Forecasting VA/DoD: The Fears, the Foes, and the Misfortunes You Can Avoid
Updated: Jun 26
Written by: Jeff DeWaal
Creating a VA or DoD analyses within an organization can be time-consuming, confusing, frustrating, and several other “ing” words that represent the hardships generated from analytics needed to launch a new product.
Let’s consider a single step in the process of marketing a drug in the VA or DoD: the forecast, its components, and consultants.
Access Assumptions
Market Access
Commercial Insights
Market Strategies
Fine Wine
External Stakeholder Input
Prescribers
Patients
Payers
Craft Beer
Competitive Landscape
Market Research
Competitive Intelligence
R&D/ Medical Affairs
Cocktails
Internal Stakeholder Input
HEOR
R&D/ Medical Affairs
Market Access
Pricing
Shots of Whiskey
The overall Forecast doesn’t usually include most of the complexities that come with an opportunity analysis for the VA and DoD. Some of these complexities include that:
Assumptions around access will need to consider the high turnover among federal decision makers.
Rules and regulations may update frequently
“Top Down” only efforts do not immediately translate into sales without a “Bottom Up” sales strategy; this extends timelines for sales success no matter how great the access
Pricing may heavily influence prescribing
Your salesforce will need specialized training to gain entry or schedule meetings within the VA and DoD
Effective selling within the VA and DoD typically comes with experience, mentoring, or experienced virtual support
These considerations can make an executive’s head spin, let alone an analyst with gaps in knowledge of such a complicated market. Working with folks who have extensive channel experience makes the job so much easier in designing a real-world forecast that is much more likely to be accurate.
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