Why Pitching to the Top Could Backfire – And How to Find the Right Customer Instead

In NHS market access, it’s natural to aim high. If you’ve got an innovative product or service, why wouldn’t you pitch it to the most senior person you can reach?

But here’s the thing: targeting the top can often take you nowhere. In fact, it can backfire, leaving your project stuck in an inbox or bounced between departments. The real key to unlocking success? Finding the right customer, not just the most senior one.

The illusion of influence

Primary Care Network (PCN) Clinical Directors (CDs) often seem like the best place to start. They’re visible, senior and listed as the network lead. But their actual capacity to act is often limited. Most CDs only have half a day a week allocated to their PCN role and they’re juggling strategy, workforce, governance, PCN DES delivery and service transformation on top of their clinical commitments.

Even when they support your offer, they may lack the time or bandwidth to take it forward. So rather than chasing the most senior title, you need to look for the people who can actually make change happen.

Reframing your targeting strategy

We call this approach mapping for influence, not rank. The most effective entry points are often people with operational responsibility, practical insight and the ability to co-design a solution with you. These might be Practice Managers, PCN Business Managers, Digital and Transformation Leads or clinicians with a service improvement remit.

To guide your approach, ask yourself:

• Who will deliver the change on the ground?
• Who has implemented a similar project before?
• Who’s motivated to reduce workload or improve outcomes?
• Who is the local innovator or problem solver?

These are your changemakers. They might not be visible on an organisational chart but they’re the ones who can help you land.

How to spot a business ready provider

Not all PCNs, federations or practices are ready to engage. That’s why doing your homework is vital. Look for signals that suggest maturity and a willingness to partner.

A business ready organisation often has:

• A track record of delivering transformation projects.
• A clear governance or business structure.
• Named contacts beyond the Clinical Director.
• A website or public facing profile that shows active engagement with innovation.
• Transparency via Companies House records if they operate as a limited company PCN, or federation or super practice (they sometimes have a limited company alongside for extended service delivery).

You can then validate this readiness with a soft start, offering a small, low risk service enhancement to test engagement. If that goes well, you’ve found a fertile ground for further collaboration.

Secondary Care: A missed opportunity?

Many in pharma, med tech and devices focus heavily on primary care, but secondary care offers a parallel route with untapped potential. And crucially, the right customer here often isn’t the consultant.

Yes, the consultant is key to clinical buy-in but when it comes to embedding service changes, you need to work with business managers, contracting teams, transformation leads, and finance. These are the people who attend monthly ICB contract meetings, understand budget levers and know how to operationalise change.

If you can help a hospital deliver better patient outcomes while reducing referral bounce backs or emergency admissions, the contracting team may champion your project as a pathway improvement, not just a product sale.

Don’t overlook integrated working

The NHS is shifting towards integrated care models. That means hospitals, PCNs, federations, and community providers are increasingly working together to manage patients proactively.

Your project might not just live in primary or secondary care, it may need to bridge the two. That’s where roles like the Primary Care/Secondary Care Interface Lead come in. They’re tasked with smoothing transitions, reducing admissions and enabling integrated delivery. If your solution helps keep patients well in the community, this is someone you want to know.

The right message, for the right person

When you’ve identified the right customer, how you pitch matters just as much as who you pitch to.

If you’re speaking to a Practice Manager, they’ll want to know how it impacts QOF, workload and delivery. If you’re with a transformation lead, they’ll ask how your model integrates into current systems. If you’re with contracting or finance, the focus will be on funding streams, return on investment and impact on system flow.

Tailor your message. Lead with the problem you solve, not just what you sell. Talk about patient outcomes, clinical value, capacity relief and funding fit.

Are you still wasting time on the wrong leads?

Time is your most precious resource, and the NHS’s too. Chasing the wrong customer is frustrating for everyone. That’s why it’s worth pausing to ask:

• Are we aiming too high, or in the wrong direction?
• Who owns the problem we solve?
• What local relationships can we build to secure the right entry point?

If your project is being bounced around, ignored or met with polite enthusiasm but no follow through, the issue may not be your offer, it may be your targeting.

When you start with the right people, you don’t have to “sell.” You get to co-create a solution that everyone owns and everyone wants to implement.

Want more support?

If you’d like tailored help identifying your “right customers” and embedding your projects in NHS pathways, Scott McKenzie Consultancy can help. From targeted coaching and strategic planning to access to our full NHS Market Access online learning programme, we’re here to help pharma, med tech and device companies unlock their NHS potential.

📥 Download: 5 Pharmaceutical Sales Mistakes That Will Sink Your NHS Deal 🔗 Explore our online training. 📩 Or just connect with me on LinkedIn—I’m always happy to talk.