How Andrea Littell Helped Vispa Land $4 Million in Revenue with Clear, Concise Messaging
CASE STUDY
“Having a concise message makes all the difference when we’re communicating to partners, potential clients. Everything we do is built around it. Andrea really helped us define that clearly.”
Vispa’s web-based revenue cycle management software helps hospitals boost their revenue faster, simpler, and more efficiently so that hospitals (and their communities) stay healthy.
HIGHLIGHTS
CHALLENGES
Lacking concise, consistent go-to-market messaging
Communicating why Vispa does revenue cycle management differently
Setting Vispa apart from the competition
SOLUTION
Intense brand strategy workshop and market assessment
Comprehensive brand messaging, positioning, and more
Brand messaging guide that keeps the whole team in sync
RESULTS
Signing $4 million in revenue in first two months after launch
Conveying excellence to potential customers, investors, and the industry
Moving forward with a strong foundation
CHALLENGES
Launching a brand-new offering in a crowded market
Vispa’s new software-as-a-service (SAAS) offering helps hospitals collect revenue faster, simpler, and more efficiently by intelligently routing accounts to get claims paid faster.
As CEO Geneva Schlabach prepared to launch their core product, she knew that Vispa was poised to disrupt a stagnant industry.
“We want to create the ‘Tesla’ of modern healthcare,” Geneva says. “We didn’t want to just be like everybody else.”
But Geneva also knew that good branding and messaging go beyond a slick logo and design.
“I knew that we had to have very concise messaging that reflected who we were and why we were doing what we were doing,” she says.
While Vispa had a solid product ready to go to market, they needed help articulating that “why” to stand out to potential customers (and investors).
“I believe we need to start with ‘why,’” Geneva says. “We knew ‘what.’ But we needed to work backwards into ‘why are we doing what we’re doing?’ That is the heartbeat of our story.”
Since the team had never discussed that “why,” they all talked about the product differently. Those little discrepancies sometimes presented a disjointed image to others.
“Oftentimes, we think we’re saying the same thing, but it’s still different,” Geneva says. “Our verbiage may be a little bit different, and that makes all the difference when communicating to partners or potential clients.”
As a business coach, Geneva knew that she alone couldn’t define Vispa’s ‘why.’
“As entrepreneurs, we tend to think we can do everything,” Geneva says. “Messaging and branding are really important to me, but I’m not the expert. Paying somebody else to do what they are an expert in, it’s everything. It will set you apart.”
So to ensure the Vispa launched with clear, concise messaging, Geneva decided to reach out to an expert.
“As an entrepreneur, we can be all over the board with messaging. It’s easy as a founder to spout off and talk to people about what we’re doing, but what about my team? Everyone needs to be using the same messaging.”
SOLUTION
Comprehensive branding and messaging that sets Vispa apart
Geneva reached out to Andrea Littell, a brand strategist and business storyteller with expertise in helping companies define their go-to-market strategy and messaging.
Andrea started with an in-person discovery workshop designed to engage all of Vispa’s stakeholders. She developed intentional group exercises and a discussion guide to elicit a broad variety of insights, opinions, and anecdotes.
“The workshop we did with Andrea really captured our whole team and our culture and what makes us unique and different,” Geneva explains. “She helped us articulate very precisely why we’re doing what we’re doing, how we’re going to do it, and what it is that we’re developing.”
But Andrea didn’t settle for first impressions. She dug deeper to explore the company’s origin, target customer personas, competitive strengths and weaknesses, and desired brand perceptions.
“She really pushed us,” says Geneva. “She didn’t just take what we said and then go create it. She pressed us and helped us distill it down to the most necessary wording.”
Andrea’s tried-and-true process went beyond the 4-hour workshop. She also conducted a competitive messaging audit and explored customer pain points and current healthcare market pressures. She then wove all the pieces together and distilled them into themes that she could use to find Vispa’s unique place in the industry.
“Andrea is amazing at really getting who people are,” Geneva explains. “She’s very intuitive. She really has an amazing gift to pull things together.”
Next, Andrea developed a comprehensive branding strategy that defined Vispa’s:
Brand values
Brand promise
Positioning statements
Target customer personas
Core brand story
Supportive messaging
Andrea explained the entire package and rationale in a recorded video walk-through. She also created a concise brand messaging guide for the team to reference in their day-to-day work.
“To have somebody take what is in our mind and put it on paper in a usable form is a whole dierent thing,” says Geneva. “That is highly valuable.”
“Andrea has a tried and true process to take people through to figure out the messaging. She’s extremely good at pulling things out of you and listening at the same time.”
RESULTS
A growing reputation for disruptive excellence — and big clients
With Andrea’s messaging in hand, Geneva and her team launched with confidence — just as the COVID-19 pandemic set in.
“Having a concise message makes all the difference when we’re communicating to potential clients and investors,” Geneva explains. “Everything we do is built around it. It’s difficult to quantify because it’s so part of our foundation.”
Within just two months of rolling out the messaging, Vispa signed deals totaling $4 million in revenue, including a 5-year agreement with a billion-dollar health system.
“Landing a client like that is a big deal. For us to be able to articulate clearly what we’re doing, even as a brand new company...” Geneva says. “Andrea gave us the excellence that we needed to land those clients.”
Clear, compelling messaging also helps Vispa work confidently with venture capital groups and prepare for a round of fundraising. The messaging helps the Vispa team gain legitimacy.
“The thing that I hear consistently from people who do not know us, who have just started to work with us is, ‘You guys do everything with such excellence. You obviously know how to run a business,’” she says. “A part of that excellence is from the concise messaging we have.”
Even Vispa’s PR agency, rated as one of the top healthcare PR firms in the nation, was impressed by the messaging.
“They were amazed by what [Andrea] put together,” Geneva says. “They are using a lot of that messaging and getting great results because it’s an identifier of who we are, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it.”
Geneva recommends any start-up or entrepreneur go through a similar messaging exercise.
“When you want to promote something new, if you come across as not knowing what you’re talking about or not clear or lacking the professionalism, the excellence, it’s going to be really, really hard to get into the market,” she says. “All you have to do is look at all the companies out there who don’t have concise messaging, who want to be a disruptor but are just status quo.”
Today, Geneva continues to work with Andrea to further extend Vispa’s brand as a disruptor. Thanks to strong messaging, Vispa is gaining new customers and lucrative contracts that help hospitals stay financially healthy. And as COVID-19 continues to challenge healthcare, Vispa is poised to disrupt the industry.
“If you don’t have a strong foundation with very clear messaging, people don’t want to spend money [on you] because they don’t see the value. Messaging brings excellence and cohesion across the board.”
