The Questions Are More Important Than the Answers

Focusing on what you know, rather than on what you need to know can result in critical mistakes when managing your business.

People will often rightfully say that they know a lot about a customer or a market. But are they the things that you actually need to know?

I have had reps go on at great length about a customer’s family, taste in art and predilection for strange pets. But when asked what sort of product information the customer found most credible, what efficacy, safety or tolerability looked like to them, what their approach to patients was, they had few insights.

I have dealt with brand managers who can site statistics ad-nauseam but cannot explain why, at the end of the day, the customers are not using their product.

Knowing a lot about a customer does not mean that from a business perspective, you know that customer. That is why getting the questions right is so important.

If you want to understand a customer or a market, you need to first figure out where the key points are in the customer journey that affect what they do and what happens to them when it comes to your therapeutic area.

Once you have identified where those critical points are, you can form your questions. What stimulates a patient to seek treatment? Who decides what treatment the patient will receive? What is motivating a healthcare professional to choose one product over another? What are the barriers to patient treatment?

The questions can be pretty standard but it is amazing how often they are either not asked or the answer is just assumed and not based on any real data.

The right questions act as the foundation of your business plan. If you understand what you need to know, even if you do not have all of the answers, you have the best possible sense of your business environment. From there you can build a solid business plan.

If you don’t know what you need to know, your business plan and ultimately your business, is in big trouble.