Transforming a sales team with data-driven market intelligence from Definitive Healthcare

FibroScan® is also recognized worldwide as the reference for liver fibrosis and liver steatosis assessments appearing in more than 2,500+ peer-reviewed publications and 70+ international guidelines, and available in more than 100 countries. Robust data, combined with convenience and astute accuracy, have made FibroScan® the first-choice therapy for patients and their physicians.

When parent company Echosens decided to launch the product in the U.S., the start-up team faced unforeseen difficulties in entering the new market.

The challenge

Launching a new product using Google to field prospects

Already successful outside the US, Echosens hired a direct sales team for their U.S. launch in 2015. The team had some local knowledge of GI physicians in their new territory, and they further developed their prospect sales target list from prior professional contacts and, sub optimally, Google searches.

For the first couple of years, the progress was slow and clunky. While GI physicians were the ideal target for FibroScan®, not every GI physician was a good prospect. Specific information was needed to further qualify the physician, which at the time could only be assessed through in-person visits to practice. However, very often sales reps were met with resistance as the practice: 1) wasn’t willing to share this information, 2) didn’t have the information or 3) if they did, it was often inaccurate or spotty. This made it very difficult for the reps to effectively communicate the value of FibroScan® to these accounts. Additionally, reps were managing their accounts by entering them into Excel spreadsheets.

In 2018, Echosens implemented a CRM system with the hopes of giving their reps a better targeting and management tool for each territory. However, the data input was still limited as it relied on the reps’ knowledge of their accounts and willingness to maintain the CRM, as well as the accuracy of information obtained through Google searches. Progress was occurring, but very slowly. Meanwhile, many potential patients were going through a long, arduous process to learn the status of their liver health.

The solution

Partnering with Definitive Healthcare for clearer focus on Echosens’ target market and better preparation for a consultative selling approach

In 2019, CEO Jon Gingrich joined Echosens and started working with the reps to observe the field sales force dynamics. He saw the struggles his sales team was having and decided there was a need for better analytics to help with understanding the customers and pre-planning for the sales calls. The reps needed key information about their customer targets to facilitate an effective initial conversation, and the whole process needed to be streamlined so more contacts, and ultimately sales, could be made in a timelier fashion.

Echosens partnered with Definitive Healthcare starting with its PhysicianView data product, and the management team was able to pull much more accurate data on GI physicians by territory. Echosens then added Commercial Claims data and the team was able cross-reference the two databases to identify GI physicians based on volume and ICD-10 codes. Finally, as the value of the data was established, they expanded to purchase the HospitalView, PhysicianGroupView and ClinicView data products, as well as Commercial Claims for the Hospital and Physician Groups. This provided Echosens with a complete view of their entire market by region, markets, care settings and specific territory. It was transformative to the entire sales organization.

Now the Definitive Healthcare platform is used as the basis for all sales optimization, planning and targeting at Echosens. The sales analytics team uses the data to look at territories, the number of relevant physicians in the territory and the diagnosis and codes in that territory. They pull larger downloads of the Definitive Healthcare data across the entire U.S. to understand how many GI physicians are across the country and their behaviors, and use that for territory direction, balancing and alignment. They then set quotas based on opportunity in each territory.

Reps now thoroughly understand their top physician targets, the facilities where they practice, the number of patients they see, and the specific conditions these physicians are diagnosing and treating. The reps are armed with full information before they even walk in the door. This allows the reps to be in the unique position to effectively pre-call plan. Once in the appointment, the reps are better prepared to speak intelligently about the practice and how they see FibroScan® benefitting the practice and the patients it serves.

The Echosen’s sales team is now able to:

1. Establish sales territories and targets based on accurate data. With Definitive data, Echosens is able to search for applicable and preferred ICD-10 codes that are used for particular GI treatments and determine what physicians and which facilities are using those codes, including the frequency, and the insurance companies that are actually reimbursing for the FibroScan® test. Sales managers are able to utilize the data to build proformas and business plans for each territory throughout the country. They can then build it for each customer target and ICD-10 code.
2. Focus on targeted and consultative selling. Having this detailed data, reps are able to quickly pique the physician’s attention and interest, increasing the likelihood of a follow-up meeting. This is vastly different than their approach in the past when they would have to attempt to gather this information from the physician, and if the physician was unwilling to share the information or didn’t have it, the whole process had to begin again with the sales rep spending more time reaching out for multiple contacts before a productive conversation could happen.

By partnering with Definitive Healthcare, Echosens solved their sales team challenges for the FibroScan® product and they were able to: 1) uncover the names and contact information of the high-volume GI physicians that were dealing with biopsies for liver diagnoses, 2) empower their sales force with background information on each physician to make the first call more likely to lead to a second deeper one and 3) increase market share for this innovative point-of-care diagnostic tool, as well as increase the number of positive patient outcomes for a less-understood modern health threat.

The impact

A significant number of new prospective accounts for their sales representatives to target.

As a result of Definitive Healthcare data, Echosens was able to identify 609 physician groups and 441 hospitals that were completely new and economically viable prospects for FibroScan*.

Definitive Healthcare data has been integral in empowering the sales reps to have an efficient, time-saving 60-second intro to get the physician’s attention, then schedule a second meeting to spend more time going deeper into the details of the product — which is ultimately where the sales happen. As Senior Territory Manager and Field Trainer Jack Reilly said, “When you have the right contact data and are in front of the right prospect, getting that follow up meeting is pretty easy and a key way to get your foot in the door.” Definitive Healthcare data products are designed to work together in a myriad of combinations to produce just the right slice of information the team needs to move forward with their particular strategy.

Meanwhile, the result is impactful, for everyone from the physicians to the hospitals to the patients they serve. FibroScan® allows patients to get critical information quickly and less painfully right there in the doctor’s office, versus going off-site for a biopsy, which can result in a delayed diagnosis or even complications from the procedure. Reimbursement helps lessen the financial burden and allow more access to this important tool. Hospitals save space and time for more critical patients. In essence, FibroScan® changes outcomes — for the better. And Definitive Healthcare was there to help pave the way.

®Fibroscan is a registered trademark of Echosens.