JACK M. SHAPIRO is an internationally-known authority on healthcare trends, marketing and market research.

He is the principal of JACK M. SHAPIRO HEALTHCARE MARKETING RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, INC., an extremely successful network of independent healthcare marketing researchers and consultants.

The organization has exclusively served the healthcare industry since 1988.

Worldwide services for the prescription/non-prescription pharmaceutical, medical equipment and devices, hospital, managed care, homecare, diagnostics, insurance industries, clinical research organizations, advertising agencies and venture capitalists include:

Focus groups
Depth interviews
Quantitative segmentation and positioning
studies Advertising and promotional testing
Advertising claim substantiation
Awareness and usage (tracking) studies
Pricing and managed care studies
Medical meetings
Public opinion research
Trademark and trade name research
Secondary data analysis
Sales force compensation models
Strategic and marketing planning
Licensing, mergers and acquisitions
Staff training

FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups include up to a dozen respondents (consumers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, or other healthcare personnel) who are asked about their views/needs regarding specific subjects. This is considered "exploratory" research and is often the first step a client may take in order to evaluate the demand for a product or the viability of a promotional program. The group usually lasts for up to two hours and is led by a moderator working from a discussion guide. This is a quick, useful, inexpensive way for companies to gain initial reactions. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our focus group services.

DEPTH INTERVIEWS
While companies often use focus groups to obtain initial reactions to products and promotional concepts, a second step frequently involves in-depth interviews with consumers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, etc. This a more data-rich, labor-intensive technique where respondents can be individually interviewed for an hour or longer in order to reveal their deepest motivations. The interviews are conducted by a trained interviewer working from a prepared discussion guide. Please contact us as at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our in-depth interview services.

QUANTITATIVE SEGMENTATION AND POSITIONING STUDIES
How large is your market and how should you position your product, service, or company vis-à-vis your competitors? How large are the segments in which you want to compete and what will be your strengths and weaknesses? Sometimes market size can be determined by published, secondary data. But on many occasions, a market must be built "from scratch" for which no published data are available or properly detailed. When that occurs, companies have a need to survey a market in order to quantify it, measure their competitors' strengths and weaknesses as well as their own. Quantitative studies can be conducted with samples as low as 50 respondents and as high as many thousands. Such research can be conducted in face-to-face interviews in offices, homes, or, interviewing facilities; in shopping centers (with consumers, also called "mall intercepts); over the telephone; through the mails; and even over the Internet. These studies are considered "quantitative" (compared to "qualitative" studies such as focus groups or in-depth interviews) and, if numbers are sufficient, can be projected to the country as a whole. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our quantitative segmentation and positioning studies.

ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONAL TESTING
Utilizing either qualitative (focus groups or in-depth interviews) or quantitative (personal interviews, telephone techniques, postal studies, mall intercepts, or Internet studies), we can provide you with respondent reactions to specific copy and graphics as well as underlying concepts behind your promotion. We have tested print and mail advertising, sales promotional pieces (such as pharmaceutical detailing pieces, for example), television and radio commercials, and unique promotional give-away items. Please contact us at JSHEALTH@AOL.COM for further information regarding our advertising and promotional testing services.

ADVERTISING CLAIM SUBSTANTIATION
Challenged by a competitor or television networks to substantiate your advertising/promotional claims? We are experts in ad claim substantiation research for the healthcare industry utilizing a variety of techniques. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our advertising claim substantiation services.

AWARENESS AND USAGE (TRACKING) STUDIES
Need to track awareness and usage for a new product you have introduced or, perhaps, one of your competitors? How many are aware of the new product, who has used it and how often? Why have they used it and for what purposes/indications? How did they first hear about it and what are their opinions about the new product? Will they use it in the future and, if so, what will it replace? Are promotional themes wearing-out and need to be replaced (or are they being replaced too soon)? Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our awareness, usage and theme tracking studies for the healthcare industry.

PRICING AND MANAGED CARE STUDIES
In the current price-sensitive environment for healthcare products, it is important to determine price elasticity. How high can you raise price before losing considerable unit sales, dollar volume and market share? How low can you price a brand without going too low and needlessly giving up dollar volume in pursuit of market share in a price-sensitive market? How will managed care react to your pricing and what will it take to get managed care to approve your product and its pricing? Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our pricing and managed care study capabilities.

MEDICAL MEETINGS
Want to conduct market research at a medical meeting? We can handle this for you by utilizing a number of techniques: renting a booth for research, operating out of your own display booth, interviewing respondents in a hotel suite or at a focus group facility, or conducting focus groups at a meeting site, hotel or other venue. Also, we organize, recruit, and conduct medical dinner meetings, too. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our medical meetings services.

PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH
We are also experts in public opinion research with regard to healthcare issues. In addition to proprietary studies for clients, we have conducted our own research with the public on the future of healthcare (See "Future of Healthcare Survey" for key highlights of what we've found). Our organization's contacts with the press (TV, radio, and print) can be instrumental in helping you achieve widespread dissemination of your survey findings. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our public opinion research capabilities.

TRADEMARK AND TRADE NAME RESEARCH
Companies are often confronted with the problem of choosing a brand name (trademark) or company name (trade name). The proper brand name selection is especially problematic in healthcare for companies wishing to link a brand name with a generic name, a diagnosis, and keep it identifiable with its product class; at the same time companies seek to keep their names both distinct and memorable. We can be very helpful in generating brand and company names as well as testing their uniqueness, memorability and relevance. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our trademark and trade name research capabilities.

SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS
There are many secondary (i.e., published) data sources in the healthcare field from government, private and lay sources. We are experts at evaluating sales, prescription, disease incidence, and promotional data from pharmaceutical, consumer and hospital databases. Interpreting and forecasting from these data are among our areas of specialization. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our secondary data analysis capabilities.

SALES FORCE COMPENSATION MODELS
Manufacturers of healthcare products have been actively seeking ways to compensate sales representatives using objective methodologies other than simple sales growth and subjective performance reviews. We have been able to supplement this effort by utilizing secondary marketing data at the sales territory, district, or regional level and create models that fairly and accurately compensate representatives. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our activities in the design of sales force compensation models as well as territory alignment.

STRATEGIC AND MARKETING PLANNING
An additional service we provide the healthcare industry is long-range strategic or annual marketing planning. We have the expertise to help set goals and objectives and recommend strategies and tactics for different planning needs. Of course, one of our chief contributions is situation analysis and background market research data. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our strategic and marketing planning capabilities for the healthcare industry.

LICENSING, MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
The high rate of healthcare industry mergers and acquisitions continues into the new millennium. We have been actively involved in helping companies in finding merger partners, evaluating the economic viability of mergers, acquisitions, licensing candidates and forecasting future sales and profits. Confidentially obtaining the views of key customers who would be affected by an acquisition or merger is an important service that we provide. We often interview respondents who may be using a product or category which you may be considering for license. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our activities in licensing, mergers, and acquisitions.

STAFF TRAINING
Due in part to corporate downsizing in the healthcare industry in recent years, there has arisen a need for training relatively novice market researchers and marketing managers. This can be done on a one-on-one or group basis, taking relatively inexperienced personnel through the basic steps of market research and planning in healthcare. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding our staff training capabilities.

OTHER SERVICES
Other services we provide for the healthcare industry include: evaluation of web sites, taste tests, determination of optimal sales force size, micromarketing, evaluation of disease management programs, product placement and product pick-up. Please contact us at jack@jackshapiro.com for further information regarding these services.

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