MSL Insights Tip of the Week
Medical insights are the most important asset MSL teams bring to an organization. Insights help identify gaps, inform the Medical Strategy and are vital to meeting overall business objectives.
This post is dedicated to providing MSL teams with weekly insights tips to help exceed expectations of how insights enable companies to provide excellent care for patients.
Want social media insights for your products and disease state? Sign up for Medical.watch.
September 18, 2020
Give tool overviews to help gather insights during virtual meetings
We are now 6+ months into the pandemic and getting the hang of virtual meetings. Medical Affairs teams are past the initial bumpy phases. Many have their own quantitative data on how their KOLs prefer to be engaged (or use survey results from the MSL Society). The focus has shifted to optimizing virtual engagements to provide the best experience for KOLs and gathering insights.
Some KOLs are still struggling with online meeting tools. At the beginning of a virtual meeting, MSLs can give a brief overview of the tool and point out the key features the KOL will be using during the meeting. Presheet Patkar, PhD, noticed that the KOLs he was meeting with were really distracted by not knowing the meeting tool. They were leaning into the screen and he could see their eyes bouncing all over the place. Presheet begins every meeting with a quick orientation of the meeting tool. This helps the KOL feel comfortable and stay focused on the info being shared. It has helped Presheet collect great insights from his meeting. Thanks for the great tip!
MSLs can begin their virtual meetings giving a quick overview of the meeting platform. This will help everyone stay focused, build trust, and gather actionable insights!
Check out this article for more great tips on how to gather actionable insights during online meetings.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
September 11, 2020
Save MSLs time by providing guidance on digital insights
One clear outcome of COVID-19 is that everyone is spending more time online. KOLs that may not have been online as much pre-pandemic are now more active on social media and other online platforms. MSL teams have been adapting to this new behavior by mining online sources for insights.
In many cases, MSLs are discovering impactful, actionable insights without having a face to face interaction. But it’s tricky! How do you avoid MSLs spending massive amounts of time scrolling through social media feeds or podcast comments without coming up empty-handed? Clear guidance on how to find digitally sourced insights is key.
Review the medical strategy and organizational priorities with MSLs. This is where MSLs should focus their efforts when mining online sources (and for insights collection in general). If your organization is actively monitoring the response to a competitor’s topline results, have MSLs focus on this. Remind them what would be useful for the company to know about the competitor’s data. Setting up Google Alerts or doing very specific keyword searches on social media (e.g., clinical trial names, products, or KOLs) help focus their efforts.
Give MSLs direction on what to focus on and they will be more likely to not waste time and discover actionable insights.
Interested in more guidance with digitally sourced insights? Check out this webinar or get in touch.
Check out this article on how to build trust virtually to gather great insights for more tips.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
September 4, 2020
Create more value for KOLs by asking
The best way for MSLs to uncover why KOLs think and act a certain way (the key to an actionable insight!) is to build trust and a long-term relationship. How can an MSL build trust and the relationship? It’s all about adding value to the KOL.
Take the guesswork out of how to add value to your KOL by just asking. In every meeting, ask the KOL how you can add value to them. Then deliver on this and repeat. This will help the MSL understand the needs of the KOL, continually add value, and build a long-term relationship. Keep track of what the KOL says/wants. You will likely see that it changes over time and you can use this for pre-meeting planning.
Everyone wants an experience customized to their specific needs and directly asking what the KOL wants helps MSLs create a personalized experience for KOLs.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
August 28, 2020
The best MSL insights get right to the punchline
Imagine this: your company has been working really hard to launch a new product in a competitive market and finally the time has arrived. The product is now out in the wild and everyone is anxiously waiting to see how it will be received by HCPs and patients. Everyone is just dying to read the MSL insights report to see real-life feedback from HCPs. The first insights are starting to come in and look like this:
“Discussed the difference between our product and the competitor’s.”
“Showed the HCP the slide deck on our product.”
If you were excited to see how HCPs are perceiving your hard work, how would you feel about these insights? Underwhelmed? Disappointed? Blah? Uninspired?
Actionable insights that motivate internal stakeholders contain the why behind HCP thoughts and behaviors. In other words, they get right to the punchline. Always include the why in your insights. This is the key piece of what makes an insight actionable, helps your cross-functional partners make smart decisions, and demonstrates the value of insights!
Need a refresher on what is an insight with some examples? Download this free guide!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
August 21, 2020
Write better MSL insights by thinking about who will read them
Reading large amounts of free-text MSL insights is a bear. It can be incredibly time-consuming and challenging to understand what they mean and pull out trends. Well composed, thoughtful insights make this process a lot easier. One way for MSLs to compose better insights is to think about the perspective of the person reading them. What is the background of this person? What is the context around this insight? Why is it important for them to know it?
If the person reading an insight thinks, “Why are you telling me this?” then it's not a well-written insight. It likely doesn’t include the context or why this information is important and makes it hard to act on. Now imagine reading 10s or 100s of insights that do not clearly articulate the why. It would make anyone’s brain hurt!
Remember that the folks reading insights were not in the meeting with KOL and do not have the same context as the MSL. They also may not have the same in-depth knowledge in the therapeutic area. Part of an MSL’s job is to clearly communicate to all stakeholders and this includes internal colleagues that will use insights to make better decisions.
Next time you are writing an insight, think to yourself if you were not in the meeting, would you be able to make sense out of this and know why it is important?
Need a refresher on insights? Check out this free insight guide:
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
August 14, 2020
Create a mechanism for MSLs to elevate urgent insights
Often, MSLs discover urgent insights that the organization should act on immediately. In these cases, the insight needs to get to the right internal stakeholder right away. Entering it in an insights tool or CRM is critical but depending on the reporting cycle, there can be a lag before it gets to the right person. To avoid this and not miss out on time-sensitive opportunities, create a mechanism for MSLs to quickly elevate urgent insights (and clearly define what is urgent).
The way urgent insights get elevated depends on what makes the most sense for your team. Regardless, ensure that MSLs are aware of the mechanism for how to elevate urgent insights. Here are some ways your team could choose to share urgent insights:
Text message or call to direct manager
Group text with MSL team (so others can weigh in)
Create a channel on internal chat (like Teams or Slack)
Use notifications in the insights tool/CRM to notify the appropriate stakeholders
Add agenda item on weekly team meetings to discuss time-sensitive insights
What are some ways that your team elevates urgent insights? Please share!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
August 7, 2020
Take advantage of pauses to gather actionable insights
Pauses can feel uncomfortable and unnatural in conversations, but they are also a great way for MSLs to uncover “the why” during conversations with HCPs. Incorporating pauses into conversations has many advantages:
It aids in comprehension of the message the MSL is delivering (brains need time to process and it helps reduce Zoom fatigue!)
Helps the MSL listen and hear what is being said, instead of thinking about what to say next (this leads to great insights!)
Develops stronger relationships because the HCP feels heard
Encourages the HCP to share more details (to end the pause)
When taking a pause it can feel like an eternity but it isn’t actually that bad. After presenting a key point, take a breath and count to five (5 whole seconds not nanoseconds. Count one one thousand, two one thousand…). Or if you are in the habit of rapid firing questions, ask one question and wait. Give the HCP a chance to process, think, and then respond. This technique will help MSLs dig deeper into the “the why” behind HCP perceptions. Understanding the “the why” leads to uncovering actionable insights!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
July 31, 2020
Discuss insights best practices frequently to encourage adoption
Medical Affairs teams often discover insights best practices from individual MSLs, territories, countries or regions but struggle to make them more broadly adopted. When something works really well for one MSL or region, how can this be successfully translated to others?
One method to encourage adoption is to frequently discuss best practices. Have someone from your team talk about a recent success and why it was successful. This can be done on MSL team calls, Medical Affairs department calls, town halls, etc. Dedicate a few minutes of every meeting (maybe even during in-person meetings again someday!) to sharing what is working well and why. These success stories are sure to inspire others to implement these ideas.
To take this one step further, have someone that implemented a best practice share why/how it worked for them. This helps encourage sharing and adopting!
What are some methods to implement best practices that have worked well for you or your team? Please share!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
July 24, 2020
Avoid multitasking on video calls to gather better medical insights
Gathering great medical insights during virtual engagements is tough. The virtual setting also introduces new challenges when it comes to gathering great insights. MSLs have to overcome technical difficulties, build trust (check out this article for tips), reduce Zoom Fatigue, and more. On top of that, MSLs and HCPs have to avoid a Pavlovian response to checking emails, phones, and other notifications on our computers. Being in front of our computers is really distracting! If an MSL is not 100% focused on the meeting, they will likely miss an opportunity to ask thoughtful questions and gather great insights.
Plus, HCPs are super-smart and can tell if an MSL is not 100% focused!
During virtual interactions, MSLs should avoid multitasking at all costs in order to focus on what the HCP is saying. One of the best ways to do this is by closing everything on your computer (and I mean everything, don’t trust yourself to be able to resist), turn off notifications, tell Alexa to be quiet and put your phone in another room. This will minimize the risk that the MSL will get distracted and help him/her focus on the meeting. This in turn, will lead to great insights!
What’s your favorite way to avoid distractions and stay laser-focused?
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
July 17, 2020
Speak slowly on video calls to help collect great medical insights
The struggle with Zoom Fatigue is real (check out last week’s tip and this article with ways to reduce it). Video calls make our brains (and HCPs’ brains) exhausted. In addition to these tips, try to speak more slowly during your video chats. Your HCP’s brain is already on overdrive trying to minimize distractions, avoid technical glitches, and follow what the MSL is presenting. When the HCP can follow, it is more likely the MSL will be able to spend more time on understanding the HCP’s perception of what is being presented instead of trying to explain concepts more.
If you are anything like me, speaking slowly is tough! I’m a fast talker :). Here are a couple of things that help me and hopefully will help other fast talkers with slowing down. Remember it’s ok to take a pause! When I’m presenting, small pauses feel like an eternity but they don’t feel that way to your audience. Record yourself speaking and pay attention to the pauses. You’ll notice it really isn’t as long as it feels.
Speaking slowly with more control will help increase communication, make the MSL appear more confident, result in less brain fatigue for everyone, and increase the likelihood MSLs will gather great insights!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
July 10, 2020
Reduce Zoom Fatigue to help collect actionable insights
Due to COVID, MSLs are on a lot more video calls now and noticing that they feel more tired and exhausted than when interacting out in the field. There’s a reason for that and it’s called Zoom Fatigue (yes, it’s a thing). Our brains are on overdrive during online meetings trying to find and process non-verbal cues. Plus we may be extra anxious that the technology won’t work, losing connection, your kid will walk in or your dog will start barking. Keep in mind your KOLS are also experiencing Zoom fatigue.
To help combat this, consider using a regular old school phone call instead of a video meeting. Not every meeting requires a video call. This may help make both the MSL and KOL feel a little bit less tired. When both parties are less tired, MSLs are more likely to ask great questions that uncover actionable insights and KOLs are more likely to share their opinions.
Read more tips on how MSLs can reduce Zoom Fatigue here.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
July 3, 2020
Help your KOLs in any way possible
This week's tip is not about insights. It's about our community.
In Medical Affairs, we have the privilege of meeting and collaborating with many of the world's greatest medical scientists, researchers and thought leaders. KOLs, to use an umbrella term.
As many of you have shared with us, KOLs are incredibly stressed and have been so for many months. It's unclear when they — and our healthcare system — will see a reprieve.
This week's tip: help your KOLs in any way possible. Many of you already help your KOLs with literature searches, new guidelines, etc. Go beyond your duties as an MSL. Offer to help your KOLs by checking on an elderly relative or family member. Right now, many seniors in our community are feeling lonely and neglected with a lack of social contact. Alleviate your KOLs' burden by offering to call an elderly family member, deliver groceries, whatever it takes.
Our KOLs aren't just thought leaders. They're also sons and daughters. Help them and their family members...our community will thank you!
Bonus tips: offer to make masks or facilitate a PPE donation drive for your local institution.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
June 26, 2020
Simplify MSL insights analysis by using surveys
Processing free-text insights can be time-consuming and tedious. To make MSL insights analysis simpler, it may make sense to utilize a survey approach. To implement this, your team would set up a survey and have MSLs respond to the survey questions instead of entering a free-text insight.
Here is an example (check out this article with another great example): your organization wants to understand the first line, second line and third-line therapy choices for your therapeutic area. After the scientific exchange with the HCP where this topic came up, the MSL would respond to the survey questions about the HCPs’ therapy choices instead of composing a free-text insight.
Then the analysis is easy as pie! The MSL lead creating analyzing this data can easily create a graph instead of manually processing free-text (read more about how to process free-text MSL insights here).
How can you get started with surveys? Many CRMs have this functionality build in or you can use survey or insights tools, like Kernel (Kernel is awesome at this by the way #shamelessplug). Get in touch if you have questions or want to learn more!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
June 19, 2020
Use AI to save time analyzing free-text MSL insights
Free-text MSL insights can help organizations make better decisions for patients, but analyzing them can be a challenge. A common first analysis step is to understand the major themes within the free-text insights. Many teams do this by manually reading through each piece of free-text and assigning it to a category (read more here). This can be quite time-consuming and susceptible to bias.
Many Medical Affairs teams are turning to AI to help with the processing of free-text insights, to save time and minimize bias. AI is great at this type of task and can automatically categorize free-text insights. Learn more in this guide to AI and medical insights or get in touch to see if AI might be a good option for your team.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
June 12, 2020
Make MSL insights easier to analyze by staying close to them
Analyzing and understanding the relevance of MSL insights is a challenge. Part of the challenge is that insights are complex, info rich, and nuanced. It takes deep knowledge and expertise to identify trends that are important to an organization, customers and patients (part of the reason why MSLs are so valuable!).
Waiting until the end of the quarter or until right before a report is due to analyze insights can mean trying to get through large volumes of insights. This can be tiring and result in a less than thorough analysis. Staying on top of insights is one of the best ways to make analysis easier, identify trends, and show the impact. Here are ways Medical Affairs team can get closer to their insights:
Weekly calls to review insights and discuss what they mean with MSLs
Ensure that MSLs have easy access to insights data and use them to plan their daily activities
Encourage MSLs to create mini insights reports for their territories to help understand important trends in their area
Share and discuss insights reports with the team to help MSLs understand what was impactful to internal stakeholders
When MSL teams talk about insights all the time, they stay top of mind. This eliminates the need to suddenly look through a huge pile because the team already reviewed the data together and has a good sense of what will be impactful and why.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
June 5, 2020
Use your MSL insights tool to gather insights about content
Many MSLs teams think about insights only in the context of medical practice and the therapeutic landscape. But MSLs are also picking up useful information that should be reported back internally and used for strategic decision making.
One great example is with scientific content. Organizations spend a lot of time, money, and resources creating content to be shared externally. Getting input on how effective that content is and how to make it better is extremely valuable. This is especially important now that MSLs are having more virtual interactions and HCPs are hungry for online content.
Use your insights tool to collect data around what content is resonating with HCPs, what isn’t, what to focus on, and how to make it better. If your team uses surveys, create survey questions around which content was used, how it was received, and questions that came up. This can also be done with free-text insights. Analyze these data monthly (need tips analyzing insights? Get our insights analysis Ebook here) to find strategic opportunities and share with the appropriate internal stakeholders. This will help to demonstrate how valuable and business savvy your MSL team is.
Get in touch if you like to chat about best practices for writing survey questions to understand how your content is received by HCPs.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
May 29, 2020
Collect insights from all external sources to increase the benefit to patients
This week's tip is inspired by the latest MAPS white paper: Communicating the Value of Medical Affairs.
When you think about collecting insights, go beyond insights from your Field Medical teams to advisory boards, MedInfo inquiries, scientific publications, tweets from digital KOLs and other sources. You can also include digital insights that are obtained through non-traditional sources (for example, "live" virtually broadcast panel sessions, news sources reporting on TA-related trends, patient feedback sites, podcasts, virtual grand rounds, etc).
In today's environment, collecting insights from virtual interactions with HCPs has become the norm. Go beyond the norm to collect insights from all external sources and increase your organization's value to patients. Your HCPs and patients will thank you!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
May 22, 2020
How MSL teams can maximize insights gathering at virtual conferences
What does it mean for MSL teams now that congresses are virtual? How can MSL teams engage KOLs and gather insights in this new format? Many conferences are incorporating ways to engage virtually (for example, live chat/Q&A sessions). Understanding how to take advantage of virtual engagements will be crucial for MSLs to collect actionable insights.
For each virtual conference, ensure that you understand the format and how the live chat/Q&A sessions will work. Spend time figuring out what exactly will be available on-demand. Pay particular attention if the live chat/Q&A will be included in the recordings. Every congress is doing this a little differently. If the live chat/Q&A is not included in the on-demand content, have MSLs focus on this during the live airing. This is likely the best opportunity for MSLs to engage with KOLs and gather insights.
For more tips, check out this excellent guide for MSL teams to maximize KOL engagement and insights gatherings at virtual conferences. Also be sure to download the 17 point virtual congress checklist for MSL teams to make sure you don’t miss anything important when planning for your next congress!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
May 15, 2020
Measure influence on KOL perceptions by reporting MSL insights from the same KOL
The most powerful thing an MSL can do is influence the way a KOL thinks or behaves. But measuring this is hard! One way to measure is by having MSLs report multiple insights from the same KOL and then checking if the insights changed over time.
Sometimes MSLs think if they've already reported an insight from a KOL, this means they don't need to capture future insights from the same KOL. Not true!
The point is not to have MSLs report the same insight for the same KOL over and over, the goal is to get a sense of if the KOL’s perspective is changing over time. Here’s how this can be achieved:
If you're using a survey approach to collect insights, encourage MSLs to respond to survey questions every time they meet with the same KOL (assuming the topic came up during the interaction). Otherwise, the tendency is to only respond to the survey once. Responding each time the topic comes up with the KOL allows the MSL team to assess if the KOL’s perception is changing. The team can then dig into why the KOL’s thinking changed and any lessons learned.
The same can be done with free-text insights. An MSL can report that the “KOL was not impressed with the study data because of XYZ.” After a subsequent visit, the MSL can follow-up on this, identify if there was a change and report it. “The KOL saw our study data presented at ASCO and was more positive about it meeting a key unmet need because of ABC.”
Understanding how and what influences a KOL to change is key to demonstrating the value of the MSL team. Not to mention, this has a huge impact on your organization. Mention this on your next MSL call and get the team thinking about it!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
May 8, 2020
Collect actionable MSL insights with survey questions that capture “the why”
Are you starting to collect insights on the impact of COVID-19 on medical practice? Or maybe understand how KOLs prefer to engage virtually? Using a survey approach to gather insights is a great way to make your insights data structured and easier to analyze. Surveys also make it easy for your MSLs to prepare for meetings and submit insights. Instead of writing a few sentences to describe the insight, the MSL can just click a button to respond to the survey. However, some Medical Affairs teams feel that surveys do not capture the whole story. Surveys lack the human aspect, don’t help you understand why HCPs think and act a certain way and can be hard to act on.
Whether your survey data is actionable depends on how you design your questions. Yes/no type questions result in interesting data but do not explain“the why” and often leave Medical leaders with more unanswered questions. Many MSL teams get stuck here and believe it’s not possible to write survey questions to understand the details. A common objection is, “well, I don’t know how the KOL will respond.”
MSLs are experts in their therapeutic areas and usually have some ideas around what the KOL may be thinking. In many cases, with a little extra thought, it’s easy to come up with possible answers. Give it a try! It’s easier than it sounds. Here is an example:
Figure 1: Many MSL teams use surveys to capture insights on what HCPs think about new company data. This example question is a common way for an MSL team to easily quantify the HCPs thoughts on their company’s study data. This data shows that all of the HCPs visited were neutral or not impressed with the data. This is critical for the organization to know but this alone is not enough to act on. See Figure 2 for an example of how to write a survey question that helps understand “the why.”
Figure 2: Example of a survey question that helps understand “the why” behind HCPs’ perception of company data. This question provides plausible reasons HCPs may be not impressed and helps Medical leaders decide what to do next.
Having “other” with write-in answers and identifying additional responses from free-text insights is a good way to ensure your survey answers encompass the most common answers and are representative of HCPs’ perceptions. Writing survey questions that help uncover "the why" results in structured data that's easier to analyze and improves decision making.
Need some help writing more actionable survey questions? We are happy to help. Get in touch!
May 1, 2020
Survey MSLs about the impact of COVID-19 on them
Figuring out how to adjust to changes caused by the pandemic has been on everyone’s minds. Medical Affairs teams have been diligently collecting data on the big trends in their therapeutic areas and the best ways to engage HCPs. But what about MSLs themselves? What are their needs during the pandemic and going forward?
Using your insights tool is a good way to better understand how COVID-19 is affecting MSLs and identify unmet needs your organization may not have thought of yet.
Perhaps your organization rolled out training on virtual tools. Survey MSLs about how effective the training was and if it addressed their needs. Do MSLs need additional training on interacting virtually? Ask them! What else do they need? Ask them! What techniques are working well to engage HCPs during the pandemic? Ask them and then create a best practices doc to share with the team! Are there specific regional needs? Ask MSLs and then slice the results by region.
What do MSLs need on the home front? Many are providing care for children and elderly parents. Being on conference calls for 8+ hours a day is mentally fatiguing. Are there tips your MSLs can share with the rest of the team? What are the ways your organization can help MSLs from a mental health perspective?
You might be surprised by what you learn.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
April 24, 2020
Make your online meetings more fun with virtual backgrounds
MSLs are becoming pros at virtual meetings and engagements (check out this post if you’d like some tips). One suggestion: make your online meeting even better with fun virtual backgrounds. Get creative and make it relevant to the pandemic, your therapeutic area or something equally nerdy! Make your colleagues and KOLs smile and laugh.
Here are directions on how to change your background in Zoom.
We all deserve a good giggle during these stressful times. This is a great way to make people feel more comfortable and your colleagues are probably bored of looking at your living room or couch.
Check out my coronavirus background. Isn’t it cute?
Additional bonus: it allows you to take a video call from your bed without anyone knowing!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
April 17, 2020
Help KOLs with virtual meeting technology
The pandemic has forced online meetings and virtual interactions on everyone. Suddenly, we're all expected to get our jobs done using new tools that we may not be comfortable with. Adjusting to this new way of work is hard for everyone, including KOLs. This is uncharted territory for them too!
Some HCPs now meet all their patients via video conferencing. They are also trying to embrace new technologies and learn how to interact virtually. Learning something new is even harder when you are busy, stressed, and overworked.
A suggestion for MSLs: help your KOLs by providing them with guidance and tips to navigate online tech that is new to them. There are many ways MSL teams can do this: short how-to videos, guides, or online meetings to help get HCPs started. Experiment to figure out what works with your KOLs.
Include why embracing virtual interactions benefits them:
Helps practice social distancing and flatten the curve
Good for the environment
Virtual meetings will be more prevalent in the future
Virtual meeting culture is definitely on the rise and will likely shape KOL interactions and how medicine is practiced long term. Help your KOLs prepare for this trend by helping them get comfortable with online meetings. In the long run, this will help MSL teams and KOLs become more comfortable interacting virtually. This in turn means being able to build trust with KOLs and gather better and more actionable insights to help patients.
Check out this article for more tips on how to build trust virtually.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
April 10, 2020
COVID-19 is an opportunity for Medical Affairs & MSLs
This pandemic is changing medical practice. How? It’s not quite clear yet. And this means a prime opportunity for Medical Affairs to shine. Many MSL teams are going into strategy mode to determine how to operate in this new normal.
What does COVID-19 mean for the treatment landscape? How are HCPs' treatment decisions changing in response to coronavirus? What are the long term implications that Medical Affairs should be planning for?
And the biggest question of all: how can Medical Affairs figure this out when MSLs have limited engagement with HCPs?
Insights into how medical practice is changing and the long-term implications are starting to surface. MSLs teams are developing creative methods to gather these insights and start planning for the future. Teams are thinking more about social listening and other public sources of information about how HCPs practice that do not require meeting with an HCP.
One thing that is clear is that every therapeutic area and region are being affected differently. A method that works well for one disease area or region may not be an option in others. Be creative and figure out what works for your TA.
Check out these recent survey results from the MSL Society on MSL activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many interesting ideas that may help jumpstart your creativity!
Reach out if you want to chat more about collecting and analyzing digital insights to figure out how COVID-19 is changing your disease area.
April 3, 2020
Review Medical insights to create an action plan for your territory
Much of the initial social distancing shock is over and we are figuring out how to get work done with kids, pets, and spouses constantly underfoot. MSL teams can set themselves up to hit the ground running by reviewing medical insights and creating action plans for when things get back to normal.
Keep your organizational priorities in mind and go through your insights for the last few months. Have there been any big changes or events since the last time you met with your KOLs (not referring to COVID-19 here)? Events that might have changed their opinions or behaviors? Are there topics that you should follow up on? Make note of these and create a detailed plan for setting up a meeting and the interaction.
For example, let's say in the last meeting with a KOL, you learned that the KOL was not excited about a product because of the safety profile, but they hadn't yet tried it with patients. Since your last meeting, they may have had the opportunity to try the product in the clinic. Plan on setting up a meeting to understand their clinical experience and if their perception of the product has changed.
Insights that help understand a change in HCPs’ behavior are extremely valuable for an organization. Not only that, showing a change in the opinions of HCPs is key to demonstrating the unique value of insights and the MSL team.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
March 27, 2020
How MSLs can build relationships and gather insights during times of online meetings
Coronavirus is changing the way we work and interact with others. Medical Affairs folks now find themselves meeting colleagues and HCPs virtually. Meeting online presents its own set of challenges (“I hear an echo, can everyone please mute themselves?”) but is the new norm.
Building trust is key to getting HCPs to share their opinions. Understanding the why behind their opinions leads to actionable insights for your organization and patients. Now MSLs must do this virtually.
How can MSLs continue to build trust without meeting in-person? Patience and trying to make the process as seamless as possible is key. Try to make the online meeting experience as smooth as possible by doing things like testing that everything works on your end and making it as easy as possible on their end. Check out more tips in this post about how to gather actionable insights virtually.
How do you connect with others virtually? Please share what has worked well for you.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
March 20, 2020
Use COVID-19 downtime to review Medical insights strategy and tactics
Hello there COVID-19 travel restrictions! Medical Affairs folks are used to working remotely but are now finding themselves actually at home. This is an excellent opportunity for MSL teams to review their organization’s Medical strategy and how well individuals and the team are aligning to the strategy (especially when it comes to strategies involving insights!).
Spend some time thinking about why the MSL team is doing the things they are doing. Are these the right things? Do they align with the Medical strategy? Are your insights activities having an impact on customers and patients?
Perhaps there is a Field Medical initiative around collecting patient journey data to help address organizational data gaps. Are MSLs actually collecting insights about the patient journey? Is this data helping address the gaps? Are these activities having an impact and showing the value of your MSL team?
Many Medical leaders recommend reviewing the strategy and how well the tactical plan is aligning to this on a quarterly basis (at a minimum). Utilize this time to reflect and be thoughtful and strategic. Your organization, team members, customers, and patients will thank you in the long run.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
March 13, 2020
Make MSL insights analysis more effective with agreed-upon entry guidelines
Analyzing insights is a struggle for most MSL teams. Implementing guidelines for how MSLs enter insights can save significant time in the processing and analysis steps. When everyone enters data the same way, less time is spent on reformatting and cleaning up insights. This means you'll have more time to analyze and discover strategic opportunities.
Some things to consider when setting up your guidelines:
Including HCP name and affiliation
Many teams link the HCP contact info to the free-text in their insights tool. Does it also need to be included in the free-text? Perhaps it makes more sense to only mention the type of HCP? “This outcomes researcher….” This makes the insight less cluttered and gives the person reading through insights more context. This can be useful in organizations where the person doing the analysis is not in the field meeting HCPs.
Clear definitions of a Likert scale
Many teams want to understand HCP perceptions and use a Likert scale. Does your team have agreed-upon definitions of the scale? What does a 5 mean and when should an MSL give a 5? When everyone enters data using the same scale, the data becomes more meaningful and trustworthy.
Use of acronyms
Should MSLs use acronyms when entering insights? Does your therapeutic area have several terms for the same thing? Setting up guidelines for acronyms helps make the analysis simpler because it makes your data consistent. This way, searching and filtering insights is easier.
Create guidelines that will help make your analysis easier, faster and more effective.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
March 6, 2020
Have a process for capturing and analyzing insights that will become important later on
Insights that don’t quite align with the Medical strategy now but will likely become important later on can be extremely valuable to strategic decision making. To ensure that they become part of the corporate memory and can be used in the future, MSL teams should have a process for capturing insights that don’t quite align with the Medical strategy right now but might in the future.
Creating a catch-all topic/category as part of your insights process gives MSLs a place to report insights that don’t quite fit into the other topics. If you are not creating topics or categories that align with your strategy, but want to, check out this article on how to analyze insights to learn more (it makes analysis a lot easier!).
Benefits of having a catch-all topic/category:
High priority topics that align with strategy stay cleaner and are easier to analyze
Insights that may become important get captured
Helps predict something may become important later on
Some caveats:
MSLs need training on how and when to use the catch-all topic or everything will start getting this label
Analysis can be tough especially when there is a large volume
Having a good analysis process in place for the catch-all topic is key. Reviewing this frequently helps ensure that it doesn’t build up too much (making it much more difficult to review later on). Some Medical Affairs teams like to review it on a monthly basis to make sure it doesn’t become unruly and to keep an eye on trends that may become urgent.
Pro tip: if a theme keeps coming in the catch-all topic/category, consider creating a dedicated topic or category for it. If it is coming up a lot it likely deserves more attention.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
February 28, 2020
Implement a quick “impactful insights” review at the beginning of every meeting with MSLs
Actionable insights tend to be those that are aligned with the Medical Strategy and organizational priorities. With MSLs being as busy as they are, it can be hard for them to keep track of top priorities and ensure that their Medical insights are on point. Many Medical Affairs teams struggle to effectively communicate the strategy down to the MSLs. It’s important to create a culture around discussing priorities and sharing what makes insights useful. Or in other words, how insights align with the Medical strategy and help the organization create better outcomes for patients.
Start every call with the MSL team with a quick insights review. Take the first couple of minutes to discuss a great insight and explain what makes it great. In the beginning, the manager should take the lead on this. When the team is comfortable, start assigning this task to MSLs (let them know them ahead of time, of course!).
For example, one of the top organizational priorities may be to address a large data gap. Highlight an insight that helps address this data gap and how it leads to better decision making.
This simple tip is easy to implement, creates a culture around sharing insights, leads to better quality insights, and helps MSLs understand the Medical strategy and how their insights are making a difference.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
February 21, 2020
Help your MSL team prepare for KOL interactions by keeping track of common questions
During scientific exchange with KOLs, MSLs get a lot of questions. Sharing the commonly encountered questions and ways to address them helps MSLs more effectively prepare for upcoming interactions.
Keep track of these questions by having MSLs report them back to the team. Some Medical Affairs teams use their insights tool as a repository for questions that come up from KOLs. This way MSLs can easily report them alongside insights. Knowing possible questions that KOLs may have and how to respond helps MSLs better prepare and look good in front of their KOLs. This approach is helpful for questions that come when presenting new clinical data, Medical education campaigns, poster presentations/talks at Congresses and more. It can also help prioritize medical publications and new content to better address those questions
Want to take tracking questions to the next level? The next step is to analyze the questions to find common themes and then cross-correlate this with questions coming in from MedInfo. This a great way to identify educational gaps/needs and improve your customer and patient experience.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
February 14, 2020
Explain the why behind your insights process to MSLs
A robust Medical insights process enables organizations to make smarter decisions.
What is an insights process?
An insights process is a defined, agreed-upon methodology for how to gather pre-insights, analyze them to find strategic opportunities and share these findings internally. It is typically composed of 6 parts:
How the Medical Strategy and organizational priorities are communicated
Who and where this information will come from (KOL engagement strategy)
How MSLs will report this info back internally
How pre-insights will be processed and analyzed to find strategic opportunities
How findings are communicated to internal stakeholders
Which actions are taken based on the insights reports and what are outcomes
If MSLs do not understand this process, why it matters, and how they contribute to it, everything breaks down. Get buy-in from MSLs by explaining why the insights process is vital and how their work is a key component of this. Here are some reasons why every MSL should love a good insights process. Insights process helps:
Ensure that pre-insights collected by MSLs are actually utilized
Provides clarity to MSLs on what the organization cares about
Gives guidance on how MSLs should focus conversations with KOLs
Keep a record of pre-insights from KOLs that can be used to prepare for future interactions
Their team and organization make data-driven decisions (who doesn’t love data?)
Identify strategic opportunities to get the right medicine to the right patient
Demonstrates the unique value of Medical Affairs
Don’t have a formalized insights process? No worries! Check out this webinar on insights best practices or contact us.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
February 7, 2020
Collect better insights by empathizing with your KOLs
MSLs are skilled relationship builders. It is vital that they build trust and maintain long term relationships with their KOLs. Strong ties with KOLs mean better insights because KOLs are more likely to meet with and share their thought processes with people they trust. When organizations understand why HCPs think and behave a certain they can make better smarter decisions.
When planning for interactions with KOLs, keep in mind what is going on in their world. Are they preparing for a big presentation? Do they need to finish up a bunch of work before going on vacation? Has someone left their department recently and now they have extra work? Remember to empathize with what is going in their life and be sensitive to this. It is easy to get caught up in the busy day-to-day life of being an MSL.
If you were in your KOL’s shoes and had a big presentation coming up, would you want to be bothered with setting a time to meet or reviewing some data that isn’t relevant to your presentation? Keep in mind what is important to your KOL. This will go a long way in building a lasting relationship full of trust. This, in turn, will lead to actionable insights!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
January 31, 2020
Understand other parts of the organization to make insights more impactful
An organization is a complex system with many moving parts. It’s challenging for anyone to completely understand every aspect of it. This is where Medical Affairs teams, MSLs, and insights come in and why they are so valuable. They help increase understanding by closing the gap between how the organization thinks it functions and how it actually functions. Insights allow leaders to test assumptions and see if they were right.
Being involved with other departments helps MSL teams better understand the organization as a whole and what is important to those stakeholders. This, in turn, allows them to focus on insights that are relevant to the business as a whole.
Relevant insights = creating more value = larger impact
The key is to take the time to get to know other departments and how they function. Slowly start making contacts outside of Medical Affairs and figuring out what is important to them. Some organizations allow bubble assignments or short rotations. Attend or dial into other departments’ all-hands meetings. Having a much broader understanding of how the organization functions will help MSLs focus on insights that are more impactful.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
January 24, 2020
Before you collect insights, consider how you want to report them
Creating and sharing impactful insights reports is a struggle for many MSL teams. It’s hard to stare at a spreadsheet of free-text, find themes, and then make an actionable report. Before having MSLs collect insights, give some serious thought to how you will report them. This can make the analysis and report creation 1000x easier.
Example: your organization is approaching launch. There is a set of key priorities the Medical Affairs team has been asked to focus on. Medical leaders are expected to report weekly on these focus areas as launch approaches.
With this in mind, the MSL lead can build this into the insights process to make weekly report creation easy. They can create tags for the key priorities and ask MSLs to use the tags when entering their insights. Then when the person creating the report needs to do the analysis, they can filter by tag to look at the insights relevant to the report they are creating. Another option is to take a survey-based approach for key questions that should be addressed in the field. Many questions/priorities can be easily addressed with surveys and they are super easy to analyze. Check out our article on how to take a survey approach with insights. Depending on your organization’s needs, surveys can be a huge time-saver.
The bottom-line: keep the end goal in mind to help make your insights reports actionable and impactful.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
January 17, 2020
Review insights topics on a quarterly basis to help make analysis easier
We often hear how time-consuming insights analysis can be and how many insights aren’t relevant to the organization’s current priorities. Regularly updating your insights topics helps guide MSLs on what is important for your organization at the time. This makes insights more focused, relevant, and less time-consuming to analyze.
A “topic” is a sub-component of your larger Medical Strategy. They are also called listening priorities, key insights topics, core questions, etc.
Using topics in your insights process doesn’t mean that MSLs are being asked to be proactive. They can be used in a reactive manner to help the MSL structure their conversations and know what to listen for. Having topics for your MSLs tells them, hey this is important for our organization right now, please listen very hard when they come up. This is very helpful for busy MSLs!
Review and update your topics on a quarterly basis to help encourage insights relevant to things MSL managers will be reporting on. For example, if your organization is entering launch and know that cost and dosing will be topics that need to be reported on, create “cost” and “dosing” topics in your insights collection platform or other system of record. It will remind MSLs of current priorities, encourage them to listen really hard when those topics come up and to focus on insights relevant to those topics.
Depending on how your insights process is set up, MSLs can tag the insights at the time of entry or you can use AI to automatically tag for you. Then when it comes time to analyze the insights, you can filter by these tags to quickly view insights about topics that are important. Big time saver! And more relevant insights reports!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
January 10, 2020
Address all new questions that come out of your insights analysis
It’s inevitable. Analyzing and uncovering insights always leads to more questions. That’s one of the fun things about insights: they help you answer unknowns or discover things you and your organization didn’t previously know, address the gap and then identify more things you need to go figure out.
When Medical Affairs folks create great insights reports, it often leads to MSLs or internal stakeholders having more questions. Then what? Don’t stop here. Go figure out the answers to the new questions. Here are some ways a Medical Affairs team might do this:
Create a survey in your insights tool to help guide MSLs on these new questions, gather more data, and get answers
Discuss the new questions on your next insights call with the team
Notify MSLs via email and ask them for additional information
Insights process and helping your organization make informed, data-driven decisions is an iterative process. Don’t leave new questions unanswered. Otherwise, that’s all they become. Use it as an opportunity to dig deep and help provide your organization with actionable insights!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
January 3, 2020
Make your insights reports more impactful with storytelling
The true value of insights occurs when they are acted on and lead to change. Many MSL teams discover strategic opportunities from insights but fail to create reports that result in action. Have your Medical insights contribute to better outcomes for your organization and patients by incorporating storytelling into your insights reports.
When creating insights reports include the basic aspects of storytelling: the setting, characters, plot, conflict, and narrative arc.
Setting refers to time and location. Example: 100,000+ people are diagnosed with disease X in the US each year.
Characters typically include a protagonist and antagonist. Example: protagonists can be patients, caregivers or the organization. Antagonists may be the disease or the cost burden.
Plot describes the protagonist’s goal. Example: patients want to be cured of the disease and live happy lives.
Conflict outlines what is preventing the protagonist from achieving her goal. Example: no suitable treatment exists for the disease.
The narrative arc describes how the protagonist overcomes barriers and achieves her goals. Example: with better treatment options patients are able to live happy, full lives.
People like stories and more importantly, people remember stories. A memorable story is more likely to have a positive impact on your organization.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or want to share your own ideas? Tell me!
December 27, 2019
Take time to Recharge and Don’t Feel Bad About It
How is your Holiday break going? Are you relaxing and taking time to recharge? Or do you feel bad when you aren’t working? And just spend that time thinking about how you should be working?
Taking time to recharge is especially important for MSLs because they have a customer-facing role. It requires that the MSL is always ‘on.’ MSLs have to be a ray of sunshine all the time and that’s mentally exhausting. MSLs don’t get to have off days, they have to always be ready to perform. Allow yourself not to work and enjoy the small things. Take your kid to the park (and actually enjoy it), read something that isn’t a scientific paper (like this article on millennial burnout), just enjoy life! You deserve it! Your brain will thank you, you will be able to focus at work, and give insights the attention they deserve!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
December 20, 2019
Set Your Insight Goals for 2020
We all know that setting goals is important. Many Medical Affairs professionals use the Holidays to reflect on the previous year and think about what they want to accomplish in the coming year. Don’t forget to also set specific goals for insights! Insights collection and reporting are a key responsibility of Medical Affairs and deserve careful thought and their own set of specific goals.
If you are an MSL, think about your insight collection over the past year. What did you do well? What could you improve upon? What additional skills would help you up your insights game? This is also a great time to think about your current KOL list. Does it need pruning? Or updating? Meeting with the right KOLs has a dramatic effect on the quality of your insights. Here are some ideas for things you may consider to add to your insights goal list:
Report 100% of insights within 24 hours of the meeting.
Review your organization’s Medical Strategy once a month.
Allocate 30 minutes of prep time before each HCP interaction.
For those that generate insights reports for your team, what areas could you approve upon when it comes to creating insights reports? Some ideas to get your gears turning:
Schedule time in your calendar to process insights and create reports.
Review feedback on your previous reports and try to incorporate feedback that will make your reports more useful.
Improve your data storytelling skills and/or use more visuals in your reports.
Identify patterns in free text that could easily be converted to a survey approach to make the data more quantifiable and faster to process
Medical leads/ MSL managers, do you need to review the Medical and Brand plans? Could your team’s KOL list use an update? Here are some additional suggestions:
Implement a formalized insights process if your organization doesn’t have one.
Find ways to simplify insights collection and reporting for your team (for example, can your MSLs easily access insights tool in the field?).
Setup standing insights meetings with your peers to discuss insights and trends from your field team.
Commit to reviewing insights reports/findings once a month/quarter.
May your 2020 be full of wonderful insights!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
December 13, 2019
Know the difference between meeting notes and insights
Here is a broad definition of a Medical insight:
a discovery that informs Medical strategy
It tends to be something new, changes the way the organization thinks, and is actionable (this part is really important). Meeting notes are not considered insights. Example: “Met with Dr. Smith and shared new slides with her.” It is important to keep notes on interactions with HCPs but these are not insights. Ideally, these should be documented in separate fields in your Medical Insights Platform or CRM. Reporting these like insights doesn’t help your organization make better decisions and can result in more work for report generators later on. MSL leads that process insights have to spend time reading through these additional items in order to identify trends.
Low-quality insights are a frequent complaint we hear from MSL leads. In a recent Kernel AI pilot, approximately ⅓ of the insights provided were actually meeting notes. It creates a lot of additional work for MSL leads to find the signal from the noise when creating reports.
Check out our What is a Medical Insight guide to help you understand what constitutes a good insight. To help identify actionable insights when meeting with KOLs, check out our blog post on using the 5 whys interviewing method.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
December 6, 2019
Share Medical insights reports with the MSL team (to help MSLs understand why insights are important)
Field Medical insights help organizations identify important trends in the clinical environment, the market landscape, unmet needs, and the patient journey. Often, there is no other way for organizations to gain this information or test internal assumptions. Yet we sometimes hear about cases of MSLs not focusing on insight gathering because they do not understand the value. When this happens, the organization struggles to make informed decisions that provide the best possible care for patients.
One way to help MSLs understand the value of insights is by sharing insights reports and the actions taken with them. This helps demonstrate the importance of insight gathering and their work in the field. On your next team meeting or call to discuss insights, include 10 minutes in the agenda to discuss an impactful report and how it helped the organization make smarter decisions.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
November 27, 2019
Reflect on what you are thankful for
It is Thanksgiving week in the US, reminding us of all the things we should be thankful for. Gratitude helps with overall job satisfaction. This week’s MSL insights tip is about reminding you to spend time being grateful for all the good things in your life. It will make you happier, which in turn helps you deal with stress, avoid burnout, and build relationships. You are probably thinking what does this have to do with insights? Being grateful increases job satisfaction and makes MSLs more likely to have great scientific exchange with KOLs and gather great insights! It also helps MSL managers or insight generators stay positive and find great opportunities from insights.
Get out there, start counting your blessings, and if you are in the US, eat some turkey (or pumpkin pie and biscuits if you are vegetarian)! Happy Thanksgiving from all the folks at Kernel.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
November 22, 2019
Help your team understand the Medical Strategy by breaking it down
How well do you and your team understand your organization’s Medical Strategy? Does everyone really know what it means and how to execute? To ensure the Medical Affairs team has the most impact on your organization and patients, make sure everyone has a deep understanding.
Breaking down the Medical Strategy into smaller parts (sometimes called key scientific insight topics or field medical initiatives) can help your team gain a deep understanding. Often the Medical Strategy is high-level: “provide treatment options for patients with an unmet need in this disease state.” Perhaps part of the strategy is to fill some unknowns in the diagnosis path. Making “understanding the diagnosis path” a key insight topic helps MSLs realize that it is a top priority and they can focus their activities around this. This can mean focusing on meeting with KOLs that are important to filling that gap or preparing for meetings with that key scientific insight topic in mind. This will help ensure the strategy is being executed on and Medical Affairs is viewed as a key business partner.
What are your tips for getting everyone on the same page when it comes to the Medical Strategy?
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
November 15, 2019
Capture insights on the go with voice
Being an MSL means being on the go. It can be challenging to enter your insights when you are running from meeting to meeting. But we also know how important it is to enter insights right away. Otherwise, you may forget important details that ultimately impact your organization's ability to analyze and report on field medical insights.
Enter insights right away by using voice capture. You can quickly record the insight via voice between meetings. This way it is entered in a timely fashion and you don’t have to do it later (win-win!).
Check if your insights tool has voice capture capabilities. If your organization doesn't have an insights tool with voice capture, try using the voice memo feature on your phone (usually pre-installed on iOS and Android devices) to quickly dictate your notes right after the interaction. When you get home you can listen to it again to enter the insights into your system of record.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
November 8, 2019
Ask your internal stakeholders what they would ask HCPs
One thing that makes Medical Affairs special is that they have relationships with key external stakeholders. This is pretty unique. Most other functions in an organization don’t have the ability to interact with HCPs, the FDA, payers, etc. Commercial also has relationships with HCPs but is more limited in what they can talk about, so this tip applies to your sales colleagues as well! Build trust and partnerships with your internal stakeholders by asking them these questions:
“If you were having a meeting with an HCP (the FDA, or payers), what would you ask them? And why?”
“What burning questions do you have for external stakeholders?”
"What is something you wish MSLs would ask but they never do?"
This will give you insight (pun intended) into what is important to your internal stakeholders.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
November 1, 2019
Have standing insights meetings with stakeholders
Being a key strategic business partner means developing close partnerships with other functions. Building a partnership and collaborating closely with internal stakeholders allows you to build trust and share your expertise. As you develop the relationship you will begin to understand their needs, work together better towards a common goal, gain mutual respect, and have more impact on your organization and patients.
Set up standing meetings with internal stakeholders to discuss key insights being collected by your team (outside of your standing meeting with the MSL team to discuss their findings). This is an opportunity to meet with your cross-functional partners to share important findings, talk about trends being identified by the field, build trust, and work towards the shared vision. Shoot for a monthly standing meeting. At a minimum, get quarterly meetings on everyone’s calendar. Less frequency makes it hard to stay on top of everything and keep your partnership tight.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
October 25, 2019
Understand what HCPs will say when you aren’t around
MSLs are able to influence the thinking and behavior of HCPs through relationship building and education. This is immensely valuable for an organization and, unfortunately, is not straightforward to measure.
Aside from sending spy drones and the annual “Voice of the KOL” independent survey, one way to see if HCPs are buying into your product’s narrative or the data you are presenting is to understand what they say about it when you aren’t around. Do they immediately pick up the phone to tell a colleague? Do they speak about it from the podium at a medical congress? If an HCP echoes your message, you may have influenced their thinking and likely their behavior as well.
Obviously it’s challenging to know what an HCP says or does when you aren’t there. One way to start to understand how you are influencing them is by asking. During your interaction, you can ask questions like:
“What will you tell your colleagues about this?”
“Will you tell others about this and if yes, what will you say?”
You might be surprised by their answers and the insights you can uncover by asking these simple questions. Maybe you are influencing HCP’s thinking more than you thought! Try it!
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
October 18, 2019
Identify insights blind spots
A blind spot is a behavior or attitude that you are not aware of and that may be impacting your performance. For MSLs, this also applies to insights. Identifying your blind spots can help make you a better MSL by finding ways to improve how you collect and enter insights. When you report better insights everyone benefits: your organization can make smarter decisions that lead to better outcomes for patients and you feel good knowing that your work is having a real impact. Win-win!
If a blind spot is something you aren’t aware of, how can you identify it? Here are some ideas to help you gain new perspectives and find ways to improve:
Ask for feedback. Talk to other MSLs on your team or your manager about your insights. Discuss what you are doing well and what could be improved upon.
Get an insights partner. Partner up with another MSL on your team or in a different therapeutic area. Set aside time to discuss insights best practices and learn from each other.
Reflect on the following questions:
Do I know what an insight is? Check out our insights guide for a refresher.
Do I understand why insights are important?
Do I know my organization’s Medical Strategy?
Do I understand what makes an insight impactful?
Are my insights actionable?
Write down your process for reporting insights. Pretend like you are going to explain what you do to the new intern or your grandma. This may help you identify areas that you don’t fully understand or that don’t make sense (improvement opportunity!).
Look for common themes. When you start to hear something multiple times this may be an area for improvement. You might be surprised by what you learn about yourself. When your blind spots are identified you can make a plan to improve. Possible outcomes could be additional training, simplifying/clarifying a process or finding a formal mentor.
Have feedback on this tip of the week or what to share your own ideas? Tell me!
October 11, 2019
Keep your eye out for what’s around the corner
I know, I know, I sound like a broken record on this: Insights that MSLs collect from meeting with HCPs are super important. It’s often the only way an organization can obtain this info. Medical leads use info from the field to identify trends and strategic opportunities. They often try to spot trends that are around the corner and that will be important down the road. Spotting emerging trends early helps be prepared and make smart plans for when they arrive.
This is where MSLs can really help! Who knows what HCPs are thinking, the market, competitors, and what is becoming important better than MSLs? Keep reading for tips on how MSLs can spot emerging trends and report to their leaders.
Ask HCPs you are meeting with what they think are emerging trends that will soon be important. When you start to hear the same thing a few times you may be on to something.
Stay up to date on the latest reports in your area. Of course, this means scientific publications but don’t forget about market research reports and blogs from thought leaders. Examples include Peter Bach from the Drug Pricing Lab and Medical Affairs reports from McKinsey.
Be aware of big trends in other fields. These often translate and jump over to other industries. Be creative and think of how it may apply to Medical Affairs, your company, therapeutic area, and patients. AI is a great example of this.
Have an agreed-upon process for reporting ‘things that aren’t important now but may be in the future.’ It can be as simple as a shared spreadsheet where this info is stored or perhaps you can build it into your insights process. Some kernel customers create topics for MSLs to enter emerging trends that managers periodically review.
How do you stay ahead of the curve? Share your tips!
Have feedback on this tip of the week? Tell me!
October 4, 2019
Schedule time for reporting insights
A good best practice is to report insights right away. Ideally right after your meeting with the HCP. Timely reporting of insights helps an organization act quickly and make decisions. Important details can slip away or the insight might not make it into a report. In the worst case, the insight doesn’t get reported at all. Entering a bunch of insights later on can take longer because you have to remember details and review notes. One trick is to schedule in time for entering insights in between meetings. Instead of scheduling meetings back to back, include time to get your reporting done right after the meeting. Block that time in your calendar. It is an easy thing to push off until later and let pile up.
Have a pro tip for reporting insights right away? Please share!
Have feedback on this tip of the week? Tell me!
September 26, 2019
Keep insights short and sweet
No need to write a novel of an insight. Including every detail can make your text hard to digest. Start with the main point and stick to what’s relevant. Look at this example:
Whoa, what is going here? What does it mean and why is this important? This is not how the readers of your insights should respond. Remember that the person reading through the insights may not spend much time out with HCPs or know as much about the disease state as you. Keep it simple and easy to read:
Make sure why it is important is clear
Include only the relevant details
Minimize jargon
Use simple sentences
If it’s more than 2-3 sentences, ask yourself if it should be broken up into multiple insights
Make it easy to scan
If unsure what’s important, ask someone on your team or your manager
Have feedback on this tip of the week? Tell me!
September 20, 2019
Use the 5 whys interviewing method to discover actionable insights
Medical insights that can be acted on are extremely valuable to the organization. A classic example is understanding HCP perceptions of new clinical trial data. Knowing what HCPs think about new data and WHY they think that way is interesting to the organization. This is because it helps shape the Medical Strategy. Often MSLs report how the HCP felt (negative, neutral or positive) but fail to include WHY they felt that way. When Medical leaders understand the why, they can start to make decisions about how best to act on the insight
How can an MSL uncover the why when meeting with HCPs? By asking questions that uncover the root cause. The 5 whys interviewing method may you help dig deeper. This simple method was developed by Toyota and consists of asking why 5 times. When meeting with a KOL, don’t be afraid to keep asking why. You might be surprised how effective this in helping you uncover actionable insights. Check out this blog post with examples of the 5 whys in action.
Do you have tricks for uncovering actionable insights? Please share!
Have feedback on this tip of the week? Tell me!
September 13, 2019
Stay up to date on the literature with Case Medical Research
MSLs are busy busy. They are traveling all the time, setting up and planning meetings, preparing, training colleagues, reporting insights, and more. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! On top of this, they are also expected to stay up to date on all the latest research in their therapeutic area. This is what KOLs expect.
It is easy to push off reading the literature (“I’ll read that paper later”) and focus on other tasks. Check out this cool free tool called Case Medical Research. It is designed to help busy people stay up today on the literature. Here are reasons to give it a try:
it aggregates publications from many different sources (pubmed, clinicaltrials.gov, FDA, and more)
it transcribes abstracts into audio so you can listen on the go
watch scientific videos on new research from major journals
set up alerts to get notified on new research and clinical trial announcements
it’s completely free
September 6, 2019
Give context to insights by discussing with your peers
For insights to be meaningful it must be clear to Medical leaders why they matter. A good starting point for figuring out the ‘so what’ is for MSLs to discuss what they are hearing amongst each other. It spawns conversations like:
“I’m hearing this in the field….”
“Me too. This is happening in my territory.”
“This is popping up more and more. At first it didn’t seem important. What are possible ways to address this?”
When MSLs discuss what they are hearing, it helps:
Flush out why and when something is important
Give context to others that aren’t interacting with KOLs
Identify impactful trends
Determine possible actions to take
Focus on reporting insights that can result in improved care for patients
Guides MSLs on what to listen for during their KOL interactions
Often times leaders aren’t in the field on daily basis and need help understanding why something is important (the context). Discussion amongst MSLs helps flush out trends so the importance can be communicated to leaders. This in turn helps ensure are they can be acted on and ultimately improve care for patients.
One way to do this is with a recurring call dedicated to discussing insights. If your team doesn’t have a recurring call or good way to discuss insights, be a leader and set something up! Concerned about having another meeting and it taking away from other activities? Remember this:
There is no point in collecting insights if nothing is done with them. Understanding why they matter is just as important as collecting them.
Have feedback on this tip of the week? Tell me!
August 29, 2019
Set a clear agenda with KOLs prior to the meeting
Uncovering valuable insights from your interactions with KOLs starts with good pre-meeting planning. One way to do this is with agenda setting prior to the meeting. With proper agenda setting both you and the KOL know what to expect during the meeting and can set clear next steps. The result is more productive meetings that help you build trust with the KOL and better understand their perceptions (the key to uncovering actionable insights!). When setting up the meeting include the following elements in the email or calendar invite:
The purpose of the meeting
Outline of what the KOL wants to get out of the meeting
List what you want to get out of the meeting
Determine possible next steps
Confirm the date, location, and amount of time for the meeting
Here is an example:
“Dr. Important-KOL,
Here is an agenda for our upcoming meeting to discuss new clinical trial data:
Update you on this new data and give you the opportunity to ask questions
Understand your perceptions and address any questions or concerns
Determine a time to meet again to discuss updates
We are scheduled to meet in your office on the 29th for 30 minutes. Does this still work for you?
Thank you and looking forward to our meeting,
Excellent-MSL”
August 23, 2019
Look for insights in unconventional places
See what patients are saying about products by reading reviews. Websites like drugs.com, rxlist.com or Google business profiles have reviews from patients taking the product. This does not replace meeting with HCPs but does give you a sense of what they are hearing from patients. How patients feel about products influences HCPs treatment approaches and can have an impact on your product.
Here is an example from a pharma company's Google business profile. Patients using this product are reporting that the packaging is too hard to open. MSLs can start gathering more information from their KOLs to help Medical leads propose new packaging to manufacturing.