This will keep your clients engaged and reinforce their confidence in your skills.

However, remember what you learned about your company culture during your employee onboarding training; many organizations frown on taking too casual an approach, and your communications choices should remain consistent with internal expectations. 

5. Listen

Account managers typically come to the meetings with a lot of reports, presentations, and information that they want to share with the client. In their eagerness to offload all that information, sometimes they forget to allow time to listen and let the client share their most pressing concerns or ideas. Sometimes the reports you want to share are not as important as the new ideas the client might be thinking about, as it might uncover new opportunities for your growth together. So, make sure to ask the clients some open-ended questions and then listen!

6. Follow Up Afterwards 

Good follow-up after a meeting is critical for reinforcing the customer experience. 

Thank each attendee for their time and include a short summary of the key points covered during your time together. Doing this demonstrates that you are committed to understanding your customers' needs and are making the most of every learning opportunity. It also shows the kind of initiative and leadership That are hallmarks of good customer service.

Master Meetings for Account Management Success 

When your next meeting comes up, put these tips into action and witness the difference they make. With the right approach, you and your clients will all leave feeling focused and confident that you are on the right track.

Interested in further development? The Brooks Group is a leader among America's pharmaceutical market research companies and healthcare consulting firms. We provide training programs that help account managers sharpen the skills they need to succeed. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you develop your sales skills, market knowledge, and customer relationships.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/02/conduct-winning-meetings-starting-today/

Cut Costs and Save Time on New Employee Onboarding With A Smart Investment

Effective onboarding training does much more than merely ease a new employee into their role, it also imparts a sense of purpose and belonging. With the right approach, it can serve as a powerful tool for increasing productivity and retention in your ranks. 

A quality digital employee onboarding training program can save your organization significant amounts of time and money without losing any of the benefits of in-person instruction.  

  

Increase Employee Retention When It Matters Most  

Today’s workers are more mobile than ever before. All types of organizations are having difficulty attracting and retaining the talent they need to thrive – and the more highly skilled a role is, the harder it is to find a replacement.  

Providing in-depth, engaging onboarding training is one way your organization can combat this problem. Onboarding training helps your employees better understand their new work environment and their place within it. This forges a sense of loyalty among your team and has been shown to generate a 50% increase in employee retention.  

  

Choose Digital Training to Save Time and Improve Productivity  

New employees need time and instruction to rise to the same level of performance as your existing workforce. Delivering this instruction manually, however, slows the process down considerably. Not only do some staff members have to take time out of their day for training duties, but new employees may find themselves waiting idly for someone to fit the training into their busy schedule.  

With self-guided digital onboarding training, new hires can quickly get themselves up to speed on your company culture, relevant rules and regulations, and what is expected of them in their new role. Digital training programs also ensure consistency, making sure that all new hires receive the same vital information. Your new hires can get to work more quickly and your existing workers can stay on task. 

  

Create Custom Content for Your Present and Future Workforce 

Even with strong retention initiatives in place, your workforce is sure to shift and expand as the company grows. All new future hires will need onboarding training, and some employees who are promoted to higher roles may benefit from an additional round of training to help them settle into their new position.  

In contrast to the ever-mounting costs of traditional onboarding, investing in custom digital onboarding training modules is a one-time expense. These training tools are extremely scalable and can be used to instruct as many new hires as needed in the coming years. They can also be easily updated to reflect any needed changes in the curriculum.

Avalability of digital tools also allows you to generate more engagement among the trainees by utilizing 3D modeling and simulations, video content, gamification etc. This kind of learning experience based onboarding improves knowledge retention while shortening learning spans.

Streamline Your Onboarding Training Today 

Building a digital onboarding training program for your organization will help you trim your expenses and your staff's workload. The Brooks Group provides customized employee training programs for healthcare executives, including strategic account management training, and onboarding training. Contact us today to discuss your digital training needs and let us help you establish a more efficient and consistent onboarding process for both you and your workforce.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/01/cut-costs-and-save-time-on-new-employee-onboarding-with-a-smart-investment/

Do Your Account Managers Have the Pulse of Your Customers?

One of the most important goals of strategic account management training is to help your account managers forge a better understanding of your customers' current and evolving needs. If your account managers become too complacent, you risk losing some of your valuable accounts.  

Fortunately, you have ready access to the best source of information on customer needs: your customers themselves. Have your account managers ask them the following five questions to get a better idea of what they need now and what they would like to see from your organization going forward. 

5 Questions to Ask Your Customers  

1. How can we better serve your needs? 

Even the best healthcare organizations and their account managers have areas in which they could improve. Ask your customers about what you could be doing better, as well as which products or services they would like to see you provide in the future.  

Answers to this question can help you develop a framework for future improvements within your organization. If you chart your growth according to stated customer preferences, you should have no difficulty retaining the customers you have and adding new ones to your account managers’ rosters.  

2. How satisfied are you with our services? 

Your customers might not be outwardly complaining about your services, but that does not necessarily mean they are fully satisfied with them. Ask them directly to confirm that your services are meeting their expectations.  

An even better way to do this is to ask them whether they would readily recommend your services to another organization. If they would not or are not sure, ask them what would need to happen for them to change their mind. These questions demonstrate how much your organization values customer success and give you some concrete steps to take to solidify your relationship with your client base.  

3. What aspects of our services do you find most valuable?  

There are a multitude of different ways to approach account management in the healthcare industry. Ask your customers which parts of your approach they value the most to find out what it is you do best.

Perhaps your account managers always make a point of presenting the data that supports the solutions they represent. Maybe they are exceptionally compassionate and good at making those they work with feel comfortable around them. Maybe they always seem to know what the customer will need before that need is ever expressed. Whatever the strengths of your workforce may be, you will want to emphasize and capitalize on those attributes. 

4. What are your biggest challenges? 

Your account managers’ role is to help your customers achieve their goals, so it is important to know exactly what those goals are. Asking your customers about the challenges they are facing allows your account managers to translate those challenges into meaningful service improvements. 

For instance, a customer whose patients consistently request the latest treatments might appreciate being shown some of the newest drugs on the market. Matching your account managers' services to your customers' expressed needs will win your organization a lot of goodwill from existing accounts and the market as a whole. 

5. Why did you choose us over our competitors? 

Both you and your customers know that there are many other healthcare companies with similar solutions to those your organization provides. Asking them why they ultimately chose you (or why they stayed with you instead of switching) will help you determine what your customers see as your organization's main selling point.  

Their responses might highlight the things you intentionally emphasize in your services, but they may also surprise you with new useful insights. For instance, you may think of your firm as a provider of established healthcare solutions, but perhaps your customers are more excited to access the small roster of cutting-edge solutions you have recently invested in.  

Get a Better Grasp of Your Customers 

You can acquire more valuable customer insights like these with help from The Brooks Group. In addition to our healthcare market research services, we deliver healthcare executive coaching and new employee onboarding training programs to biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other healthcare organizations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you better understand the needs of your most discerning customers.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/01/do-your-account-managers-have-the-pulse-of-your-customers/

Retaining Top Talent During the Great Resignation

2021’s employment landscape was one of the most tumultuous environments companies have faced in recent years. The high levels of turnover that have characterized the post-pandemic job market so far are expected to continue into 2022, leaving employers to grapple with the Great Resignation for another year. The following five strategies will help your organization prepare for this challenge by increasing retention among top performers in the healthcare industry.  

1. Prioritize Career Progression 

High-achieving employees are highly motivated by career progression. If they do not think they can realize their full potential within your organization, they will look elsewhere instead.

Employees who receive additional training and opportunities to upgrade their skills are more likely to feel like valued members of the team. They will also be better candidates for internal promotions, which further reinforces company loyalty. It is important for companies to keep investing in leadership development and training programs that would enhance the potential of their executives. Quality onboarding programs that give the new hires a clear picture of their potential roadmap within the organization are also helpful in retention.

2. Develop a Policy for Remote Work 

Now that most white-collar workers have had a taste of remote work, few are eager to return to the office. If your top talent cannot work from home at least some of the time, they may decide to leave your team for another position that does allow them this flexibility. 

To keep these employees from moving on, you will need to clarify your organization's stance on remote work. Outline a policy that dictates which roles have the option to work from home and how often they will be permitted to do it. This will give you and your workers a good starting point for discussions around this issue, but be prepared to make additional concessions occasionally.  

3. Take Precautions Against Burnout 

The past few years have been extremely stressful for many people, forcing them to confront social, political, economic, and health-related anxieties all at once.

To keep your workers at the top of their game, prioritize work-life balance within your organization. Keep workloads realistic and be sure to check in regularly with each employee to measure their progress and ask if they need additional supports. Encourage time off and make sure that employees are able to fully disconnect outside of work hours. Showing your workers how much you value their wellness will go a long way toward improving their loyalty to your company. 

4. Re-Evaluate Your Compensation Structure 

In such a competitive market, top-tier workers know that they have the ability to command higher wages – and with record levels of inflation eating away at salaries, they have more reason to than ever before. 

If your organization has the financial leeway to do so, consider offering your best workers a larger raise this year. This will remove a significant incentive for them to consider switching jobs. Increasing compensation may hurt in the short term, but it will secure your organization’s talent pool and help propel future growth.  

5. Consult Your Team Members 

If you really want to retain your best employees as long as possible, ask them what they need. Turn the exit interview on its head and conduct a series of ‘stay interviews with key employees in your organization. 

Ask them not only what it would take to keep them with your company, but also what types of offers might tempt them to leave. Combine this information with additional sources like online employer reviews and anonymized internal surveys to figure out what your top talent wants and find a way to give it to them.  

Retain, Don’t Replace 

Without your strongest team members still on board, your organization's future could be in jeopardy. Investing in retention now is the best way to keep as many top performers in your ranks as possible, and it can also help you prepare these key workers to take on greater responsibilities within the company.

The Brooks Group is here to help you sharpen your employees’ skills and give them the tools they need to feel confident in the work they do. Some of our areas of expertise include instructional design, account management training, and healthcare management consulting. Contact us today to inquire about our training services and how they can make a positive impact on workers’ motivation, company loyalty, and professional ability.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/12/retaining-top-talent-during-the-great-resignation/

Healthcare Branding- 5 Ways to Stand Out

In the past, many healthcare companies were able to survive and even thrive based on the strength of their products and services alone. The market was narrow enough that if a company had an effective treatment available for a particular disease or condition, they were unlikely to have much competition in that niche.

After many years of scientific and medical developments, however, the healthcare industry has grown considerably. Hospitals and other care providers have many options available to meet their patients’ needs. In order to win their business, companies will need to make their solutions stand out above the rest using effective branding. The list below contains five tips to help you get started on this process for your own healthcare organization.

1. Offer Personalized Services

Every customer has unique needs and concerns. Taking the time to understand what your customers are looking for (and why) helps you to present them with options that they are likely to accept, increasing your sales and customer satisfaction at the same time.

Account management skills training can be used to upgrade your staff's skills and allow them to provide exceptional service to your customers. Likewise, market research or patient advocacy research reports can give your staff information on trends to help anticipate customers' needs and offer appropriate products and services before they even think to ask for them.

2. Set Your Organization Apart 

Highlighting the things that make your organization unique is a great way to build your brand. What does your organization have to offer that none of your competitors do? Do you have advantageous partnerships with other organizations, unique industry insights, or exceptionally attentive staff members?

Whatever high points you settle on, be sure to highlight these things in your promotional materials. Let your prospective customers know why they should choose your company to help them serve their patients.

3. Focus on Your Strengths and Improve Your Weaknesses

Every pharmaceutical organization has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, your company might be excellent at bringing cutting-edge products to customers but struggle with pairing those newer items with older mainstays that would provide customers with a more well-rounded package of solutions.

Emphasizing the things you do best (such as innovative treatments or a patient-centric, personalized approach, for example) will ensure that your brand develops a strong positive reputation and a unique identity. It will also give you the opportunity to quietly work on the aspects of your organization that need further development until you are just as proud of them as you are of its strong points.

4. Maintain a Strong Brand Presence Across All Channels

Healthcare organizations have access to many advertising channels that they can use to reaffirm their brand. In addition to traditional channels like billboards and television ads, organizations can multiply their branding efforts by investing in online channels like social media.

Each healthcare company should have a solid marketing strategy that spans as many channels as is feasible with their resources and budget. Digital marketing through platforms like Facebook and YouTube is relatively affordable and makes a big difference in your company’s visibility.

5. Embrace Branding as a New Necessity

Whether you are eager to see what good branding can do or are reluctant to try it out, it is important to recognize its indispensability in modern contexts.

With so much competition to contend with, companies that do not invest time and resources into their brand will never be able to reach the same level of prominence as those that do. Working out your branding strategy now will help you capture more market share during this critical transition period.

Build Your Brand with Help from The Brooks Group 

Don’t wait to begin working toward a distinct brand for your healthcare organization – the sooner you act, the more effective your strategy will be.

The Brooks Group is a leading healthcare consulting company offering employee onboarding training, instructional design services, market research, and much more. Our assistance can help you devise and implement a branding strategy that will make your healthcare organization undeniably unique. Contact us to learn more about our services, their impact, and the next steps you can take to building a stronger corporate identity.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/12/healthcare-branding-5-ways-to-stand-out/

Bridging Knowledge Gaps with Learning Experience

Corporate training has gained a bad reputation for being boring, slow, and ineffective. The Brooks Group Learning eXperience (LX) team has the power to change this paradigm.

This type of instructional design aims to develop applicable learning solutions that deliver content to learners in a format that engages them. Organizations can use it to disseminate many different types of information to their workforce in an appealing and memorable way while also achieving greater visibility into individual and group comprehension.  

Creating a Multimedia Learning Experience 

The Brooks Group LX team is focused on driving engagement among learners. In contrast to typical instruction methods that rely on long paragraphs of dry text to deliver information, programs founded in instructional design employ a multimedia approach to foster organic interest in the subject matter. Some common forms of content that can be used to do this include: 

• Videos 

• E-zines 

• Quizzes and tests 

• Podcasts 

• Infographics 

• Games 

• Interactive activities 

All of these mediums can be incorporated into customized courses that address company-specific learning objectives. They can also be used to build blended learning experiences that bring digital elements into traditional on-site instructional settings. Organizations can even create self-paced microlearning modules that give learners a few minutes of compressed instruction whenever they have the time to spare – an increasingly popular educational model in today’s busy world. 

Quantifying Learning Through Analytics 

Good instructional design offers more than a superior learning experience - it also provides full transparency into learners' comprehension and achievements.  

Companies can access detailed statistical reports that reveal how many employees completed their assigned tasks, as well as how well they performed both on their own and compared to their peers. These figures can help managers identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members and their crew as a whole.

With this information, leadership can build teams with a diverse array of competencies for optimal performance. They can also assign additional review and training exercises to help shore up specific employees’ weakest knowledge areas.  

Instruction for All Stages of Professional Life 

Learning experiences can be used to create e-learning initiatives to meet a number of organizational goals, including: 

• Onboarding. New employees need significant learning to properly orient themselves in their new role. Learning experience allows you to design courses that deliver the necessary information in an expedient and easily digestible manner, creating a smoother onboarding experience that can easily be deployed in onboarding training programs even for virtual hires. 

• Role-based training. Learning experience can be utilized for creating training programs to help hone both hard and soft skills. With fast-paced dynamic courses available to teach sales skills, customer service strategies, market knowledge, and more, your team will always have access to the latest information needed to drive better performance.  

• Refresher training. Quick interactive course modules allow learners to easily review information they already know. Completing this training refreshes their knowledge, delivers updated information to keep them abreast of changes in the field, and provides documented proof of their competency. 

Learning experience design can also be employed to complement new product launches by giving users an easy interactive way to learn what the product can do and how to use it.  

Imagining A Better Future for Corporate Training

Learning experience design is revolutionizing the process of knowledge acquisition and retention in corporate settings. With more engaging courses tailored to busy modern learners, account managers and other professionals have a fun and easy way to fill in the gaps in their knowledge base and improve their performance on the job.

The Brooks Group is a leading healthcare consulting firm offering custom instructional design services through our Learning eXperience division. Contact us today to have our design experts design fun and engaging learning experiences for your workforce.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/bridging-knowledge-gaps-with-learning-experience/