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Ursula Sautter examines why sales reps and marketing professionals need to collaborate to turn medical devices into brands

By Ursula Sautter on Sep 25, 2011

Historically, the medical devices industry (MDI) has had a split personality.

All too often, sales representatives and marketing staff are at loggerheads.

Although concerted effort makes the most business sense, especially in the current market environment, reps and marketers pull in opposite directions when it comes to crucial issues like budget utilization and product messaging.

The reason, according to Dave Bennett, owner-director of healthcare consultancy Davox, is, "Most of the business in MDI is driven by the personal relationship between the rep and the clinicians. So the reps usually hold a great deal of the power in the companies and determine how budgets are deployed. They are the ones who will usually decide on which physicians and which hospitals to target and how to fashion their sales pitch."

Since the industry is "historically built on sophisticated technology, its reps don't just sell a product", says Baba Awopetu, head of marketing, OTC, at Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition, Danone.

They are the "purveyors of highly specialized know-how" without which their clients will usually be unable to effectively use the purchased device.

As a consequence, salaries and commissions are often high and the jobs much sought after.

MDI marketers, on the other hand, are less well paid and, maintains Awopetu, frequently lack an "official" marketing training background.

They tend to be called in "to work for the reps who call the shots and tell them what they want done regarding an account.”

 

Economic efficiency

 

Going forward, though, this system faces challenges.

In future, it won’t just be a rep's technical know-how about a product and its medical efficacy that will determine sales success.

"As strategic sourcing becomes more and more of a watchword, customers are increasingly calling for information on the economic efficiency of medical devices," says Bennett.

"That means that not only initial intervention expenses but also indirect expenses resulting from such things as the average length of stay at the hospital or the frequency of post-surgery re-admission will be factored into the overall calculation when a particular product is considered."

Purchasing decisions for medical devices will also be more frequently co-influenced by other healthcare stakeholders, such as payers and patients.

So MD companies will need to "shift their focus away from a purely know-thy-physician-driven sales strategy" to a more inclusive "marketing strategy that accounts for such factors as costs, customer needs, and patient experience," Bennett argues.

In addition, given device recalls and reports of device-related deaths, the process of reassuring customers and patients will require a lot of attention.

Moreover, patients in the expensive Western markets are increasingly seeking cheaper treatment in destinations like South Africa, India and Argentina.

So established players will need to provide less expensive and simultaneously clinically effective treatments if they want to retain market share.

 

Turning products into brands

 

Coping successfully with these and other challenges necessarily requires the ongoing collection and evaluation of market data as well as the development of a cohesive sales concept that turns products into brands.

This is something, Bennett believes, specialized marketing experts can deliver.

The industry will need to "deflect some of the funds that presently flow into sales and general administration [an estimated 40%] and use it to bolster its marketing departments," he argues.

This view isn't yet all that popular among those working in MDI, especially among sales reps.

"For the last five years or so, everybody has been talking about the need for change," Awopetu says, "but there has been hardly any action."

Of course, recruiting and wages play an important role.

Top execs need to start employing qualified marketers—and paying them accordingly, according to Awopetu.

"If MD companies understand that hospitals are crying out for cost-related sourcing and begin to cater to it by providing the relevant information and education, they can steal quite a march on those of their competitors who don't," says Bennett.

"If they wait for too long, they will find themselves at the receiving end of the customers' reaction—namely, going for the cheapest price on the market or rationing implant procedures."

 

For more on MDI, see Patients and medical devices: Patient-centric by design and Pharma’s evolution: From blockbusters and biologics to branded generics, medical devices and functional foods.

 

For everything MDI-related, join the sector’s other key players at Medical Device/Diagnostics Marketing & Brand Excellence on Nov 22-23 in Berlin.

 

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