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Market Access Strategic Execution Consultant

Content Development

Sharpening the Axe

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Sharpening the Axe

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” –Abraham Lincoln

Upskilling is highly under-rated. For most people: if it happens, it happens; billable work is what counts. 

How can anyone in Market Access develop professionally without staying up to date? After all, billable work goes to the ones who are up to date.

As Francis Bacon declared roughly five hundred years ago, “He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils: for time is the greatest innovator.”

It Wasn’t the Rookie

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It Wasn't the Rookie

When something goes wrong, it must be the rookie who screwed up. Even the rookie believes it.

But how the tables turn when the truth surfaces: the rookie wasn’t at fault…it was the expert!

What can happen if experts gracefully accept their mistakes?

What can happen if experts refuse to accept their mistakes?

How would each scenario impact morale of the team and the possibility of a new beginning?

By definition, humans make mistakes (otherwise we would be God). Owning them requires courage and wisdom.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

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Two Heads Are Better Than One

Gather a group of people who care enough to contribute. A diverse group actually works in your favor.

Before they come into the brainstorm session, hopefully they think through the problem on their own.

Then, watch the magic happen during the meeting when a brand-new idea emerges that no one could’ve imagined on their own, because it’s actually the product of the individual ideas.

Before dispersing, ask the person who didn’t speak up during the meeting: “what are your thoughts?” This could be another magical moment waiting to happen.

Collaboration at its best!

Riding the Hoverboard

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Riding the Hoverboard

Crafting market access messages is a lot like riding a hoverboard.

The natural tendency is to teeter back and forth in order to avoid falling. In this balancing act, fall is inevitable when leaning in (shameless bragging) or leaning back (by-the-book bland words).

Shift the focus from leaning to gathering a core balance: figure out exactly what needs to be said and find robust references to support it.

An experienced writer (rider—punny!) is good at maintaining core balance and zipping ahead in what seems like second-nature.

Mistrust Even For Trustful Data

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Mistrust Even For Trustful Data

A sacrosanct rule of bar charts is to always start the y-axis at ZERO. Starting at any other number skews the chart and can draw trouble and mistrust.

What should be the value of the first bar in the graph below? <3.5 million?

It’s actually 6 million. And this chart actually appeared on a major news network in 2014 (!).

“It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.” –Warren Buffet

Robust Information Management Even When No One Is Looking

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Robust Information Management Even When No One Is Looking

How can you build a tower without the blocks?

How can you build a story in Market Access without datapoints?

No one knows the datapoints better than the writer—but even the writer sometimes attempts to build slides without laying out the datapoints (blocks) first. Good luck!

Mapping out datapoints (information management) does nothing to get the slides done. However, without it, there would be nothing to build the slides with.

It’s hard to marvel at a strong foundation because it’s buried underground and out of sight—but what would you miss in its absence?

The 3 Acts in Market Access Stories

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The 3 Acts in Market Access Stories

Evidence suggests that facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a STORY. Stories are like design: everyone knows a good one when they see it, but only a few can do it.

The barebone framework of a story in Market Access follows the 3-act structure (not 3 sentences/paragraphs/slides, but 3 acts):

Act 1: Situation (there’s a problem)
Act 2: Complication OR Opportunity (the data reveals that the problem is due to xx [Complication] OR the data reveals that there’s an opportunity improve by changing xx [Opportunity])
Act 3: Resolution (our solution can address the problem, creating positive outcomes)

Payer value propositions, for example, follow this 3-act structure:

Act 1: 1 in 3 patients with ALTS are readmitted within 30 days. Each hospitalization can cost up to $50,000
Act 2: Current options to prevent ALTS relapse have dose-limiting side effects, leading to under-treatment
Act 3: In its landmark trial, altsonumab (fictional drug name) decreased the risk of rehospitalization (ARR 42%) and had a side effect profile comparable to placebo

Bad Data Visualization Can Lead to Bad Outcomes

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Bad Data Visualization Can Lead to Bad Outcomes

Data visualizations tell a story. Stories move people.

The explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986 is a classic example of disasters from of BAD data visualizations.

The night before the disaster, scientists had predicted the catastrophe. They tried to persuade their superiors to postpone the launch because the O-rings that sealed the bottoms of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters would fail in the cold temperatures predicted for next morning’s flight. Ultimately they were overruled and the launch countdown proceeded. 73 seconds into its flight, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, instantly killing its 7 crew members.

Data visualization legend Edward Tufte argues in his book Visual Explanations that the engineers failed to communicate the dangers because data wasn’t presented in an easily digestible form. Sloppy typography, unnecessary icons of rockets obscuring key numbers, and performance data of the O-rings arranged by launch date rather than by the critical factor, temperature.

Tufte argues that this made it all but impossible for decision makers to envision that a launch in weather below 66 degrees probably would lead to O-ring failure.

Nail the Outlook

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Nail the Outlook

It is mesmerizing to pour pancake batter onto the center of the skillet and watch it spread into a perfect circle–all on its own.

This can be explained by a phenomenon at the micro scale, called cohesion: molecules of the same kind stick together.

A batter with the right consistency will create a perfect circle all on its own, every time.

Market Access professionals create pancakes all day long (projects).

OUTLOOK is at the center of any project, from which the final deliverable manifests. A pure, powerful, and progressive outlook will create such deliverables.

Despite the genetic nature of outlooks, they’re almost always ignored as everyone hastily slaps things onto the paper to get it done. The right outlook is never missed by anyone until something goes wrong.

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” –Lao Tzu

First Impression is Lasting

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First Impression is Lasting

There is something specific the Client is looking for. What is it?

Asking this question can determine the fate of a project, an entire business, or even someone’s promotion.

Giving him exactly what he was looking for will create a wonderful first impression! He’s ready to listen.

Failing to give him what he was looking for: the rest of it doesn’t matter, because he’s no longer willing to see it.

First impressions aren’t limited to the first 3 seconds of meeting someone for the first time. First impressions are actually recurrent: the first 3 seconds of reviewing a revision, the first 3 seconds of a meeting, the first 3 seconds of reading an email.

Consultants have to EARN clients’ trust EVERY time, because the client-consultant relationship is like a crush.

Krishna Patel, PharmD
Market Access Strategy and Execution Consultant
info@sojusllc.com
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