Six Bridges
Negotiation TrainingThe Path to Finding Shared Commitment in Value-Based Negotiations
The “negotiating arena” is the place where revenue, profits, and jobs are at their greatest risk.
The outcome of a negotiation impacts the entire organization, with the impact extending to the financial and operational health of the organization and the job security of colleagues. In life sciences, the stakes are higher. A negotiation between a life science company and a provider or payor will impact the treatment options for a condition or disease, thereby potentially impacting thousands of people with a chronic disease or a select few impacted by a rare condition with limited treatment options. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to conduct meaningful conversations between life science companies and the stakeholders impacted by their products.
Six Bridges is the Hix Group’s proven approach to successfully negotiating enterprise-to-enterprise agreements with payors, providers, and participants in the value-chain. The intended audience is pharmaceutical, medical device, and life science professionals responsible for positioning their organization and their product portfolio with healthcare decision makers, influencers, suppliers, and distributors.
The specific function of those who will have an interest in Hix Group’s Six Bridges Negotiation Training include:

Account execs
Account executives responsible for negotiating agreements with payors, benefit managers (pharmacy and medical device), health systems, and retailers

Sales leaders
Sales leaders responsible for the pull-through of negotiated agreements

Marketers
Marketers responsible for developing the positioning, pricing, promotion and messaging strategy for the organization’s brand(s) in managed markets

C-level execs
C-level executives responsible for the acquisition or disposal of assets and securing favorable relationships across the value chain (suppliers, wholesalers, distributors)
There are three paths to deploying Six Bridges Training Negotiation with Hix Group clients, including:

TWO-Day Training
A two-day training session with account executives and leaders of life science and healthcare organizations seeking to prepare leaders and account teams for negotiations. All training sessions are customized to the opportunities and challenges facing the client organization to ensure the training translates to the negotiating arena.

Tailored Workshop
A case-specific workshop with executive teams in the midst of a negotiation with that will impact the future direction of the company. In this scenario, Hix Group leads the organization through the Six Bridges path to develop the negotiating strategy for the client with the customer, supply partner, or distributor.

STRATEGIC SESSIONS
A quarterly or bi-annual strategic session with organization and/or brand leaders seeking to ensure alignment between the strategic priorities of the organization and the priorities of payors, providers, patients, and supply chain partners.
Ask Hix Group to conduct a Six Bridges training session to prepare your account executives for the rigors of value-based negotiations with payors and providers.
Ask Hix Group to team with your executives to develop a Six Bridges response plan to a commercial threat originating with a payor, provider, supply chain partner, or competitors.
Ask Hix Group to conduct a Six Bridges working session with executive teams before or following a merger or acquisition. This working session will ensure strategies and tactics with customers and customer segments reflects the combined competencies of the merged organization.
Selected Foci
Select, representative engagements
The following selection of representative engagements provides insight into the capabilities of Hix Group and the work product sought by our clients.
Focus:
Six Bridges Negotiation Training
Client:
A Leading Provider of Orthopedic and Physical Rehabilitation Medical Equipment
A medical device company seeking to develop a national account team to advance the company’s conversation and position with payors engaged Hix Group to:
- evaluate the skill set of existing leadership and operational personnel in national accounts
- propose and develop the organizational structure required to support the organization’s priorities with payors, health systems, and high-potential employer targets
- develop the managed markets marketing plan, including the clinical program required to better position the clinical and economic argument for the product
- analyze current status with payors (i.e. percentage of covered lives with preferential and/or neutral access to the product)
- train the existing and acquired head count on the skills and messaging required to successfully position products, both clinically and economically, with the payor audience
Focus:
Six Bridges Negotiation Training
Client:
A Well-Established Medical Supply Company Serving Hospitals
A medical device company required an immediate response to a large supply chain partner expressing a desire to white-label the company’s product as part of its broader offering to hospitals and physician practices.
Hix Group served as a consultant for a 90-day period to formulate the response, equip the leadership team to negotiate revised terms with the supply chain partner, and prepare the go forward messaging to better position the company relative to international sourcing threats.
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