Is Your Vendor Making You Look Good ?

1. roland Is Your Vendor Making You Look Good? • 6 Vendor Tests Every Pharma Sales Trainer Should Know

2. AUTHOR: Shannon Winning Shannon Winning is a writer and inbound marketing specialist focused on bio-pharma. Prior to this, Shannon worked as a reporter in print and new media. Follow her on Twitter @WinningMediaNJ

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Designing in PowerPoint………………….….…5 Writing Effective Ebook Copy ………………..9 Optimizing Ebooks for Lead Generation & Promotion………………….…....12 Tracking Your Ebook’s Success ……….…….16

4. Look Good Test #1: Their work is creative. No vanilla power point presentations here. You need medical illustrations that sing, where medical content is brought to life in way that is engaging and understandable. // Page 4

5. EBOOK TITLE If you don’t feel like you’ve crawled into the blood stream and had a look around, then this vendor isn’t delivering.” So will the vendor’s creative design make you look good? Here are a few questions to help you answer that: • You’ve been on the end of this training before. Would you fall asleep in this session? • Does it support the learning? Would you remember the concepts and the messaging when you were in front of a physician? • Are the illustrations clear and memorable? // Page 5

6. Look Good Test #2: The vendor knows your company better than you. If you are new to headquarters an experienced vendor could be your greatest asset. Even if that vendor’s experience is limited in a particular therapeutic area, with deep experience and strong relationships inside your company, a vendor will identify your key stakeholders and warn you about roadblocks typical at your company. And when they deliver a killer launch it will be your win. How did they know global procurement would ask for that? Evonne // Page 8

7. EBOOK TITLE How do you know this vendor isn’t learning your company on your dime? • Test this vendor’s knowledge by asking: • Who do you know at my company? • Who are my stakeholders? • Can you prove your vendor reps are seasoned in project management? • Can they get my deliverable from beginning to end? Ask for proof of past work. // Page 9

8. Look Good Test #3: Vendor maintains standards of writing. Credit: US Mission Geneva A Look Good Vendor follows rigid protocols. Your legal review board will spot shortcuts a mile away. Here are a few quick ways you can too. // Page 11

9. Is Your Vendor Making You Look Good? • Look at the vendor’s past work and check for line references. It’s more work than a reference at the end of page, but it’s what your medical review team wants to see. • When you evaluate the writing in the module, look for depth of research: upfront referencing, solid primary sources, recent citations. If it’s something you could have done on a quick Google source, you’re notgoing to get what you’re paying for and it’s not going to make you look good. “ It’s more work, but it’s what your medical review team wants to see.” // Page 6

10. Look Good Test #5: The vendor knows it’s place (behind the curtain) A good vendor’s credo should be: “We support. You shine.” There are two things you don’t want from a vendor at a launch meeting – to be left hung out to dry or to be upstaged. A look good vendor won’t do either. On the next slide: A quick test will determine if the vendor courting you has the potential to make these mistakes. // Page 15

11. EBOOK TITLE The first scenario that won’t make you look good: the disappearing vendor. • Nobody wants to work through the night at the hotel – the night before the meeting. • But what if there is last minute change to the draft or a technical problem? You don’t want to be left to handle it alone while the vendor team is at the bar. • Before you commit to a vendor ask: • Will your writers and programmers be there for on-site support, at all hours? // Page 16

12. The second scenario that won’t make you look good: the show stealing vendor. • Your launch meeting is your show. Your vendor can be behind the scenes moving props and hitting the lights, but when the curtain goes down, the applause should go to you. • A Look Good Vendor is willing to take a background role. You hire a vendor to serve you, not to take center stage. Hire a company whose work reflects well on you and who is willing to stay behind the launch. • Before you commit to a vendor: • Find out how they will represent you and your brand, rather than their own. • Ask for examples of previous projects with competitors.

13. Look Good Test #4: The vendor uses in-house staff. Vendor’s typically rely on freelancers to work on at least some aspect of launch prep. And that is a good thing, especially when the vendor does what it knows best and outsources a piece that requires a particular expertise, say writing about a drug in a therapeutic area where there hasn’t been a new therapy in decades. Noatake Murayama But a Look Good Vendor will have a large staff to accommodate the launch from POA to post-launch. // Page 15

14. EBOOK TITLE A Look Good Vendor will have the bulk of its writers and programmers on staff. The vendor’s constant access to its own people means the ability to put in longer hours to meet deadlines and handle problems. Freelancers are hired on a project basis, often with projects back to back. If your medical review team shoots down your draft and the module gets delayed a day or two, those freelance writers might already be onto another project. The vendor will have to pass on the work to another writer. Victor1558 • The result: • Fewer delays • Controlled costs • Consistent Work ”Vendors who rely heavily on freelancers are inflexible and vulnerable to delays.” • The result: • Delays • Increased costs • Inconsistent work // Page 14

15. Look Good Test #7: The vendor anticipates problems. Credit: SuperFantastic Have you ever worked on a project that didn’t have problems? Of course not, putting out fires starts when you get out of bed in the morning. So why is that vendor talking rainbows and lollipops? A Look Good Vendor will be able to tell you how they handled the inevitable problems and how their work is better and smarter for the experience. // Page 15

16. Is Your Vendor Making You Look Good? They delivered a spot on pitch. Fantastic. Now ask them to tell you everything that could go wrong. • What’s lurking around the corner? If the vendor passed test # 2 then they know your company better than you and they should be able to lay out potential problems from past experience. • Do you beta test? The day you have 65 reps sit down for training better not be the first time they’ve run the module from start to finish. • What’s the back up plan? If the draft needs a major change after medical review (remember Look Good Test #4) or at the launch meeting (remember Look Good Test #5) how are they going to keep costs under control and maintain deadlines? Both keys to making you look good. • Tell me about a time it went terribly wrong. How did you save the day? You’ve been on the other end of meetings and modules and you’ve seen some bad ones. This vendor no doubt as been a part of a few. // Page 6

17. EBOOK TITLE You clicked on a call-to-action before you downloaded this template. Think about how you got here—you clicked on a call-to-action n an email, on a social media update or somewhere else. A Look Good Vendor isn’t surprised by problems and won’t get all twitchy in their seats when you ask them about what can go wrong. Text with a link to a landing page VISUAL // Page 12

18. EBOOK TITLE Let’s review our six tests. A Look Good Vendor is: • Creative • Maintains standards of writing. • Knows your company better than you do. • Uses in house staff. • Knows it’s place. • Anticipates problems. So what about you? Is your vendor making you look good? Insert CTA for free evaluation // Page 10

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