By: Susan Boydell | sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com
Are you positioned for success with your internal stakeholders? You might ask, “How would I know?”
Let’s start with a definition of “positioning.” I found one from Harvard Business School that nicely defines what it is and why it’s crucial: “strategic positioning reflects choices a company makes about the kind of value it will create and how that value will be created differently than rivals.”
A couple of keywords are especially relevant to our internal positioning. The first is “choices.” Choice means we considered it, weighed our options, and were deliberate in our selection. The second is “value.” This is extremely important when positioning our “value” with internal stakeholders. The word I would rethink in this definition is “rivals.” Though we don’t really have rivals or competitors internally (some might disagree!), we do compete internally for dollars, resources and time. So, the question to ask is why physician relations over some other department or need? Now, you see the importance of positioning internally!
Let’s start by defining the position you want to hold in the eyes of your internal stakeholders. It’s crucial to be crystal clear on who you are, what you do, how you do it, and what you want to be. Here is a simple example to get you started:
- Who you are: Physician Relations Department
- What you do: Grow business by earning referrals in strategic priority clinical areas
- How do you do it: By building relationships with referral sources to understand their needs and match their needs with the benefits the organization has to offer
- What you want to be: To be the growth arm of the organization where leaders come to learn and advance physician engagement growth strategies
You can take this one step further by creating an internal positioning statement that succinctly incorporates your answers to each question. It’s not a mission statement, but a statement of your brand identity internally.
When it comes to your internal customers, not all stakeholders are created equal. Referral growth might be important to everyone, but there can be differences in the details. For example, the C-suite might be very interested in strategic intelligence that will inform future market expansion decisions. A service line leader might be very interested in process improvements that could remove barriers to growth. Completing a simple segmentation exercise to understand each internal customer’s needs and characteristics will help you customize your relationship, communication style and even results reports.
Before you go much further, it’s essential to understand what your internal stakeholders think of you today. How would they define your value? If they describe you as something different than the positioning statement we discussed above, you have work to do. It’s time to reposition your role/department with your internal audience. If they see you as an excellent customer service liaison but not a significant contributor to volume increases, then perhaps that’s where you start. That doesn’t mean that your customer service skills are no longer needed. It just signals you need to rethink what skills you lead with and how those skills delivered more significant volume increases. Don’t take this step lightly. Gather as much insight as possible to truly understand what they think of you today and what they need more of in the future.
Creating an internal sales plan (positioning strategy!) takes work, and it requires dedication and strategic thinking. This is just the tip of the iceberg in building a solid plan. Without it, you risk your opportunity to be positioned as a resource the organization can’t live without.