A Trusted Partnership between Prognosis HIS and OpenView Partners Delivers Lead Generation Success
When the U.S. government passed a stimulus plan in 2009 that set aside more than $27 billion for healthcare providers and hospitals that made the switch from paper-based records systems to an Electronic Health Records (EHR) program, it forever changed the healthcare information technology market.
It also provided Houston-based EHR provider Prognosis Health Information Systems with an amazing opportunity.
“There were significant opportunities for us in the market,” says Prognosis CEO Ramsey Evans. “But we needed more bullets in our gun. We had to get out there, let our prospects know that we existed, and do all of that while lowering our cost of sale.”
In 2011, Evans and his team quickly realized the need to increase brand awareness among its target audience – a relatively small and very specific segment of hospitals and healthcare providers. The team set out to build a lead generation and qualification program within their sales organization that could start the conversation with Prognosis’s target customers. But doing it on their own required more time than they had with the government’s deadline for acquiring EHR stimulus money less than a year away.
Thankfully, the company had a secret weapon: OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm that invested in Prognosis in November 2010.
Just before Q3 of 2011, OpenView’s Labs team – its highly skilled consulting arm – helped recruit, train, and deploy two new lead generation reps that were making calls, creating opportunities, and forging relationships within a matter of weeks from the date of their hire.
“I know from experience that it’s not easy to find people that actually like cold calling and prospecting for eight to 10 hours a day,” said Ann Phillips, Director of Business Development of Prognosis.
“Prognosis has a great product with an impending event that helps salespeople move efficiently through a process. We needed to help them build a team of people that would make their prospects aware and interested in the solution through proactive prospecting. We accomplished it quickly and kept the sales team focused on closing deals,” said Brian Zimmerman, Managing Director of OpenView Labs.
“At the moment, our 2012 Q1 pipeline is bigger than it’s ever been,” says Evans. “We have leads in eight new states and I expect that footprint to continue to expand as we continue to refine our lead generation and management processes. We owe so much of that success to our work with OpenView.”
For more on how OpenView and Prognosis teamed up on the company’s new lead generation and qualification program, view the full case study.
About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners (http://openviewpartners.com) is an expansion stage venture capital fund with a focus on high-growth software, internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies with quickly ramping up Product, Go-To-Market, and Organizational and Operational functions to best practice levels. The firm was founded in 2006 and has a total capital under management of approximately $240 million. OpenView Venture Partners is based in Boston and invests on a worldwide basis.