Mock Call: Hard-to-See Cardiologist

The scenario

Dr. Elena Vasquez, a high-volume interventional cardiologist at a large multi-physician cardiology practice. She runs a packed clinic, screens reps through a strict gatekeeper (her practice manager), and cares about one thing above all: keeping her patients stable and out of the hospital. She is responsive and professional but time-pressed, and she is wary of switching patients who are doing fine. She does not quiz reps on trial methodology or statistics — she wants to know what a therapy means for the patients sitting in her waiting room.

You've secured a rare five-minute window with Dr. Vasquez between patients, after weeks of relationship-building with her practice manager. She currently writes roughly 40 relevant anticoagulation scripts per month, with about 85% going to the entrenched market-leading competitor product she has trusted for years; Braveza represents only a small fraction of her current writing. She manages a large panel of elderly, Medicare-covered patients and a meaningful number with moderate renal impairment. She believes her patients are already well-controlled and sees no urgent reason to change. Prior-interaction thread: on your last visit you left a BRAVE-AF one-pager with her practice manager and asked her to look it over — she never got to it, and she'll say so if it comes up. Your job is to use this window to state why you came, understand how she treats her at-risk patients today, and position Braveza against that.

Expect these pushbacks