(888) 893-2165Fierce Healthcare recently reported on the top seven challenges healthcare industry leaders face in 2023. Cracking down on premium pay, enforcing hiring freezes, and making hospital management teams leaner are top priorities.
Understanding healthcare leaders’ current and future needs are crucial for an effective B2B sales strategy. But if you’re new to healthcare sales, you have a significant learning curve ahead of you.
Healthcare organizations are like other industries in many ways. But the differences are stark. Read on to learn about the unique challenges sales professionals must overcome when selling to healthcare clients.
Unique Challenges in Healthcare B2B Sales
If healthcare leaders’ priorities are any indication, it isn’t so different from other industries. Leaders are financially driven. In fact, hospitals are even more focused on finance than other businesses since so many are in the red.
Despite these similarities, healthcare is a beast of its own. The sales pipeline you’ve come up with for other customers won’t cut it. You need a new sales strategy tailored to your unique customer base.
With that in mind, here are the challenges you may face with your marketing strategy when selling to healthcare organizations and how to solve them.
Cash Flow
You know how the sales model works for most businesses. The customer buys a product, the customer pays for it, and that payment goes straight to the company’s bottom line. In healthcare, this process is not so simple.
Patients don’t pay for the care they receive; insurance companies do. But insurers don’t reimburse providers right away. For example, Medicare takes at least 30 days to process and pay out claims.
Sales professionals can overcome this challenge by learning about clients’ fiscal calendars. Identify when your prospect’s cash flow is higher. That way, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.
Sales Cycles
This is one of the biggest surprises to many new healthcare sales reps. Healthcare sales cycles are incredibly long. And don’t expect to be able to speed up sales, as this strategy could end up backfiring.
The average B2B sales cycle lasts 102 days. In the healthcare industry, this cycle can be more than twice as long, lasting more than two quarters. Sales cycles for bigger ticket items may take even longer.
Again, you can’t expect to change healthcare sales cycles overnight. Instead, you must alter your marketing strategy according to customer needs. Do that, and you’ll have a much higher chance of success.
More Stakeholders
With many businesses, salespeople only have to convince one stakeholder to make a purchase. This stakeholder may also have specific expertise with the product. For example, IT directors usually make technology purchase decisions.
Healthcare companies are different. You can’t just convince one person to make a sale. You may have to make your pitch to the CEO, doctors, hospital administration, and the list goes on.
Overcoming this challenge requires you to change your approach for each stakeholder. Consider key selling points that would apply to every member of the hierarchy and use them strategically.
Switching Costs
The healthcare industry is notoriously brand loyal. Once they choose a specific product from a certain brand, they are not likely to switch unless they’re forced to. Switching to a more affordable but lower-cost presents risk.
At the same time, cost also plays a role. As we discussed earlier, healthcare organizations operate on thin and sometimes unpredictable budgets. They can’t always afford to spend more on a higher-quality product.
Sales professionals must consider this when pushing new products. They must also realize that healthcare professionals, while smart, are not business people. You must explain the benefit of your product, even if it seems readily apparent.
Slow Adoption
Sales cycles are not the only thing that’s slow about healthcare. These organizations are also reluctant to adopt new innovations. Never is that more apparent than with new technologies.
Often, the government has to mandate tech adoption in the industry. This is what happened with the HITECH Act of 2009. The government had to incentivize providers to switch to digital information systems.
This presents a few issues, especially for health tech industry salespeople. Firstly, prospects may be unwilling to buy new tech, and secondly, your products may need to play nice with legacy systems. Plan for this challenge accordingly to keep your expectations aligned with reality.
Different Customers
Yes, healthcare organizations are financially driven. And yes, other businesses are customer-driven. But healthcare companies are unique in that patients’ needs always trump financial interests.
Patients are intimately involved in their treatments. They often have just as much say in the procedures and medical equipment used in their care plans. They are also often end-users of the technology systems providers adopt.
Of course, don’t forget that hospitals still want to keep costs low. Balance your prospects’ financial interests with what’s best for patients and watch orders start to flow in.
Overcome These Challenges With JumpCrew
The healthcare market presents unique challenges sales teams must understand to be successful. Barriers to sales include poor cash flow, extended sales cycles, and high switching costs. The healthcare industry’s reluctance to innovate and focus on patients over finances can also slow you down.
Does your company need expertise in healthcare sales? You can spend the time and money to train your own sales team. Or you could take advantage of an expert team of healthcare sales professionals like JumpCrew.
Book a meeting with JumpCrew today and learn how our dedicated B2B sales teams can help.
