Best Practices developed by Health Launchpad and the Healthtech Marketing Network
As healthcare organizations face mounting pressures to improve patient care, increase revenues, reduce costs, and drive operational efficiency, C-level executives are taking a more active role in purchasing technology.
This post explores the challenges of selling to the C-Suite in healthcare, outlines best practice strategies, and provides actionable tactics for sales and marketing professionals.
What Healthtech Marketers Report
We conducted discussion sessions with thirty health tech marketing leaders who are members of the Healthtech Marketing Network. These executives were Chief Marketing Officers, vice presidents, and Directors of healthcare technology firms, ranging from small privately held firms, high-growth ventures, and PE-backed firms to multi-billion dollar giants.
Before a discussion, we surveyed them on C-Suite involvement in buying processes they encounter.
Survey Results
Key Findings
Complex Decision-Making Process: The majority of respondents (86.96%) indicated that 2-7 buyers are typically involved in the decision-making process, with 47.83% reporting 2-4 buyers and 39.13% reporting 5-7 buyers. This reinforces the complexity of the sales process and the need to develop multi-stakeholder engagement strategies.
The proliferation of buying committees, including clinical, IT, and executive groups, has added complexity to the sales process. Sales teams must navigate these committees while maintaining consistent messaging and demonstrating value to each stakeholder group.
C-Suite as Key Decision-Makers: 26% of respondents identified C-level executives as decision-makers. Excelling in engaging and selling to the C-Suite is a critical skill. Securing initial meetings with C-Suite executives remains a significant challenge.
One executive reported receiving 20,000 emails from vendors in a year, highlighting the intense competition for attention. This information overload makes it crucial for sales and marketing teams to craft compelling, concise messages that resonate with C-Suite priorities.
C-Suite executives are primarily concerned with how technology investments support broader organizational goals. Sales teams must demonstrate how their solutions align with and advance key strategic initiatives, such as improving population health, reducing costs, or enhancing patient satisfaction.
Recent research highlighted in “The Jolt Effect” suggests that fear of messing up accounts for 60% of stalled deals. C-Suite executives are acutely aware of the personal and organizational risks associated with large technology investments. Addressing these concerns and mitigating perceived risks is crucial for moving deals forward.
CFO’s Dominant Role: Surprisingly, the CFO emerged as the most frequently involved C-Suite executive, with 56.52% of respondents indicating participation. While they are not necessarily the ultimate decision-maker, they significantly influence the decision. Knowing how to address their concerns is increasingly important.
C-suite executives, particularly CFOs, require clear demonstrations of ROI and business value. Soft benefits are no longer sufficient; hard savings and tangible impacts on strategic initiatives are essential for gaining C-Suite buy-in.
Diverse C-Suite Involvement: The survey showed a broad spectrum of C-Suite involvement, with the Chief Medical Officer, CIO, Chief Nursing Officer, and Chief Digital Officer all playing significant roles (each involved in over 40% of cases). Each of these executives brings a unique perspective and set of priorities to the table:
- CFOs focus on financial impact and ROI
- CMOs prioritize clinical outcomes and physician satisfaction
- CIOs are concerned with integration, security, and long-term technology strategy
- CNOs emphasize nursing workflow and patient care improvements
Navigating these diverse priorities requires a nuanced approach to messaging and value proposition development.
The involvement of roles such as the Chief Digital Officer (43.48%) and Chief Experience Officer (17.39%) reflects the evolving priorities in healthcare technology adoption.
Best Practice Strategies and Tactical Ideas
Ten best practices emerged from the discussions. The following describes the best practices with tactical ideas executed across these organizations.
1. Develop a Comprehensive C-Suite Engagement Plan
The number of C-Suite executives involved in decision-making is proportional to the organization’s size. For instance, in smaller practices (1-9 doctors/vets), the owner is often the direct decision-maker. In larger health systems, department chairs or VP/Director level often initiate the process, with the C-suite becoming involved in more significant deals.
With smaller organizations, traditional lead-generation techniques may work. Successful engagement with the C-Suite of the larger organizations requires a strategic, account-based marketing (ABM) approach. This involves:
- Identifying key decision-makers and influencers within target organizations
- Developing tailored messaging for each C-Suite role
- Creating a multi-touch engagement plan that leverages various channels and touchpoints
Tactical Ideas
- Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to map relationships and identify warm introductions within target organizations.
- Implement an ABM approach, hyper-targeting Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) organizations’ pain points with relevant messages to C-Suite targets.
- Utilize AI tools like Jasper to create personalized content at scale for different C-Suite roles.
2. Develop a Deep Understanding of Prospect Organizations
One of the foundations of an ABM program is deep insights into a target account. What is essential to the prospect? Improving population health, cost reduction, or physician/patient satisfaction? This means investing time in researching and understanding prospect organizations, including:
- Key strategic initiatives and challenges
- Organizational structure and decision-making processes
- Competitive landscape and market positioning
Tactical Ideas
- Conduct an in-depth analysis of where target audiences are consuming information
- Use tools like D&B Hoovers or ZoomInfo to gather detailed organizational information
- Leverage insights from sales calls (e.g., using Gong) to deepen understanding of prospect priorities and challenges
3. Engage Early in the Buying Process
Engage with C-Suite executives early in the buying process whenever possible. This allows you to shape the conversation, understand key priorities, and position your solution as a strategic asset rather than a commodity purchase.
Tactical Ideas
- Offer value-added services. For example, Caregility offers a virtual nursing assessment to engage multiple C-Suite stakeholders early.
- Utilize outbound tactics and direct mail to initiate early conversations with senior account executives where possible. SDRs can help with research but are unlikely to reach C-Suite executives.
- Leverage thought leadership content to attract C-Suite attention in the early stages of their buying journey
4. Focus on Data-Driven Value Propositions
C-suite executives respond best to clear, data-driven value propositions, especially the CFOs, who are involved in 75% of decisions. It is crucial to show the impact of solutions on areas like population health improvement, cost reduction, and physician/patient satisfaction.
This includes highlighting strategic differentiators, such as the ability to launch new service lines. You must demonstrate tangible impacts on key performance indicators (KPIs).
Tactical Ideas
- Develop robust economic value calculators.
- Create comprehensive case studies that demonstrate hard ROI and strategic impact.
- Develop role-specific one-pagers that address the unique concerns of each C-Suite executive, focusing on data-driven arguments.
5. Leverage Internal Champions and Multi-Level Engagement
While engaging the C-Suite is crucial, it’s equally important to cultivate relationships at multiple levels within the organization. Internal champions can help navigate organizational dynamics and advocate for your solution. Arm them with the tools and content to sell internally.
The Healthtech marketers emphasized the importance of engaging with various levels, from department chairs to VPs of IT and Applications. These individuals often serve as starting points and hold significant sway in influence and decision-making.
Tactical Ideas
- Support their internal advocacy efforts by providing champions with tailored content and sales enablement materials.
- Conduct regular cross-functional meetings to share insights and refine strategies.
- Offer training to sales teams on conducting C-Suite level strategic discussions, ensuring they can effectively support and leverage internal champions.
6. Create Targeted Content for C-Suite Consumption
These decisions are important. The buying group spends months determining how to solve a problem. They will actively look for great content that helps them in this process. C-Suite executives seek strategic, thought leadership articles and case studies on how other organizations like theirs solve these problems.
These include executive summaries highlighting key benefits and strategic alignment, case studies demonstrating clear ROI and business impact, and thought leadership pieces addressing industry trends and challenges.
Tactical Ideas
- Produce thought leadership content on industry trends and insights
- Optimize website content for C-Suite consumption, featuring executive-level messaging and resources
- Leverage AI tools to assist in creating personalized content at scale for different C-Suite roles
7. Build Brand Credibility Through Thought Leadership
Through thought leadership content, you will position your firm’s representatives as trusted advisors. This includes:
- Publishing insightful content on industry trends and challenges
- Participating in speaking engagements at relevant conferences
- Engaging with industry analysts and research firms
Tactical Ideas
- Prioritize strategic conferences and events for high-impact networking and speaking opportunities
- Ensure presence and positive ratings on relevant market research platforms (e.g., Gartner, KLAS, Avia)
- Develop a content strategy that positions your company as an industry expert, addressing key C-Suite concerns and priorities
8. Align Sales and Marketing Efforts
Ensure consistent messaging across all customer touchpoints by aligning sales and marketing efforts. This alignment is crucial when targeting the C-suite, as these executives expect a cohesive narrative from all interactions with your company. This includes:
- Developing a unified messaging framework that resonates with C-suite priorities
- Creating role-specific sales enablement materials that address unique C-suite concerns
- Conducting regular cross-functional meetings to share insights and refine strategies
- Establishing a feedback loop between sales and marketing to improve messaging continuously
- Implementing a shared CRM system to track all C-suite interactions and preferences
Tactical Ideas
- Utilize tools like Gong to analyze sales calls and refine messaging, focusing on what resonates with C-suite executives.
- Create role-specific sales enablement materials that align with marketing messages and address specific C-suite pain points.
- Implement a unified messaging framework that spans sales and marketing efforts, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
- Develop a shared content library accessible to sales and marketing teams, categorized by C-suite role and industry vertical.
- Implement regular “win-loss” analyses to understand which messages and approaches are most effective with C-suite decision-makers.
- Conduct joint sales and marketing training sessions to ensure both teams understood and could effectively communicate the unified message.
- Create a C-suite-specific nurture campaign that aligns marketing content with sales follow-up strategies.
- Develop a scoring system to evaluate the effectiveness of different messages and approaches with C-suite executives.
9. Utilize Peer-to-Peer Connections and References
C-Suite executives value insights from their peers. Facilitate peer-to-peer connections between prospects and existing clients, leveraging video testimonials, written success stories, and live reference calls to build credibility and trust.
Some companies work to identify clients with the inclination and ego to be thought leaders willing to share their experiences.
Tactical Ideas
- Produce high-quality video testimonials featuring C-Suite executives from successful implementations.
- Develop a library of written success stories addressing various use cases and ROI scenarios.
- Facilitate C-Suite to C-Suite conversations between your leadership team and prospects.
10. Implement a Robust Customer Reference Program
Once a buying group is engaged, they are expected to ask for references. This is usually a positive sign that the decision is moving in your favor. Several of the health tech marketing leaders had organized a structured customer reference program that:
- Categorize the references based on use case, industry, and solution.
- Manages reference fatigue by tracking and limiting requests.
- Provides clear value to participating customers.
- Includes the right data and contact information for references.
Tactical Ideas
- Implement a structured reference program using tools like Gainsight to manage and track customer engagements.
- Develop a system to categorize and match references based on specific criteria (e.g., EHR used, use case, organization size).
- Create a value proposition for customers participating in the reference program.
Final Thoughts
Selling to the C-Suite in healthcare technology requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that addresses senior executives’ unique challenges and priorities. By developing comprehensive engagement plans, focusing on data-driven value propositions, and leveraging innovative tactics, sales and marketing teams can increase their effectiveness in reaching and influencing C-Suite decision-makers.
Success in this arena demands continuous adaptation and refinement of strategies. To maintain a competitive edge, stay attuned to shifting industry dynamics, emerging technologies, and evolving C-Suite priorities. By implementing the best practices and tactics outlined in this white paper, healthcare technology providers can position themselves as strategic partners, driving meaningful conversations and successful outcomes with C-Suite executives.
If you are interested in exploring these best practices and discussing how you can improve, Health Launchpad specializes in helping healthcare technology firms develop better growth strategies. To learn more, please contact CEO Adam Turinas at [email protected].