Marketing Plan for

328 Pages·2010·13.08 MB·English

Marketing Plan for
Surgical Simulation Education Center

January 28, 2010
Prepared by Rob A. Seide
(Draft Version 1.0)
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Executive Summary

After operating the Surgical Simulation Education Center (SSEC) for about one
year, it now appears that financial and operational expectations in the original
business plan were unrealistic. To improve performance – and make us a viable
competitor among the hundreds of similar facilities across the country – we first
need to refocus our priority on our core competency (and biggest money-maker):
the surgical skills laboratory. In addition to another clinical staff position, a sales
position needs to be added and a CPMC physician champion(s) identified to
begin the viral word-of-mouth needed to reach appropriate decision makers at
targeted companies. Marketing materials, including a high-end brochure and
improved website, will support this effort and highlight areas of importance to our
targeted customers, as identified in the market research we conducted.
Additional changes in operations and pricing, as outlined, will also significantly
impact the success of SSEC.

Positioning Statement/Value Proposition

The Surgical Simulation Education Center (SSEC) is a large, modern, free-
standing center, dedicated entirely to surgical education using cadaveric study
and didactic training. SSEC uses the latest, leading-edge equipment and is
staffed by superior clinicians. Located in the heart of San Francisco, it is minutes
from the Moscone Conference Center.

Current SSEC Snapshot:

Open since October 2008, SSEC has three core offerings:
• Surgical Skills Laboratory
• Conference Center
• Simulation Suite with two METI patient simulators (HPS and I-Stan)

Three on-site FT staff are responsible for fielding telephone sales calls; site
operations; event planning and logistics; and course scheduling, set up and clean
up. Two of these people have strong clinical backgrounds including the Director
of SSEC, who spent many years as an OR nurse.

Since opening, staff has given 128 tours. For 2009, through December 1, 70
courses and 82 course days were booked, with nine satisfied clients being repeat
customers. Of course, staff prep for those 70 courses was far greater than 82
days (For more details, see addendum, Business Plan Look Back, page 5.)

The majority of current clients are medical device companies that use the
Surgical Skills Laboratory, mostly in conjunction with the Conference Center, to
train surgeons on new procedures, techniques and products. Most use human
cadavers and/or animal (porcine or bovine) specimens. Most procedures taught
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were open or minimally invasive using the surgical table stations, while only a
few used the endoscopic equipment. Most rely on basic AV, such as the ability to
show PowerPoint or Video from a laptop or flash drive. The “trainees” for the med
device courses were surgeons specializing in orthopedic, spine, urology or
gynecology. Most courses took place during the end of the week and included a
Saturday. (For more details, see market research addendum, “current client
distribution,” on page 9.)

Targeted Customers

(For more information, see “Targeting Medical Device Companies, Departments
and Individuals” beginning on page 16 in market research addendum, page 16.)

Medical device companies: These are the primary targeted customer –
companies who sponsor courses for groups of physicians or nurses for training
on new devices. These vendor courses have the most “cache.” Medical device
companies that make devices serve the following surgical specialties represent
significant opportunities for SSEC:
• Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgery
• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Urology
• Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery
• Neurological Surgery
• Plastic Surgery
• Ophthalmology
• General Surgery

An important tool that we can employ to reach out to our primary customers are
those who regularly interface with the medical device companies’ sales reps -
CPMC and Sutter-affiliated physicians, nursing and OR staff and purchasing
agents. Many of our first-year courses were booked because CPMC physicians
approached their reps about sponsoring training here.

Research confirms that word-of-mouth is the primary way that companies learn
about new facilities. If a meeting planner doesn’t know about a facility like SSEC
through a colleague, he/she will often rely on getting recommendations about
available facilities from regional sales and marketing managers or training
coordinators. Training coordinators additionally reach out to their partners/service
providers, such as tissue specimen providers and freight shipping companies
(those that specialize in biomedical/cadaveric handling and shipping).

CME providers: Organizations that produce CME events for medical
professionals, such as Medical Education Resources and Kimberly Clark, hold
these courses at facilities such as SSEC. Other companies include Broadwater
Medical Meetings, who recently sponsored a conference at Merin in Las Vegas
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(the 2nd Annual International Cadaveric Program on Emerging Techniques and
Technologies in Spine Surgery) and Pfiedler CME Providers, which often books the
daVinci Center in Florida.

Medical associations and specialty societies: These associations, especially
those that have conferences at the Moscone Center, offer continuing medical
education courses for physicians who need training and/or recertification.
Additionally, off-site training is often held during or after an annual conference,
such as the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and the
International Spine and Intervention Society Surgical Procedures Conference,
which both held courses at Meri in Memphis during their conferences.

Customer Analysis

Many large medical device companies have their own dedicated national facility
but all also rely on third-party regional facilities, such as SSEC. Companies plan
mostly regional courses, but these courses are open to a national audience. The
most important thing to the company when planning the course is “Is it
convenient for the physicians I want to attract?”

Companies rarely rely on only one facility for their year-round coursework.
Planning for courses can occur anywhere from a few weeks prior to the course to
a year before. For example, smaller, regional or local courses, or research &
development product development working sessions, may book a facility with as
little as 3-4 weeks lead time. Though the average planning time frame is in the
3-4 month range, some medical device company course planners might book a
facility up to a year in advance for a national course.

Unfortunately, determining exactly who plans these courses can be incredibly
time-consuming and difficult. We encountered planners with nearly 50 different
job titles. Some companies are organized at the divisional level, by product line,
and/or by medical or surgical specialty. Other companies without dedicated
professional medical education groups rely on staff in marketing, sales, or the
meetings, conferences and events group to plan courses. This is where a good
SSEC salesperson is needed – to make contact with the right decision-makers.

When selecting a facility, course-planners base their decision on these areas
(ranked by level of importance):
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• Geographic Location (addressed in this report and in market research
addendum, “Geographic Location,” page 45)
• Physical Space (For more details, see “Physical Space Decision Factors”
in market research addendum, page 49)
• Equipment (addressed in this report and in market research addendum,
“Equipment,” page 55)
• Service & Support (addressed in this report and in market research
addendum, “Service & Support,” page 61)
• Price (For more details, see “Pricing” in market research addendum, page
67)

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Competitive Analysis

There are certainly significantly more sites and centers throughout the country
than we found back in 2008 when SSEC opened its doors – and that number is
growing each year.

Locally, SSEC’s competition includes UCSF/SFGH, who have collaborated on a
surgical training facility. If planners are looking for West Coast facilities, our
competition increases – and improves – thanks to MERIN and MedCure in Las
Vegas; Science Care in Phoenix; Science Care and SERI in Denver; and Seattle
Science Foundation and N.W. B.E.S.T, in Seattle. However, it is definitely
possible for SSEC to establish itself as the preferred West Coast training facility:
current clients American Medical Systems and Synthes Spine have both used
our facility multiple times.

(For a complete listing of our national competitors, and what has been deemed
noteworthy about these centers or their marketing materials, please see market
research addendum, “Select Competitor Information,” page 90.)

More than 50 of our competitors have been accredited by the American College
of Surgeons, though research tells us that is not currently a significant selling
point to potential customers.

However, there are literally hundreds of competitors for surgical simulation
courses at facilities throughout the country, including the Center for Virtual Care
at the University of California, Davis and at California State University in Chico,
the Rural Northern California Clinical Simulation Center. This is not a good
business for CPMC to be in.

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SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Strengths

• SimSurg is a free-standing center, dedicated entirely to surgical training –
this is preferable to customers over a facility located within the walls of a
hospital or a surgery center. It is also well positioned to weather the
“conflict of interest” issues that are surfacing regarding surgeon-owed
facilities.

• San Francisco is an attractive destination for educational courses; we are
close to both an international airport as well as the Moscone Conference
Center, giving us the ability to tap into national healthcare conferences
being held there.

• CPMC has many physician leaders within professional societies, some of
whom have already been asked to offer courses to their national
organization.

• The level of clinical customer service and support is superior.

• For now, the clinical and AV equipment is current and state-of-the-art.

• Customers generally have a positive experience using SSEC. All
customers say they will use SSEC again for future courses.

Weaknesses

• The Surgical Training Center is not meeting revenue targets due to lower
than projected course volumes and unfavorable margins being higher than
expected operating costs. (See Business Plan Look Back.) SSEC’s
maximum annual capacity is 95 courses and seminars, rather than the
216 courses and seminars proposed in the initial business plan.

• Simulation is not SSEC’s core strength: course prep takes longer than
expected, course volumes are lower than expected and competition is
extremely high for this type of educational training – all impacting revenue.
In fact, since there are no prospective physician lab simulation courses on
the immediate horizon, 2010 volumes for this course type is expected to
be zero.

• We must change the name because of trademark issues – this requires
re-branding and re-identification with existing customers. The pending
name that has been chosen is Sutter Institute for Surgical Training, with
www.suttersurg.org as the corresponding web address.
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• We need a sales rep, similar to med device and pharmaceutical
companies, who has a complete knowledge of what SSEC offers, keeps
abreast of what annual meetings are coming to town, stays friendly with
local med device sales reps and who can have 1-on-1 meetings with
potential customers.

• We need a physician champion who can meet with key CPMC and Sutter-
affiliate physicians.

• San Francisco is expensive.

• Space at SSEC is not always adequate, especially for storage, staging
and meeting rooms, (For more details, see market research addendum,
page 49.)

• Market research shows we have had some hiccups with AV services
provided to clients.

• Our current pricing structure is not adequate and needs to be increased;
this has the potential to have a negative impact on existing customers.

• We have not consistently charged CPMC clients for utilization of SSEC.

• Research tells us there are frequent mix-ups by shuttle and taxi drivers
taking trainees to CPMC and not SSEC at 475 Brannan Street, and it is
difficult hailing a taxi outside the facility to travel back to the airport,
particularly on a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

• Clients tell us there is insufficient, inconvenient on-site parking.

Opportunities

• To properly reach out to medical device companies, medical associations,
CME-accrediting organizations, etc., a sales representative should be
hired. This person should be someone who is clinical and can speak
proficiently about the technological advancements of SSEC but also
someone who has a sales background. This person can host events,
participate in trade shows, etc. Providing improved marketing tools – a
sales brochure, improved website, advertising/sales leads, direct mail, etc.
can be of great assistance to this person.

• Additionally, we need to have a “physician champion” to start “viral
marketing.” This person needs to go to our prominent surgeons or to
medical chiefs and chairs and get them to tap in to their vendor sources to
sponsor courses at SSEC. We have done this to a small degree –
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successfully – but this appears to be the “industry standard” for getting
customers, one which we are not fully employing.

• Training budgets and the number of hands-on training courses sponsored
by medical device companies actually increased over last year – and they
expect budgets and the number of hands-on courses to increase for the
foreseeable future.

• None of the potential clients interviewed had heard of SSEC. Raising
awareness among potential clients is the most important priority in the
short term.

• Course planners want procedures in place that instill confidence; we need
to ensure we promote that SSEC is fully compliant with all regulations,
processes, procedures, etc., including:
• Specimen/Cadaver procurement, preparation, storage and disposal
(e.g., histology, serology BEFORE course begins.)
• Standard Laboratory procedures
• AATB
• AdvaMed, General Conflicts of Interest

• We should adhere to market research recommendations and develop an
online booking form.

• We need to improve the level of event management offered to clients,
which includes negotiating hotel discounts for them and establishing at
least two catering alternatives at high, med-level and value price points to
provide clients reliable and consistent options.

• We can use our own shuttle buses or develop a relationship with reliable
transportation providers to offer reliable, stress-free transportation to
course attendees.

• We need to explore alternatives to alleviate the insufficient and
inconvenient parking issue.

• Rename rooms at SSEC to minimize confusion for clients when booking
courses.

• We can distinguish ourselves if we go after accreditation from the
American College of Surgeons and certification from American Society of
Anesthesiologists – both have an “endorsement” process for centers. This
is especially significant since it has been mandated that anesthesiologists
will have to perform simulation in an ASA endorsed (accredited) center
very soon.

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• CPMC has a New Technology and Evaluation Committee. Their role is to
recommend equipment purchases highlighting advances in medical
technology, which will serve SSEC well in staying on top of what are the
“latest and greatest” technologies to install. Additionally, the committee
members should serve as “ambassadors” with other physicians and reps
from med device companies to encourage course bookings at SSEC.

Threats

• Digital and technological communication changes daily – financially being
able to keep the SSEC current may be an expensive prospect.

• An expanding number of competitors may threaten our success.

• Being able to keep pricing affordable to customers yet profitable enough
for CPMC.

• Current clinical staffing levels are low.
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