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Thought leadership and innovation for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Kevin Appareti, global director for Medical Science Liaison at Philips Healthcare, explains how to motivate KOLs and how to measure their value

By Ursula Sautter on Feb 10, 2012

If you are a manager trying to recruit good KOLs, you don't have it easy. There are some 353,000 primary-care doctors in the US alone; identifying and then segmenting those who will deliver the most value is "quite a challenge," says Kevin Appareti, global director for Medical Science Liaison at Philips Healthcare, "yet also exciting." (For more on medical science liaisons, see Medical scientific liaisons: Sales reps in disguise?)

Traditionally, companies established KOL relations through personal networking. The focus was on improving product development and research. These days, however, other goals are becoming increasingly important—advocacy, for instance, and strategic guidance—so personal contact may not come as easily. That's why, Appareti says, "We have also been using the quantitative approach to find physicians who would be of value to us in these fields as well.” That means using selection criteria, such as the number of scientific articles published, the number and size of grants, the frequency with which potential KOLs participate in national symposia, whether they are members of professional organizations, and whether they are key influencers in the policy domain.

Once you've identified KOL candidates, you need to carefully categorize them, Appareti argues: "That type of segmentation really sets the table for a very effective engagement and overall helps the success of the KOL program." Those doctors with proven clinical skills, for example, may have most to offer in roadmap development for medical products, services, and solutions. Physicians who fall into the thought leader category, on the other hand, may be more usefully employed in guiding the strategic direction of the company. And those who are tied into their national political and healthcare systems may serve best as advocates or peer-to-peer educators and networkers.

Making it worthwhile for KOLS

Making it worthwhile for busy, best-in-class clinicians and researchers to act as consultants is probably just as important—and as difficult—as spotting them in the first place. "You have to ask yourself, 'What's the value that KOLs receive—or want to receive—from sitting on an advisory board or visiting a manufacturing plant?’" asks Appareti. "Then try to offer them that."

One extremely popular incentive is offering doctors the opportunity to talk to their colleagues. "Doctors love to talk to doctors, not in front of us, of course, but during coffee breaks or similar downtime,” says Appareti. “So we include such slots in the meetings of our advisory groups." This produces a double value for KOLs, since the physicians can not only talk to the manufacturers about what's in the pipeline but to their international peers at the same time.

Insight into financial or management strategy is another incentive that works well. Many Philips Healthcare KOLs are heads of departments who have to make tough decisions about multi-million dollar budgets, so the firm uses their expertise. Appareti uses the “100 euro game”: He asks KOLs how they would use that sum if they could only fund a limited number of projects, products or positions. "‘We can't fund everything,’ we tell them,” says Appareti, “so what would you spend the money on?" Not only do KOLs feel good about being entrusted with such a decision, they also benefit from learning how their colleagues would use the money.

KOLs are also feedback junkies; "These guys want to know how their contributions are being used, otherwise they get disenfranchised," Appareti remarks. So he and his colleagues let consulting doctors know exactly what is done with advice and information. This is central to the way Philips Healthcare incentivizes its KOLs. “After all,” he says, “we want these guys to be around for a long time." (For more on KOLS, see Pharma and KOLs: How to create transparent, collaborative relationships, Q&A: The changing role of KOLs, Q&A: How to engage with KOLs, and Ms the word: Keep KOL relationships in the open.)

Measuring value

Pharma firms also need to measure the success of KOL programs and how value is gained, so acquiring semi-quantitative metrics is a high priority. A net promoter score is one the methods Philips Healthcare has tried and tested. "We're asking the doctors participating in our advisory panels such questions as, 'Based on your experience here, would you recommend purchasing equipment produced by Philips to third parties?'” Appareti says, “or 'Would you recommend participation in a KOL advisory board to one of your colleagues?'" If the answer is an enthusiastic 5-out-of-5 score, that's a pretty strong statement of value.

Another important measure is a survey of internal stakeholders engaged in KOL interactions. Philips Healthcare asks questions that relate to whether expectations in these engagements are met.

Another challenge KOL managers face is effectively disseminating the results of meetings, visits, and interviews to those in the company who need to know. Appareti and his team cope through diligent note taking during KOL sessions and systematically synthesizing and structuring that information into executive summaries that contain pertinent quotes and recommendations for immediate action. The info "needs to be readily accessible and digestible so the format is extremely important," he says.

Philips Healthcare works with communication experts within the organization to develop templates for output from KOL meetings. The material is also put on the company’s internal website to be shared strategically with stakeholders at key decision points. Creating and maintaining awareness of the value of KOL insights is crucial for success.

"The majority of our staff understand that this type of customer interaction is one of our prime objectives today," Appareti says. "But what sustains this level of understanding is having people within the organization who continuously champion the concept." Establishing such a network of champions has to happen early and it must go hand-in-hand with targeted communication of the results of KOL meetings, according to Appareti.

For more articles on KOLs, see Special report: KOLs and pharma.

For everything related to KOLs, attend KOL & Stakeholder Engagement Europe on Feb. 21-22, 2012 in Berlin, SFE Europe and eMarketing Europe on March 27-29, 2012 in Barcelona and SFE USA on Jun 12-14 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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