Does that sound strange to you?
Customers are the soul of any business organization. Without them, most businesses and corporate organizations will go bankrupt, and that is a fact. As a result, companies, including the MedTech industry, invest lots of resources into customer relations and satisfaction, as it is the cornerstone for any successful business.
In truth, products and services revolve a lot around customers and their needs. However, there is a twist to the rule when it concerns the Medtech industry, and in case you are wondering where this is all heading, just follow closely.
Let’s Begin Here:
Do you realize that listening to your customers every time will not help you build a customer-centric innovation in Medtech?
I know it sounds counter-intuitive and contradictory. You may want to ask, “How do I build a business centered around customers without listening to them?” I’d like you to read along as I provide some thought-provoking ideas and reasons for the rule stated above.
Why You Should Not Always Listen to Customers in MedTech
I find it necessary to state here; that I am a firm believer that clients have a fundamental part in building a successful MedTech business. However, for some reasons; (which I will explain below), it is not always effective to listen to them, especially when developing medical devices.
Highlighted below are some of the reasons why;
Customers identify problems and not solutions
One of the traits of customers in most businesses around the world is their ability to identify problems. It is an essential part of the product development process, and companies have customers to thank for this.
However, as helpful as this is, it is not the core determinant for you and your business; instead, the solution (your product) is. But unfortunately, customers cannot help you in this regard.
It is fair to say that most physicians are the least qualified when it comes to providing inputs about available technologies that are applicable to medical devices, and some of them don’t even know whether it is possible or not from the technology point of view. This is not to take anything away from their experience; it is just the way it is.
If you want to argue that some of them heralded inventions; well, that doesn’t count in this case.
That is because some of these physicians were at the forefront of identifying “medical problems,” just like consumers. Hence, they made inventions based on their understanding or experience of the problem and not necessarily because they had technical knowledge.
Salesforce Insights Are Biased
One of the things you should never do when developing a product for the MedTech industry is to rely solely on salesforce-insight. As they could be biased, unaligned with the strategic focus, and do not always have the full picture of the product roadmap.
Sales force inputs are important, the downside; however, is that they could be biased because they normally focus on short term solutions or KOL desire.
Customers Are Bad In New Technology Speculations
The issue of asking accurate questions is critical in customer interaction:
By nature, human beings are not so precise at predicting the future, especially; intuitively and without data-backed assistance. Therefore, if you are not asking the right questions from your customers; then, don’t be surprised when you get wrong and misleading answers. Questions like: would you be interested in … would you like … lead to speculations that should be considered very carefully.
Furthermore, it’s necessary to be careful about feedback on new technology especially when customers are involved. That is because they need to see a MVP (minimum viable product), a prototype or even the product to precisely understand what they do not want, compared to what they want.
Also, this type of customer interaction would mean that the further you are from the final product, the lower the level of evidence that will be generated.
Conclusion
It is no secret that a successful business needs to understand its customers’ needs and satisfy them. However, if you are in a sensitive industry like MedTech, then you don’t always have to listen to the customer – and I already did justice to the reasons why.
Let me know what you think about these thought-provoking points, and you can also look forward to my next article where I’ll be sharing the benefits of listening to your customers.