A critical step in preparing for a small business to sell their products or services into a hospital market space is identifying the different decision makers in charge of purchasing decisions.
There are five distinct levels that need to be addressed at acute care health care facilities.
At the top echelon of decision making at a health facility is the C-Level and Vice President level.
C-Level includes titles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officers.
The majority of small business owners are technically involved in delivering the products or services of their companies and do not speak the language of this level of penetration.
If it is to be approached, homework must be completed on how the small business products or services fit into categories of accreditation issues a facility is having, return on investment, net present value and blue sheets.
More often than not, a small business would be better suited to approach the next level down at the departmental director level.
Department Directors should be the center of the focus of a small business marketing plan.
They are at a high enough level to where they assemble their own budgets to executive management and at the same time have considerable control over an operating budget in a hospital environment.
In addition, they are usually accessible with a proper value driven marketing sequence in place.
The next level is the staff members of individual departments.
This includes supervisors and technical people working in the department on their specific specialty.
They normally do not have budget powers, but individuals that have worked in a facility for some time have opinions that are listened to by busy department directors that have grown to trust them.
It would be the section of a small business plan to develop rapport and generate an internal referral into the facility.
A common mistake made by a small business in selling to hospitals is to spend an inordinate amount of time soliciting the purchasing department of a health system or hospital.
Purchasing directors rarely spear head acquiring new products, services or vendors, but rather react to their internal departments inquiries who are in the process to finding a resolution to a problem they are having.
Purchasing departments are a critical component of a small business marketing plan, but this plan needs to be from the perspective of getting into the hospitals purchasing system so when a departments comes to purchasing that the small business is on the list to be a potential problem solver.
Another aspect that occurs in the health care environment is an assembling of a committee to evaluate solutions for a major or new unique purchase for the hospital.
In this environment a small business must quickly locate a champion for their company that resides on that committee.
Without this individual, it will be difficult to ascertain what benefits or features are being weighted heavier and what other committee members are looking for.
This activity is more formally sales related than what a typical small business owner is used to performing, but is definitely worth it in not only being invited to propose a solution, but in establishing a very long term relationship with the facility.
For related facilities such as nursing homes, assisted living and surgery centers, the main focus is on chief administrators of the location.
One item of note in the long term health care market place is that they often purchase solution only at a time where they absolutely have to, such as failing an inspection.
Hospitals on the other hand are more proactive in solving issues before they reach a critical juncture.
Small businesses need to approach all levels of decision makers, but with a different weight of importance on each specific level.
With department directors as the centerpiece of a campaign, getting on file with purchasing departments and at the same time developing rapport with department staff members, a small business is well on its way to consistently selling to hospitals.