Location, location, location. It's a great mantra for retail store owners or media buyers. But for you, there's a different mantra that's much more relevant to your craft: Timing is everything.

According to Vorsight (as shared by HubSpot), at any given time, only three percent of your market is actively buying. Fifty-six percent are not ready. Forty percent are poised to begin. Knowing that only three percent are in the sweet spot, how do you identify the highest-value opportunities while remaining efficient?

Timing: A True Challenge in Healthcare Tech Sales

If a platform could tell you exactly when to begin selling your technology to a decision maker for the highest likelihood of closing the deal, would you use it constantly? Of course! There's no one among us who wouldn't. Detailed information about timing is invaluable. It allows you to focus on the right targets and helps with your future numbers in immeasurable ways, by ensuring you don't lose upcoming opportunities because you contacted the prospect too early.

In reality, though, you don't (yet) have access to such granular data, and are often stuck interpreting your prospects' implicit information to gain a subtle understanding of when you should make your move.

But who and when are two of your most important pieces of information.

"A five-star prospect is 40 times more likely to buy than the rest of your pipe is, and 50 percent of your pipe never has any intention to buy," says Blain Newton, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics.

"Focus on your five star: who is going to buy? Who is a good fit for you, organizationally and technically? And you can significantly increase your speed to close," Newton says. "Who you should be selling to, and when, is almost more important or as important as what you're actually selling. A five-star prospect is ready, interested and excited. The reputational and economic gains you can make there are virtually unquantifiable."

That's not to say those are easy gains to make. Finding the right target, at the right time, is a bit of an art. Tuck this list of best practices in your painter's kit to capitalize on opportunities and save time elsewhere.

1. Plug in

The best practices that follow all require information, and you can't get great information unless you're dialed into the right channels.

If you don't have the right tools, then detailing who is buying what, when, might require you to create your own data set. "Stay close to press releases, vendors and partners to see if you can get any intel. Also form relationships within the healthcare organization," says Blain Newton, executive vice president at HIMSS Analytics.

Dive into the resources around you. Consider local chapters where HIMSS buyers and sellers meet up. Follow leading publications such as healthcareITnews.com. Also follow Healthcare Technology Magazine and Healthcare Informatics. Attend summits.

Of course, just sucking in all information without a filter isn't the best way to nail down your timing. You need to look at the right information. That brings us to our next best practice.

2. Follow the Money

When you're searching for new prospects or get a hot lead, consider their financial support. What if you had your ear to the wire and found out, via press release, that a certain hospital just received a federal grant for updating certain technologies? That might be a good time to introduce yourself. The more specific the information, the better. Find out where and when your top prospects are investing their dollars or receiving new funds and you'll be able to better gauge where they are in the tech buying journey.

Following the money is a great lead in to following the tech. And when you know what your prospects are working with, you can build a list of triggers for your product or service.

3. Be Tech Trigger Happy

"They might have just recently installed an Electronic Medical Records technology (EMR), and maybe they need legacy data conversion and training," describes Newton. "By being aware of when the triggers to further investment happen, you can take advantage of fairly predictable buying patterns."

4. Cultivate Content Information

Don't just source info from partners, vendors and publishers. Get it from your own marketing team and media networks. Knowing what content your prospects consume is a huge part of understanding where they are in their buyers' journeys, explains Newton.

"The type of content people consume can indicate their emotions, and those can indicate their readiness for contact or purchase. Fear indicates a near-term buy. It's a 'get in there and sell' indicator. (On the other hand), people reading a strategic article on long-term planning for security would likely need nurturing conversations."

5. Get the Tools

This one's both complicated and easy. As Newton mentioned, there's no magic platform that tells you exactly who will buy what and when they'll buy it. But using quality analytics systems can give you a much better understanding of who your decision makers are, their interest levels, and of how to speak to them. Start with a robust analytics platform and the best practices listed above and you'll be pushing the envelope in all the right ways, edging closer to never wasting your time on never-gonna-buy-ers again.

Want to learn more about who your prospects are? We can show you! Get ready for HIMSS17 with our LOGIC Dashboard.