Welcome to the podcast, everyone. In this episode, my guest is Craig Sims, who's currently the CEO of Amplify Consulting Services and former MSL director of Astellas Pharma. And our topic today is what's next? Cocreating the next reality for field medical following a global crisis. Really interesting topic. I think you guys are going to enjoy it. Welcome to MSL talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSLs and all things field medical. Hey. Welcome, Craig.
Thanks for joining us today. Hi, Tom. How are you today? Doing awesome. Doing awesome. Hanging in there. Yeah. So, hey. Listen. I'm really glad that you joined us. Before we get started, just want to give you an opportunity to introduce yourself, tell us what you're up to these days, and, you know, give us a little background.
Sure. Yeah. So I'm Craig Sims, and I'm CEO of Amplify Consulting Services, which is my own enterprise that I started, just two and a half years ago after a 35 year robust career in pharma. And so, you know, I don't like to to rattle on about my background because 35 years would take 35 minutes of your time today, but I have a very nontraditional background in that I started in the industry as a research chemist, at the bench.
And from that, I have the unique opportunity to move into sales in the field. So I've carried the bag, then moved into the hospital selling environment and really kind of honed those skills there. And then I had the opportunity then to move into product management where I launched, a novel product for a a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company. From that time then, I took the opportunity to really pursue a few startups. So I have a lot of startup experience. Some did well.
Most of them were acquired, which is what happens in our industry. But from that experience, I got a lot of field, leadership experience managing both field sales teams and field medical teams, which we'll talk a little bit about. Then I kind of came back to my roots, later in my career when I came back to the medical side where I actually took a role as a medical science liaison with a startup organization in cardiology and really just thrived in that role.
And, and that's when the role was just really becoming, into to fashion in the industry. And since that time, I've, finished off my career as a national, field director for a fortune, 500 pharmaceutical company as well, managing an entire field team. So it's it's great to be here today. And now I'm now I'm working with, strategic, leaders in the industry. I basically, I'm a strategic advisor with senior leaders in pharma, biotech, and medical device.
And where I'm focusing my conversations is really about stopping that regrettable loss of critical talent that organizations need to drive growth, to be innovative, and to react to seismic shifts in the market, which is what we're here to discuss today. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, I was really, really eager to to speak with you today. Obviously, so you've done it all. You've done everything on a on a lot of different sides of the industry, which is exciting.
And right now, you're engaged with key leadership, mostly on the medical affairs side, probably some on the commercial side. So you're talking to everyone, and you're getting a feel for for what's going on. I'm curious to hear about what you're hearing right now, and what you're telling folks.
Obviously, just to give some context for anyone that is listening down the road in the future, we're we're right now in the middle of the COVID 19 crisis and it's, it's completely changed the way our world works. The world has stopped right now. So, I'm really curious to hear about what you're advising some of these folks in the midst of this crisis to prepare for what's next. Sure. Yeah. I'm happy to share with you the experience I've had over the last 10 days in this situation.
And really, you know, the takeaway I'd like to have for your listeners today is not necessarily so much for me to give advice, but really to to help them begin to take more of a coach approach as leaders. I'd like them to be able to take some of the concepts we talk about today, some of the questions we post today, to move themselves and their teams forward as we get through this difficult time.
So our conversation today is going to be based on a framework called the hierarchy of corporate priorities in a pandemic world by, Angelique Roers, who's the CEO of the corporate agent. This framework specifically we're going to apply it to the medical affairs arena. And what I want to really talk about today is, you know, the the levels of of corporate priorities right now, which are crisis response, survival, recovery, growth, and vision. And we're going to just discuss them in that order.
And what I really want to help you walk away with today is an understanding of questions that you can ask yourself and your team that will really give you you and your organization the clarity and consensus you need to move forward as we kind of create this next reality, because that's just where we are right now. Traditionally, I was always told, you know, the pharmaceutical industry is always resilient or resistant to recession and downturns.
Well, in fact, this is a different one because this one directly impacted our customers. And so it's directly impacting how we can do business. So, in fact, this is a unique, time for us in this industry. So I also just want to point out for your listeners that may not be senior leaders in medical affairs that, you know, I define leadership very broadly. We're all leaders at some component in our life, be it in the community, be it with, our family. And we all lead ourselves.
So these these this framework today that we discussed, as well as some of these questions that we kind of pose out there, are things that we could use for our own personal life as we go through, crisis situations, either now or in the future as well. So I wanted to make sure that those listening felt included in this as well.
Yeah. Yeah. So in the past few weeks, you know, I've spoken with numerous senior leaders, across, multiple types of organizations: startups, mid size, and global organizations, both in the pharma and in the medical device arena and some biotech as well.
And so when I start my conversations really I'm just checking in right out of the gate and asking most folks, you know, over the over the past couple of weeks, you know, tell me more about how you want to show up for your employees right now in this situation.
And that's really kind of given leaders a chance to take a step back and pause because what I'm finding in just initiating these discussions, many leaders feel like they know how they should be showing up, but it's not how they really want to be in this situation. So just kind of a quick reset on where leaders are is a good starting point.
And the follow-up from that is, you know, well, if that's truly the way that you want to show up, what's getting in your way of showing up right now for your, for your teams, in this environment? And the resounding response that I'm having in conversations this week is that leaders are sharing with me that they need more clarity and consensus to be able to make solid decisions right now. They don't have enough information. And that's where this framework really comes into play.
We're gonna start talking about the 5 different levels of the framework and what I'm gonna pose to you are some questions that I'm challenging the leadership to ask themselves and their team members as they move forward to gain that clarity and consensus that we're hearing that they want in the marketplace today. So let's dive right in here. So the first level of, of the of the corporate priorities is that of the core of the crisis response.
And this is usually, you know, the question that's posed here is, like, what is the most urgent in the short term? So in our current situation, our short term was 1 to 14 days. Based on some recent developments, we now are looking at what are what are the most urgent priorities in the next 1 to 30 days. And, in fact, we're hearing this may go on for months. So the question really becomes then, what is the most urgent in the next 1 to 30 days or 30 days and beyond?
And I want to point out that it's easy for leaders right now to jump in and start to determine what the urgent priority needs are, but I want to take a step back now and really peel this onion down to a layer that gives this whole process meaning. And that's there are 4 different constituents for which this question needs to be posed. And that is to the individual, to the team as itself, to the organization, and in this particular discussion we're having today, it's the customer. And here's why.
We all know that teams are made of individuals, organizations are made of teams, and we all call on customers. So leaders that really want to understand the clarity necessary right now in a crisis situation need to really connect with the individuals that that report to them. And so, the question really becomes then, what is the most urgent for the short term for each individual on the team?
And this is important because because this is a global crisis, because we're scattered all over the place, we're all having different reactions to this based on our local geography. So what is a critical need for me right now in my family situation, in my life situation, may not be the same for someone else. So leaders need to really tap in to understand what are the most urgent needs for each of the team members on their on their, on their bench right now as they move forward.
Then, you want to pose the question to your team. So once you've got a feeling for the individuals on your team, as you bring your team together and your team leadership, you want to ask, you know, what's the most urgent for our team right now? And start to get a feel for the cohesiveness of the team. And then also pose this question to your organization. What is the most urgent right now for the organization in the next 1 to 30 days or 3 to 6 months, whatever it ends up being for us.
And so it's getting on the phone. It's taking the time to have that interaction. And you can see some things that are out there in the literature right now that they're saying, you know, leaders should be touching base with their, their teams 6 times a week during this. So, it's really about picking up the phone and spending the time with your team members to find out what is most urgent to them personally and building out on that.
So, let's move to level 2 then, and I'll kind of kind of interweave these as we go. The next level in the in the corporate priorities is that of survival. And so here the question is is how do we stay financially solvent for the next 6 months? Now, cash flow is really important for every organization. And what I'm just kind of hearing I'll share some things I'm hearing you from about some startups and some other organizations is startups are reducing headcounts already.
They're, they're taking pay cuts at the senior level. They're reducing the bonus payouts. They're postponing product launches. And now we're also experiencing an FDA slowdown in response due to what their priorities have shifted to be in this crisis. So startups are approaching it a certain way. Now, global organizations, as you know, tend to be a little more cash rich.
They have a little more of a cushion, but what I'm hearing from these global organizations is that they're taking time now to realign teams. What is our optimal, field, coverage right now, either now or in the future? And are we going to continue hiring? Are we going to kind of freeze and kind of see where we are? And so I'm hearing a little bit more of the kind of freeze right now, and people are kind of waiting to see how this trickles out.
But they will quickly, scale back up once they do realign and I hope so. When it goes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. For me. No. Exactly. I mean and that's not to not to interrupt Craig, but it it that's what we're seeing right now on the recruiting side as a medical affairs recruiter.
We're seeing companies that are either going on complete hiring freezes just because of the uncertainty, really not knowing what's going to happen, or at least slowing down the process and only hiring for critical positions, what they're defining as critical positions. It's also changing the matter in which we're doing, you know, obviously doing this. It's all virtual, which is which is a totally new thing.
Yep. And so there's to your point, so there's the cash flow issue and there's the, what is the financial impact going to be? But then there's also the question of in in medical affairs, I always hear this. It's how do you maintain your value proposition? How do you maintain value back to the organization, to the powers that be, in a medical affairs organization that now has limited face time and limited engagement with KOLs? That's the other byproduct of this. Correct?
Yeah. And that's always been kind of the the Achilles heel of the medical affairs department is how do you create value or how do you demonstrate your value. And so in this context of the survival level of corporate priorities, it's it's easy to kind of spin this then appropriately then and it's really more what is the how do we stay how do we stay medically relevant for the next 6 months? Right? So how do we maintain our relevance or our value proposition moving forward?
And it's also important to take those four levels that we discussed with the same question, you know, how do we stay relevant to the individual, to the team, to the organization, and to the customer? So once again, these four constituents around our business, we want to ask that same question of them. So I think that's a great clarifying question you ask is how do we stay medically relevant, during this time?
So we also want to then kind of take a back step and say, you know, where is our greatest impact? And so not only where's our greatest, impact as an organization, where's our greatest impact on the individuals on the on the team? What is the greatest impact we can have right now on the team? Also, the greatest impact we could possibly have on the organization and on the customer.
This is really important right now because when I talk about the individual level, survival is a very, common topic right now at vendor tables. Families are having single parts of their income, reduced. Spouses are losing positions. People are being furloughed. And so this survival conversation so, you know, how are we going to stay solvent for the next 6 months is a very real discussion and leaders need to be aware of that as they're engaging their teams.
But, as you mentioned, the comment around medical value, you know, it is important that we continue to understand what is our medical relevance as a medical affairs professional in this situation, and how can we best apply that. And so that poses the question, you know, what are the some of the things that we can do today to ensure continued impact or continued medical relevance? And also you want to carefully weigh out various scenarios as you as you answer that question.
Go through various role plays about how you can stay most medically relevant and have the greatest impact. Carefully weighing all your options can ensure that no short sighted decisions, can result in hurting your business more once this crisis has passed. And so there's an example I had last week. And, again, this is a a sales side example, but it is in pharma. You know, we had a conversation with a senior vice president of sales.
And as soon as we got on the call and he shared with me that they he just let go 80% of his sales force right off the bat to cut cost. And I paused and I asked him, I said, so how are you going to manage that pipeline that you had developed through that stellar Q1 that we just came out of? You know, who is going to manage those existing relationships and how are you going to re establish those relationships when this is over?
And, he really kind of had to take a step back and maybe realize that just letting go everybody right now may not have been the best long term choice. It was kind of more of just a reactive choice. So again, what I'm saying here is there are examples where you really want to play through all the scenarios before you make these types of decisions that impact, of course, the organization but individuals and families and your customers as well.
So a couple other questions to ask at this point as we're talking about the survival level is, you know, what is the role of the individual and what is the role of the individual right now, with the organization? What is the role of the team right now? What is the role of our organization in this situation? And of course, what is the role of the customer?
There's a lots of opportunity in these discussions where I'm hearing leaders talk about special projects or process improvements that they put on the back burner that they could work on now. So, there's one organization that's currently, instead of furloughing a portion of their sales team, they're creating small working groups to work through a couple of pet projects that they really wanted to get done.
And, in fact, these projects may help differentiate them in the market as things come back on scale. So this was a leader that kind of took a step back and worked through some different scenarios to really maximize the headcount that he still has and to continue to move the organization forward when we get to the other side of this as well. So let's for time's sake, let's continue to move forward. So the 3rd level in corporate priorities is that of recovery.
And the question here is really how do we pivot operations and appropriately support revenue channels as we move forward? Now this question really again needs to be asked across all these levels. The point at which an individual or an organization or team begins to pivot and do things differently is when leaders will really want to make sure that they're instilling an environment that really supports creativity and collaboration.
Because you're understanding what needs to be done to manage the crisis. You understand what you need to survive. But it's how do we pivot? What is it that we need to do to shift our operations to maintain those changes in a way that are going to continue to appropriately support the revenue streams? And so, in addition to some of the obvious things you know we're seeing out there already is organizations are switching to virtual visual aids already.
They're switching to visual 1 on 1 conversations with customers, visual and servicing of the staff. And then we're also hearing an increased demand right now for virtual roundtables and virtual advisory boards, which makes sense. So there'll be continued to be an expansion in these areas as well. But, you know, medical affairs is, you know, an extricably linked to commercial and to research and development.
So, leaders that want to make sure that their organization are positioned well for what's coming ahead, They want to be part of those discussions with the other departments as they revise their strategic plan and develop tactics that are gonna that they're gonna be using to drive the revenue generating portion of the company forward.
So, again, medical fair leadership wants to be up at the table for those discussions, which will allow them to come back now and quickly pivot existing operations or create new operations, to help the team move forward. So some other questions that leaders can be asking themselves and the team at this point is, you know, what needs to change in order to help the individual, the team, the organization, and the customer in this new reality?
You know, we we just talked about some virtual examples, but other things that are already coming up is, you know, telemedicine and telehealth. You know, all the chains were lifted by leadership here and where I live, but telehealth has no restrictions right now and whatever physicians need to do to get it done can do it. So there's an opportunity here for, you know, organizations to see how they might better fit into those problem solving needs.
There's also the concern right now the coordination of patient flow, through IV infusion centers, radiation departments, labs. You know, what how will the backlog of patients that were scaled up for elective surgery, how will they be managed, and what role might we play in that with with, with health care providers.
And it's really how, of course, how does the patient doctor interchange or interaction change moving forward, and what's the role of our organization in making that a a rewarding interaction for both parties involved. So there's lots of opportunities, as we begin to pivot to ask really reflective questions to kind of move us to where we might want to go.
Couple other examples real quick are, you know, how might research agreements be restructured now because we've had a slowdown in patient enrollment and critical timelines on clinical studies. How can we research, renegotiate agreements that really create a win win for everyone involved? And then, you know, one thing that, that is very dear, near and dear to all of us in the field is medical meetings. Right? So what is going to be our role at medical meetings?
You know, and that alone is going to take a lot of coordination and collaboration and communication with professional associations to really maintain the integrity, the spirit of scientific exchange, and just the the overall, impact that the that venue has always had on our industry and on health care. So that's that's a whole area that you could put a whole little working team on as you move forward.
Well, these so all like, a lot of the stuff that we're talking about here and you're presenting, there's obviously, we have to get creative. We're getting creative in how we do business now. Do you feel like there's going to be a complete paradigm shift now that we're learning all these we have these virtual environments and telemedicine and virtual ad boards and all these new you know, not necessarily new ways of doing business. Just it wasn't the primary way we were doing business.
Do you think that that's going to have a drastic shift moving forward just because of what we're going through now? Yeah. I I don't I can only share my opinion. Right? We none of us really know. But I what what we're seeing already is that these venues that were being used are being maximized. Right? We're we're doing more of it. I think from that, you'll begin to see the innovative nature of our industry, and we'll come up with even more creative ways to meet those customers' needs.
Our customers really don't even know what their new problems are yet. Right? They're not even in their clinics. They're not even seeing patients right now as you and I speak. So once our customers are back in the clinic setting, you know, that will be the chance for them they'll be wanting to reach out for solutions. And that's the chance for organizations that position themselves correctly to be part of that problem solving need that the customer has.
So, again, it will probably continue to go that way, but I think, you know, the sky's the limit. You know, something really great things will come out of this, I'm sure, as well. I want to kind of point out real quick as we're I was kind of looking back over my notes here as these first three levels that we've covered the crisis response, the survival, and and the recovery.
You know, it's really easy for leaders to want to jump right in and go right to the okay, how are we going to remain sustainable and and what are we going to do to shift operations? And they're gonna it's very easy for them to quickly go to the survival and recovery mode. I just wanna kind of point out that the the crisis response is the foundation of this entire process because crises are evolving. Things are all ongoing.
So it's really important to continue to come back to that baseline and to understand and get the pulse of the individuals and the team and the organization as you continue to move forward up these priorities because things do shift and do change. So, I just wanted to kind of point that out that it's not a one and done.
You know, once you've had the crisis response discussion, the survival discussion, and you're starting to pivot, you'll want to continue to go back and work the whole process as things evolve. So, that takes us to level 4, which is the growth phase. And, so the question really here on the growth phase is how do we sustain profitability? And, in this case, how do we sustain medical relevance? Right? And thrive in this new era.
And this is where the previous three steps are really the most valuable. Because all of the information gathering that was achieved through the earlier conversations, all of the forecasting and scenarios that you've worked through, all of the different, things that you put in place to make this shift allow you to become co creators in what this next reality is. You know, those are there are those organizations that sit back and wait for things to happen and then try and fit their way in there.
And then there are the organizations that co create the new reality or the next reality as we move forward. And so by following this process of asking these reflective questions of yourself and of the individuals and your team and of your organization, leaders now will have enough of data. They'll have enough clarity. They'll have enough consensus of what the organization needs to be doing.
So as we get to the growth phase, they're gonna understand this is how we can stay profitability profitable, and this is also the new reality that we're creating for our industry. So this is where, really, the co creation occurs. And it's not done in a vacuum. It's done with the input from across the board, the ongoing input. And, of course, once the customer gets on back online, really engaging the customer to help solve their their needs as we go forward.
So the question here that leaders can pose is, What is our role now in the co creation of this new reality? What role do we take? And you can hear just from the nature of that question it is a collaborative question. It is a question that really puts organizations in the space of wanting to be problem solvers with the other members of our industry. And so I think we're going to continue to see some really interesting, changes as we move forward for this.
You know, if history is any example of what's gonna work, it's those organizations that continue to be innovative, flexible, nimble, and resilient. Those organizations are the ones that are gonna come out on top as they have, after every other crisis. So those characteristics of an organization aren't going to change. It's just now the the data you have to pivot to make that a reality for all of us. So let's talk about level 5 briefly. Level 5 is really the vision.
So the question here is what is our long term vision and mission? So, organizations that have had a strong mission and vision, you know, going into the crisis, this may not change much. Probably won't change at all. However, in other cases there may be a broad expansion or contraction of an organization's mission or vision.
And so, you know, the example that's kind of in the news right now is, you know, Tesla announced that they're gonna reopen an automotive plant in New York to make, medical equipment. So they're right there as an example of a shift of a mission and vision, of of Tesla and and their owning group. Right? So there's opportunities out there right now for organizations to completely shift where they're spending their time.
And so this is where leaders really want to understand that everything that they've done up to this point should continue to support the vision and mission of the organization and, in some cases, perhaps expand it or contract it a little bit. So we've covered crisis response, survival, recovery, growth, and vision, which are the the core principles or priorities for corporations right now.
But, again, I just want to go back and make sure that we emphasize that each of these questions should be posed by the leader to himself or herself, to the individuals on the team, the team as a whole, to the organization, and then, you know, arm your team to go out and have these types of conversations with the customers as they go back online.
You know, arm them with some thought provoking questions that we've touched on today that can begin to help your field based medical team bring back field intelligence that you can then use to create these new programs and processes to shift the business in a way that's gonna be profitable to you and also profitable to the to the end customer as well. So, I also want to mention some of the hurdles that continue to come up.
You know, there are things that we can control and things that we can't control. And so I jotted down a few of the things that have come up in my conversations. And of course, the things that we can't control are how does the crisis unfold? Right? What is the political environment or policies being formed around this crisis that may enhance or hinder us? And also there can be, short term or long long term transitions, both regionally and globally, which can impede our ability to do business.
But there are internal things that, leaders can do that they can control. And that includes, you know, what is your travel policy going to be, once things are lifted? Will you have, regional restrictions, based on where the crisis response is needed the greatest right now? So, having a flexible travel policy that meets both the needs of your team members and your customers. Also, something that comes up time and time again is the culture of the medical affairs team as a whole.
Is the culture of your team, your organization, is it a proactive culture or a reactive culture? And, different organizations take a different approach to medical affairs, especially field medical, in terms of how they engage their customers. So it'll be important for leaders to partner with legal and compliance and and their senior most leadership to support ways of shifting medical affairs functions if the culture needs to shift to meet the future needs.
So, again, collaborating cross functionally at a high level in the organization to be able to move the needle forward. Of course, there there may be ongoing technology barriers, maybe not within your organization, but as we reach out and re engage our customers there's going to be technology barriers. Not every office or customer is going to have the, the technology that many of us have to have these types of interactions. So, we want to be flexible with that.
How can we help customers, communicate with us if we're unable to meet with them face to face? And then, also, we want to continue to innovate around the creative content that medical affairs professionals can use in the field. You know, right now these interactions are generally 1 on 1 and with great scientific exchange. And so, what are the creative innovative tools that we're gonna need to continue to enhance that as we move forward as well?
So, the last thing that kind of comes to mind I want to kind of just kind of share is, emotional intelligence is a topic that always kind of frames this entire conversation. And the highest level of emotional intelligence that a leader can demonstrate is the ability to be comfortable with saying to themselves and those around them, I don't know.
And being able to just say I don't know really creates that space for others, one, to feel a part of and also to begin to give solutions back that are best for them and their team and their organization. So it's not just saying I don't know.
It's then taking these steps that we've talked about today to engage individuals, team members, customers, organization in a way that gives you that clarity that you're seeking and the consensus that you need around initiatives to move the organization forward, for yourself and for the customer. So so that's kind of the process in general, you know, the hierarchy of corporate priorities.
You know, we've discussed it here in the context of the medical arena today, but it's a useful framework to use in many other areas. You know, it can be something not only used during a pandemic, a great recession. It could be a national or local emergency, a specific industry, situation, or even the the failure of a product. So this this model, this framework framed with some of these questions can be very impactful, in multiple settings and not just in this current situation we find ourselves.
Yeah. Absolutely. Really good stuff. And and I didn't wanna interrupt. You were on a good roll there. Let me let him go. Yeah. I don't wanna mess this up. Let me I don't wanna mess this up. I love I really love the, you know, the format, and and I love the system that you've laid out.
I think one of the things that I might expect to see, and I deal with this all the time on my side of the business in recruiting is, how do you feel medical affairs leadership is going to be able to handle morale issues? I think when people get back to because right now, this where we are now in the midst of the crisis is, it's an odd time and it's a new normal, but it's temporary.
So when people come out of the crisis, what advice would you give to medical affairs leaders to get people into a good head space as it relates to just building morale and getting back into work and that sort of thing? Yeah. I really like that question, because that's an area that I spend most of my time working with leaders is around mindset. And so the first thing that comes to me as you describe that scenario is that how are leaders going to re energize their their teams?
What's it going to take to to to get them back to that level of high performance that we had going into this situation? And so leaders really need to take a step back and look at more of the essential skills. Your team still has their technical skills. They're still technical experts.
It's enhancing your own emotional intelligence around being able to ask, you know, questions that are open ended in a way that allow your employees to really share what is the best solution for them in this situation. You know, all of us have our own answers within in terms of how we want to deal with things in our life.
So leaders that can create a space for their, their team members to express what's going to work for them and then by consensus what's going to work best for the team, they can then begin to form ways to re energize and reconnect the team together because we're we've all been disjointed. We get to talk like this but it's not the same. It's not the same as being in the room right now.
So leaders are going to want to make sure they create a space where individuals and teams can reconnect and reignite each other through just kind of sharing what's what's really been going on for them. Yeah. And and we've got to start at that basic level of human need of reconnection before you can get out there and and make a big impact in the market. Yeah. That's valuable.
I I also think about the impact of how our if we look at if we look at field medical, we look at MSL specifically, I have to imagine it's going to be a somewhat of a difficult transition once this is over in in regaining FaceTime. I wonder if KOL you know, how willing are the KOLs, going to be in in, you know, getting back into the routine of, you know, setting up appointments with their MSOs and utilizing them as as partners within their practice?
Or do you feel like it's going to be, is is it going to remain difficult because they're gonna try to get their practice and their business back up and running. And, obviously, it's it's all about the patient. So there's the patient need, there's the business need, and where does the MSL fall into that?
So I'm wondering if if you feel like there's going to be a difficult transition once this pandemic slows down, everybody gets back to work, and and things go back to what was the the old normal, and we're trying to get our appointments and and and and, you know, get FaceTime. What's your thought on that? Yeah. So, again, I don't have a crystal ball. I wish I did. Right?
But I believe we can draw on the experience we had post 911 and post anthrax scare was that, physicians offices and other end users of our products really needed time to reassess what their business model was going to look like and how they were going to do business. Right? So right now, I think it's about giving the the customer the space to figure out what what what they need to do. What are the new constraints of, the organization for which they work?
Most of these practices now are part of large health systems. What are the new policies and procedures for the systems? So, just keeping our finger on the pulse of what's going on at the higher level and what they're up against will allow the teams to go in then and be part of the problem solving solution. You know, going in and treating your customer the same way that you wanted to be treated. You know, these folks are online. They are going to be very, tender, for lack of a better word.
And so it's going to be important that once we do start to engage face to face and in person with our customers again, that we're coming from a place of understanding that this has been a big challenge to them personally and to their profession. And how can we help them identify the problems that they now have in getting this practice restarted and what solutions can we take back to our organization that might help them to achieve that.
So, again, really just putting the role of the MSL where it's always been is how can we be of maximum service and value to our customer without having to, you know, tell them what they need to do? That's the most impactful thing we could do. Yeah. Great advice. And, listen, these are clearly, we're in uncharted waters and unprecedented times.
So I really appreciate you taking some of your time today and just giving us a format and giving us some really good advice and, and and and helping folks out there, that are that are really looking for some types of solutions, in how to handle this because, obviously, we're all going through it. We're experiencing it right now. And in the future, who knows?
You know, you you had brought up a lot of other things that, you know, that affect industry such as, you know, issues with the FDA or recessions or, you know, different types of downturns, layoffs. These are all mini crises. Some of them are more more than many. So I I love your format. I I love the, the concepts and ideas. Any final thoughts that you have for us before we close?
No. Again, I appreciate the opportunity to come and share what I've, been experiencing the last few weeks in the middle of this crisis with with other leaders in the industry. You know if their listeners are experiencing if they're experiencing their leadership running in multiple different directions, finding that there's, you know, some analysis paralysis within the organization and the need to really get people back on the same page in the same playbook.
You know, that's one of the things we do well is we strategically work with these leadership teams to make sure that they are aligned, that they have the clarity and consensus they need to be on the same page in the playbook. And if any of your listeners are going through that situation, I would be happy to to get on the phone and chat with them for a few minutes. Perfect. Thank you. Well, thanks again for coming, Craig, and and, for spending some time with us.
And, stay safe, stay well, and stay healthy to you and your family. And, you know, I appreciate it again. You too, John. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for listening to the show. And if you enjoyed it, please subscribe so that you don't miss an episode in the future and feel free to leave a rating or a review or a comment. Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you soon.