Med-TeXperts Panelists Interview: Ted Newill

 

Q: Why do you believe Medtech is at an inflexion point in regards to its sales and marketing practices?

• A: MedTech is at an inflection point in regards to sales and marketing due to the confluence of a trend and a tragic long term event.  The trend is in digital sophistication,  communication and access.  This has caused consumers of every day products to move more and more on-line to research and purchase products.  This digital sophistication is the result of new smart phones and communication pathways like FaceBook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikToc etc. These consumers include our healthcare professionals.  This digital sophistication has created an expectation and standards that our HCP customers expect of the MedTech industry.  The tragic long term event is the pandemic.  The pandemic took away our traditional market access tool which is the sales force as access to health care professionals has been and will continue to be limited.  Suddenly, MedTech companies had no convenient way to prospect for new business.  Meanwhile, Medtech was and is behind most other industries in the use of demand generation, marketing automation, sales enablement, and learning management system platforms.  These platforms require marketing muscle.  Medtech has to bulk up on marketing know how.  Meanwhile, the sales process has changed significantly as portions of it go virtual which requires new tools, skills and support.  Guess who provides the tools and support….marketing. 
  

• Q: Why is there a sudden “buzz” around omnichannel sales and marketing strategies in medtech?
• A: The buzz around omnichannel marketing and sales comes from the omnichannel experience our customers are seeing in other industries they interact with in their daily life like clothes, electronics, cars, etc.  They expect Medtech to meet the same standards.  Some of the really large MedTech companies are responding via sophisticated platforms.  They can do this because they are accustomed to hiring high level marketing talent from Coca Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor & Gamble, etc. Smaller Medtech companies have to find a way to access this talent.  Just imagine an HCP has just been visiting the Caravana website looking at cars. Now, they go to XYZ Med Device website.  More often than not, they will not be impressed.  Another example of an omnichannel is the integration of online and social media platforms with marketing automation, the CRM and the sales team.  It is important that small and medium sized Medtech companies adapt and bring all these tools together.  These platform investments are not that high and they work for you 24/7.
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• Q: What is it that you want people to derive from the most from the Med-Texperts series?
• A: I want them to see the potential of all the new tools and tactics that are available to help them succeed.  And, I want to bust the myths around the costs of these tools.  Then, I want the audience to imagine how these tools and tactics could work for them.  Some of the things we talk about can be implemented by the audience members.  Some may require the help of a specialist or agency to get started.  Most of the data clearly indicates that when done correctly, the return on investment is very positive. 

 

Hear Ted moderate during our Roundtable Discussions: 

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