Key Questions To Boost Your KOL Management– Part 2/8: KOL Mapping
KOL Management is a broad term that, in our minds, refers to the complete life cycle of identifying, mapping, segmenting, planning, engaging, and interacting with KOLs. From beginning to end. In this series of articles, we address the key questions to ask at every step of the cycle to ensure that your KOL Management is focussed, compliant, mutually beneficial, and of real scientific value.
What Role Does KOL Mapping Play?
Comprehensive and effective KOL Management cannot look at an individual KOL in isolation of their peers and without consideration of the broader context — your KOL Management strategy must consider not just each KOL, but your entire KOL portfolio.
And the same applies to identify such Experts, hence the need for effective “KOL Mapping” which enables you to look at the KOL landscape and map Experts in context.
To help you get there, ask yourself these questions:
- Have you mapped the landscape in which your KOLs operate?
- Have you characterised their impact and medical influence to enhance patient care, their networks, who they work with, etc., all of which will feed into your KOL Management program?
- Have you disambiguated “connections” from” influence” as these mean very different things when it comes to KOLs?
- Have you mapped other stakeholders who can impact the patient journey around your product?
- Speakers, Advisors, Guideline Experts, HE/OR specialists, Educators — have you mapped Experts best suited for different activities?
- Have you identified the different clusters of Experts who tend to collaborate/work together?
- Have you considered the needs of markets, e.g. where KOL activity may not correspond with their influence?
- Have you validated your current list of crucial Experts from an analytical point of view?
- Things change, and people evolve, so are you making sure that the “people you are working with” and “people you should be working with” are always in sync?
By addressing the questions above, you can make KOL Management decisions that rely less on faith and luck, and more on instinct and facts.
Costantino Ciotti
Services & Innovations
+44 (0)20 8191 9823
