Do Business Well

If the first strategy with streamliners is making sure your operations run dependably and consistently, the second is getting your customers to behave consistently and predictably as well. This strategy taps into streamliners‘ craving for routine by creating and reinforcing their habitual, or “sticky,” behavior—in other words, making routines routine.

In a recent speech, Bill George, chief executive officer of Medtronic, Inc., the world’s leading medical technology company, advanced the thesis that as a maker of pacemakers and other electronically based products for people with chronic diseases, Medtronic should be a part of a patient’s life for a quarter of a century or more. Now, there’s a vision of stickiness.

On a more modest scale, ExxonMobil encourages sticky behavior by allowing its gas station customers to merely wave their Mobil SpeedPasses, which some keep on a fob on their key chains, in the direction of the pump in order to fill their cars’ tanks with gasoline. The SpeedPass automatically identifies them, releases the pump, and bills their account. The process may be just slightly easier than inserting a credit card into a slot in the pump, but streamliners appreciate even modest savings in time and energy. Furthermore, the very act of waving the SpeedPass makes streamliners feel as though they’re somehow insiders; many take pleasure in the fact that “their” company, ExxonMobil, is demonstrating its position on the cutting edge.

In response to increased competition, the drug industry has also had to focus its efforts on stickiness. Historically, a single successful drug could earn its discoverer huge profits for a very extended time. But there are so many new drugs on the market today, as well as new and different approaches to managing various diseases, that pharmaceutical makers have had to work harder than ever just to keep revenues constant.

Based in Thousand Oaks, California, Amgen is the biggest biotech company in the world. And the giant pharmaceutical company’s drugs Neupogen (which treats the side effects of chemotherapy) and Epogen (which is used to treat anemia in patients undergoing kidney dialysis treatments) are among the best-selling prescription drugs of all time. Even though the drugs proved their efficacy long ago, Amgen must wage a never-ending battle to persuade its customers (patients as well as health care professionals) not only to use them but to use them appropriately, which is not as easy as it may sound. Although it is clear that proper dosage and timing vastly improve the drugs‘ benefits, Amgen learned long ago that moving through the doctor-patient pipeline takes a lot of sweat and tears.

“It’s not enough that the drugs are great products,” says Kevin Sharer, Amgen’s president and CEO. “We have had to continually support them by working very, very closely with at least four separate customer groups to make sure that patients are able to receive the drugs and prefer ours over alternatives.” In other words, making routines routine isn’t an issue that involves only the patient—everyone in the drug chain needs to cooperate as well.

The first group Amgen tries to educate is professional medical caregivers, physicians and nurses, people not inclined to take direction from anyone who lacks professional credentials and a deep knowledge of medicine. This is why, says Sharer, “we go to extensive efforts to be seen by physicians as a science-based company.” Amgen sales reps must have the appropriate knowledge of science down cold and must be able, says Sharer, “to talk with physicians in great depth about the latest studies, the latest advances in the areas of medicine that the physician is interested in. In the case of Epogen, those physicians are kidney specialists, so our sales representatives are very, very knowledgeable about treat-^-ing anemia in patients who have failed kidneys and are on dialysis. It’s a highly skilled and focused sales force.” It is also an extremely loyal one. While the national average turnover rate is 17 to 18 percent, Amgen’s is a mere 5.5 to 6 percent.

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