1. By Shahid N. Shah
CEO, Netspective Communications LLC
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2. 
CEO, Netspective (http://www.netspective.com)
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17+ years of entrepreneurship experience
10+ years of executive technology management experience as CTO,
Chief Architect, etc. in healthcare IT firms
Lead/Analyst/Consultant on numerous consulting projects in the past 9
years. Sample clients:
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Executive Office of the President
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (I train them and I have a patent)
Northrop Grumman
CardinalHealth
NIH
American Red Cross
Read my blogs to learn more:
 http://shahid.shah.org (technology)
 http://www.healthcareguy.com and http://www.hitshere.com (healthcare IT)
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3. Source: Brand Autopsy Blog
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4. 
Healthcare folks are neither technically challenged nor
simple techno-phobes (they’re busy saving lives)
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Most product decisions are no longer made by clinical
folks alone, CIOs are fully involved
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Complex, full-featured, products are not easier to sell
than simple, stand alone tools that have the capability
of interoperating with other solutions are
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Hospitals will not buy unless one proves value.
Selling into doctors offices is not easy.
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5. User
Benefiter
Payer
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6. 
Need vs. Want, Demand & Desire
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Value - the benefits your customers gain
from using your product versus the cost of
obtaining your product or not buying at all.
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Satisfaction - Based on a comparison of
performance vs. expectations.
 Performance > Expectations => Satisfaction
 Performance < Expectations => Dissatisfaction
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7. Increase
revenue
(topline)
Maintain
capabilities
Reduce costs
(bottomline)
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8. Customer Gives
You Get
• Money
• Time
• Energy
• Commitment
• Referrals
• Past experience
• Expectations
• Knowledge
You Give
Customer Gets
• Product
• Price
• Value
• Convenience
• Selection
• Service
• Warranty
• Brand
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9. Target health
sector?
Number of
employees?
Annual sales
volume?
Geography?
Number of
hospital beds?
Number of
patients?
Type of
patients?
The list goes
on and on…be
specific!
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10. 
Many public/behavioral health products are
provided by the government or non-profits
for free.
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Critical for your product to have a
discriminator (technology or innovation)
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Price points generally have no relationship of
the cost to produce.
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11. Competing with “do nothing” or “wait”
Competing with products that are provided
for free
 Shrinking resources (money) available for
purchasing products
 Too much noise in the market place
 Saturation of products in market place
 Niche markets don’t support ROI for
marketing
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12. 
Find the right search terms for your industry
or product. Don’t be esoteric.
 Using your search terms, locate your competitors
and existing firms
 Once you know your competitors, call them up
and ask them about client references
 Call up their clients and talk to them about their
products and services and what can be improved
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13. Software as a
Service (SaaS) and
subscription model
Consulting and
Solutions model
Licensed model
Freemium model
(and open source)
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14. 
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Easy to explain
Defendable and differentiated
Attractive partnership opportunities
Word of mouth opportunity
Potential for PR
Scaleable staff and systems
Scaleable product — build once, sell many times
Uncomplicated
Focused
Sales model is scaleable and predictable
Own relationship with and information about customers
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15. Research based products that are proven
effective
 Partnering and endorsement with accredited
institutions or associations.
 Partnering with private sector (Pharma,
Managed Care, etc).
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16. 
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Establish realistic success criteria up front
Success may not be measured only in terms
of revenue
Set up systems to track sales and distribution
in house or through distribution partners.
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17. Shahid.Shah@netspective.com
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