Category: Medical Devices

5 for the price of 1: The one proven methodology to address the 5 needs of medical device manufacturers

A manufacturer goes through a full cycle of doing market research for a new product, the R&D to build a prototype, an MVP for the market before getting a full-fledged product out for the customers. However, the greatest challenge that the manufacturer has, is to find customers willing to pay for the product. This is when the gruelling cycles of marketing and sales begin.

Typically, what every manufacturer wants is this –

  1. Improve his reach to potential customers
  2. Convey lucidly the differentiators of the product – how it is better than the competition
  3. Create a brand out of the product
  4. Ensure a continuous connect with the customer
  5. Generate quality leads that can be converted into tangible orders.

Is this any different in the case of medical device manufacturers? As a matter of fact, it could be more challenging and more intense given the intellectual and finicky end user that they have and the fact that all these products deal with human life in some way or the other. Experience has shown that the one mechanism that the surgeon fraternity responds to is “education”. Continuous medical education or CME as it is popularly known is not just a statutory requirement for the surgeons to maintain their credit scores but it is the only way and means through which they can stay current in a profession that expects them to always deliver immaculately. For this to happen, every surgeon is always looking for ways and means to

  • Understand every relevant surgical procedure
  • Understand the use of instruments in surgical procedures
  • Learn about new procedures
  • Update knowledge on new instruments

A medical device manufacturer is perfectly equipped to address all these requirements. They have a strong relationship with KOL’s and influencers of the field who can conduct a CME on their behalf. Typically, the medical device manufacturer conducts CME’s with experts from different specialities or different geographies. For a manufacturer with a wide portfolio of products, this would mean that they would have to conduct hundreds of CME’s with different KOL’s and for different geographies. This implies the need for a massive budget given the cost of the KOL, the venue which is typically a 5-star hotel, accommodation, food, travel and much more. How many potential customers can be served this way – typically around 50 to 100. Someone with deeper pockets will probably accommodate 200.

However, these traditional CME’s are an expensive option and hence it is difficult for any manufacturer to keep on sponsoring them in numbers and expect to reach a large potential customer base. Instead, eCME’s (online CME’s) have a TCO that is not just reasonable and affordable but it also guarantees a bigger reach as compared to the traditional CME’s. To add to this, if the eCME platform offers ways and means to generate quality leads then it would be the icing on the cake as it would address all the 5 needs of the manufacturer.

Meditorch Technologies has developed an excellent technology platform that has been used effectively by leading medical device manufacturers and there are many more who are seeing value in doing their CME’s. The platform comes with patent-pending technology and has features that have been developed after interacting with thousands of surgeons and dozens of senior executives from the medical device industry.

In the next part of this blog, we will look at how medical device manufacturers can conduct an eCME with maximum ROI using the Meditorch surgery training and mentoring platform.

The one secret ingredient that can boost market share of medical device manufacturers

Whether you are an established player or an aspirant wanting to get into the booming medical devices business in India, the thought of improving your market share has never left you for one moment. As a matter of fact, with intense competition and pricing challenges, established players are now more worried about maintaining their market share.

The marketing and advertising industry have been taken by a storm since companies like Facebook and Google made an appearance. However, medical devices are serious business and neither Facebook nor Google can be the relevant platforms for product promotions and advertising for this domain. With Facebook carrying an impression of casual social networking and Google being used more for search, serious businesses such as the medical device manufacturers have been found wanting for an appropriate vehicle to effectively deliver their product information to an equally serious clientele – the doctors.

There is one avenue that the medical device manufacturers have used for a long time albeit ineffectively or should I rather say – insufficiently, and that is education. Almost all the major players have budgets allocated every year to sponsor CME’s. These CME’s done in the traditional manner have very limited mechanisms for tracking ROI, are expensive, are difficult to organize and almost impossible to scale. In such a situation it becomes critical to make use of cutting edge technology which can help in delivering the same services to a large customer base at a fraction of the cost.

Let’s take an example. A traditional CME requires a medical device manufacturer to spend on the venue, food, transportation, hotel stay for KOL’s and participants alike and also the standard expenses for engaging the KOL. With a finite budget, how many doctors can you cater to with such a CME? The answer will always be – a few tens (standard) to at the most. few hundreds (for companies with deep pockets).

Now consider this scenario, where a leading medical device manufacturer engaged a KOL for a CME, used cutting edge technology to deliver the CME, and this time instead of bringing the doctors to the venue, took the CME to the doctor – to his hospital, to his home or to his car. It really didn’t matter where the doctor was, the technology of today had the power to reach anywhere.

Let’s quickly analyse the situation.

Did the manufacturer lose out on anything? No, nothing at all.

What about leads that are usually generated at the venue? Well, technology had the features to present the manufacturer’s products and generate enquiries. The manufacturer managed to generate more leads than he could even imagine.

Did the manufacturer really manage to create economies of scale? Of course, for a fixed cost of the technology platform, the manufacturer now has the ability to reach not just customers of geography but the whole world. He was creating economies of a scale way beyond what was imagined possible in the past.

The example above is not a hypothetical case but a reality. More and more manufacturers have started using technology to reach the customers, deliver education and use the opportunity to educate the doctor on the products offered. It’s turning out to be convenient to all the stakeholders, the medical device manufacturer, the KOL and the end customer.

Meditorch Technologies offers one such platform – LapGuru that has become the go-to resource for medical device manufacturers for conducting their eCME’s. LapGuru has cutting edge features that have made it a favourite amongst surgeons and hence it is ubiquitous in the surgery education domain.

If you are a medical device manufacturer, you must use this modality and experience how it impacts your product promotion and education strategies.

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