Q: What has been the most exciting part of your first 100 days at MultiPlan?
A: That’s an interesting question. What has stuck out to me is how committed the people at MultiPlan are to our clients, when you see that first hand, you understand why the Company’s reputation in the marketplace has been so impressive. I’m proud of what we do and how the market perceives what we do. What’s encouraging is that even with MultiPlan’s great reputation, the Company recognizes there’s room for innovation and room to grow. So during the first 100 days, I’m most enthusiastic about the people, what this Company is, and its potential to become even more.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about the work you’ve been doing since joining MultiPlan?
A: The work has taken different phases. The first part involved assessing where we are in the marketplace and how we’re performing. As I said, the Company has a great reputation. Still, if you look at what’s been happening in healthcare over the last few years and the impact of COVID, you start to see there is even more we can do and more importantly more the market expects from us and is willing to accept from us.
The next phase involved looking at the products that we have, not only MultiPlan legacy products but the new products we added from our acquisitions of HST and Discovery Health Partners. With these acquisitions, our opportunity in the marketplace has grown in terms of how we interact and can ultimately impact our clients in broader ways. We need to look at our new product portfolio and determine how our products can have the biggest benefits to our clients and their respective organizations.
Lastly, we want to build on the strong relationships that we have with all of our clients. We do this by listening to the voice of the client so they recognize that we’re intent on helping them. We’re not just a vendor. We’re a partner. The DNA of this organization is relationship-based, and our relationships with clients have a positive outcome on their business.
Q: Voice of the client is an interesting term. Can you talk more about the importance of listening and how MultiPlan communicates with the client?
A: My best experiences have been when I actually understand what the client is asking for. To truly understand, you have to engage in what I call the lost art of listening— as you sit in front of the client you accept that you need to fully understand what they’re telling you. You’re not worrying about what you need to communicate to them. You take in what they tell you, and you gain confirmation that you understand what they’re saying. Often because we use different terms than they use, this is where problems can arise.
One of the most important things we need to do is make sure we hear what the client is saying. We’re doing that by bringing the business — the people who make our products — together with the front office. Members of the field team are meeting with the business on a regular basis, and we discuss what we’re working on and what we’re hearing from clients. This does two things. First, it ensures our products are hitting their mark in the marketplace, and second it shares with the business the clients’ needs and what’s driving those needs.
In my way of thinking, everyone in this organization is part of business development because if you make things that clients don’t need, you don’t have much of a business. On the other hand, if you not only make things that fulfill your clients’ current needs but you also innovate for them, you’ll have a completely different relationship, a better relationship. When clients define what they need, we can come back and say, does this match? So the voice of the customer is that connectivity.
The other thing is that we have so many product capabilities and assets. We are continuing to find new ways to bundle them into a much larger solution for our clients. Managing several different point solutions is challenging for clients. If we as a partner can deliver a variety of solutions that are put together in a package that solves bigger problems, that’s when you change relationships and how you are perceived in the market.
Q: What do you think makes MultiPlan unique?
A: There are a couple ways I’d answer that question. What ultimately makes us unique is how we’ve become experts in what we do. Delivery excellence is also something that sets us apart, partly because we put an innovation component into it. Innovation is an overused word, but I use it to mean that we understand what our clients are thinking because we have relationships with them through our strong partnerships. We’re also paying attention to where the market is headed.
Our thought leadership also sets us apart. There are all kinds of expertise in this organization. and we need to ensure the market knows that. We can do that by getting out ahead of really big topics and letting people know what we think about them.
I think what ultimately defines success is when the marketplace views your organization as the best deliverer of the service. This comes back to what I said earlier – It’s taking the time through the opportunity pursuit process to match up exactly what the customers are asking for with what you deliver. If you put the time in upfront and take a disciplined approach to listening to the customer, you can get closer to delivering a solution that best helps them. We set ourselves apart by doing this.
