Anika Therapeutics, Inc. is a global joint preservation company that creates and delivers meaningful advancements in early intervention orthopedic care. Anika launched Tactoset®, a synthetic, biocompatible hyaluronic acid enhanced bone void filler used for treatment of insufficiency fractures, in 2019. Then in early 2020, Anika transformed from a largely contract manufacturing organization to a direct commercial supplier through its acquisition of two orthopedic companies, Parcus Medical and Arthrosurface. With the pandemic closing traditional avenues to engage customers, Anika needed more power behind their sales process and to quickly onboard their sales team who hadn’t worked in this specialty area before.
When looking at where and how to launch a product, Anika relied on their commercial team to provide launch targets, much of which was tribal knowledge, either from their direct sales team or distributor partners. “We relied heavily on that information and didn’t have a way to validate if those doctors were in fact the right people to go after,” said Ben Joseph, Vice President, US Commercial and Global Brand Management at Anika.
Additionally, the sales team needed a clear path to quota given their unfamiliarity with the specialty and limited options in the wake of the pandemic. Sales reps were spending significant amounts of time manually researching surgeons in their territories, often just with Google. Furthermore, sales reps couldn’t view where surgeons were operating - either at a hospital or Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) - a critical insight given the growing shift towards ASCs. “A good commercial team should rely on data to help inform the strategy, and we were starving for real data,” said Joseph.
Like many companies, Anika had limited bandwidth, and they needed a focused approach. “We looked at other solutions including purchasing data sets. But we liked the fluid nature and the non-static look of AcuityMD, as well as the ability to set filters and to fully target,” said Joseph. “It’s remarkably simple and intuitive to use.”
The rollout process was straightforward. Anika provided access to their sales directors, who used AcuityMD to not only validate some of the assumptions they had made about launch targets, but to also surface other surgeons that they hadn’t known to target. “It was a really good tool to open our eyes to other opportunities,” said Joseph.
Anika sales reps used AcuityMD to easily identify and prioritize top conversion and new user targets, as well as track competitive interactions, educational backgrounds, publications, and clinical practices. With this information, Anika was able to deploy more effective call plans and custom sales strategies that identified over 500 surgeons and more than $20 million in pipeline opportunities.
Anika continues to have regular conversations with the AcuityMD customer success team to stay current on new product features, like the Territories module, to better understand and visualize opportunities. “We love finding additional value in AcuityMD. The customer success team has been a pleasure to work with,” said Joseph.
With AcuityMD, the team at Anika was “able to experience the data, not just see it,” Joseph said. “The software provides a richer experience beyond data pulls. It enables us to target better and ultimately hit our goals.”
Garrett Robinson had spent over 10 years in medical device sales before joining Anika as regional sales manager. “I was used to relying on Google to research physicians and sites of care, which was time-consuming and often inaccurate or incomplete.” For example, Garrett couldn’t see where surgeons were operating – critical information for a sales manager. “It was great that Anika invested in technology to help my team meet their goals.” Garrett uses AcuityMD multiple times a week to prepare for meetings. “It’s become my standard process before every surgeon meeting – I see their procedures, where they operate, and their training background. It easily saves me an hour a week – which means less time researching and more time selling.”
Specialty: Orthopedics
Employees: 350
Headquarters: Bedford, MA
Health Care Providers Identified
Pipeline Generated
