Medical devices are the products or equipments or instruments which are used for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or relief of a disease, disability, injury and more. Medical devices cover a wide range of products which includes wheelchairs, glasses, pacemakers, dental crowns, hip implants, blood pressure monitors, breast implants, catheters, syringes, and many more.
Medical devices have developed their technologies over the past many years. From the discovery of penicillin to the discovery of advanced robots which are used in performing surgery, great steps have been taken in research and technology development. Regulatory changes have altered the way of medical professional’s work and what they need to get their jobs done. The technology used in healthcare is changing every single year. So, in order to thrive selling in the medical device industry, you need to be on top of your game at all times. Medical equipment marketing plans are varying significantly in recent years and from company to company owing to the increasing number of companies involved in the manufacturing of medical devices owing to the emphasis to sustain in a competitive environment.
The United States continues to lead the world in the sale of medical devices, according to “MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT: The Medical Technology Industry in the United States. In this report, The United States remains the largest medical device market in the world: $156 billion (40 percent of the global medical device market in 2017). By 2023, it is expected to grow to $208 billion. U.S. exports of medical devices in key product categories identified by the Department of Commerce exceeded $43 billion in 2018. The medical technology industry (commonly referred to as medical devices) consists of articles, instruments, apparatuses, or machines that are used in the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness or disease, or for detecting, measuring, restoring, correcting, or modifying the structure or function of the body for some health purposes. Typically, the purpose of a medical device is not achieved by pharmacological, immunological, or metabolic means.
Medical devices sales tips include the well-designed customer relationship management (CRM) systems software that help the companies to collect more information about key marketplace trends and customers on a timely basis, as well as informs sales rep on customer needs and opportunities. Best-CRM for Medical Companies also help to update sales reps regarding other critical commercial activities, such as marketing strategies and tactics, customer service interactions, and contract negotiations.
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Three Tools To Improve Market Strategies and Medical Product Sales
As per our experience, promoting marketing and sales operations is critical for a successful implementation of new sales strategies in the medical products manufacturing industry. Booting operations such as customer relationship management (CRM) design, mobile app technologies (MAT), and master data management (MDM) are particularly important. CRM For Medical Device Companies focuses on developing a more informed and engaged rep to customer relationships. Mobility is a critical technology that supports more effective and efficient implementation of new medical products sales models. MDM serves the underlying infrastructure to help medical products organizations accurately define their customers and synthesize more powerful data at an actionable level.
#CRM System Software
In the domain of medical device companies, considerable investments have been produced to develop Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Such systems deliver an important role in allowing sales forces to maintain customer relationships systematically and efficiently. Cloud-based solutions, in specific, have proven to be instrumental in gathering timely information about targeted customers and marketplace trends. Such also encourages sales representatives by making them informed about customer preferences and opportunities. Leading systems, such as Healthcare CRM software, go a step ahead by informing sales team members on important commercial activities, involving marketing plannings, customer service communications, and contract negotiations.
#Mobile CRM Platforms
In a current survey of business leaders working in the medical products manufacturing and supply industry, the evolution of mobile app platforms appears as a main priority alongside the introduction of cloud CRM. Leveraging mobile app technology, which involves tablets and smartphones, enables medical products companies to form platforms and apps with extraordinary speed and effects. Such technology allows sales representatives to illustrate medical device products with the help of video conferencing or display video presentations with peers and clinical specialists for specialist commentary. Such collaborative and personalized activities during sales calls increases the quality of communications with physicians and other main decision-makers.
Apps that regulate prompt communications, effortless accessibility, and seamless information retrieval integrate seamlessly into the natural routine of sales team members. Such integration leads to elevated productivity, convenience, efficiency, and responsiveness. A CRM Mobile App system further improves the efficiency of closed-loop marketing solutions by allowing sales team members to provide prompt feedback on physician reaction to marketing materials. Such a comprehensive approach assures a dynamic and effective management of customer relationships in the promptly developing landscape of the medical products industry.
#MDM – Master Data Management
Master Data Management is the combination of processes and systems that link, manage and process key commercial data. It helps integrate disparate data sources to fuel successful marketing and sales initiatives. MDM can be as simple as a vigorous process to manage a consistent customer ID number across business functions or as sophisticated as integrating marketing investment, sales activity, market potential, customer service conversations, and organization sales outcome at the customer level.
A holistic, 360-degree view of customers data based is complete, accurate and timely provides better visibility into accounts, their company, priorities and behaviors. This, in turn, also provides exact measures of market potential, delivers strong customer coordination across different commercial channels, and supports better pricing and contract management for existing customers.
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Challenges Medical Equipment Manufacturing Industry Faces To Implement CRM
According to manufacturing.net and Manufacturing Business Technology survey, 41.1% manufacturing companies are currently using CRM system software or are in the process of implementing a CRM system. Within that percentage, more than 70% of the companies that utilize CRM systems have revenues greater than $1 billion, while 60% of the companies have revenues between $50 million and $1 billion. Medical Device Manufacturing Companies need strategy and deliverables to successfully implement Smart CRM solutions. However, implementation of CRM For medical device is not easy and they face numerous issues such as:
#1 Huge Workload in Production Units
The traditional working model approach focuses on the floor wise production and the other internal departments receive scattered information. Lack of coordination or late information sharing between the production units and the internal departments hamper the quality of the final product and ends in bad output.
#2 Inadequacy of Communication Channels
When groups or people are in clash, communication between them tends to get worse and worse. As a conflict increases, employees productivity reduces which in turn leads to operational in-efficiencies.
#3 Lack of Coordination between Pre-sales and Post-sales Activities
If pre-sales and post-sales activities are not well-coordinated and carried out, the customer needs are misunderstood and may take in the wrong direction. Hence, companies are unable to deliver a high-quality product on time resulting in business losses and loss of competitive edge.
#4 Customers Relationships
Managing good relationships with customers is a primary requisite of all businesses. According to the Harvard Business Review, there is a direct link between a business’s employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability. Businesses that are unable to maintain good relationships with their customer and satisfy employees have to suffer from decline in brand value and reduced customer loyalty.
Improving customer loyalty
The market for medical equipment manufacturer and supplies consist of a sizable number of repeat buyers that include clinics, hospitals and pharmacies etc. In order to procure repeat orders from existing buyers, you need to establish a high level of loyalty and trust with these buyers.
A CRM For medical device companies can unify all customer information in a single cloud based system. This enables you to build and access the database of contact information list through a single cloud system.
This provides you the choice of entirely two separate strategies to create loyalty among your existing customers.
# Run segmented outreach and messaging to acquire buyers
The consolidated platform enables you to create customer segment based on your previous purchases and general purchases. This helps you to plan and organize targeted messaging campaigns through SMS/email to your target customer list.
# Create loyalty programs for your existing buyers
Your existing buyers/customers would be your biggest source of repeat orders. You can generate even more orders through assigning additional discounts for your frequent buyer or someone who gives bulk repeat orders. This will motivate and encourage your existing customers to go with your business for large purchases in the future. This may facilitate a bigger purchase in the future and increase in terms of revenue.
Read More – 4 Ways to Boost Employee Productivity
How to market a medical device:
It does not matter what strategy a company uses to support sales and marketing, a robust medical device sales management process is essential for meeting the challenges in the current market and expanding the bottom line. Based on the geographical location, medical device manufacturing companies are more in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Among them, North America is the region with a large number of medical device manufacturers in contrast with the other regions of the globe. The U.S. ranks TOP in the medical device market in the world with a market size of around $140 billion, and U.S. market represented about 42% of the world-wide medical device market in 2017. U.S. medical equipment companies are vastly contemplated globally for their innovations and high technology products. R&D spending continues to represent a high percentage of medical device industry expenditures, averaging 6.9% of revenue from 2011 to 2017.
Primary players in the medical devices manufacturing include:
- Medtronic PLC
- Johnson & Johnson
- Becton Dickinson & Co. (BD)
- Braun
- Stryker Corporation
According to a survey, the Global medical devices market value is estimated to reach up to $348 Billion by the end of 2024 with a CAGR of approximately 4.9% during 2018-2024. APAC (Asia pacific) countries including India, China and other countries and some of the European countries are the promising markets for the medical devices manufacturers. Medical equipment market is witnessing the development of design and manufacturing of small and portable medical devices and increasing the usage of software as a differentiator in medical devices. The market growth will be driven by the introduction of innovative medical devices into the market globally and also by the demand generated by illnesses associated with the aging population.
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Some of the medical sales strategies are :
Never miss a follow up
Fixing an appointment with your desired contact is a very tough job. So, when you are succeeded in doing that, put all the efforts to make the deal happen. Statistics tell that 80% of the deals need a minimum of 5 follow-up calls after the first meeting. But most of the medical reps quit after a single follow-up. Staying in touch with your prospect and influencing them subtly are very subtle medical device sales tactics for the deal closure. Engage your customers with the proper materials, resources, and attractive presentations to make your products stand out.
Build a strong network
Medical sales are strongly dependent on building a strong network of potential buyers. You must attend all the seminars and conferences in the medical sales field and speak up with the participants and the audiences. Try to chat with the important decision-makers who will influence a deal. You can also hook up with social media such as Linkedin to grow your professional network. This platform will even make it very much easy to track the key decision-makers in the company which you need to approach.
Do not be shy to ask for the referrals
You might be surprised to know that 91% of the customers are ready to give referrals. But only 11% of the medical reps ask for the sales reps. Go ahead and ask each and every client to give some of the referrals. You can also ask the clients which didn’t convert.
Conclusion
The medical device manufacturing and supply industry faces new regulatory and tax-related challenges which demand innovative solutions. In today’s competitive environment, those companies that achieve key objectives will be the ones which adopt strategies that effectively embrace emerging technologies and marketing best practice.
Our team of an expert consultant is ready to assist you in handling the entire lead lifecycle from lead generation to closure. If you’re looking to build out your marketing efforts for the digital age, then Salesbabu CRM want to be a part of your team and have WIN-WIN situation for both of us. Feel free to reach out to us today for an initial consultation and we will help you to grow your business and profits.
