Building a Successful Partnership Between Medical Education Companies and Recruitment Vendors Partnerships Judy Hagan General Manager and Senior VP of Sales and Marketing Having weathered the changing landscape of CME, it has become abundantly clear that MECs cannot survive without building strong working relationships with vendors. Remember the movie Field of Dreams? A corn farmer hears voices, builds an extraordinary baseball diamond in his fields, and lo and behold, a baseball team shows up. As if that wasn’t enough, people traveled from miles around just to see it. Medical education companies (MECs) today create a plethora of CME offerings for the healthcare population at large. They work diligently to ensure that program content is sound, rigorous, unbiased, and up to date; this is an extraordinary diamond of sorts. There was a time when this was all that was necessary to ensure a successful, well-attended event, but times have changed. Building Relationships Historically, one-on-one interactions between representatives and physicians were instrumental in generating attendance. In today’s OIG-compliant environment, many commercial supporters have removed sales representatives from the mix, which has left a void. This, along with the variety of CME offerings and the emergence of “CME-superstores,” has led to lackluster attendance and participation at smaller-scale live events, teleconferences, and online offerings. When programs falter, those on the commercial supporter side must work harder to demonstrate that CME investment is still warranted. As a result, commercial supporters are looking for more from their MECs. Just building the extraordinary diamond may not be enough anymore. Having weathered the changing landscape of CME, it has become abundantly clear that MECs cannot survive without building strong working relationships with vendors. These are partnerships in the purest sense: a relationship comprised of clear communications, sharing of ideas, flexible business models, and an unerring eye on the final goal — a superior, ethical, invaluable CME event. Developing a Recruitment Strategy The time is right for MECs to include a tailored recruitment strategy early in the proposal-writing process. This requires a partnership with a recruitment vendor, not just a service-provider relationship. For this to happen, MECs must know which recruitment vendors are available and look for the following attributes: • Commitment from the Top — Make sure that the executives at the chosen vendor are available to make strategic decisions with you and that everyone, at every level, understands your business. • A United Business Strategy — MECs must be able to clearly state and define their program strategy and value proposition and understand the core competencies of the vendor. Synergy in strategy, goals, and target markets is key. • In-Market Support — A vendor may present great capabilities, but only a good vendor partnership will carry the program from inception to completion, offering support, field intelligence, stellar service, and results. • Process Analysis — Educating the chosen vendor on how to work with your company is essential. An innovative vendor that is knowledgeable about your processes can act as a partner and help you analyze and improve the program, helping you to meet the overall goals. • Reputation — A highly skilled vendor that can hit the ground running will be an immediate asset; however, the vendor should also be honest about the services it is able to provide and be realistic in the expectations for your return on opportunity. Supplier partners should represent both their own and your company with utmost professionalism. Get to know their capabilities and ask for references. Starting the Process Early Establishing a partnership early in the planning process will not only ensure better attendance, but also prevent the MEC from having to struggle to revive an ailing program down the road. Once a good working relationship has been established with a recruitment firm, nurture it. This partnership can become a trusted resource for the MEC, one that can offer ongoing advice and perspective. An effective partner will look at and understand the big picture; lesser relationships tend to focus on the short term. Building a successful long-term partnership takes time and effort from both parties. Mutual trust and respect, along with open and honest communication, will help to make the partnership successful. An effective partnership with a recruitment vendor will deliver real value to the organization. Bottom line? To help programs be successful and well attended, if you build it with a good partner, they will come. AuGenix, Warren, N.J., is an audience-generation company for continuing medical education (CME) events, and a unit of Phoenix Group Holdings, a medical-education holding company. For more information, visit augenix.com. August 2006 VIEW on Medical Education

Download PDF