MedTech + Mindset Newsletter #002

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This week we cover Rapid Segmentation, Collecting Better Evidence, and The Man Who Loves Walking.

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1. Rapid Segmentation for the 90% of Products without Big Teams Behind Them

Insight from Matt Tucker

Most segmentation is ineffective. It’s not because leaders don’t want to use segmentation. It’s because they don’t have the time to develop it the right way. 

Most products on the market aren’t supported by big teams. There’s usually only one or two people supporting the product – if it’s even that many.

So, customer segments usually get established by happenstance rather than by design. I most see three ways:

•  Users versus non-users
• Specialty (psychiatrist, psychologist, licensed social worker)
• Clinical or demographic factor (BMI, gender, severity of disease)

These factors might be good for targeting but aren’t effective for customer segmentation. Customer segmentation should help you identify current behaviors and help guide you to how you can change them in your favor.

 Over the course of 30 brands, I’ve been able to distill down to the only 3 segments you need to know for your primary (buying decision) customer. 

• Early Adopters
• Cautious Followers
• Traditionalists

Early adopters represent about 20% of your total customer set and are very open minded. They don’t need a lot of data beyond basic information and proof that the product is safe and reasonably effective. This doesn’t mean they need ‘no’ data. It means they just can conceive of how to use the product without a lot of direction and are more experimental.  

Cautious followers are your biggest customer opportunity. They represent 60% of your customer base. They need much more data to be convinced than early adopters, but also are closely watching the early adopters to measure what success they are having with the new product.  

The traditionalists usually take mounds of data and the experiences of others before adopting. They like the techniques and care paths they’ve developed for themselves and are confident in those. They prefer to stick with what they were taught and don’t typically migrate from that until overwhelming information is available.  

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How do you use this? 

Use it to frame who your best customer options are for any given time. Are you early and have limited data? Go for early adopters and put the conversations with cautious followers on hold but develop relationships with them to set the groundwork. Ignore the traditionalists entirely. 

A main success factor for product growth is defining where you can get business and focusing on that customer, rather than trying to convince everyone at the same time. 

How do I figure out who is who? 

I’ve developed one single question that can give me insight into which segment a customer is in. It works easily 80-90% of the time. 

That question is: How do you like to learn about a new product? 

If they say something like, “From sales reps or seeing the newest stuff at a trade show / on the internet,” they are likely an early adopter. If they say, ‘From my colleagues or at a symposium,” they are most likely a cautious adopter. If instead, they tell you they like to learn about a product from peer reviewed journals or some equivalent source they are probably a traditionalist. 

Try this out. Human behavior is what drives decisions and adoption, not demographic factors. This approach is simple - but effective. 

2. Collect Better Evidence

Insight from David Taylor-Klaus

Humans are brilliantly efficient evidence-collecting machines. We’re always gathering information — consciously and unconsciously — to support whatever it is we already believe. This confirmation bias is most pronounced in the case of ingrained, ideological, and/or emotionally charged material. Unfortunately, it’s also at the root of our own limiting beliefs.

In fact, it is our limiting beliefs that limit our possibilities. Henry Ford captured that idea with beautiful simplicity:

"Whether you BELIEVE you can do a thing or not, you’re RIGHT. "

The path to success is almost never straight. It’s often very wobbly and misdirected, and it never seems to go as we planned. For Ford, it was no different. In 1891, the twenty-eight-year-old, who had been working with Thomas Edison, was obsessed with the idea of a gasoline engine for automobiles. As with any disruptive new concept, his journey was fraught with a series of seemingly insurmountable challenges: catastrophic mechanical failures, bankruptcy, and being forced out by his partners. These were big roadblocks that could’ve given him justification for throwing in the towel. Not Ford. He held fast to his vision and what he knew to be possible. Seventeen long years later, when Ford was 45, his Model T finally hit production lines.

Henry Ford had a choice: see hardships as evidence for giving up (the exact reaction most folk would have had), or choose to see obstacles merely as challenges to be overcome. He chose to believe in the latter, and that paved the way for Ford to make history.

Too often, though, we choose to believe that we can’t: can’t change careers, can’t find a new partner, can’t move to another state, can’t get a promotion, can’t ________ (fill-in-the-blank). Throw in some juicy evidence like ambiguous comments from colleagues, a poorly timed email from a client, and now we’ve got backup for our claim. In the can’t mindset, everything is seen as a setback. Instead of persisting, we give up easily … and often, and get stuck thinking there is no other way.

I have had this experience frequently. I see it with clients and with my kids. And I also clearly see that when we hold the belief that we can create something, we’re far more willing to make attempts that support this belief. This is collecting evidence in our favor.

With awareness and practice, however, we have the power to choose what we believe and how we invest our mental energy. We can consciously and intentionally collect better evidence to support ourselves in service of realizing our vision. My wife Elaine, who is also an entrepreneur and professional coach, holds the core belief that people at choice are free. I love this notion and the power it offers.

In her book, Live Like You’re Doing it On Purpose: 3 Secrets to a Happy Life, she writes:

"We are at choice. Most of us don’t feel that way most of the time. We feel put upon or pressured. We operate from a place of obligation and duty. We carry the weight of our responsibilities — for many of us, the weight of the world — on our shoulders. No wonder it gets heavy. When we feel stuck, or obligated, the pressure builds.

But at every moment of every day we are actually at choice. We do not have to do most of what we do. Certainly, if we chose not to, there would be consequences. But that remains a choice we could make.

What’s important about being at choice? There is a very real way in which our ability to be happy depends on our intention and mindset. When we take actions that feel purposeful, — that validate what’s important to us, and offer us some sense of control — then we avoid the build-up of resentment that can ruin an otherwise lovely day. When we begin to see the choices that we are making, it actually lightens our load. The most powerful choice we make every day is how we choose to view any given situation.

The truth is that we are always at choice. Life is a constant series of choices. Even when we don’t think we have a choice, we are making a choice. And there is power in recognizing those choices as our own, rather than seeing the world as being in control."

Being flexible enough to choose one thought over another or one belief over another is incredibly liberating. Henry Ford’s famous quote aligns perfectly with William James’ “The greatest weapon we have against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” Choosing can over can’t is a powerful lever to move forward. And, it takes practice.

You, my friend, are at choice.

REWIRE

Reflect: What is something you believe you can’t do (and would like to)? A clue that you have a locked belief is that you’ve caught yourself saying things like, “That’s just the way it is.” or “That’s just who I am.”

Experiment: Test your assumptions. What evidence have you collected to support and reinforce this belief?

Write: On the next page, use the left side to write all the reasons you believe you can’t. On the right side, write all the reasons you believe you can.

Investigate: Imagine the benefits of choosing to believe that you can.

Revise: Be objective and ask yourself, where does the truth actually live? The truth is always somewhere in the middle. Still stuck? Keep pushing to find your middle.

Expand: This week, be a detective and notice how often a limiting belief comes up. When it does, challenge it using the same questions above and collect evidence to support this new truth.

Things that make you go "Hmmm...."

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