Highland has been working with Meantime, a bespoke software company that was approached by a major teaching hospital to develop a digital platform to manage clinical audit.
After the successful deployment of the Audit Management and Tracking (AMaT) tool, the company looked to sell into the NHS more widely. However, it found that while it received an enthusiastic response, it struggled to secure sales.
In response, Meantime decided to look for support from a specialist health tech agency. This led it to engage Highland to run a sales acceleration campaign, supported by case studies and PR demonstrating AMaT’s value. Managing director Fenner Pearson explains.
How did Meantime come to be involved with the NHS?
Our company develops bespoke software. Our biggest client is Heathrow, but three years ago we were approached by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust because it needed software to manage its clinical audit activity.
While we were scoping the project, we did some market research, and realised there should be a demand from other trusts for a product like this; so we went ahead. We went live at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals between August 2016 and February 2017. Then, we started working with Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, and it went live in October 2017.
Why did you need marketing support?
Over the course of a year, we really tried to get the product out to the market. What we found, time and again, is that we would go to a conference, and demonstrate AMaT, and get great feedback and encouragement; but we would not get a sale.
If you want to work with the NHS, you have to talk to the right people; and you have to talk to a lot of people; we might need to reach people in audit, governance, IT, procurement… So, in late 2018, we started looking around for marketing companies in the health space.
Meantime’s AMaT platform
Meantime’s Audit Management and Tracking tool (AMaT) is designed to streamline clinical audit requirements into one, easy to use system. Doctors, nurses and other staff can register audits, associate guidance such as NICE quality standards with them, complete audits online and manage action plans and scheduling.
Alison Leather, clinical audit and effectiveness manager at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, told a Highland authored case study that AMaT saves staff time, avoids duplication, and improves the visibility of improvement work.
It also means more audits can be conducted, helping to create a culture of continuous improvement. “We looked at different systems on the market,” Alison Leather said. “There was nothing that did everything we wanted to do [so] we worked with Meantime and they developed a solution that best meets our needs.”
Why work with Highland?
My experience of working with marketing companies wasn’t good. We had tried using marketing companies for our core business, and they would tell us they were different and that they would succeed. Then, we’d get very little from them.
So by the time I came to Highland, I had a lot of baggage. However, Highland told me exactly how long they wanted [to run a sales acceleration and PR campaign] and what it would cost and what the outcomes would be.
And Highland hit the target; or very nearly. They promised five appointments by Christmas and we got them in mid-January. Highland was the first marketing company that was clear to me about costs, timescales and outcomes.
What was it like, working with Highland?
Once we got into the process, I really enjoyed it. The marketing companies we have worked with in the past had their own way of doing things, and it felt a little bit like being fed into a sausage machine. Highland really took the time to understand the company, and the product, and what we do.
I saw the script that was produced for the sales acceleration calls, and it was really good. You need to reach the right people, but you also need to talk to them in the right way. The people we worked with on the content, and the sales acceleration, and the account were great. I know we were customer and supplier, but it felt like we were all part of the same team.
Why add the case study/PR element?
I asked Highland what we needed, and their advice was sales acceleration supported by case studies/PR. The case studies/PR are an awareness raising exercise. They support the sales acceleration calls, and they are also being placed in the press. Both elements are important.
What has the outcome been?
The feedback we have got on the product has been uniformly positive, so it was frustrating not to get sales. What we needed was a way to reach out that was replicable and sustainable, and Highland delivered that. The sales acceleration that has got us in front of people, and that is what I expect from marketing.
