Value Intelligence Newsletter - February

The Evolution of the MedTech Sales Role

Providers get down to business

In this second article of our series “The Evolution of the Medtech Sales Role”, we will continue to discuss how the sales process has changed over time. Sales teams will soon have to learn to adapt to a shift in the balance of power, which continue to reshape healthcare’s value chain nowadays.

Selling to healthcare professionals continued to be important, but when other customers arrived in the scene, they demanded more than product features and benefits. They wanted a value proposition, and translating product advantages into value in the economic sense became crucial.

In our first article, we remembered a time when physicians dictated the care pathway, based solely on what they considered was in the best interest of patients. Even in that scenario, some more inclusive healthcare systems were able to balance patient care and the usage of resources. The way society perceives healthcare plays a major role and is multifaceted. Although we try to compare healthcare systems, the sources and allocation of funds are unique to each country and mimics the political environment.

Another key factor, which often gets overlooked was the pure dominance of multinational mammoths in the healthcare sector, where few big pharma, medical devices, and diagnostics companies outpaced both providers and payers across the Globe. To their credit, they were more prepared to navigate in complex healthcare environments, using advanced management techniques, and employing the brightest minds in the industry. Their business model, coupled to regulatory flexibility, has turned them into the most innovative industry in the World, with an astounding rate of one product launched every 35 minutes in Europe!

That scenario put extreme economic pressure on the providers, who realized they not only needed size to increase their bargain power, but also a more pragmatic administration. As a result, we saw mass consolidation into Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) and large providers groups. The result was more equitable and hard negotiations, with some of the profits shifting to hospitals and clinics. Suddenly, the physician had to consider an external opinion before deciding which therapy or resources to use, and that had a profound impact on the salespeople job.

To respond to this dramatic change, the sales function had to incorporate business acumen, in addition to clinical and relationship-based selling. On top of working with the healthcare professionals, the sales reps and managers needed to address the needs of well-prepared buyers and hospital administrators and demonstrate the impact of medical technologies to the business models of hospitals, clinics and other providers. Companies souped their strategic account management (SAM) teams, to deal with the increased demands of the “new customer”.

The practical consequences for the sales reps were twofold: they now had to call on both clinical and economic stakeholders in their accounts, as well as report to their sales manager, and to the strategic account manager. It may sound simple, but those activities encompass a larger scope of responsibilities, and an increased breadth of competencies required to deal with the economic stakeholders within hospitals, diagnostic centers, and clinics.

And yet it got even more challenging, when payers also became protagonists in the value chain…But that’s a discussion for our next and last article of these series. Look for the next issue of our Newsletter in March!

Schedule a quick call to learn more.

Value Apps

The story of Value Apps is the story of medical technology sales.

Around the 90s, the main differentiation factor among medical companies was their brand name because it meant their products had a higher quality.

At that time, entering a hospital or clinic and saying that you worked in Company XYZ was halfway to closing the deal. But then, the technological differences among companies started to shrink, making it increasingly harder to defend that your Company XYZ provided the highest quality products.

Consequently, in the 2000s, the Medical Technology industry created a new role with a very appealing title: the Key Opinion Leaders, or simply KOLs.

The KOLs were medical professionals, usually physicians but also nurses, that were supposed to advocate for medical products and convince purchasers, administrators, and even payers to buy them.

Never mind, these KOLs also treated patients and had their busy schedules. All Sales and Marketing needed to do was to partner with the KOLs and support them in defending the medical products. But in the 2010s, the message became clear. Healthcare systems would be unable to afford all medical technologies in the market. Some prioritization had to occur.

And that's when professionals wearing suits and more familiar with Excel spreadsheets than with clinical articles became involved.

KOLs are essential, but not the only decision-makers

Since then, cost and return on investment have become deciding factors for adopting medical technologies. Patients remain the critical stakeholders, and KOLs will never lose their importance. It is just that clinical marketing messages alone are not sufficient anymore.

One size (message) does not fit all (stakeholders)

As we have described in previous articles (link to Jan 2023 newsletter), the role of a medical technology salesperson has evolved, but not all sales professionals have followed that. Besides chasing sales targets, developing relationships with KOLs, filling orders, providing reports, and understanding the latest products and marketing strategies, sales teams now have to answer this question every day…

'Why should I pay for your product?'

And that triggers a myriad of answers, usually ranging from reinforcing product features (as we did in the 1990s) to asking for support from the KOLs (back to the 2010s). To answer this crucial question, Sales Teams must demonstrate how their products will impact their client's business models, including hospitals, clinics, and payers. And product brochures or marketing collaterals cannot do this.

Welcome to Value Apps

Combining the methodology of a health economics approach with neurolinguistic design and layout, ValueConnected builds Value Apps to quantify and demonstrate the value of medical technologies under your client’s perspective in a very user-friendly manner.

But on top of all the calculations and estimated clinical and economic benefits of medical technology, the Value Apps establish a script that Sales Teams can follow and use during their engagements.

Instead of jumping into product features, Sales Teams that use the Value App guide their clients on their current pain points and burden, present the approach of using the specific medical technology under discussion and demonstrate what would impact efficiency, clinical quality, finances, and other factors.

And that's when engagement becomes more robust, with payers or providers interacting with the Value App and assessing different scenarios that will help them decide.

As a Hospital Director in London, UK mentioned, 'the Value Apps are doing our job for us'.

Medical Technology Sales in 2023 and beyond

Higher competitiveness and technological advancement require a Sales Force that can deploy evidence and product claims to demonstrate medical technologies' value. And that is automatically done through a Value App.

After all, so much investment in generating evidence, creating a network of contacts, and engaging clients won't matter much unless translated into relevant and clear value messages to your clients.

We look forward to hearing about your commercial goals and discussing how Value Apps can bring your commercial plans to a different level.

Contact us now to learn more on how our Value Apps can help you.

The unseen side of MDR: 3 crucial aspects for Marketing Teams

The first in a series of three articles

The discussion around implementing the Medical Device Regulations (MDR) continues, especially after the European Parliament voted to extend its transition period because of concerns about device supply, notified body capacity and manufacturer readiness. 

Still, most medical technology companies are not being proactive in assessing their portfolios, preparing documentation, or even liaising with notified bodies. The MDR extension does not intend to give the industry more time but only to allow notified bodies to be better prepared for the significant number of applications received. The clock is still ticking.

Marketing and Sales teams struggle to understand the MDR process's relevance for their commercialization plans. Of course, it will come to a moment when companies will not be able to place devices on the European Union market until they obtain the MDR CE. However, having an MDR CE allows for the commercialization of a product and creates a huge opportunity to generate value and create solid differentiation factors from the competition.

With this newsletter, we start to dive deep into the three reasons why Marketing and Sales teams should follow the MDR and how the process can revolutionize how medical technologies are commercialized.

The reasons are:

• The MDR leverages Value Messages
• Companies will transform technical features into unique value messages
• Marketing collateral will go to a different level

Let’s start with the first point.

Reason 1: The MDR leverages Value Messages

A product claim can be anything said about a particular medical technology. On the other hand, a value message is a validated description of how the product can create clinical, economic, and organizational value.

Anyone can prepare claims, but a value message goes much further in convincing payers, providers, and physicians. And the difference between one and the other is the supporting evidence, and that's where MDR makes a big difference.

Due to following the MDR process, companies will inevitably have to organize their evidence almost identically to a Value Dossier. And that brings two positive consequences.

First, instead of scrambling through papers to understand what they are saying, it will be much easier after the MDR process to find which evidence supports specific claims, upgrading them into value messages. Second, this structure may allow the company to identify new value messages and explore new ways to communicate the unique aspects of the technology and its value.

Moving forward

As we had described in a previous blog post, Market Access is more than a department. It is the responsibility of an entire medical technology company. And maybe there has been no better moment to align Marketing, Regulatory and Clinical, as well as other departments, on how to prepare for and use the MDR process to differentiate and demonstrate value.

Stay tuned for our following newsletter, where we will discuss the impact of MDR on how companies will transform technical features into unique value messages.

Have you obtained your MDR approval, or want to know more about how the MDR process can help your company demonstrate value?

Schedule a quick call to learn more about MDR and how we can help you.

ValueConnected on the Move

2023 MedDev eMarketing Summit

ValueConnected is delighted to announce its participation in the 2023 MedDev eMarketing Summit, to be held in San Diego, California, on May 9-10, 2023.

Our CEO and founder Ernesto Nogueira will be a keynote speaker on the morning of the first day, when he will be showcasing the latest iteration of our proprietary Value App, a mobile application developed to demonstrate the value of medical technologies focused on clinical and economic outcomes during the session 'Value Apps, the evolution of the Digital Value-Based approach'.

The Value App was born as a spreadsheet model some 10 years ago, but has evolved tremendously in the digital age, thanks to more sophisticated and improved algorithms, application of neurolingustics, and of course, ValueConnected's accumulated experience. It has become the industry standard for guiding meaningful conversations between commercial teams and economic stakeholders.

Come attend to Ernesto's TED-style session to understand how the Value App can take your engagement with providers and payers to the next level, and visit our booth to simulate real-life scenarios!

Our Latest Blog Post

Market Roadmaps

As a medical technology company, it’s crucial to identify the best countries and regions where your products will have the highest chance of success. However, determining the right market entry strategy can be complex and time-consuming ...

Read the full article.

Our Other Blog Posts:

The Evolution of the MedTech Sales Role

Field Execution: Implementing Market Access