Value Beyond the Pill USA

Dec 3, 2014 - Dec 4, 2014, Philadelphia

2-day conference on how you can provide value beyond the pill in order to move from a product-focussed to a customer-focussed business

Building partnerships toward patient improvement

Deploying a “beyond the pill” strategy requires a realignment of staff resources and a recalibration of mindset – from competitive to collaborative.We spoke to Dwayne Dixon, Head of Customer Management at Alcon, about building a team to drive deeper partnerships with customers.



In 2011, Alcon found itself in need of a transition. The company had been selling drugs for eye diseases like glaucoma in much the same way for the past 70 years. The strategy was simply to identify the largest prescribers, and then meet with them armed with homogeneous sales materials directed exclusively at doctors and their staff.

But the world was changing. Doctors’ practices were consolidating. With that, a new layer of administrators were increasingly making purchasing decisions previously made by individual doctors. In addition, National Health Reforms were on the horizon, with a raft of new reporting requirements and outcomes measures that had clinicians’ heads spinning.  Alcon, like its competitors, was looking for a business model that would make sense in this new landscape.

Dixon was tasked with building a team to engage the C-suite leaders of these practices around patient-facing initiatives. They were looking for help, Dixon said, dealing with the new urgency to improve outcomes and the patient experience. Dixon built a team of  key account managers who don’t sell product, don’t contract and don’t charge for services. They are tasked with creating partnerships to solve customers’ patient-facing challenges.

Identifying the right people

Dixon drew the new key account managers largely from the existing sales staff. In almost all cases, they were very successful district managers. This newly created role was attractive to candidates because it was a promotion that didn’t require relocation.

We would pepper them with questions and try to bait them into pitching products and programs.  If they did, they were eliminated from consideration. We wanted people that wouldn’t just dive into the pitch, but exercise a consultative approach.”

Here are the top four qualities Dixon sought:

  1. A consultative mindset, rather than the ‘attack and kill’ mindset of a hardcore sales representative
  2. An ability to function in the white space. This new role would have no script, no prescribed formula for success, and flexibility would be key.
  3. An ability to lead in a matrixed environment and build team collaboration around practiceswith those who aren’t direct reports.
  4. Comfort with engaging C-Suite executives. Dixon says this requires a higher level of business acumen than dealing with clinicians

During the interview process, Dixon tested the candidates by putting them through a role-playing exercise.

“ We would pepper them with questions and try to bait them into pitching products and programs.  If they did, they were eliminated from consideration. We wanted people that wouldn’t just dive into the pitch, but exercise a consultative approach.”

Once chosen, the new key account managers were asked to choose two or three metropolitan areas, including their home city, to hone in practices that met the following criteria:

  1. Large
  2. Had implemented a governance structure
  3. Were willing to work with industry to solve patient problems

Where to start

Dixon said one of the challenges for implementing patient-facing services is regulatory limitation. So his team spends a lot of time identifying ways to work with and not against regulations.

“We can’t go in and execute practice management techniques, for instance. But what we can do is show them how to shift their communication tactics from the traditional physician-oriented command and control, to one that is more collaborative, such as the the use of the AMA six step method.”

Dixon and his team quickly discovered that what clients needed most was education around how to better understand and implement the volume to value mission embodied within the Affordable Care Act, and that was a role Alcon could leverage to gain trust as a true partner.

“In a lot of these group practices, there is significant opportunity to educate and navigate the Affordable Care Act.  Concepts such as Meaningful Use, Quality Metrics, and other outcomes measures are now being used by the government to evaluate providers.  Our goal is to help them to better navigate this new landscape and deliver a superior result for our mutual patients”.

“Many of the practices we deal with had no standardization of processes and protocols. So how do they measure their outcomes? How do they know what is contributing to the success or lack thereof?”. Dixon said Alcon is developing programs that would help them measure outcomes.

The impact on sales

Alcon’s key account management team sits alongside the sales function. Dixon says so far, the impact on the sales reps has been positive. They have a whole new understanding of an engagement with their respective practices.

“ Sales reps can no longer discuss one-off clinical studies or competitive information that’s not part of the product’s label. But now sales can say, ‘Hey Joe was in here telling you about this method to talk to patients about glaucoma, what did you think?’ It’s not the same rhetoric.”

In the long run, though, while Dixon acknowledges that the new strategy may mean fewer sales personnel are needed, it does underscore the need for new and different roles to engage with customers.

“That’s a controversial point of view. But as you have people and committees making decisions  for groups of prescribers, instead of individuals making decisions, there becomes an opportunity to engage with the committees and address the needs of the group in addition to the needs of the individuals. 

Measuring success

These new roles have necessitated a new pay structure and evaluation process that looks at employee performance in different ways. Dixon said key account managers are not accountable for product sales, and they don’t have quotas. Instead, they are judged on executing activities that would lead to building partnerships toward patient improvement. Alcon surveys their customers and that’s a major component of the new key account managers’ compensation.

“It’s a shift for people used to trying to make quota every quarter. This does take a while to incubate. But we’re seeing that once we’re through that incubation, there is an impact”.

What’s next?

There remains a lot of untapped value to be gleaned from “beyond the pill” strategies, according to Dixon.  As the carrots give way to sticks in the Affordable Care Act, doctors’ practices are under increasing pressure to show they are providing value and to document their outcomes. Dixon said many practices still struggle to find where to start.

“I envision a day when engaging the patient involves saying, ‘this is your diagnosis and let’s talk about your options and what fits best with your lifestyle’. Most providers still direct the patient and hope for the best without educating and activating the patients themselves.  After all, the patient is the only member of the care team that actually leaves the office with the ability to impact behavior.”

Pharma, Dixon said, can play a key role in reshaping those discussions.


Dwanye Dixon will be presenting at Value Beyond the Pill, December 3-4 Philadelphia. For more information on his presentation, click here.



Value Beyond the Pill USA

Dec 3, 2014 - Dec 4, 2014, Philadelphia

2-day conference on how you can provide value beyond the pill in order to move from a product-focussed to a customer-focussed business