As I partner with more and more healthcare agencies, I have realized how vital relationship management is and the drastic impact it can have on their business. Most of us have heard the saying it costs more to acquire a new client than to keep an existing one, but how does it specifically impact the management of healthcare agencies?

For our specific interest, I looked into two important questions:

A recent survey conducted by OpenHuddle reports that roughly half of pharmaceutical marketers are moderately satisfied or less with their healthcare agencies. They are most commonly looking for accountability and have pinpointed these specific areas:

Looking back, I was as responsible as the healthcare agencies for not giving more attention and structure to my professional relationships. We all say that we never have the time, but I could have saved myself numerous headaches by listening to more experienced individuals within my industry. According to the 4A’s relationship management best practices are:

As mentioned before, it costs more to acquire a new client than to keep an existing one. While industry standard ROI metrics for these programs are tough to come by, it is documented that multiple agencies have benefited from relationship management by:

Based on its findings, OpenHuddle encourages all healthcare agencies to invest time and effort in relationship management. Showcasing serious and well-structured programs is a tremendous opportunity to extend client retention. Instead of relying on a pipeline of new pharmaceutical clients to grow or even maintain revenue, healthcare agencies should emphasize and even reward client growth. “Relationship Management is how to keep winning after you’ve won.” says 4A’s.

Reference: