A Hearty Campaign

Toshiba America Medical Systems has sold $16 million worth of cardiac catheterization systems thanks to a combined lead-generation telemarketing and three-part direct mail campaign it began late last year.

The Tustin, CA firm targeted hospitals across the country through the Verispan hospital database and got 245 leads, all hospital execs and managers. The campaign, which cost $200,000, helped Toshiba extend its market share over competitors like Siemens and Philips.

Toshiba decided to use a three-part direct mail approach because it had a new product line — the Infinix-i vascular X-ray systems — and a new sales team, and the market for this equipment was slowing down, according to company spokesman Jim Burch.

“The three-phase emotional hook was to develop a sense of comfort and confidence so that when the salespeople went in they'd be accepted,” Burch says.

After Toshiba prequalified its original 1,341-name list through telemarketing, it sent the mailings to about 500 directors and managers of cardiac catheterization laboratories as well as hospital presidents and CEOs.

First in the series was a 6-inch by 6-inch fold-over card. It noted that MD Buyline, a healthcare product information database, ranked Toshiba No. 1 in customer satisfaction. It invited recipients to call a toll-free 800 number or visit www.medical.toshiba.com for more information. However, Burch stresses the intention of this piece was more to build awareness than to drive final sales.

About five or six weeks later the company sent out about the same number of 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch envelopes containing a case study of how one hospital helped improve patient care in its new heart institute using Toshiba systems. The copy included an endorsement by one of the hospital's doctors. A cover letter urged recipients to call a toll-free number.

The third drop was a 5-1/2-inch by 8-1/2-inch by 3/4-inch box packing a Universal Serial Bus (USB) stick loaded with a flash animation movie of Toshiba's system in action.

The units cost between $1.5 million and $2 million and the selling cycle can take up to two years.

Will Toshiba use direct mail again?

“It's probably not something we're absolutely going to repeat every six months. We'll use it at the appropriate time,” Burch says. “I think when we have wholesale changes, direct mail certainly is a good thing for us to do.

“But I think it becomes a little less cost-effective if we have only two or three new salespeople to help in a territory. [In those cases,] I believe there are other ways we can help them.”

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