Why Medical Device Sales Reps Need Sales Enablement

Why Medical Device Sales Reps Need Sales Enablement The medical technology sector has received more attention than ever in its brief existence since early 2020, with the first COVID-19 wave. There are two ways for any company to expand: selling more to existing clients or attracting new ones.

The challenge is how to do so during a pandemic, when the number of procedures may be decreasing and getting new consumers is considerably more difficult. As a result of lockdowns, patients worldwide have had to delay non-essential treatments, such as those that may improve their quality of life in the near term but not their long-term prognosis. As a result, healthcare professionals have less time to attend conferences and exhibitions, receive in-person training, and meet with sales representatives to learn about new goods and services. Fundamentally, the pandemic has emphasized the importance of sustaining loyalty with existing customers while making it more challenging to gain new customers, who may be both risk-averse to change in an atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety and may not want to dedicate the time to forge new relationships.

EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEAN BY "DISTANCE SALES" Online stores, or "distance sales," allow customers to shop from afar and have their purchases shipped to their homes. Alternatively, "A device delivered using information society services to a natural or legal person formed in the Union" is how it is defined in Article 6 of the Medical Device Regulation MDR 2017/745.

Therefore, the regulation applies to distance sales, with the sale taking place in a virtual environment like the internet and the medical device being physically shipped to a customer. By offering and selling medical products, internet stores meet the criteria of distance sales under the MDR.

Changing tendencies in the industry Achieving the same rates of top-line growth and profit margins in Europe has become more difficult due to the following trends: Leaders are being swapped out.

Centralized procurement departments are weakening physicians' role as the only decision-makers in hospitals. Today's medical sales teams also have to deal with hospital administrators, procurement officers, nurses, technicians, other healthcare professionals, and patient and consumer advocacy groups. Given the divergent interests of these several customer subsets, it's clear that tailoring a sales strategy to them is no easy task.

Significantly new players in the field.

New influential groups in the market are emerging, significantly complicating the sales process. Group buying organizations (GPOs) are an example; they are contracted with suppliers on behalf of a group of hospitals that work together to combine their purchasing power and better their negotiating position. The export medical device business has been impacted hard by recent upheavals, and as a result, companies require leaders with a wide range of skills to steer the inevitable transitions. They may need to acquire or hone new skills in certain situations.

When finding the right people to help their business grow in other sectors, they may have to look outside the medical field.

Increasing costs for goods and services.

A combination of a maturing population and a rise in chronic diseases has led to a crisis in many countries healthcare systems. Due to budget cuts, most countries are making it more difficult to get reimbursed and are lowering their rates.

Manufacturers, it seems, will increasingly need to demonstrate both clinical efficacy and economically viable pricing. Improvements in productivity and efficiency will have to become their top priority.

Complex rules and restrictions.

It's getting harder to get innovative medical technologies approved by regulators.

Government officials, meanwhile, are keeping a closer eye on product safety than ever before. Some items may be reclassified higher due to proposed modifications to the FDA's 510(k) clearance process, for instance. Currently, to commercialize a new product, producers need merely to show that it is "substantially equivalent" to an already-approved item (depending on the classification). More products would need data from a regulated clinical trial on human usage in light of future modifications.

Conclusion Though they begin with the same letter, sales and success are by no means assured in the year 2022. The sale of medical devices is still one of the most exciting careers, but it takes place on two levels: the individual and the company. The most effective salespeople put their complete organizational, systemic, and technological resources to work for their clients while showing genuine concern for and expertise in serving the requirements of their customers. Having a growth mindset in sales requires a comprehensive approach.

Email: emre.aykac@growthmedics.com Call on: (+31) 85 13 00 603 Get Social with US: LinkedIn