Earning the Business - Reputation and Diligence Helped Dominic & Irvine Find a Market
Dominic & Irvine Research has formed a division to implement the strategic plans it develops for equipment manufacturers and hospitals. Roy Moore Nashville Business Journal Published: January 5, 2004
Franklin, TN (PRWEB) September 12, 2004
The growth has prompted President and CEO Mike Murphy to relocate his Franklin research firm to Cool Springs to prepare for the dozen workers he expects to hire over the next 18 months.
Murphy formed the “Market Penetration” unit in November after prodding from clients. Already, the division has been hired by one medical equipment manufacturer, a service provider, two medical surgical companies and one of the largest hospital management companies in the U. S.
The expansion, which Murphy expects will double revenue next year, comes on the heels of triple-digit growth in 2003. It's a far cry from 2001, the company's first year, when Murphy gave away his services to prove the value of their services to clients.
A former senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Adac Labs, Murphy took his experience to start Dominic & Irvine, named after two men he admired because of their strong work ethic and integrity – Dominic, an Italian auto worker and Irvine, his grandfather, inventor and carpenter.
In addition to doing their own independent research, Dominic & Irvine contracts with medical equipment manufacturers and hospitals to research hospital equipment, including brand, age, maintenance data, performance and facilities' purchasing decisions.
Clients include GE Medical Systems, AGFA, and Philips Medical Systems as well as nonprofit hospital association Premier Inc., Consorta Catholic Hospitasl and supply purchaser MedAssets Inc.
The information gathered is organized for the client along with an action plan to implement the changes/opportunities. Manufacturers account for 60 percent of the company's business; hospital management firms representing the rest.
At first, Murphy's asked only a handful of questions about hospitals' or manufacturers' medical equipment. The success of early trials has led to longer interviews covering about 70 questions and ranging in length from 11 minutes to 18 minutes, although a recent detailed one took eight hours.
"They've come to trust us and they've come to recognize Dominic & Irvine because of the frequency with which they've talked to us and data we've always gotten them," Murphy says. "Because of that trust, we have the liberty to do very detailed interviews."
The actual interview process runs three weeks to five months, although one that covered 8,000 U. S. medical facilities took 10 months.
In these interviews, Dominic & Irvine reaches more than 80 percent of the market, compared to the 10 percent to 15 percent average for the health care industry. The data is then analyzed leading to an executive level detailed analysis that often covers 65 pages or more.
The information compiled becomes part of Dominic & Irvine's research offering, which also includes the affiliation information between group purchasing organizations and hospital networks as well as sales leads.
With detailed information, Murphy and his team can explain how to update a product or prioritize its release and outline the client's market share, prospects and strategic alliance possibilities.
Murphy says he's not worried about clients moving the services he provides in-house because when a company does its own detailed survey of its industry, the results are often skewed defeating the purpose of objective research.
"We work very hard at keeping our data totally unbiased so that we get accurate information allowing our clients to focus on the true drivers of their business resulting in increased customer satisfaction and revenues from product improvements and strategic action plans," he says.
Based in Franklin, TN, D&I conducts independent market research studies and studies for medical suppliers, purchasing organizations, equipment manufacturers. Studies are completed through interactive guided phone interviews with highly trained research professionals. The interview format allows for the most accurate data with the highest level of integrity. D&I ensures accuracy by setting the new standard of an 80% completion rate of all applicable facilities.
Since its inception, D&I has completed more than 45 national studies in various areas of the healthcare industry and presented its findings at both national and international conventions and trade shows as well as sharing results with interview participants.
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