The Power of Product, Process, and … People

Instigation:

Once a dominant manufacturer of those ubiquitous hospital IV pumps, Baxter was steadily losing market share to competitors with more advanced products. To reverse their fortunes, they developed a competitive new line but, being late with the new technology, they knew they had to get the marketing exactly right or their opportunity to reestablish leadership would be lost.

In addition, the marketing team needed compelling prospect insights to help align other internal groups around a cohesive go-to-market plan.

Insight:

Baxter came to B2P Partners for our ability to profile all the contributors to pump system decisions in the complex hospital environment, to map their interaction through the purchase journey, to create benefit ladders identifying what each persona sought from a pump system, and to translate all that into messaging and a go-to-market strategy… and quick enough to help them make up for lost time!

Prospect Profiles were created for each of the diverse roles in the challenging hospital decision environment. In the course of our research, we even identified an overlooked but emerging key player in the buying process.

For both the clinical titles who Baxter knew well and the non-clinical contributors who were less familiar with and to Baxter, values and perceptions were unveiled with detailed benefit chains for each.

In the course of the exploration, we identified a competitor who was doing a particularly job in an area where Baxter sought to improve, so we did additional investigation to uncover the keys to their success. This provided additional insights and momentum for change inside the company.

Most importantly, we uncovered five powerful ways for Baxter to retake a leadership role in the category, with clear tactics for accomplishing each goal. While the original focus had been on the product – as it often the case with technology marketers – we discovered and provided compelling evidence for the role of the implementation process and even the individual people who represented the company.

Impact:

Thus armed, the Baxter marketing team was able to drive:

• Messaging that let Baxter reconnect with each role in their own language and benefits, including the IT and Quality/Risk Management roles for the first time
• Positioning to help redefine the market away from competitors and towards the new strengths Baxter was bringing
• Restructuring and staffing of implementation teams and
• A unified vision of the decision making process / buying center to engage and align other functional groups in the company, such as sales and support.