Helpful hints for qualifying JMP® Clinical and JMP® Genomics prospects:
Confirmation Questions: Validate your data or reveal inaccuracies in what you thought was true.
- Where did the customer find out about JMP? What activity drove the customer’s interest?
- What’s the business application and value to the company?
- If microarrays, ask whether gene expression or SNPs. If next-gen sequencing data, ask if the customer has aligned and summarized data.
- Will the customer be using the software only for data analysis and problem solving in the customer’s company or providing a service for a third party?
- If the customer is a DSP in the clinical trials field, the customer will need additional paperwork.
- Has the customer ever purchased software like this before?
- Has he or she ever walked through a deal like this?
- Can we address the customer’s business pains?
New Information Questions: These force you to listen and accept the reality of current data; they help you clarify the customer’s concept and desired business results.
- What’s the compelling trigger event? (Something in the buyer’s world that prompted a change.)
- Is the customer looking to streamline a clinical trial review process?
- Is the customer looking to innovate clinical operations?
- Has the customer converted to CDISC data and wants interactive visualization?
- Does the customer have an increase in data, feel swamped and have current staff members who can’t handle it?
- How much experience does the customer have with genomics data and analysis?
- Is this a competitive situation?
- JMP Clinical has more features out of the box than our competitors.
- Is the customer considering Spotfire or JReview?
- Is the customer considering Partek or R?
- What is the evaluation process on the customer’s end?
- Willing to sign paperwork for 30 day eval? Also JMP Genomics.
- Without data monitors involved, the evaluation process will be slow.
- Bring in technical resource during evaluation period. Also Genomics.
- Is the customer replacing some product or augmenting other products?
- JMP Genomics is positioned as all-in-one software that can take the place of several other projects.
- Is the customer looking for the most seamless way to build on top of SAS® or JMP? Also JMP Genomics.
- Is the customer looking for interactive visualization instead of the old tables and listing? Also JMP Genomics.
- Is this a new MLA? Is this a new supplement?
- What is the current SAS footprint at the organization?
- Does it have SAS Drug Development or SAS Clinical Data Integration? If so, JMP Clinical can augment those capabilities.
- If it has SAS/STAT® and SAS/GRAPH®, JMP Clinical offers interactive visualization on top of that.
- Is the data stored in a database? What kind/platform? Also JMP Genomics.
- SAS users may be receptive to JMP Genomics, but also resentful that there is no discount for existing SAS licenses.
- Will it be a nonstandard deal for JMP or SAS (terms, multiyear, pricing after initial year)?
- Is IT involved yet? If not, when and how will it be involved? (With JMP Clinical you only want IT involved at the end of the sales cycle. We want the medical monitors or users to make the buy decision.)
- Marginalize IT until deployment is discussed.
Attitude Questions: Identify the customer’s personal needs, values and attitudes.
- Who makes the purchasing decisions?
- Best case: Data monitors or director of biometrics. Worst case: IT.
- What are his or her business goals?
- Streamlining data monitoring.
- Can the data monitors use JMP C to create their weekly reports to the data monitor committees?
- Is the person you are talking to just a groupie, job-seeker or tire kicker?
- Are the prospective JMP users primary investigators with baseline statistical knowledge and the business need to analyze data?
- JMP Clinical targets data monitors, biostatisticians and data managers.
- We have been successful with both data monitors and biostatisticians.
- Are they life scientists or statisticians?
Commitment Questions: Help locate your current position in the sale by identifying what action the customer is willing to take to move the process forward.
- What’s the justification of the purchasing timetable? What is the sense of urgency?
- The faster the customer gets to a go/no-go decision the better. Urgency should always in play.
- Is there another genomics software solution currently in place?
- What’s the cost of doing nothing, or maintaining the status quo?
- Pharma companies are desperate to innovate and stay competitive in a highly regulated environment with ever-changing guidelines.
- Is the customer ready to buy? (Helps to determine priority for meetings, on-site demos, etc.)
Basic Issue Questions: Specialized commitment questions that help you identify customer concerns that could result in the loss of the sale.
- Is there a budget in place? Is it enough?
- If not, can the buyer get funding? What level of approval will this funding need?
- Approval comes from the director or VP level, depending on the size of the organization.
- Who will sign for the customer? Does the customer (and do we) have access to this person/group?
- Does the prospective user base know statistics and is there sufficient education within the company to deploy a product like JMP?
- We will need to be involved.
- Where are the prospective users based? Which states? Which countries? Is the deal really federal government?
- Has the customer contacted the other states or countries yet? (Have you checked SFDC for SSOs?)
All information is SAS company confidential. Do not disclose.
