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Market Access Strategic Execution Consultant

Sharing Feelings Is a Shortcut

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Sharing Feelings Is a Shortcut

When you’re complaining to someone, it might sound like just that.

Instead, try telling him how you feel: “I feel stressed,” “I feel angry,” …. Sharing how you feel is a shortcut for the person to figure out exactly what’s behind the complaining.

You might’ve been complaining about the same thing for the past 2 weeks. However, upon learning that you feel stressed, your manager will now pay attention and try to look for solutions.

Of course, in order to tell someone how you feel, you have to know what you’re feeling first.

Once the problem is accurately diagnosed, treatments can be found.

Just Google It

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Just Google It

Keeping up with technology is something that MAJORITY of people in Market Access struggle with. 

If we don’t stay up to date, we will soon become outdated. Could we soon become outdated for the very positions we currently hold? Parents today say that their 2-year-olds are teaching them how to use the TV remote.

A well-kept secret of IT professionals is that they don’t know everything. When they do not know the answer to an IT-related question, they just Google it. That’s it. No magic to it.

So before complaining about SharePoint again, try to figure out a solution to the problem by Googling it.

Figuring it out will take us much further than complaining about it.

Everyone likes figure-outers–the world needs more of them.

Meeting Objectives

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Meeting Objectives

Objectives set (1) expectations for meetings as well as (2) guardrails that keep the discussion on-course.

It’s important to set expectations so that the attendees can come adequately prepared (I’ve been to meetings where the person who’s presenting didn’t even know that he was going to present—imagine that!).

It’s important to set guardrails to ensure everything on the agenda is given enough time during the 1 hour.

When done right, objectives start with a verb (which is rarely the word “discuss” because it’s too ambiguous).

Courage to Ask

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Courage to Ask

One of the most important traits of the most successful people in Market Access is their willingness to learn. All the time.

Humility and eagerness to learn can go a long way in saving lots and lots of time and ultimately creating a better overall product/outcome.

But it takes courage to ask.

2-minute guidance from a caring team member could save 2 hours of work. That time saved can then be spent doing other productive things.

Not a single person knows everything; every single person knows something.

Consider taking this 1 step further.

Appreciate the team member: “Thank you for your time. The last 2 minutes with you just saved me 2 hours of research.” 

We criticize liberally but are stingy with appreciation. Because appreciation is so rare, we notice it when it actually happens. Plus, it’s nourishing–for both parties.

Keep Your Inbox Clean

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Keep Your Inbox Clean

If an inbox is clogged with hundreds or thousands of emails, how is it possible to find what you need when you need it? Is it possible that you could miss an important email? Would you rather use up the time you have fishing out a silly email or doing the work that matters?

A clogged inbox ripples: it doesn’t just slow down one person, but also everyone else that works with him.

I have 5 professional email accounts. In each Inbox, I have 0 emails. That’s right: 0.

There’s no fancy product or app to keep my inboxes clean. Just one simple rule has served me well over the past decade: after I respond to a message, I do 1 of 3 things: FILE, FLAG, or DELETE.

FILE: Emails that are given a home (correct folder) can be instantly retrieved in the future.

FLAG: Some emails (only some) deserve to stay in my Inbox for just a few more days until I get around to them.

DELETE: If I haven’t found a reason to file or flag an email, I delete it.

Inboxes are one source of frustration that we can all CHOOSE to control.

Play Hard

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Play Hard

Most employees in Market Access have a standard 9-5 schedule. Certainly, there are people who go above and beyond by working nights and weekends.

When these hours bleed into time that was dedicated for other important things (like family), there’s a good chance we question: “why am I doing this in the first place?”

Market Access is a noble profession in which we fight for patients. Parenting is also a noble profession–even magical!

Both are important. Then which one to choose?

Make every minute count (both at work and with the family). Play hard. Put life into the hours…not hours into life. 

There are real difficulties in both professions–but the vibrant passion is also real. 

Keeping Up With Time

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Keeping Up With Time

Market Access is arguably one of the most complex/difficult job in the pharmaceutical industry. So why do we put ourselves through it?

Do we show up to solve interesting problems, or for a paycheck? There are lots of smart people in Market Access…but they have yet to fully realize their potential because they’re holding themselves back.

Too many of us follow what worked for someone 15 years ago. But things have changed.

Market Access doesn’t need the solutions from 15 years ago…it needs solutions from modern-day people: you and I.

It’s time to change with time and break the mold.

Playing Legos at Work

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Playing Legos at Work

Preparing for their return home from vacation, a mother asks her child, “are you excited to go back home?”

The child answers, “Yes!”

Mother: “Why?”

Child: “I have very important work waiting for me at home. I need to figure out how to build an elephant and a frog with Legos as soon as we return.”

What Legos are to the child is what work is for the mother.

Work is real, but it’s also made up. All of it.

Angels can fly in the heavens because they take themselves lightly. We also can fly if we loosen up and have fun. Yes, work can be fun—why not?

Benjamin Zander’s epic Rule Number 6: “Don’t take yourself so g—damn seriously.”

Launch Pains are Temporary

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Launch Pains Are Temporary

A woman is debilitated by severe hearing loss. Yet she fields issues all day long at the customer service desk at Home Depot. She frequently endures shouts from customers who don’t realize that she doesn’t respond because she’s hard of hearing. She moves forward despite her situation to provide EXCEPTIONAL customer service.

In Market Access, we don’t have to haul heavy items nor do we bear people shouting at us. Yet we complain.

The difficulty of product launches is REAL, but it’s TEMPORARY. The woman with permanent hearing loss has to live with her handicap forever.

Then what is left to complain about, really?

I don’t have to do any of this…I get to do it.

Moments of difficulty are actually a dance between my shortcomings and I. These moments are golden opportunities for growth. Like gold, these opportunities are buried in the dirt and can only be recognized by a trained eye.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change” –Charles Darwin

Deadlines

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Deadlines

I don’t remember ever missing a deadline.

Taking deadlines seriously is a way to show respect for others’ time as well as my own.

  1. Respecting others’ time: they can only start their part once I finish my part. Handing over my work on time gives them enough time to do their work.
  2. Respecting my time: what could I have been doing with the time spent working on overdue projects?

“One today is worth two tomorrows” –Benjamin Franklin

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