Are you talking to the right people?

Innovators need to talk to experts outside their company to help them design, develop, test and launch a product (or service) so that it has the best possible chance of being accepted and used in the real world.

So why do so many executives think they’re missing the target?‍

In the life sciences, where the typical R&D journey takes years, it is clear that three distinct categories of external voices need to be consulted at various times:

In early development Subject Matter Experts are the people who can help the most.

There may not be many of them; and the areas of expertise they possess may be scholarly; but what they do, have done, and what they know, is of crucial importance at key moments.

• They may be working in basic research, with rare biochemical or physiological disease insights.
• They may be clinicians with decades of diagnostic and treatment experience.
• They may equally be highly-specialised health economists, epidemiologists, pharmacists, nurses, or even patients, all with deep disease understanding.

In late development, as the asset moves into the more strategic new product planning world, the guidance and advice of Opinion Leaders is needed.

In practice they are the serious, inquisitive and ambitious people in their therapeutic discipline. They have deep knowledge and understanding of the condition and have established themselves as thought leaders amongst their peers. Recognised and respected, they typically have wide professional networks and communication skills that make persuasive voices.

As launch planning comes into focus, the role of disease Influencers (patients and digital activists) comes into sharp focus.

These individuals are usually prolific in their online activity and have built up substantial communities of like-minded followers. Because of their ability to reach different communities and raise awareness of new thinking, products, and opinions, they are an important part of a co-ordinated launch plan.

Together subject matter experts, opinion leaders, and influencers are the people to talk to - so, why are companies getting it wrong?

We think there are a few reasons:

1.   It’s hard. Whilst there is more data available in the public domain than ever before, it has become harder to find exactly what you’re looking for. The characteristics of a subject matter expert are quite different from that of an opinion leader; and both are different to digital influencers.

2.   It’s time-consuming. Whilst there are many companies offering KOL mapping services to the industry, it takes time to get to the answers, let alone the right answers.

3.   It’s expensive. Whilst outsourcing the research to a specialist agency is possible, it is not always affordable, or contractually attractive.

4.  It requires effort. Far too often the stakeholder research arrives in a format that demands significant client time and learning to be able to understand and use it. For busy teams it’s just easier to go to the people you already know.