Downstream marketing Archives

30Jul 2024 by cesare ferrari

It’s Time for My Summer Break

Downstream marketing, Sales, Upstream marketing

As the summer season approaches, it's time for my usual break. For a few weeks, I will pause my postings and plan to return to my regular schedule of bi-weekly updates in September. Before I go, I'd like to share a summary of some series I've published over the years: Cultural Factors in International Medical Sales Selling medical products (devices or drugs) internationally involves understanding and managing cultural differences. Parts one and two of this series examine the importance of cultural sensitivity and the key elements of a country's culture, and their impact on sales. The Importance of Cross-Selling and Upselling In medical sales, upselling and cross-selling are often seen as unethical tactics, and sometimes this view is justified. However, in the first and second posts of this series, I…

13Apr 2024 by cesare ferrari

Are you launching, soft-launching or just releasing your new product?

Downstream marketing

Every year, new medical devices are introduced to the market by means of a “product launch”. As the market becomes saturated, it is increasingly difficult for the launch to make an impact on the market and the company's bottom line. Although the term used for market entry is always “product launch” the reality is that there are different sorts of product launches. I’ve already discussed the success factors of a new product launch and itemized the new product classification and its consequences. Today, I would like to cover the types of product launches and help you understand their differences. Different kinds of product launch The different types of product launches have strict ties to the various kinds of products the company developed and their characteristics. The strategic decisions taken at…

03Apr 2024 by cesare ferrari

Factors That Affect The Success Of A New Medical Device Launch

Downstream marketing

We can all agree that a successful product launch does not happen accidentally, as it is the direct result of understanding the measures and factors that influence a product's success. Since new product launches are a vital part of a medical device company, it's appropriate to know how to do it right, and that's what this article seeks to address. So please follow along. Factors that affect medical device product launch Let's start with the most highly regulated products (like high risk medical devices and drugs). Notice that they require a long and complex process to reach the market, and when the regulatory approval is obtained, the launch then begins. Particularly, pharmaceutical products need a very long time to reach the market making the launch critical. Having worked in…

19Jan 2024 by cesare ferrari

Value proposition design for medical products (Part 1)

Downstream marketing, Upstream marketing

Introduction The market success of a drug or medical device is strongly determined by its value proposition. It is why designing and communicating a compelling value proposition to all the stakeholders is one of the most vital medical marketing activities. The role of the product manager (whose responsibility is to lead a cross-functional team to develop the value proposition and ensure its communication at every interaction with the stakeholders) is a significant part of this process. Reason being that the different stakeholders, healthcare professionals, patients, providers, and payers can have different or even divergent value perspectives, increasing the complexity of developing an effective value proposition for all the stakeholders. This article is one of four series, and I'll start here with the definition of the value proposition of a drug…

16Dec 2023 by cesare ferrari

Holiday Season

Downstream marketing, Sales, Upstream marketing

The holiday season is a hectic time for many people. Between holiday shopping, holiday parties and holiday cooking, it can be difficult to find the time or energy to read during this busy time of the year. This is the reason I normally take a pause during the holyday season. This is my last article of 2023, and I would like to re-share a few posts on important topics for medical sales and marketing professionals. Business plans I have a pragmatic position on business plans and business cases. I do not consider realistic plans and planning useless. However, before starting to write a long and detailed business plan any entrepreneur or intrapreneur should focus on building and testing the product and the business model. I have analyzed in detail the…

30Jun 2023 by cesare ferrari

Are Business plans useless or useful?

Downstream marketing, Sales

In the MedTech community, there are 2 common positions regarding business plans and business cases. Some people consider business plan and business case the “compass” of the business, the new venture, or the new project. They rely on it, and they use it to evaluate business opportunities, new projects, and new ventures. Others are more skeptical regarding business plans considering them less useful and some extremists consider them totally useless. So what then is true? Let’s start with a proper definition of what a business plan and business case are. Definition of business plan and business case According to Friend and Zehle in their book Guide to Business Planning, “A business plan describes the business’s vision and objectives as well as the strategy and tactics that will be employed to…

28May 2023 by cesare ferrari

These are the Best Methodologies for Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Downstream marketing

Measuring customer satisfaction is a cost-effective way to build brand loyalty, increase word-of-mouth marketing and differentiate your business from the competition. While large MedTech companies are systematically measuring how they are perceived by their customers and identifying the factors shaping customer satisfaction, small and medium businesses are still picking up. The benefits of customer satisfaction are enormous, and you should measure it regularly because it is one of the key elements to producing customer retention and loyalty. According to Philip Kotler, it has also been linked to better performance in the stock market. I'll discuss more on this here. Methodologies for measuring Customer Satisfaction The concept of customer satisfaction and its assessment is complex. It encompasses many different factors, and you can expect it to be more complicated than measuring…

15Apr 2023 by cesare ferrari

Customer Retention, Customer Loyalty, Or Customer Delight, What Is Your Goal?

Downstream marketing

Do you know that customer retention, loyalty, and delight are different? It's okay if you're finding out. All three are linked to customer satisfaction and provide substantial benefits for a medical device company. Remember, the goal of any marketing strategy is to attract, satisfy and retain customers in the target segment. This is because the longer customers stay with a company, the more benefits the customer generates. And often, it's a win-win for both parties. In this article, I'll discuss the differences and similarities between customer retention, loyalty, and delight. So keep reading. What is Customer Retention? According to Wikipedia, customer retention refers to the ability of a company or product to retain its customers over some specified period. The benefit generated by retention is related to a few different…

01Apr 2023 by cesare ferrari

4 Best Factors That Affect Customer Satisfaction In MedTech

Downstream marketing

In this article, I'm going to analyze the factors affecting customer satisfaction. And in the previous posts, I covered customer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and their impact–you can refer back to them. Several factors determine customer satisfaction, and the importance of a single determinant might vary depending on the sub-segment of the medical device market. For example, the impact of product reliability is less critical for a single-use and low-priced device than for reusable and expensive medical equipment. Moreover, over time the importance of the determinant may evolve as it is influenced by various factors such as market dynamics. And this is one of the reasons for continuously monitoring customer satisfaction and its determinants. Let's see the four key factors affecting customer satisfaction in MedTech, and the actionable steps you can take…

18Mar 2023 by cesare ferrari

Do you consider customer complaints a good proxy of customer satisfaction? You may regret it!

Downstream marketing, Upstream marketing

Medical device companies must seriously treat customers' complaints in compliance with regulatory quality standards. However, compliance with regulations does not necessarily mean you're focused on customer satisfaction. Most MedTech companies are small and medium-sized, and customer satisfaction is sometimes not fully understood and considered for different reasons. Imagine this scene: You are with a colleague discussing a product feature that produces customer's dissatisfaction. And to support the thesis that this is not a real problem, he/she shows you that none of the complaints collected about the product is related to that feature. Despite having anecdotal feedback on the problem, you do not have robust data; therefore, customer satisfaction with this feature is considered good. Let's have a look at the impact of customer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and customer complaints to see…

Category: Downstream marketing