Time to consult

EMMA SHELDON MBE

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

I’ve spent my whole career working in and around the international healthcare space. With Healthcare UK I helped UK NHS Trusts to make their first steps to sell their services overseas. With Vernacare we exported a UK product to more than 50 countries around the world, for which I was honoured to be awarded an MBE for services to export. Our businesses have been subjected to unprecedented levels of uncertainty over the last year or so, with a lack of clarity and understanding about everything. That uncertainty leads to fear and doubt and there has rarely been such a shared volatile business environment in which to operate.

Yet even a volatile business environment o ers the potential for significant opportunity, when your o er matches the new needs.

Smart businesses have seen opportunities to match their innovations with need, to speed up adoption of their technologies to improve patient care, and to share their successes as widely as they can to help others. To support our entrepreneurs and businesses they need the right advice, the right people, and the right money.

This requires a massive investment of time and e ort and sometimes we’re running so hard at our goal that we fail to take the time to reflect on the changes that have impacted us. Equally, to understand where our o erings can best fit, we aren’t able to shape and hone our strategy in the right way or we don’t have the time to refine our messaging in order to make an impact with the right people.

This is where an experienced and independent pair of eyes is invaluable, equipped to support you in assessing where you are against where you want to be. By helping you to plot your path to success, providing a diagnostic to help you identify and address any gaps in your business planning, at TTA we can create the environment to allow the best chance of success to be achieved.

Maximising the potential for success

In order to understand where you are and where you want to get to, there is a number of critical areas to consider. The first is Proposition Development, cra ing and shaping your proposition for the best chance of success. Next is Marketing, making an impact in the right places, generating leads and strengthening your message with strong targeting and significant amplification.

International planning with the right strategy for specific markets should include good external intelligence, recommendations, insight and support. Equally Strategy Development, including a review of your business, the current situation and your ambitions, the competitive landscape and the strategic imperatives for success are vital.

Prepare for investment by identifying the key criteria to support the right investment, and ensure you tell your story succinctly and correctly. Recruiting for growth by finding the right people - remember that poor, costly recruitment decisions can be the most expensive mistakes you can make and ensure you engage the right people for the design of your organisational culture as you grow.

For Market and Customer Analysis, focus is critical when growing a business but narrowing down markets or sectors can sometimes stop progress for business owners who are conflicted by numerous choices. So prioritise markets, sectors and customers, and design in metrics that will help you see how your choices are making a di erence and ensure you are able to quickly assess when to change direction.

Business Development - once your strategy and messaging are where you want them to be, reaching the right potential customers quickly and e iciently is vital. Use contacts, strong networks (like those of Healthcare World) to ensure you’re getting to the right customers.

Throughout the life cycle of any business, all these elements will be required, and never more so than now, as we live through a situation which is delivering a complex and fast changing landscape for our businesses, people and ideas. emma.sheldon@healthcareworld.com