SIO’s 6M Win and the Case for C-Suite Deals (S2:E1)

Eberly Stack: It took a professional society like SiO to really stand up and say, we can together if we can join forces really put a study out that we know will change standard of care and will provide access to patients that otherwise would only be looking at surgery as a as an option for what would otherwise be a life threatening illness.

Shomali: On today’s episode of the association rev up podcast, hear from Jenna Eberly stack, the executive director of the Society for interventional oncology, to learn how SiO generated $6 million to fund a first of its kind clinical trial. Then hear from Association Executives Brittany Scholl and Dan Cole, who say there’s a critical need for any association aiming to bring in large dollar partnerships.

Cole: I have known so many executives who are tickled when they hear or shocked when they hear, you know what you are, organization’s top business developer. You are our organization’s top salesperson. Who? Me, yeah, you you’re the brand of the organization.

Shomali: Welcome to Season Two of the association rev up podcast presented by the professionals for Association revenue. I’m your host, Carolyn Shomali, and in season one, par entered the podcast space with a new kind of format, 825, minute episodes focused on a specific element of association business. We delivered each episode in a documentary style format and asked the question, what does high performing business actually look like? But there’s one thing that you wanted more of association stories, you told us that you wanted to hear more about how associations are taking the lessons of business and putting them into action. So that’s the driving force behind Season Two. In each episode, you’ll hear directly from an association who’s utilizing better business outcomes to advance their mission. Then we’ll pair each Association’s story with quick tips and tools that can help you apply their lessons to your own Association. Let’s begin.

Eberly Stack: It’s a pretty powerful statement to be able to bring industry competitors together, and ultimately, the success of this has set a standard going forward for other projects that the society is working on, and other potential research projects, preclinical projects as well, but to you know, be able to bring competitors together in a way that unites the community has been a pretty powerful message.

Shomali: We hear so much about how Association business can advance our missions, but today’s episode gives us a tangible example of how you just heard from Jenna Eberly stack, Executive Director for the Society for interventional oncology. SiO is a membership community founded in 2017 and made up of interventional radiologist physicians, also known as interventional oncologists, that specialize in treating cancers.

Eberly Stack: Today, we’re over 1300 members internationally, spanning over 47 countries. And I think what makes SiO so special is just the, you know, reflection of what you see in the field of IO. It is a fast growing new pillar in cancer therapy to have the opportunity to share patient stories and to advocate for access for minimally invasive treatments is something that will change the whole cancer care world.

Shomali: And that’s where SIO sees its role, as it’s stated in their vision, to advance interventional oncology as the fourth pillar of cancer therapy, alongside medical, surgical and radiation oncology worldwide, in the medical community, that means showing the effectiveness of IO through clinical trials. What is a gap in evidence and research that will also change the standard of care, and what is the society’s role in addressing that? The answer was to run a trial to test the effectiveness of microwave ablation as a treatment option for patients whose colorectal cancer had spread to their liver. And here’s where business meets mission. SiO deemed that the trial, known as the acclaim trial, would come with a price tag of $6 million

Eberly Stack: Clinical research is not cheap. Think that’s not that’s not a secret. We knew that no one company was going to fund that. In some cases, that’s three or 4x their entire research budget for the whole year. So that that number came from assessing the cost of doing what would be an international trial, the first multi industry support. An international trial on this particular project, and we knew we needed about 10 sites, equally, five in Europe, five in the US to get that balanced perspective.

Shomali: SIO became the conduit between iOS thought leaders, research sites and, most importantly, industry partners to make the project a reality. In December 2020, Eberly stack and her team began outreach to multiple industry partners.

Eberly Stack: So we went to five initially, and said, If you all share this cost, this is what it could look like. And ultimately, we got to three and negotiated, you know, cost sharing between the three of them and contracting where they were they were aware of the levels of giving that each one was participating in and the recognition that they would receive, but agreed to not announce the project until we had fully funded the entire cost of the study.

Shomali: With three partners on board. SiO announced the study in January of 2021 and began the trial in March of 2023. Getting the buy in of the industry partners, Eberly stack says, began with transparent conversations that evolved into mutual input.

Eberly Stack: One of the pieces of feedback that I learned early in the process, and that I would offer to other folks, especially from the industry, side of negotiating these these big dollars, is we invited them into the process, we had conversations early about the risk and about what the society needed to make this successful, and made it clear, this is a risky investment, but we believe it’s worth it. And do you want to be on the team that wins at the end of this? We can’t do it without you. But we had those earnest and open conversations very, very early in the process, and I think gained a lot of trust through that. That was a benefit then, and it’s been a benefit now. For other areas of investment, those same companies are reinvesting in for the organization.

Shomali: But Eberly stack reminds us that not every company will share your Association’s vision, or have the risk tolerance or financial ability to partner with you, which makes identifying the right partners a key component to any project’s success.

Eberly Stack: Negotiation of working across multiple budgets, multiple fiscal years and industry partners that all weigh the value of clinical research differently. And in medical device, we know that many of them value it, but some of them will rely on their competitors, or, you know, someone else, to kind of lead the way. And it can take multiple years to lobby what you need as an outcome. And so the the the patience and how to manage through that is an obstacle that still exists. And even with the success of a claim, I’ve been surprised at the Yes, but in response, you know, with some of these conversations, even though we have this incredible success that no one else has done, there’s still a barrier there of I thought it would be easier.

Shomali: What advice would you share to an association who’s thinking of taking on a big challenge, whether it’s, you know, raising millions of dollars or maybe something on a much smaller scale? What advice would you give when it comes to starting something new and innovating?

Eberly Stack: You know, using SiO as an example of the power of courage is a pretty inspiring story, but I think my advice would be having the difficult conversations early and often about the risks and what’s worth it and what isn’t part of the North Star of deciding to go forward with this Project was the evidence gap and the fact that industry alone was not going to do this. We knew investigators and the society representation had to be the body to move this forward. And what I learned from this process and from working with these with these physicians, is this is a community that you know we’ll find a way they believe in what they’re doing. And many of us work for specialty associations that have that fire and in their belly, and they’re not going to take no for an answer. And part of our job is to tease, tease that out and really put the conversation back on the table and assess, is this risk really worth it? And sometimes it is just to try, because that demonstration, in and of itself shows you know, it may not be successful the first time, but the vision is there, and if we can learn and get the feedback along the way, that can just make the next thing that much stronger. So when a best practice doesn’t exist, what do you do? And there is no other way to do it but to start.

Shomali: There’s a lot to be learned from SIO’s approach to the acclaim trial, which is still in progress as 2025 begins. Their ability to align their mission with business led them to the stage at PAR’s, annual RevUP Summit, where they were named the 2024 Pierre Award Recipient. The SIO story illustrates the power of business for greater mission impact, whether your association is dealing in multi million dollar partnerships or working on smaller scale deals, there’s a way that you can elevate your potentially high value sales conversations, and that’s what we’ll get into next. But before we do a quick reminder that the insights you’re about to hear came from a session at pars in person conference, the rev up Summit. It’s our way of ensuring that bits and pieces of the great content there extends to a broader Association community, and my thanks to VPC incorporated the phenomenal production team that we use for the audio visual component of our event. A link to their contact information is in the show notes, so you can learn more about them for your next event.

As the executive director of SiO Eberly, stack was heavily involved in the conversations that led to a $6 million investment in the association’s acclaim trial. But that isn’t always the case. Long time, Association Executive Dan Cole says that it’s imperative for C suite executives to get involved in critical relationships.

Cole: The CEO is often the brand. Is the brand many times for the association, so exercise that brand pleasantly surprised your customers.

Shomali: Cole joined Brittany Shoul of MCI at the RevUP Summit to discuss sales skills for the C suite. Elevating the conversation between your association and a potential partner often requires elevating who’s involved. And while C suite executives may not traditionally see themselves as part of your Association’s business development team. Their involvement is highly impactful in securing, maintaining and strengthening partner relationships. The problem Shoul says, is they may not always see it that way.

Shoul: That C suite executive might have never been a salesperson. They could have come from industry. They could have come from membership or marketing me, sometimes, as a salesperson, you can look at a C suite executive and be like, they know it all and they have all the answers. Or vice versa, that executive is looking at the salesperson like, I’m not a salesperson.

Shomali: Cole and Shoul lay out five C’s for involving top executives in your most high profile sales conversations, context coaching, collaboration, creativity and confidence when it comes to context, Shoul says that in order to involve a C suite executive in the sales process, you must clearly define their role and the specific impact that you’d like them to have.

Shoul: So you’ve got to set the context if you are involving each other in the process as a salesperson, here’s what I feel like my role is in this conversation, and here’s what I need from you. I need you to form a different relationship with their executive in a way that supports my sales process. I need you to join me on this call and just add gravity to the conversation, or I’m expecting you to be in a little bit of a pitch role with me, all of that context is just setting that relationship up for success, versus making too many assumptions about someone’s role responsibility or comfort in that type of conversation.

Shomali: Next coaching, while coaching, is often thought of as flowing from the C suite to the sales practitioners, a truly effective environment fosters mutual learning that goes both ways. As the Senior Director of Expo sales at the audio visual and integrated experience Association, Cole says the BD team openly approaches their CEO.

Cole: Most associations have mission statement. Some associations, I found that it’s just words. Other associations, they live and breathe it. I can tell you that a VIX has part of its mission statement, internally and externally, is courage, heart and trust. And so if I’m approaching or a salesperson is approaching, Dave, they don’t have to go through me. I said, you can call them directly. I’ve got no ego about this. It’s good to infuse your objectives with that particular mission.

Shomali: The third element, collaboration is a necessity for high value deals. In the case of SiO, there were countless variables that had to be considered to run a multi million dollar industry partnership. And Shoul says getting a CEO on board to help foster Association wide collaboration can ensure a partnership success.

Shoul: When I think about where it makes sense for the C suite specifically to be involved in the conversation, is when I see that there’s more opportunity for collaboration, right? If we’re going after a big fish opportunity, right, the six figure deal, I’m open to their feedback on what the correct and appropriate opportunity should be for them, which means a lot more collaboration to come if we’re going to win that piece of business.

Shomali: From collaboration to creativity when a product’s life cycle has run its course or a partnership is underperforming, a C suite executive support for a creative approach to improvement is critical. And finally, Shoul reminds us that the first four C’s, context, coaching, collaboration and creativity don’t develop overnight.

Shoul: They stem from fostering confidence over time between the sales team and the C suite, someone has to take the first step in that conversation, and so to be able to go to the C level executive and your point humility and say, I know I’m the sales and BD person, but I think I need your help on something, and I would love it if we could set the right context, find some collaboration. I’ve got this idea, and I want to go pitch this company. I think I’m going to need your help and having just that confidence to have that conversation, you got to take that first step, and I do think it comes with time and experience together.

Shomali: That’s it for this episode of association. Rev up throughout the second season, we’ll be hearing from associations who are utilizing business to drive their missions forward, and we’ll share quick tips on how your association can do the same.

Episodes are brought to you by VPC, incorporated the production company behind pars in person event, the rev up Summit. Check in with their team the next time you need production support at your annual event. And my thanks to the par pathway partners. Association business development is changing rapidly, and the pathway partners share pars commitment to Association business. Learn more about MCI, Pop Shop, matchbox, swap, card, multi view and yes end on our par website. I’m your host, Carolyn Shomali, and I’ll see you next time you.