Forecasting VA/DoD: The Fears, the Foes, and the Misfortunes You Can Avoid

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.

#forecasting #FederalHealthcare #DataAnalytics #VA #DoD