It can be a struggle to get a team to adopt a new technology or process, even when it can drive revenue. If your team doesn’t adopt it, you can be left scrambling to justify ROI and resort to incentivizing them to use it, or even penalizing them when they don’t. How do you get started and convince people to see the benefits just as you do, and how do you keep the momentum going?
Jake Carr, Director, Sales Enablement and Strategy at NICO, has crafted an exemplary model for guiding your team to adopt – and love – AcuityMD. The steps below will ensure you run a thoughtful and sustainable program that ultimately grows your business.
NICO Corporation, a minimally invasive neurosurgery company, had been growing 25% year-over-year and had aggressive sales goals to hit. But despite increased activity in their CRM, they weren’t seeing corresponding sales growth, and the team was feeling burnt out. To accelerate their revenue, NICO realized they needed to not only grow their sales team, but also make their current sales force more effective in front of the customer.
NICO decided to invest in a new solution to help meet their goals. While many companies embark on a cross-functional evaluation process, NICO decided to also involve select sales reps – the end-users of the software. As part of the evaluation, these NICO reps gave feedback about the user interface and helped leadership validate the data. This approach helped to build buy-in even before a decision was made.
Next, NICO reps identified three features that would be most impactful to the business:
Finally, NICO laid out clear goals to understand if the technology was successful for both the reps and for executive leadership. They used leading indicators like utilization – in the words of Carr, “Can you maintain and drive adoption of your reps using the platform? Are they using it on a regular basis? Does that translate into new information, new cases, new meetings, and are those reps being effective with using that information?” They coupled this with lagging indicators, measuring if those additional meetings then resulted in more volume and revenue. With a plan in place, NICO began rolling out AcuityMD.
“A lot of the time, solutions fail to get rep adoption because they're too complex,” notes Carr. To combat this, NICO partnered with AcuityMD to make the launch straightforward for their team, customizing the platform around terminology they were already using and those three key features.
NICO evaluated the CPT codes in the neuro space and identified the ones that were most meaningful to the reps. Then they worked with AcuityMD to group these codes under terminology the reps were already using.
For example, NICO grouped different CPT codes involving terms like "excise," "meningioma,” and "craniotomy" – codes that followed a similar selling strategy – under one procedure group called “Meningiomas.” This way, reps didn’t have to figure out all of the CPT codes that could apply to their business, saving valuable time. They also matched the language in AcuityMD to language in training documents and talk tracks, making it easier for reps to connect the dots. Importantly, NICO’s partnership with AcuityMD made this easier. “AcuityMD’s clinical expertise and their willingness to work with you to make adjustments for your particular deployment is incredibly impactful," says Carr.
NICO then merged their contact and account data with AcuityMD data so that their internal names were recognizable to reps in the platform. “Everyone has their own nicknames for accounts that aren't necessarily the official one on the invoice. Aligning the data with our own terms made it feel more like being at home versus, ‘I have to learn something new.’"
With this comfort level in place, NICO could then focus on how AcuityMD would drive sales. They imported their entire physician user list into AcuityMD, enabling reps to immediately see whitespace in their territory. With their product users identified, reps could see how current users were connected to a potential customer using AcuityMD’s Peer Networks feature.
From there, the three most impactful features - Procedure Volume, Peer Networks, Publications and Research - were featured to show how they would help the sales teams hit their quota. As NICO planned the onboarding process and training, they made sure those features were dispersed throughout the training to maintain engagement and excitement.
Finally, NICO identified several "rep champions" who would serve as a resource for other team members. These reps, advocates throughout the entire process, would answer questions about the software instead of having all questions going to leadership. "It reinforces that this is a solution for the team that is going to help them, and there are people who are really engaged and want to be part of it," says Carr.
To maintain momentum, NICO required engagement from users following the training sessions. First, users had to identify two things they learned from AcuityMD within 48 hours of training and report back to their manager. Not only did this increase engagement, it also informed how their reps were using the system and the value reps were finding. Second, as a longer-term goal, reps had to identify five top targets and have a meaningful interaction with them within two to three months. According to Carr, “This is really all about driving adoption – having reps use the platform multiple times over multiple days to get a sense of comfort.”
NICO kept AcuityMD top of mind to inspire reps to use the platform as part of their normal sales process. “That's going to help it become a behavior. It's going to start that behavioral change to use AcuityMD on a regular basis,” says Carr. NICO accomplished this in multiple ways:
NICO pulled one or two specific features from AcuityMD’s new feature emails and tied them back to how their reps could use them immediately. This made communication more curated and impactful to the rep so they could better understand how AcuityMD could help them.
To measure ROI, NICO enabled reps to associate meetings, cases, and deals won using AcuityMD intel with their CRM.
NICO sends out monthly emails featuring wins with AcuityMD data. These emails include a rep’s photo, the AcuityMD data they used, the result, and how the win tied back to larger strategic goals. “This really reinforced co-learning to make people look at the platform differently and say, ‘Ah, that's how I should use that data from my customer,'" notes Carr.
“There was a lot of frustration around our old CRM and the process to update data,” said Carr. “It was either out of date or we'd have to ask our reps to update it.” NICO promoted how, unlike their CRM, AcuityMD updates data quarterly so reps have new data automatically coming to them. Additionally, NICO highlighted the “New Opportunities” filter to help reps stay on top of changes in their territory.
Instead of simply discussing account updates, NICO had reps dive into AcuityMD and review the data on monthly calls. Reps would then speak to additional context and next steps. This reorientation was a paradigm shift in how the team leveraged data and prepared for monthly meetings.
Before they had even launched AcuityMD, NICO established specific metrics around utilization, productivity, and revenue. Using this framework, NICO got 80% of their reps to use AcuityMD on a regular basis, even a year after launch. Notably, several teams hit 100% of their quota by the end of Q3. “They've got a whole quarter of ‘gravy train’ as we call it,” jokes Carr.
Importantly, NICO is also on track to hit their aggressive revenue growth goals, and productivity metrics are up. The same reps that had reached maximum capacity now report higher productivity and a healthier work-life balance. “They're wasting less time, and they're more efficient in front of customers,” notes Carr.
NICO has also improved partnerships with customers using insights in AcuityMD like Peer Networks and publication information. “If you can go in there and say, ‘I read your recent research on this, I can see you're definitely interested in that. Did you know that your peer who you went to medical school with is using our technology to do this and has had success? Is there any way I could show you or have him call you to tell him how he's using this technology?’ It makes you way more effective in front of the customer. It’s the approach a consultant would take, which cuts down time to make an impact with a surgeon,” says Carr.
And it’s not all about the numbers; the NICO team also reports a more collaborative culture between reps and their managers. “I cannot understate how powerful this data is because it shifts the conversation with your reps where you're saying, ‘Let's talk about how we can develop tools or what support you need to help penetration,' because the data is there in black and white. You can’t argue with it.”
Remember, it's not just about implementing a solution; it's about fostering a culture of excitement and engagement around it. Just as NICO did, involving your team in the decision-making process and prioritizing their feedback can lay the foundation for enthusiastic adoption.
Keeping things simple is key. By customizing the software to match your team's language and workflows, and by empowering "rep champions" to guide their peers, you're ensuring a smoother transition and higher utilization rates.
Don’t forget accountability – setting clear goals and sharing progress keeps everyone on track and motivated. Whether it's identifying key learnings or meaningful interactions with customers, these actions not only drive adoption but also reinforce the value of the software in achieving sales objectives.
The results speak for themselves: increased productivity, higher revenue, and a more collaborative culture are just some of the rewards awaiting those who fully adopt their new software. As you roll out AcuityMD, remember to celebrate every win, big or small. With dedication and teamwork, you're well on your way to transforming your commercial operations and achieving even greater success.
Specialty
Neurology
Headquarters
Indianapolis, IN
of reps regularly using AcuityMD
of yearly sales quota reached in just 9 months
