How to avoid wasting your marketing and sales resources in the medical device industry?
Let’s start with a general question: “Do you know how much water is lost by water distribution systems on average?” From official sources, it’s about 20% in Egypt and France, about 25 % in England and Wales, 30 to 35% in Qatar, about 40% in Brazil and Columbia, and so on … Keep this in mind, not 100% of the water that has been pumped, treated, distributed, etc. is reaching your water tap …
Now, we can concentrate on the Medical Device industry … Let’s imagine a classic scenario: you have a great idea which is becoming a unique product (to keep it short and simple!). You’ve built it thru all new product development iterations, all necessary market and positioning research, etc. Now comes launch time (exciting time, isn’t it?), and your supply chain is ready to ship. A complete set of great sales materials has been produced, with well-thought value propositions and sales arguments to capture new customers attention and orders … Not bad as a start (I have seen worse than that!). Let’s take this as a baseline for our discussion (obviously we can play with it, and move the cursor up and down!). Now the clock starts ticking …
What’s happening next? You see month after month your sales developing in the different markets you’ve launched your new solution into. Unexpectedly, in some places, it looks like all the energy and good thoughts from the early stages are not generating the expected return on this strategic investment. Now, salespeople will be « accused » of not applying the set strategy, not using the appropriate pitch, not visiting the right customers, having their own agenda, etc., and marketing people of having no clue when it comes to « my » market specificities and needs! Every customer is unique! … Sounds familiar? OK, let’s stop the finger pointing here.
So, how have you been dealing with such situation? (How) do you measure and verify what message your customers have received, retained and absorbed, should they buy ultimately from you, or not? And how much has « evaporated » along the way? How to correct it? Better know quick … don’t you think?
It would be really great to share your practical experience, success stories or failures (no shame, always painful, but a great learning exercise!). Let’s look at the entire commercialization spectrum, from ideation to distribution, and see how things could go better, and investments made are ultimately not « for the birds »! What has to be avoided, what absolutely needs to be done?
Before opening that exchange, let me give you few examples of some of the checkpoints I’ve experienced. No rocket science there, but more common sense we sometimes tend to forget …
- Do you (always) perform the appropriate market research and investigation, and do you have a clear understanding on how you’ll position your solution for each key market you’ve targeted? Let’s face it, you may have to find such info by yourself (off the shelf reports might not exist, you have no budget to spend there, etc.).
- How are you going to train your direct and/or indirect sales force, customer service, service organization, etc.? You certainly don’t want to get those expensive launch materials gathering dust …
- Have you been engaging with any Key Opinion Leaders during the preparation phase? And after? If KOL’s are positive about your new solution, this will be known quickly by their peers and the marketplace!
- Do you perform post-launch visit to first users? Do you know why they buy from you? First, it’s a good opportunity to thank your best customers, but also to get a first-hand feedback that could serve a necessary fine-tuning, beneficial to everyone carrying a sales objective …
- Do you analyze your Win/Loss data with all key stakeholders, including customers? So much valuable information is buried there …
- How do you communicate with your customers? What’s the best source of information for them? And it might not be about going digital only …
- How your different teams and stakeholders are interacting together along the process? How do you motivate them? This new product might be the future of your company …