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Medical Device Business Plan

Published Nov.06, 2023

Updated Apr.23, 2024

By: Brandi Marcene

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Table of Content

Medical Device Business Plan Sample

A medical device business plan is a document that outlines how to start and run a successful company that produces and sells products that diagnose, treat, or prevent diseases or injuries. Navigating the vast and expanding medical device sector presents thrilling opportunities alongside complex hurdles. A well-crafted business plan illuminates the route to success. Articulate your vision, milestones, tactics, and budgetary forecasts.

A business plan should also demonstrate how you will stand out from the crowd, satisfy users, adhere to regulations, and uphold ethical standards. A medical billing business plan is a specific type of medical device business plan that focuses on how to provide billing and coding services for healthcare providers.

In this article, we will provide you with a medical device business plan sample that you can use as a template or a reference for your business plan. We will cover the following sections:

• Executive Summary
• Company Overview
• Industry Analysis
• Customer Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Plan
• Operations Plan

Management Team

• Financial Plan

Executive Summary Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

Business overview.

Medix is a medical device company that develops and sells innovative and affordable devices for diabetes management. We aim to enhance the well-being and health results of those managing diabetes. We aim to offer user-friendly and dependable products that assist in tracking and regulating blood sugar levels.

Products and Services

Medix offers two main products:

• Medix Glucometer – A smart glucose meter that connects to a mobile app via Bluetooth and provides accurate and instant readings of blood glucose levels.
• Medix Patch – A wearable patch that continuously measures blood glucose levels through the skin without needing finger pricks or test strips.

Customer Focus

Medix focuses on serving people with diabetes, seeking convenient and affordable solutions to manage their condition. According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas 10th edition report , 537 million adults (20-79 years) live with diabetes – 1 in 10. Experts predict that this number will rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. Therefore, there is a huge demand for effective and accessible diabetes care products.

Leo Clark and Aria Bennett, two experienced entrepreneurs with biomedical engineering and business administration backgrounds, founded Medix. Leo is the CEO and head of product development, while Aria is the COO and head of marketing and sales. A team of qualified engineers, designers, developers, marketers, salespeople, and advisors supports them.

Success Factors

Medix has several competitive advantages that will enable it to succeed in the medical device industry:

• Innovation with cutting-edge technology to create novel devices
• High standards of quality and safety in every aspect of devices
• Customer satisfaction by providing user-friendly devices
• Social impact by addressing a major health problem globally

Financial Highlights

Medix seeks $5 million in seed funding to launch its products and scale its operations. The company projects to generate $1.2 million in revenue in the first year, $3.6 million in the second year, and $10.8 million in the third year, with a gross margin of 60% and a net profit margin of 20%. The company expects to break even in the second year and reach a valuation of $50 million by the end of the third year.

Company Overview Section of Our Medical Device Sales Business Plan

Who is Medix Medical Supply?

Medix dedicates itself to developing and selling innovative, affordable, and reliable devices for diabetes management. Our products help people with diabetes to monitor and control their blood glucose levels with ease and effectiveness, leading to better health outcomes and an improved quality of life.

Medix Medical Supply History

Medix is a company that provides innovative solutions for diabetes care. It was founded by Leo Clark and Aria Bennett in 2023, who both personally experienced the challenges and frustrations of living with diabetes. These challenges included frequent finger pricks, expensive test strips, inaccurate readings, and complicated insulin injections.

They started Medix with their personal funds and an incubator grant to address these issues. Medix developed two products – the Medix Glucometer and the Medix Patch – to make diabetes monitoring and treatment easier, more accurate, and more affordable.

The Medix products have received regulatory approvals from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). They are now ready for launch in the US and European markets. For more information, please refer to our dentistry business plan .

Legal Structure

Medix, an LLC registered in Delaware, USA, has obtained ownership by Leo Clark (60%) and Aria Bennett (40%). Additionally, the company has applied for a patent for its products in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Industry Analysis Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

The medical device industry is one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic sectors. Fortune Business Insights reported that the global medical device market was valued at $512.29 billion in 2022 and can grow from $536.12 billion in 2023 to $799.67 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 5.9%.

The medical device industry is driven by several factors, such as:

• The increasing prevalence of diseases and the aging population
• The rising demand for minimally invasive and personalized treatments
• The advancement of technology and digitalization
• The emergence of new markets and segments

Customer Analysis Section of Our Medical Supply Business Plan

Demographic profile of target market.

Medix’s target market is the US market, which ranks third for the highest number of people with diabetes. We target diabetic people looking for convenient, affordable solutions to manage their condition. 

According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report by CDC, here are some interesting stats about why the US market is best for Medix:

• 37.3 million people have diabetes (11.3% of the US population)
• 28.7 million people are diagnosed, including 28.5 million adults
• 8.5 million people are undiagnosed (23.0% of adults)
• 96 million people aged 18 years or older have prediabetes (38.0% of the adult US population)
• 26.4 million people aged 65 years or older (48.8%) have prediabetes

The demographic profile of our target market is as follows:

• Age – We target all ages, mainly the young and middle-aged, who are tech-savvy and have more money to spend. A CDC report says 34.1 million adults aged 18 years or older—or 13.0% of all US adults—have diabetes.
• Gender – We target both males and females, as diabetes does not discriminate by gender. A NIDDK (NIH) report says a higher percentage of men (41%) than women (32%) have prediabetes.
• Income – We target all income levels, mainly the low and middle-income who need better healthcare solutions. An NCBI (NIH) report says 80% of the adults worldwide with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Customer Segmentation

Based on our market research and customer feedback, we have identified four main customer segments for our products:

• Segment A – Tech-savvy innovators who value quality, performance, and convenience. They share their views online.
• Segment B – Cost-conscious buyers who seek affordable and effective products. They trust their peers’ recommendations.
• Segment C – Health-conscious improvers who want products that motivate and support them. They join online health communities.
• Segment D – Compliance-driven users need products that ensure safety, security, and simplicity. They depend on their health providers and caregivers.

The table below summarizes our findings:

Based on the table, we have decided to target segments A and B as our primary segments, and segments C and D as our secondary segments.

Competitive Analysis Section of Our Medical Equipment Producer Business Plan

Direct and indirect competitors.

Our direct competitors are other medical device companies that offer similar or substitute surgical medical equipment for diabetes management. Some of the major players in this category are:

1. Abbott – A global healthcare company that offers a range of products for diabetes care with mobile apps for real-time data and insights.

• Strong brand recognition
• Global presence
• Innovation capabilities
• Customer loyalty

Weaknesses:

• Limited availability
• Technical issues

2. Dexcom – A medical device company specializing in CGMs for diabetes management. These devices use sensors to record and transmit data to a receiver or a smartphone.

• High accuracy
• Reliability
• Convenience
• Customer satisfaction
• Short sensor lifespan
• Skin irritation

3. Medtronic – A medical technology company that offers a range of durable medical equipment for diabetes care, such as insulin pumps, CGMs, and APSs. The system connects to a mobile app to monitor and control settings.

• Leadership position
• Advanced technology
• Clinical evidence
• Customer support
• Safety concerns
• Regulatory hurdles
• Competition

Our indirect competitors are other healthcare providers or solutions that offer alternative or complementary ways to manage diabetes, such as medications, diet plans, exercise programs, coaching services, etc. Refer to our hospital business plan to learn more.

Competitive Advantage

Medix’s unique value proposition and competitive advantage over its competitors are:

• Medix is more innovative
• Medix is more convenient
• Medix is more versatile
• Medix is more affordable
• Medix is more user-friendly

Marketing Plan Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

Promotions strategy.

We will promote our products using online and offline channels to attract and retain customers. Our promotional mix consists of:

• Advertising – Online platforms (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads) and offline media (e.g., newspapers, billboards) to deliver relevant and engaging messages.
• Public Relations – Press releases, media interviews, podcasts, webinars, etc., to generate positive publicity and exposure. Social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) to interact and communicate with customers and stakeholders.
• Sales Promotion – Discounts, coupons, free samples, free trials, referrals, loyalty programs, etc., to stimulate sales and repeat purchases. Contests, sweepstakes, giveaways, etc., to create excitement and buzz.
• Personal Selling – Direct sales, telemarketing, email marketing, etc., to contact and persuade customers to buy our products. Online platforms (e.g., Amazon, eBay, Shopify) to sell our products directly.

We will use a value-based pricing strategy that reflects the value and benefits of our products and our competitive advantage. We will also offer competitive pricing that matches or undercuts our competitors’ prices.

We will charge $100 for each Medix Glucometer and $50 for each Medix Patch. We will also generate recurring revenue from the sales of test strips ($0.5 each) and insulin cartridges ($10 each). We estimate that each customer will use an average of 100 test strips and 12 insulin cartridges per year.

Operations Plan Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

Operation functions.

We do these core activities to offer our products and services to our customers:

• Product Development – We research, design, test, and improve our products using agile methods, customer feedback, market trends, and tools like GitHub, Jira, Figma, etc.
• Manufacturing – We produce our products on a large scale and high quality by outsourcing to a reliable contract manufacturer.
• Distribution – We deliver our products to our customers quickly and cheaply using direct and indirect channels in different regions or countries.
• Customer Service – We support and assist our customers before, during, and after their purchase using various channels and methods.

Milestones and Timeline

We have these specific goals and objectives to track our progress and success in our operation functions:

• June 2024: Complete R&D, testing, prototyping of products
• September 2024: Obtain regulatory approvals and certifications
• December 2024: Launch marketing campaign and product launch in the US
• March 2025: Market research for Europe entry
• December 2025: Launch Europe marketing, market entry
• March 2026: Invest in production capacity
• June 2026: Expand manufacturing workforce
• December 2026: Evaluate production, increase to 100k units/month

Management Team Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

Founders and co-founders.

Leo Clark, a biomedical engineer with type 1 diabetes, and Aria Bennett, the daughter of a type 2 diabetic and a business administrator, founded Medix. Leo is responsible for the product development function, while Aria leads the marketing and sales function. Both have several years of experience working in their respective fields and personal and professional experience with diabetes.

Other Key Team Members

• Alice Lee – Our chief engineer
• Bob Chen – Our chief developer
• Carol Wang – Our chief designer
• Dave Jones – Our chief marketer
• Emma Smith – Our chief salesperson

Financial Plan Section of Our Medical Device Business Plan

Key revenue and costs.

Medix’s main sources of revenue, along with pricing, are:

• Medix Glucometer – $100 for each Glucometer
• Medix Patch – $50 for each Patch
• Test Strips – $0.5 for each test strip
• Insulin Cartridge – $10 for each cartridge

We estimate that each customer will use an average of 100 test strips and 12 insulin cartridges per year.

Medix’s main categories of expenses are:

• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) – Our main cost of goods sold is the cost of materials, components, parts, and additional supplies. We estimate that the COGS per unit is $40 for the Medix Glucometer, $20 for the Medix Patch, $0.1 for the test strip, and $2 for the insulin cartridge.
• Operating Expenses (OPEX) – Our main operating expenses are the costs we incur for running and operating our business, such as salaries, rent, utilities, marketing, advertising, R&D, etc. Our OPEX will be 40% of our revenue in the first year, 35% in the second year, and 30% in the third year.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Funding Requirements – We seek $5 million in seed funding to launch our products and scale our operations. We have already raised $500,000 from our savings and a small grant from a local incubator. We need an additional $4.5 million to cover our expenses for the next 18 months until we reach the break-even point.

Use of Funds – We will use the funds for the following purposes as highlighted in the below chart:

Key Assumptions

• Market size for our products is 10% of the total number of people with diabetes in the US and Europe
• Market share is projected to grow from 107,000 customers in 2024 to 444,000 customers in 2026
• Sales volume is projected to grow from 321,000 units in 2024 to 1.33 million units in 2026
• Gross margin is projected to be 60% in all three years
• Net margin is projected to grow from 20% in 2024 to 30% in 2026

Financial Projections

Based on the above assumptions, we have prepared the following financial projections for the next three years:

Income Statement

Ogscapital – your partner for medical device startup success.

With over a decade of experience, at OGSCapital, we have helped various entrepreneurs craft winning business plans. Our consultants provide end-to-end support – from market research and competitor analysis to realistic profitability forecasts. We understand the medical device industry inside-out, including regulations, manufacturing, and distribution.

Whether you need help with your hospital feasibility study , medical equipment manufacturing business plan, or medical supply store business plan, we tailor our approach to your specific product and goals. Partner with us to launch your startup on the path to profitability and rapid growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to start a medical device business.

A strategic business plan is a key ingredient in a startup medical device company. But that alone won’t cut it – the company also requires a talented group of professionals, structured product development procedures, a plan for meeting regulatory guidelines, and effective marketing tactics. A distributor or a medical equipment supplier can help distribute the devices.

How profitable are medical devices?

The medical equipment industry is booming with high growth potential. The average operating margin for medical equipment and supplies companies averages 2.87%. The medical device market will grow at a CAGR of 5.5% to 5.9% from 2022 to 2030.

How do I market my medical device?

As highlighted in our Medical Clinic Business Plan , some popular marketing channels to market a medical device include online platforms, social media, trade shows, conferences, webinars, publications, referrals, and testimonials. A medical equipment rental company can also help market the device.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Medical Device Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Medical Device Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their medical device companies.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a medical device business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a medical device business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Medical Device Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your medical device business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Medical Device Business

If you’re looking to start a medical device business or grow your existing medical device company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your medical device business to improve your chances of success. Your medical device business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Medical Device Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a medical device business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for medical device companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a medical device business.

If you want to start a medical device business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your medical device business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of medical device business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a medical device business that you would like to grow, or are you operating an established medical device business that you would like to sell?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the medical device industry.
• Discuss the type of medical device business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of medical device business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of medical device businesses:

• Class 1 medical device: This type of medical device is one that poses low risk to end-users and does not have too many regulatory controls. Stethoscopes and tongue depressors are some examples of Class 1 medical devices.
• Class 2 medical device: This type of medical device could pose higher risk to end-users than Class 1, thus requiring the company to submit a Premarket Notification 510(k) form to the FDA before the product can be sold. Examples of Class 2 medical devices include catheters and surgical tools.
• Class 3 medical device: This type of medical device poses more of a risk to the end-user than Class 1 or Class 2 devices. For this reason, companies selling Class 3 devices must go through a more stringent FDA approval before the product can be sold. Examples of Class 3 devices include cochlear implants and pacemakers.

In addition to explaining the type of medical device business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, the number of products sold, or reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the medical device industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the medical device industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your medical device business plan:

• How big is the medical device industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your medical device business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your medical device business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, schools, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of medical device business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other medical device businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes alternative medical devices and other types of medical device retailers. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of medical device business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for customers to acquire your product?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a medical device business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of medical device company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide surgical instruments, implants, or test kits?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your medical device company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your medical device business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone building, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your medical device marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your medical device business, including answering calls, meeting with potential customers, scheduling shipments, billing customers and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to acquire your Xth customer, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your medical device business to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your medical device business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing medical device businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a medical device business.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you keep 300 devices on-hand and will sell and restock your inventory every 3 months? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your medical device business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a medical device business:

• Cost of equipment and office supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your business location lease or a list of medical devices in your inventory.  

Writing a business plan for your medical device business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the medical device industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful medical device business.  

Medical Device Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my medical device business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your medical device business plan.

Where Can I Download a Medical Device Business Plan PDF?

You can download our medical device business plan PDF here. This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

How Do You Start a Medical Device Business?

Starting a medical device business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Medical Device Business
• Create Your Medical Device Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Medical Device Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Medical Device Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Medical Device Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Medical Device Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Medical Device Business Equipment
• Develop Your Medical Device Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Medical Device Business
• Open for Business

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Medical Device business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how a Growthink business planning consultant can create your business plan for you.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Medical Device Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Medical Device Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Medical Device business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Medical Device businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Medical Device business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

MediTech LLC is a medical device company that sells Class I medical devices to hospitals, clinics, and other establishments in the medical industry. We manufacture a long list of devices including surgical instruments, syringes, and bandages. We know that patients can’t receive quality care if medical professionals don’t have good tools. Therefore, our mission is to provide the best medical devices in the industry so that all hospitals and clinics can provide the best care possible.

MediTech LLC is founded by Sarah Nelson. Sarah has considerable experience as a surgeon and used hundreds of medical devices throughout her career. She knows exactly what it takes to make high quality medical products and has made it her mission to create the best medical devices in the industry. Her expertise and knowledge of the industry will give us a considerable advantage over the competition.

Product Offering

MediTech LLC sells a long list of Class I medical devices. Class I medical devices are low risk devices and are unlikely to cause any harm to users. These include bandages, surgical tools, bedpans, gloves, and surgical masks. Our product list will grow and change depending on which devices are in high demand.

Customer Focus

MediTech LLC will primarily serve hospitals, clinics, and other medical organizations. Some products will be sold in stores to the public, including bandages, gloves, and face masks.

Management Team

MediTech LLC was founded by Sarah Nelson, a licensed and experienced surgeon. While working in the medical industry, she was frustrated by the quality of the medical devices she used. Her hospital routinely purchases low quality devices to save costs and this would affect the quality of her care. She researched what it would take to make higher quality versions of these products and decided to start a company that provides better quality devices for an affordable cost.

Success Factors

MediTech LLC will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• We will provide the best quality medical devices in the industry. Our devices will help improve the quality of care that our clients give their patients.
• MediTech will price all of its products moderately so all of our clients and customers can afford them.
• Our founder has years of experience as a surgeon in the medical industry, bringing a vast amount of medical knowledge to the table. This will help us create perfect medical devices and products that all medical professionals will be eager to use.

Financial Highlights

MediTech LLC is currently seeking $1,400,000 to launch. The funding will be dedicated to the facility build out, purchase of initial equipment, working capital, marketing costs, and startup overhead expenses. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Facility design/build: $500,000
• Equipment: $200,000
• Six months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $400,00
• Initial supplies and inventory: $100,000
• Marketing and advertising: $100,000
• Working capital: $100,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for MediTech LLC.

Company Overview

Who is meditech llc.

MediTech LLC sells high-quality Class I medical devices to the medical industry. Our management team knows from experience that patients can’t receive the best care possible if physicians aren’t using the best tools. However, many medical organizations order lower quality devices in order to save on costs. At MediTech LLC, we are committed to making the best medical devices in the industry that are more affordable than the competition.

  MediTech LLC produces a long list of medical devices for the medical industry. These include bandages, surgical masks, gloves, surgical instruments, and bedpans. All of our products are Class I devices, meaning they present a low risk to the user.

MediTech LLC is founded by Sarah Nelson. Sarah has considerable experience as a surgeon and used hundreds of medical devices throughout her career. She knows exactly what it takes to make high quality medical products and has made it her mission to create the best medical devices in the industry. Her expertise and connections in the industry will ensure that MediTech LLC achieves its mission.

MediTech LLC History

Sarah Nelson founded and incorporated MediTech LLC as an LLC in June 2023. Though the company is currently running out of a small rented office, it will move to a large warehouse once the lease is finalized.

Since incorporation, MediTech LLC has achieved the following milestones:

• Developed the company’s name, logo, and website
• Determined equipment and fixture requirements
• Identified and established relationships with potential clients and suppliers
• Begun recruiting key employees

MediTech LLC Services

MediTech LLC manufactures and sells Class I medical devices. These include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Surgical instruments
• Non-electric wheelchairs
• Stethoscopes
• Surgical masks

Industry Analysis

The medical industry is dependent on the access to high-quality medical devices and products. From gloves and masks to EKG machines, every device used in the care of patients needs to be high quality and always in working order. Devices that are poor quality or don’t work properly can cause significant problems when being used to care for patients.

Medical devices are categorized into three classes. Class I devices are devices that pose very little risk to the user. These items include bandages, surgical instruments, and gloves. Class II devices are intermediate risk devices. These include intravenous pumps and CT machines. Class III devices are high risk and require a great amount of regulation. These devices are also critical to sustaining life. These include pacemakers and brain stimulators.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the medical device industry is valued at $539 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.9%. Medical devices are constantly in high demand and are essential for the success of the medical industry. Therefore, now is a great time to start a new medical device company.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market, customer segmentation.

The company will primarily target the following customer segments:

• Medical clinics

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

MediTech LLC will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Smith & Smith

Smith & Smith is a large corporation that sells thousands of products, including cosmetics, hygiene products, and certain medical devices. The medical devices they primarily produce include bandages, ointments, and low risk surgical and physician instruments. They sell many of their products to the general public (such as simple wound care devices) but also sell some devices to the medical industry. They will be a major competitor since they sell primarily Class I devices. However, they currently do not produce as many medical devices as MediTech LLC plans to produce, which gives us an advantage in the market.

MedMonitor is a medical device company that manufactures Class III medical devices. Some of their products include breast implants, pacemakers, implanted prosthetics, and defibrillators. They do sell some Class I and Class II products, such as gloves, wound care items, and surgical masks, but they are not a major manufacturer of these products. As such, we expect that MedMonitor will only be a minor competitor in the market.

MedSource is the source for most of the medical industry’s Class II medical devices. They produce a long list of devices including syringes, testing kits, contact lenses, and blood pressure cuffs. They do produce some products that can be categorized as Class I devices, but their product list does not overlap too much with ours. As such, we expect that MedSource will only be a minor competitor.

Competitive Advantage

MediTech LLC enjoys several advantages over its competitors. These advantages include the following:

• Management : Sarah Nelson has been extremely successful working in the medical industry and will be able to use her previous experience to design and manufacture the best medical devices in the industry.
• Relationships : Sarah knows many of the local leaders, business managers, and other influencers in the medical industry. These relationships will help her have access to quality materials and create an initial clientbase.
• Affordability : Thanks to Sarah’s connections within the industry, we are able to access high-quality materials for our products for an affordable cost. As a result, we can price all our products more moderately than the competition.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

The MediTech LLC brand will focus on the company’s unique value proposition:

• High quality medical devices
• Affordable pricing
• Client-focused service

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for MediTech LLC is as follows:

Social Media Marketing

Social media is one of the most cost-effective and practical marketing methods for improving brand visibility. MediTech LLC will use social media to develop engaging content in terms of the company’s product offerings. Engaging with prospective consumers and businesses on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn will also help understand changing customer needs.

Website/SEO

MediTech LLC will invest in developing a professional website that displays all of the products offered by the company. It will also invest in SEO so that the company’s website will appear at the top of search engine results.

Direct Mail

MediTech LLC will blanket businesses with direct mail pieces. These pieces will provide general information on MediTech LLC, offer discounts, and/or provide other incentives for companies to buy our products.

Advertisement

Advertisements in print publications like newspapers, magazines, etc., are an excellent way for businesses to connect with their audience. MediTech LLC will advertise its products in popular magazines and news dailies. Obtaining relevant placements in industry magazines and journals will also help in increasing brand visibility.

MediTech LLC’s pricing will be moderate, so clients feel they receive great value when purchasing our products.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for MediTech LLC. Operation Functions:

• Sarah Nelson will be the CEO of MediTech LLC. She will oversee the general operations and executive aspects of the business.
• Sarah is joined by Rebecca Smith who will act as the warehouse manager. She will train and manage the staff as well as oversee general production of our products.
• Sarah will hire an Administrative Assistant, Marketing Manager, and Accountant, to handle the administrative, marketing, and bookkeeping functions of the company.
• Sarah will also hire several employees to manufacture our products and maintain the equipment and machinery.

Milestones:

MediTech LLC will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

• 02/202X Finalize lease agreement
• 03/202X Design and build out MediTech LLC
• 04/202X Hire and train initial staff
• 05/202X Kickoff of promotional campaign
• 06/202X Launch MediTech LLC
• 07/202X Reach break-even

Sarah Nelson is a former surgeon who is familiar with the most popular medical devices in the industry. She knows better than anyone that low quality products means low quality care for patients. As a surgeon, she was often disappointed with the quality of the medical devices she used. Her hospital would routinely choose the cheapest options to save costs. This resulted in more problems and low quality care being delivered to her patients. She is now passionate about starting her own company that provides high quality medical devices for an affordable cost.

Though Sarah has never run a business of her own, she has worked in the medical industry long enough to gain an in-depth knowledge of the operations (e.g., running day-to-day operations) and the business (e.g., staffing, marketing, etc.) sides of the industry. She will also hire several professionals to help her run other aspects of the business she is unfamiliar with.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The key revenues for MediTech LLC will come from the sale of our medical devices and products.

The major cost drivers for the company will include manufacturing costs, overhead expenses, labor expenses, and marketing costs.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

• Six months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $400,000

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of wholesale contracts:
• Year 5: 100
• Average order value: $5,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, medical device business plan faqs, what is a medical device business plan.

A medical device business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your medical device business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Medical Device business plan using our Medical Device Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Medical Device Businesses? 

There are a number of different kinds of medical device businesses , some examples include: Class 1 medical device, Class 2 medical device, and Class 3 medical device.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Medical Device Business Plan?

Medical Device businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Medical Device Business?

Starting a medical device business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Medical Device Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed medical device business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your medical device business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your medical device business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Medical Device Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your medical device business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your medical device business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Medical Device Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your medical device business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your medical device business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful medical device business:

• How to Start a Medical Device Company

11 Effective Strategies for Medical Device Sales

April 25, 2023

In the wake of the pandemic, how we sell medical devices needs to change. Opportunities to approach healthcare providers in person shrank to a dismal level, and some offices are adjusting their policies so that they are no longer taking in-person sales meetings.

However, in an industry where professionals must constantly seek information and knowledge to succeed, adjusting their strategies to match the changing climate has opened doors and improved understanding of how to market and sell your products effectively.

Now, as hospitals begin scheduling elective and non-emergency surgeries again after being paused at the height of the pandemic, along with the technology advancements already taking place, medical devices are as in demand as ever.

How do you capitalize on this momentum? Keep reading to find out.

What Are Some Efficient Marketing Tips?

When you want to get your product on the market, whether you are a start-up or an established corporation, an outbound sales team is essential to collect and connect with prospective customers.

If the pandemic has taught us anything about working in medical device sales , it should be that inbound marketing and sales are great resources to have when attempting to reach the most significant number of prospects in the shortest time.

However, creating this content is not enough. Consider these next few steps to make yourself available online and become a trusted authority in your field that attracts interested buyers and holds onto them.

1. Design a Target Future Customer Journey

To begin selling your medical product , you must determine your buyer’s persona. The next step (often overlooked) is what you want your future customer’s buying journey to be.

This could include using a sales cadence, a specific and consistent follow-up schedule that is performed by all those in your sales team after attempting to connect with new prospects.

For many, inbound sales and marketing are the first steps when identifying potential buyers. Those in these positions should be helping to generate and nurture prospects using data-driven and personalized digital marketing.

This helps foster a trusting relationship between the company and the product before handing over this hotter and more concrete lead to the direct sales team. While marketing your product, consider the following touch points (when and how to contact your prospects):

Social Media

Social media attracts 4.6 billion people worldwide for an average of two-and-a-half hours or more daily. This means that social media is an excellent resource to help establish yourself as a recognizable and trustworthy brand between patients and providers.

**LinkedIn **

LinkedIn, a social media site known for being a professional networking stomping ground, is an excellent choice when attempting to identify and contact the decision-makers within a healthcare facility.

Busy healthcare professionals check their emails more frequently than they listen to their voicemails. This is for a straightforward reason. They can check their email in passing rather than having to dedicate time attached to a desk.

The elements of a successful email include the following:

• An engaging subject line
• A personalized , informative body section
• A call to action — either a link to your website or a direct number for them to call

Phone Calls and Voicemails

Even if physicians and surgeons are more likely to see your email, this doesn’t mean they will engage with it or take further action to schedule a meeting. Instead, calling will likely provide the best ROI.

Calls convert to revenue 10 to 15 times more than web leads . Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone. Online marketability has increased, but nothing sells better than personal connection.

SMS marketing has emerged as an effective strategy for promoting medical device sales, leveraging the ubiquity and accessibility of text messaging to engage potential customers.

For example, a medical device manufacturer could send targeted, time-sensitive information regarding product launches or special offers directly to the mobile devices of healthcare professionals.

Studies indicate that SMS marketing boasts a remarkable open rate of 98% and a response rate of 45%, showcasing its potential to drive sales in the medical device industry.

2. Consider More Video Content in Your Strategy

Video content may seem expensive regarding the upfront investment, but this is one of the best ways to engage your target audience.

68% of buyers use videos to compare products, and 85% of doctors who watch professional videos online have taken action due to watching a video.

These videos should be made available not on a personal case-by-case basis but should be present where your target audience gathers: on your website, social media, and search engines.

3. Marketing and Sales Should Work Together

To ensure a successful and seamless target customer journey, you should be sure that your inbound marketing and outbound sales teams are always in communication.

Your inbound sales team is constantly collecting data, helping to identify what is working within your sales strategy and what still needs adjusting. But online data is not the only data that you should take into consideration.

Your outbound sales team is working one-on-one with prospects. They should share with marketing common pain points and help the department avoid using wording and concepts that resonate more internally than with customers.

Efficient Sales Tips

4. be willing to meet outside the office.

In 2019, only 46% of physicians were surveyed to take on location and in-person appointments with sales representatives. After the pandemic, it is now reported that 87% of healthcare professionals prefer all virtual or hybrid meetings with medical sales reps.

You must be creative and consistently follow up with practitioners to secure time within their busy schedules to speak in person about your product or solution.

5. Recognize Changes Among Decision Makers

With many physicians moving toward smaller satellite offices, it is more important than ever to tailor your pitches to physicians and non-medical administrative stakeholders.

Although your pitch may use a hybrid approach, consider creating multiple buyer personas to better prepare for questions based on these individuals’ expectations and goals.

Remember that no matter the role within the healthcare facility, most providers and administrative staff are looking to improve patient outcomes at lower costs, creating a more sustainable healthcare system.

6. Actively Seek To Expand Your Network

Regardless of where you work within sales, your job is to be an expert on your product, but your ultimate success is heavily influenced by who you know.

The more introductions you make, the more likely you will be introduced to others. Establish yourself as a personable authority figure who values relationships.

Expand your company’s brand recognition and mission by attending conferences, lectures, and other continuing education opportunities.

Ultimately, you want to work your way into attending and being invited to speak about your product in front of large audiences.

7. Be Everywhere With Your Product

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, remote might be the way to go if you are attempting to sell highly complex or more advanced products. It has been proven that the most effective way to sell your device is by allowing providers to try the technology firsthand.

If they can use it, they can see exactly how it works and how it will benefit them and their patients in real time.

However, this isn’t always possible with this equipment as it can be large, difficult to move, and costly.

You should consider the following options when trying to provide hands-on demonstrations of your product:

Medical Animation

These videos are designed to provide a ‘tour’ of your device. This includes examples of how it works down to a molecular level and the inner workings of such technology.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is when items are superimposed over the top of what someone can already see, integrating it into a pre-existing environment.

This can be used as a program on phones, IPads, or with Virtual Reality headsets. These devices are often much easier to take to a demonstration than the equipment.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is similar to augmented reality, except all images are digitally generated.

8. Know Your Product Inside and Out

When you are working with large networks of highly-intelligent individuals, the questions you are fielding will likely be vastly different based on the varying needs and concerns of those involved.

Before you enter a pitch with providers, you want to feel confident in your product knowledge. Be prepared to give concise answers to complicated questions.

Examples of questions that may be broached are:

• Technical Specifications
• How it works

9. Don’t Forget To Follow-Up

Identifying and contacting prospective customers starts a customer’s buying journey. If you can land a meeting with a decision maker, you should be prepared that their immediate response will be lukewarm.

They likely will require you to follow up to finalize a deal. 80% of deals need at least five follow-up calls before committing. Unfortunately, 44% of sales reps quit after one single follow-up.

Show tenacity and passion for your product, but also respect your prospects' pain points and do your best to address them as they arise, making them feel comfortable and confident in your abilities and products.

10. Position Yourself as a Trusted Authority

Your inbound marketing team should be positioning your company online as a trusted authority in the industry, but that will only take you so far. You will need to support that brand recognition when you interact with prospects.

An excellent way to do this is to ask those you are working with what their expectations are of you and your product after your pitch. This puts you in a position of service rather than selling. The answer to these questions will help you with future meetings.

To help you meet common expectations of prospects and keep up to date on medical journals, trends within the industry, and emerging technological advances.

11. Don’t Forget Customer Care

To better your long-term profitability, you should pursue new customers and continue fostering customer loyalty amongst your open accounts.

No, that doesn’t mean you have to pitch them new products or upsell them continually, but instead, be available to answer questions that may arise.

As the field of medical device sales continues to evolve, so do the roles and requirements you will be asked to do — including moving from simply sales to more of a consultant.

Referrals are one of the most underused tools within a sales team's toolbox. While 91% of current customers have expressed that they would give referrals if asked, only 11% of sales reps actually do so.

You have worked hard to establish the relationship between you and your customers. Let your reputation and product speak for themselves — but allow current customers to help spread the word.

From marketing to outbound sales, these tips can help you enhance your current strategies and improve your closing percentages and customer satisfaction.

**Sources: **

Digital 2023: Global Overview Report | DataReportal

Call Commerce: A $1 Trillion Economic Engine | BIA Advisory Services

Medical Device Sales Strategy & Tips | LeadSquared

Decision Resources Group 2019 ePharma Physician® Report Finds U.S. Physicians Increasingly Too Busy to See Pharma Sales Reps | PR Newswire

COVID-19: Healthcare Provider Survey | Accenture

35+ Must-Know SMS Marketing Statistics in 2023

See how AcuityMD can change the way you build customer relationships

How to Become a Medical Sales Rep (Even If You Have No Experience)

Updated: August 08, 2022

Published: November 27, 2018

Medical sales jobs will always be in high demand. Despite automation's emergence in nearly every aspect of business, medical sales remains a largely face-to-face industry. In addition, an aging population keeps the field relevant and important.

You're likely already aware of the high earning potential of medical sales. In fact, according to MedReps most recent research , average total compensation for medical sales reps is $149,544 -- with an average base of $92,698 and an average bonus of $63,318.

While it's true that medical sales is a highly competitive field and the workload is demanding, if you're up to the challenge, it's possible to begin building your career and making a name for yourself almost immediately.

It's important to understand, though, that unlike other fields, medical sales is a journey. After all, research from the 2018 MedReps salary report revealed compensation potential is directly linked to tenure in the field. This shows you must be willing to put in the time and work to have a profitable and rewarding experience.

Before embarking down this career path, get to know the industry and figure out how it fits into your own specific career needs.

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How to Become a Medical Sales Rep

The first step to becoming a medical sales rep is to choose a specialization. Specializations include medical devices, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Next, you'll gain field experience and enroll in training. You'll also network, grow your online presence, and connect with industry contacts.

Here's what you need to do to break into medical sales:

1. Choose a specialization.

Finding the right fit begins with exploring your personal and professional interests. Above all, you must be certain you have a real passion for the field. Medical sales is highly rewarding but it requires a solid commitment. If you're not truly passionate about the industry, you risk becoming overly stressed and frustrated.

Medical sales encompasses a variety of concentrations, including:

• Medical devices
• Medical equipment
• Pharmaceuticals
• Biotechnology

With such diverse options available, job seekers can find an aspect of medical sales that appeals to them and suits their skills.

Most medical sales jobs are actually transactional, but some involve consultation. In most cases, you'll be meeting with health care professionals to discuss your products' benefits.

Some medical sales positions (such as medical coding sales) also incorporate skills like billing and marketing. Meanwhile, medical sales recruiters are focused on sourcing and placing the best and brightest professionals in the field.

Before applying to any medical sales job, use job search resources such as the MedReps blog to find news and advice specific to the industry. The website also features job postings for both entry-level and experienced medical sales reps.

It's important, however, not to be overly swayed by potential earnings.

For example, while the 2018 MedReps salary report revealed medical sales reps promoting health IT/software are the top earners -- making an average of $167,554 in total compensation -- if you're not passionate about emerging technology and stand-out customer service, it's unlikely you'll find much success or satisfaction from this concentration.

Make sure to get a full-picture view of the opportunities you consider.

2. Gain field experience.

Once you've discovered which medical sales niche you're most interested in, it's time to earn some experience.

You've already spent a great deal of time and money earning degrees and certifications -- and those will certainly help. Still, most recruiters place a high value on work experience. This means you should explore opportunities where you can gain experience in the field immediately. These include:

• Internships with medical sales companies
• Job shadowing with an established medical sales rep
• Volunteering at a hospital or doctor's office

You can also gain experience by taking an entry-level job in a medical-related or sales field, such as doing marketing for a medical office, customer service in a hospital, or even vending sales in a hospital setting.

Most medical sales jobs do not require specific certifications. Since these positions rely heavily on transferable skills, most positions require job seekers have an undergraduate degree, but not in a certain concentration.

Instead, recruiters seek ambitious, dedicated candidates. Some of the necessary skills include:

• Passion for sales and marketing
• Excellent interpersonal communication
• Positive attitude and strong work ethic
• Close attention to detail
• Organization
• Flexibility
• Desire to help people and have a meaningful impact in their lives

Technical skills in demand for medical sales jobs include:

• Familiarity with Microsoft Office
• Technical writing
• Familiarity with project management tools (Basecamp, Trello, Harvest)
• Social media experience
• Big data analysis

How you present your skills to employers is also important. Virginia Franco, the founder of Virginia Franco Resumes , recommends using compelling phrases that explain how your experience makes you the best candidate to assist in the company's growth.

"Add specific examples of your success to show interviewers why you should be their top choice," says Franco.

Franco suggests, for instance, rather than leading with "I am a medical sales professional with more than 13 years of experience," you should write something along the lines of, "Drawing on my more than 13 years of experience, I successfully boosted company earnings by 30%."

3. Enroll in online or in-person training.

Once you've determined your strong points and have a handle on the requisite skills, begin training.

Medical sales employers will expect you to quickly learn the company's processes and procedures. You must prove that you're willing and able to commit to training, so you're ready to sell in your first week.

Signing up for a medical sales training program on your own can give you a head start.

For instance, MedReps partners with Scott Moldenhauer, president of Persuasion Consultants, LLC -- a medical sales training and consulting firm focused on helping job seekers in the medical and pharma sales industry. Other training opportunities are available online through sites such as Medical Sales College and Sales Momentum .

Regardless of the program you choose, you must be well-versed in the current trends and best practices of the industry. That includes industry-specific lingo.

Every industry has certain acronyms and terminology. Getting caught off guard in an interview by not knowing industry terms is not only embarrassing but also potentially damaging to your chances of getting an offer.

The medical sales industry uses many acronyms. For instance, when a professional uses the term ‘ANSI,' they are referring to the American National Standards Institute. DHR means Device History Record. There are many more of these shortcuts to learn.

Get started by Googling industry jargon in your chosen concentration, asking existing medical sales professionals for tips, and taking detailed notes. In your application materials, try to use industry-specific keywords to show you've done your homework. (Just make sure you're using them correctly!)

Lastly, learn and stay on top of emerging trends in technology central to medical sales, such as:

• Wearable tech
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics
• 3D printing and desktop manufacturing

4. Network and build relationships.

Professional networking is important in any field, but in medical sales, it's essential. While the industry gets larger every day, you'll likely encounter the same people as you progress in your career. That's why you need to be able to show you're able to build and maintain lasting professional relationships.

Having industry contacts will also greatly improve your job placement chances. Recruiters want to know there are other people who trust and believe in you -- personally and professionally. Mastering the art of networking sets you apart from other job seekers and shows that you're focused on more than just earning the necessary credentials.

Even if you don't currently have connections, you should be able to prove you're a people person. This means getting recommendations and character references from a variety of people, including:

• University professors
• Former employers
• Professional contacts
• People you've done business with

LinkedIn allows users to collect recommendations and references from anyone within their network. It's wise to join networking groups as well -- both in person and online.

5. Grow your online presence.

Today's medical sales recruiter seeks a "total picture" view of candidates. They're increasingly turning online to learn more about job seekers, including their interests and hobbies, personal and professional background, and more.

In fact, MedReps' survey What Medical Sales Recruiters Look for in the Digital Age found 76% of recruiters go online before deciding whether to reach out. It's important to have a strong online presence.

Creating and maintaining a personal website and portfolio is a great way to get recruiters' attention. In addition, posting relevant and insightful information to social media shows you're connected to current and emerging trends.

By showcasing your talent and knowledge and building an audience around your posts, you also demonstrate that others are interested in your content enough to like, follow, and share it.

How to Become a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

• Earn a bachelor's degree.
• Enroll in a training program.
• Get licensed or certified.

1. Earn a bachelor's degree.

Required education will vary by employer, but to become a pharmaceutical sales rep, you'll likely need a bachelor's degree. According to MedReps 2018 Pharmaceutical Sales Salary Report , 98% of the reps surveyed have a four-year college degree or higher.

Here are some of the degrees a pharma rep can earn :

• Pharmaceutical business
• Pharmacology
• Business and marketing

2. Enroll in a training program.

Before you start with any training program, determine how you learn best. For example, if you're a hands-on learner, spending hours online or in a classroom simply reading information won't help you fully grasp the concepts. On the other hand, if you prefer to learn through study guides and checklists, "learn by doing" programs aren't the best fit.

You'll also need to decide what kind of learning is best suited to your schedule and lifestyle. Online programs offer flexibility, however, on-site programs allow you to ask the instructor and classmates questions and receive immediate answers, rather than having to wait days for email responses.

The in-person nature of on-site learning also presents valuable networking opportunities. You'll be able to make contacts and begin building a professional network that can help you find and secure pharmaceutical sales jobs while continuing your development.

Once you're in a pharmaceutical sales role, as with any medical sales position, you'll want to stay on top of industry information and continue to expand your sales knowledge. Employers often provide on-the-job training, and likely have recommendations for continuing your education.

3. Get licensed or certified.

Certifications might not be required by all employers, but they can help with career advancement and improve your industry and sales knowledge. The National Association of Pharmaceutical Sales Reps offers training courses and a certification to become a Certified National Pharmaceutical Representative (CNPR) .

Before a pharmaceutical sales rep can begin, employers often want them to have an understanding of pharmacology, selling, and medical terminology -- and the CNPR Certification program teaches this information. And when you're ready, you'll take the CNPR Examination . It's a two-hour exam that requires a minimum score of 80% to pass.

Completion of the program helps current pharma sales reps stay up-to-date on the industry and selling techniques. And it gives individuals who'd like to break into pharmaceutical sales an introduction to sales, pharmacology, and industry guidelines and standards.

Medical sales is a thriving and exciting industry. And owing to continual progress in medical technology and a growing population's increased demand for healthcare products, there is great job security in the field and a promising future for anyone with the passion and drive for medical sales success.

If you're trying to determine which sales role is right for you, check out these common sales job types next.

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Medical device sales is a versatile line, and you need to be proactive to close the deals. The medical device sales strategies have gone through massive changes, even though the basic principles remain the same.

The 7 Medical Device Sales Strategy You Need to Know to Get More Conversions

1. build a strong network.

Medical sales is largely dependent on building a strong network of potential buyers. You should attend all conferences and seminars in the medical device sales field and speak to the participants and audiences. Try to chat up with important decision-makers who might influence a deal.

You can also hook on to social media, especially LinkedIn, to grow your professional network. The platform even makes it easy to track the key decision-makers in a company you need to approach.

Reconnect and engage with your existing network to build long-term relationships. Marketing your healthcare product to your network can be more effective in increasing sales than approaching strangers. 

2. Never Miss on Follow-Ups

Landing an appointment with your desired contact is a tough job. So, when you succeed in doing that, make all efforts to make the deal happen.

Statistics show that  80% of deals need at least 5 follow-up calls  after the first meeting. However, 44% of medical representatives quit after a single follow-up.

Staying in touch with your prospect and influencing him subtly are subtle medical device sales tactics for deal closure. Engage your prospects with the right materials, resources, and presentations to make your products stand out. 

Push through the deal and capitalize on follow-ups for more sales. 

3. Make the Most of Email Marketing

Emails are 40-times more effective in bringing in new customers compared to Twitter or Facebook. In medical sales, emails take special importance as prospective clients are always busy. Doctors, surgeons, clinics, and hospitals deal with patients all day and have almost no time to attend to sales reps.

In such a scenario, emails can save the day and help you connect with your potential client. Your prospects can read the email in their free time, take time to consider the matter, and get back to you when it’s convenient. 

Don’t forget to personalize the emails for the most impact. You can also use an online email automation tool or a CRM like LeadSquared to save time, increase efficiency, and convert more leads. 

Pro tip: Combine your email marketing with social media marketing. Create official company pages, share posts, engage in related groups, and improve communication with prospects for more leads and conversions.

4. Adopt the Storytelling Method

Only  5% of people remember the statistics  after a presentation. However, 63% of people retain the stories told. What does this tell you?

Sales reps who adopt a storytelling approach to selling get more success than their peers. Statistics are obviously important, but you need to weave them with benefits. 

For instance, medical sales representatives can tell a doctor, “Our machine can increase efficiency by 20% and improve clinical outcomes by 15%.” But as we saw, the statistics may not be remembered by your prospect. 

A better approach would be through storytelling. The same sentence could become something like-” Our machines increase efficiency by 20% and help you save overheads and operational costs. It also helps your patients reduce symptoms and pain by 15%.”

Which one of the above two statements you think is more memorable?

5. Don’t Be Shy to Ask for Referrals

You might be surprised to know that 91% of customers are ready to give referrals. What’s more surprising is, only 11% of medical sales representatives ask for them!

Now that you know the secret, go ahead and ask every client to give some referrals. You can even ask for referrals from clients that didn’t convert. Even if they didn’t find your product useful, they might know someone who may!

It pays to be direct when you ask for referrals. The worst you can face is a single, “no.” So there’s no harm in being direct.

6. Be Ready for Complex Conversations

Medical device sales is a complex field. You should always be ready for difficult conversations, and do your homework to prove your knowledge. 

Knowing your product is essential, but not the only requirement. You also need to know and understand your buyer. 

Take the time to study your target hospital or clinic to discover unique pain points. This will give you the insights to align your product or service with that of your prospect. Some of the important things to look out for include-

• Volume of diagnoses
• Amount of procedures 
• Quality measure performance
• Outcome of treatments

Your sales reps should also be on top of the latest market developments and trends. Healthcare is an evolving field, and you need to keep yourself updated all the time. 

7. Empower Your Medical Sales Representatives with Resources

Medical sales representatives nowadays use mobiles and tablets to pith their products to doctors or physicians. Adopting this medical sales tip makes a big difference, and helps convince your prospects better. 

In this regard, videos are proving to be too effective. Consider the following-

Using videos to generate awareness and highlight the benefits of your product can work wonderfully to increase sales. Videos also form a better understanding and help medical sales representatives explain complicated topics more easily. 

Consider a Reliable HIPAA Compliant CRM

CRMs help you get and convert more leads. You can track and nurture each prospect, get autosuggestions on the next steps, and never miss a follow-up. 

LeadSquared  is a leading CRM that enables medical businesses to boost sales and productivity. You can also speed up your sales cycles and earn more revenues and profit. It also has a mobile CRM to track the location of agents, check what medical representatives are doing, geo-fencing, and automated day plans.

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The future of medtech sales is hybrid

Top-performing medtech companies are upending their traditional go-to-market (GTM) strategies by augmenting their field sales forces with remote-sales organizations. In addition to better meeting the needs and preferences of physicians, hospital procurement departments, health system administrators, technicians, and other customers, 1 In this article, “customers” refers to physicians, hospital procurement departments, health system administrators, technicians, and others who purchase or use medtech devices. the shift to a hybrid sales approach has been demonstrated to unlock growth opportunities and reduce the cost to serve across care settings.

This article examines the reasons medtech companies are accelerating efforts to build remote-sales organizations, approaches for using remote sales as part of GTM strategies, implementation considerations, and tips for getting started.

Customers have adapted to remote interactions with medtech companies

Increased interest in hybrid sales within medtech companies is fueled mainly by an increased willingness of customers to engage remotely with sales reps—a shift that began in the pandemic but, according to our research, is likely to become permanent (Exhibit 1). 2 In August 2021, we surveyed 897 physicians globally across seven specialties that use medical devices.

Although physicians’ preference for in-person meetings with medtech sales reps has rebounded since November 2020, it was still below prepandemic levels (58 percent compared to 76 percent) as of August 2021. Moreover, the proportion of respondents who indicated a preference for video interactions grew more than fivefold, from 4 percent before the pandemic to 22 percent, and the proportion who selected the phone as a preferred mode of interaction grew from 18 percent to 38 percent.

Additionally, customers are asking for options on how to engage with medtech companies, depending on where they are in their buying journey and what they are trying to accomplish. In a finding that is in line with other B2B industries, 3 “ Omnichannel engagement in medtech: The time is now ,” McKinsey, May 19, 2021. 81 percent of physicians and 89 percent of procurement professionals who participated in the August 2021 survey said they prefer to use more than one channel as they engage with medtech companies. Furthermore, our research shows the preference for remote interactions is not limited to logistical tasks such as coordinating demos and scheduling deliveries and service appointments; physicians also prefer to learn about product updates and access product support through remote engagement (Exhibit 2).

In response to these evolving customer preferences, medtech companies could consider not only setting up a combination of remote and field channels for engagement but also tightly coordinating them to provide truly omnichannel engagement with clinical and nonclinical stakeholders. Indeed, companies that have made the shift successfully position remote sales as one element of a broader omnichannel transformation that will improve their overall ability to engage consistently and effectively with their customers and stakeholders.

Challenges of remote sales in the medtech industry

Moving away from the traditional, in-person sales approach could be considered especially challenging for medtech companies given the characteristics of their products. First, the products are complex and need to be evaluated extensively by healthcare providers and procurement professionals prior to purchase. Second, sales reps or clinical specialists often accompany physicians using the equipment during medical procedures to provide guidance on its use.

Dispelling common myths about remote sales in medtech

Myth: Remote-sales reps can’t reach prospective buyers because they don’t have existing relationships with accounts.

Reality: B2B customers, especially procurement staff, are more amenable than ever to interacting remotely with sales reps. By researching customers and using data to identify their needs, sales reps can call with a specific, relevant value proposition that increases their chances of having a conversation. Further, they can use digital-outreach methods such as emails or follow up after events such as webinars, moving from cold calls to warmer introductions.

Myth: Remote sales will jeopardize the relationships field sales reps have with accounts because remote-sales reps are less experienced and not as well trained.

Fact: In interviews, hospital procurement staff often share a frustration that medtech reps show up only to make a sale and that they would prefer more consistent interactions. This suggests that adding a remote-sales rep who can engage more frequently, including before and after big sales, will lead to increased customer satisfaction. Additionally, capability-building programs can quickly prepare remote-sales reps to constructively engage with different types of customers.

Myth: Remote-sales reps are glorified administrative assistants who spend most of their time on tasks that field sales reps don’t want to do.

Fact: While remote-sales reps—like all sales reps—must complete administrative tasks, they primarily spend their time selling. They can communicate technical content to customers, answer questions about product specifications and features, and lead negotiations on price and value.

Myth: Remote-sales reps can sell only the simplest and least differentiated products.

Reality: With proper training, remote-sales reps can effectively communicate the value of large capital equipment and secure commitments from customers to evaluate a product or watch a demonstration. Although conducting a demonstration often requires an in-person meeting, all other aspects of the sales process can be handled remotely.

Perhaps as a result of these dynamics, the conventional wisdom within the industry has long held that medtech products can be sold only via high-touch, in-person engagement by charismatic sales reps with a Rolodex of contacts as their stock-in-trade. The progress of leading medtech companies, however, is flipping this script and dispelling some long-held industry myths (see sidebar, “Dispelling common myths about remote sales in medtech”).

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Choosing a remote-sales model.

There is no one size fits all approach to augmenting field sales with remote sales. Leading medtech companies have successfully implemented a variety of models based on their product portfolios, the needs and preferences of healthcare providers and procurement professionals, and their strategic objectives for the remote-sales organization. These leaders typically have adopted one of three approaches to remote sales (Exhibit 3).

Remote selling for lead generation. This top-of-the-funnel approach focuses solely on generating and qualifying opportunities that are transmitted to field sales reps to close the sale and provide ongoing service. This model is especially effective for products that are not sold at highly concentrated academic medical centers but are instead sold across a large number of smaller accounts (for example, physician offices and long-term care facilities) or where a company’s low market share and lack of established relationships limits its reach today.

Remote and field hybrid selling. This approach pairs remote sales reps with field sales reps to improve the customer experience and potentially broaden support to include, for example, fielding questions about products and discussing value propositions. For example, a remote-sales rep has the capacity to dedicate time to a site procurement leader while also scheduling product demos that a field rep can conduct in person. The two share a joint quota, which is higher than the quota of a solo field sales rep. Successful implementation of this approach requires close collaboration between the field sales and remote-sales teams to ensure clear and consistent messaging to healthcare providers and other customers.

With all these models, the primary goal is to drive top-line growth by supporting outreach to accounts.

End-to-end remote selling. This model—in which all aspects of the sale are handled by a remote team—could be effective for reaching select accounts such as smaller physician offices or those located in underserved rural areas. In these cases, a remote-sales team can perform all steps of the buying process, from sharing information about new products to providing quotes and placing orders. After the sale, the team can maintain the account’s business by conducting regular business reviews and identifying new sales opportunities. In sectors that rely heavily on product demos, a clinical specialist may need to visit the account to support the demo process, although maturing virtual-reality technology may render even this in-person step obsolete. Indeed, given the lower cost to serve compared with field sales, the remote model may allow the company to dedicate a sales rep to underserved accounts for the first time. Many companies pilot the end-to-end remote-selling model in open territories (those with no sales rep assigned to them), and then scale up to cover more accounts with end-to-end remote sales once they can demonstrate the model’s success.

The choice of models is guided by the medtech commercial organization’s strategic objectives for the remote-sales team, including how the team fits into the broader GTM model. Homing in on the appropriate model includes identifying the products and services the team will support (for example, new product launches or service contract renewals) and the account types and individual stakeholders the remote team will engage with (for example, procurement leaders for specific care settings, healthcare specialists, or buyers at size-based accounts based on their size).

One medtech company opted for the combined remote and field sales model to develop and close deals and provide after-sales support for a product that requires extensive in-person interactions, first for product demos and then to support initial use of the new device during procedures. Another medtech company sought a model that supported frequent, remote engagement with physicians to remind them of the suitability of their medical device for certain common treatments. The company retained a field-sales force to cover larger territories (for example, major hospitals and big cities) but used an end-to-end remote model to cover rural areas and other territories with low sales potential. In both cases, the chosen model supports the company’s growth objectives.

With all these models, the primary goal is to drive top-line growth by supporting outreach to accounts—to generate leads, provide additional support across the buying journey, or offer dedicated support for previously ignored accounts. Additionally, this enhanced account support can come at a lower cost compared to hiring additional field sales reps to perform outreach activities.

The future of B2B sales is hybrid

Implementation considerations.

With their vision and strategic objectives defined, medtech companies could then adopt four B2B selling principles. 4 Lisa Donchak, Julia McClatchy, and Jennifer Stanley, “ The future of B2B sales is hybrid ,” McKinsey, April 27, 2022.

Focus on talent. Companies can consider creating a data-driven process to hire and develop world-class commercial talent. While success in remote sales requires many of the same skills and attributes as field sales, the detailed talent requirements should fit the chosen model. For example, lead generators exhibit a strong drive to seek out new business and have the resilience to place many more calls than are likely to bear fruit. Remote-sales reps working with field sales reps excel at collaboration and work well on teams. And end-to-end remote-sales reps may be successful if they have both an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to maintain longer-term account relationships. Many current field sales team members, including junior or associate reps, may be a good fit for newly created remote-sales roles and may be drawn to these roles because they require less travel, have more predictable hours, and typically provide a higher ratio of fixed to variable compensation.

Hiring sales reps in cohorts, when possible, can be effective for promoting camaraderie. Ideally, the remote team is placed in a single office where they can share tips and tricks, benefit from daily in-person huddles, and participate in frequent roleplaying sessions. For cases in which the company must look further afield to hire qualified talent—for example, with some sales reps working remotely all or part of the time—these team members will need to be properly equipped to be fully productive. It will also be important to bring teams together in person for key events such as training sessions and national sales meetings and to use online tools—for example, chat tools, file-sharing apps, and regular video-supported team huddles—to build community and promote knowledge sharing.

To develop new team members, including sales reps and supervisors, and set them up for success, the company can consider mapping out an end-to-end learning journey customized to the goals and structure of the emerging sales organization and embedding it initially into general onboarding. Learning modules within this journey could be aligned to the specific types of interactions these remote reps will encounter on a daily basis. For medtech companies, in-depth product training is essential; remote-sales reps often complete the same product training modules as field sales reps. It is also critical to support the development of remote-selling skills to ensure sales reps can confidently interact with different account stakeholders, and (for hybrid models) hand off opportunities to field sales reps. These efforts may incorporate adult-learning best practices such as role-playing and simulating real-life examples. Meanwhile, a remote-sales manager can provide ongoing support and coaching. Time devoted to training can be balanced with selling time (Exhibit 4).

Incorporate remote sales as part of an agile, responsive GTM model. Medtech executives can strive to organize the GTM model to bring the best of the organization to every customer interaction. Irrespective of which remote-sales models a company uses, the remote team will need to coordinate with other groups that are also part of the broader GTM organization: remote sales, field sales, key account managers, clinical specialists, customer service representatives, service engineers, and more. This is a critical element of an omnichannel model. 5 For more, see Ralph Breuer, Elizabeth Guenther, Rukhshana Motiwala, and Christian Zerbi, “ The rise of digital marketing in medtech ,” McKinsey September 24, 2021. For example, increased reliance on digital-marketing outreach will translate to a steady source of leads from these digital interactions (for example, requests for follow-ups from emails, social outreach, or webinars) that may require the remote-sales team to follow up on. Additionally, partnerships with analytics teams can support using lead scoring to rank customers for remote-sales teams to follow up with based on engagement as well as other customer attributes.

Steps to promote coordination across all customer engagement channels include the following:

• Establish aligned incentives to encourage impact-driven collaboration. For example, in the hybrid-selling model, incentives are tied to a quota shared between both sales reps. There can also be special incentives for the number of leads closed jointly or field sales rep follow-ups on leads generated by their remote-sales partners.
• Delineate clear roles and responsibilities and aligning on a customer contact strategy. This entails defining customer sets for digital outreach, clarifying follow-up plans by the remote-sales and field sales teams, and ensuring that all customer contacts are tracked to avoid duplicate outreach. In some cases, other channels, such as customer service, could flag opportunities to remote-sales teams.
• Create alignment at the management level. Managers within each channel organization can communicate transparently, reinforcing the benefits of collaboration and celebrating success stories of how remote-sales team members work with others to generate impact.

Leverage insights. Medtech companies have access to a breadth of internal data—for example, installed base information, purchase history, and customer service call records—and external data, including claims data, physician publications, and data from affiliates, such as group purchasing organizations and integrated delivery networks. These data combined with analytics capabilities could unlock insights to help remote-sales reps develop their customer outreach strategies and guide them on how and where to spend their time.

Medtech companies can go further and glean insights to identify specific accounts or contacts to target, for example, for cross-selling opportunities based on purchases of complementary products. With more advanced-analytics capabilities, machine-learning models can predict churn or recommend the next product to buy from a portfolio of thousands.

Insights also come in the form of performance metrics shared with sales reps, managers, and team leaders. When they contain leading and lagging indicators, individual performance dashboards can identify specific areas of development. For example, a remote-sales rep whose opportunities are consistently stuck in one funnel stage may benefit from coaching on specific selling skills. The dashboard can also help reps manage their time and pipeline.

It is also important to report on initiative-level successes, such as a remote-sales organization’s performance against specific commercial objectives aligned to customer segments, product segments, or select marketing campaigns. Last, lead and revenue metrics can complement customer experience metrics and employee satisfaction survey scores to ensure the remote-sales organization is best supporting customers and the commercial organization.

Enable technology. The nature of remote selling requires sales reps to make and receive phone and video calls, but the technology to do this well goes far beyond a simple phone. Starting with the basics, every sales rep needs a good headset with noise-canceling abilities; a large external monitor to look up customer information and screen-share product brochures, videos, and the like with customers; a professional background display; and a dedicated phone number. Several computer telephony integration (CTI) tools such as those frequently used by contact centers can not only manage outbound dialing and route inbound calls but also collect information on call activity that can help assess individual and group performance. For example, these dashboards can show the number of inbound and outbound calls, connection rates, length of calls, and other metrics that can help yield quantitative “call quality” metrics useful in coaching and performance evaluations. Where local laws allow, CTI tools can also support making call recordings, which can then be reviewed with sales reps and managers together to provide detailed feedback after specific interactions.

These CTI systems can also integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) tools to streamline call workflow. When a sales rep places a call, the customer’s information can be automatically displayed. Once the call is completed, the interaction history can be automatically logged in the CRM so sales reps do not have to manually input call information. Especially in hybrid-selling models, the CRM can function as the “single source of truth” with all members of the commercial team by having ready access to the full call history. As CTI systems become more sophisticated and integrate new analytical tools such as natural language processing and sentiment analysis, they may be able to automate real-time call feedback on performance in each individual call without requiring a manager to listen in and provide coaching.

Getting started

Medtech companies vary widely with respect to the sophistication of their hybrid-sales or end-to-end remote-sales models today; most companies, however, can make quick, meaningful progress to build or scale remote-sales channels. An effective starting point is to find a section of the organization with supportive sales leadership and to align on a clear business goal, such as improving lead generation for specific products, improving cross-selling in large accounts, or reducing cost to serve the many long-tail accounts that may each deliver a small amount of revenue. The organization can then quickly set up a pilot, limiting risk by starting with a small cohort of sales reps (typically five to 20) and focusing on accounts that are already underserved or have untapped potential. Organizations can start with technology already used in their contact centers and use existing CRM systems and lead-generation algorithms. While the time to revenue impact depends on the selling cycle, most of these remote-sales pilots can break even in less than two years, quickly generating returns that can be invested in the organization.

The ability for medtech companies to shift their current selling models to address already changed customer behaviors will impact their top- and bottom-line growth potential in the coming years. As medtech companies become more omnichannel, implementing remote-sales models will be a key element in maintaining strong customer experience and driving growth.

Eric Buesing is a partner in McKinsey’s Stamford office; Rafique Jiwani is a consultant in the New York office; Julia Samorezov is an associate partner in the Boston office, where Delphine Nain Zurkiya is a partner.

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How to achieve your goals and targets as a Medical Sales Rep

Knowing that your job has a positive impact on patient experiences is an incredibly rewarding feeling. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons that we motivate ourselves to achieve higher goals and smash our targets at IQVIA. In such a diverse industry like healthcare, goal-setting helps identify a clearer direction as to how we can actualise our work potential. 

Read on as we explore some goal-setting strategies that can help you  advance your career in medical sales . 

Why is it important to set the right goals? 

Ask yourself, can I achieve this goal in the time I’ve allocated? If the answer is no, then the goal can easily be moved into your long-term goal list (to be discussed later on).

When setting the right type of goals, it’s important to remember that progress takes time, and then actually give yourself that time.  

Let’s say you want to  increase your medical sales performance by 10-15%. Ideally, this should be a goal that you look to achieve over a three to six-month period, rather than only giving yourself one month to achieve it. This is because you need time to focus on how you are working towards the goal. For example, you might find that ‘x’ works better than ‘y’ or that ‘z’ doesn’t really work at all. Therefore, giving yourself enough time to achieve your goals offers you the chance to put into practice the strategies you have discovered to be most effective. 

Short-term vs long-term goals

Sticking to the example goal above; increasing sales performance by 10-15% is our long-term goal. The short-term goal would be the targets we set along the way in order to reach our long-term goal. For instance, setting a short-term goal may be to gain more  client insight to increase sales performance in the long run. This may include: 

Spending an extra 30 minutes studying the client in further detail 

Anticipating possible client objections to your  sales pitch and how you will respond 

Identifying your client’s pain points and proposing other pharmaceutical drugs or  medical devices that may relieve them - in turn expanding your business with them.

How to stay motivated when measuring your goals

We’ve all experienced the frustration of not seeing the results of our hard work. Research shows that there is a  direct correlation between optimism and goal attainment , so if you find yourself going off track, try not to get discouraged and remind yourself that adversity fuels growth. 

Try measuring and visually recording the progress you make towards your goals. That way you’ll be able to see the areas that have improved. Even if they are gradual improvements, having them visually laid out in front of you will make you feel like they are still worth celebrating. This could be anything from clients returning contracts faster than you anticipated or clients being convinced enough to ask for the contract before you actively offer it.

You might not have picked up on these things if you hadn’t recorded them. Never underestimate  the power of writing down your goals and your progress - it is key to staying motivated. 

Achieve your goals with IQVIA 

At IQVIA, we want to help you actualise your potential in the workplace. We recognise that achieving goals is at the heart of professional development. With a steadfast dedication to patients, safety and ethics, our 61,000 colleagues across 100 countries are ready to make the healthcare sector thrive. Why not be a part of the team and apply for a  medical sales rep job today? Or  sign up for job alerts to guarantee that you never pass up on your perfect opportunity. 

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The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice

Medical Device Sales 101: Ten steps to success in medical device sales

March 16, 2011 By MassDevice Contributors Network

By Devin Hughes

Selling anything is tough, but selling medical devices is especially brutal when you consider that learning the massive volumes of anatomy and procedural data is actually the easy part of the job.

The tricky part of medical device sales is applying everything that you learned in training to the operating room, at the same time as your learning how to add value to surgeons, staff while helping to improve patient outcomes. I have compiled a collection of proven tactics that have helped numerous sales reps stand out in the crowd. These ten tips for success in medical device sales are kind of my Medical Device Sales 101 class:

• Be prepared for some "pushback" about your company, product(s), the last sales rep, your manager and any other random objection you might hear from surgeon or staff. Wear your emotional bullet proof vest to work.
• Have the residents help. They can teach the surgeons and remind them
• Teach the scrub technicians and they will intern remind and guide the surgeons
• Discuss application tips before the case in OR lounge or at the scrub sink
• Get your product on surgeon preference cards (product is in room on every case) Ask the surgeon for permission to inform the circulating nurse to add your product(s).
• Be prepared to have difficult conversations. With many devices, you are not always in the room when they use it so you often have no idea as to whether they are using your product when you are not around. Prospects will tell you all kinds of stories about how much they use and often, etc.
• 1-2 times per week
• Establish credibility with staff and surgeons
• Differentiate yourself from other reps
• 15 cases per week – minimum
• Overachieve on effort from the start
• Genuine interest in people. Average reps make a memorable first impression. Great reps usually do that, but they always wear well over time. Why? Their concern for customers is real, and it goes deeper than one case. Surgeons come to value the sales person as much and sometimes more than the device itself.
• Will they introduce you to others in their group, at the hospital and in your territory?
• Take things personally. Average reps have a job. Great reps are passionate about their positions and it borders on an obsession. They eat, sleep, and drink conversations about their territory, that case, next week, this month, that new doc, this new study etc… They never sell enough, never know enough, and never work hard enough. They can always do more and will never be out worked. They don’t see rejection and internal resistance as a roadblock but rather a challenge.
• Let everyone know about your solution and why it is different and how it improves patient outcomes
• Introduce yourself to surgeons if you can in between cases, in their offices, OR lounge or anywhere else in the hospital.

Devin Hughes is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CONNECT, an independent non-profit organization servicing the San Diego region that links high technology and life sciences entrepreneurs with the resources that they need for success: Technology, money, markets, management, partners and support services. Springboard, CONNECT’s flagship program, is a business creation and development program. Innovators at all stages receive hands-on mentoring by successful business leaders in the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Program. He mentors for start-up pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and medical device companies.

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How Much Do Medical Device Sales Representatives Make? Chart with 50 Examples Salaries

Medical Sales Compensation: How much does a medical device sales rep make? Based on our sample of Comparably™ data for the top 10 medical device companies, the average yearly total compensation is $155,358 . The average base medical device salary is $94,918 and the bonus commission is $60,440 in 2021, making the commission percentage you earn 38% of your total compensation. 

Compensation can vary widely on tenure, division, and company — but make no mistake, medical device sales is lucrative. Top representatives can pull in $400K+ on a good year.

Let's explore some additional compensation packages.

Average Medical Device Sales Total Compensation by Company and Role

Table in USD ($)

Average Associate Sales Representative to Sales Representative Total Compensation Increase

Medical device sales compensation broken down by company, role, base, bonus/commission, and total compensation.

There is some serious money to be made in medical device sales. For more resources on how to break into medical device sales, view our All-In Course or download our Company Guides .

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Top Three Opportunities For Medical Device Sales Operations

commercial excellence Commercial Operations Life Sciences Med-tech Medical Device Medical Devices Sales and Marketing Sales Effectiveness Sales Operations Sales Strategy & Operations

The commercial ecosystem of the medical device industry is an intricate one. Medical device sales teams constantly watch out for opportunities across the sales process, beyond the overarching life sciences commercial protocol (salesforce structure and deployment, sales activity design, incentive compensation, and operations outsourcing). These intricacies arise from various factors, like the heavy dependence on sales reps, mechanics and scale of the products being sold (sometimes complete health solutions), diversity of the stakeholder entities involved (from market influencers to centralized purchasing teams), and back and front-end supply chain fallouts. Here are some examples.

• Sales reps need to be significantly skilled due to the depth of product detailing and demonstration involved. While working with leaner teams, reps not only pitch products to the Healthcare Physicians (HCPs) but also demonstrate end outcomes in their narrow interaction windows.
• As most products are service-oriented, sales reps are responsible for after-sales interactions as well.
• Some of the most useful information comes from field operations.
• Reps significantly influence the quarter-end deals, acquisition, and contracting decisions.
• It is difficult to attribute sales to marketing campaigns, leading to the random apportionment of budgets across channels.
• Sometimes, this relationship supersedes the interest of the manufacturer, and they risk losing valued business with rep movements 1 .
• Long selling cycles, and complex stakeholder relationships and contracting strategies make the commercial operations cumbersome to monitor.
• Extraordinarily complex and expensive devices have low Direct-To-Customer (DTC) focus. They need the endorsement of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the market.
• Limitations in third-party and competitor market share data and variations in pricing data make informed decisions a prolonged process.

Due to many such considerations, the medical device sales cycles end up being longer, less productive, and highly costly for medical device companies. Being underprepared to monitor and streamline this process often poses severe dips in the sales ROI, leads to market share loss, and dilutes brand equity in the highly volatile market. Sales teams operating in such an environment need to acknowledge these opportunites and pursue each of them with a predefined commercial strategy. A tightly planned, executed, and monitored medical device sales operations model is the guiding force towards commercial excellence.

three of the most prominent battles that medical device sales teams often face

This blog studies three of the most prominent opportunities for medical device sales teams to get ahead of the game.

DATA MANAGEMENT

Data for medical devices are critical to administer and manage. Due to the unique approval, sales, and distribution processes involved across product life cycles, medical device companies need to make good use of all the available datasets. Some of the data characteristics are given below.

• With the large number of data reporting entities involved, right from a device’s approval (FDA’s approval organizations 2 ) to the supply chain (wholesale and retail distribution channels) processes, the volume and variety of unstructured data becomes tedious to harmonize. This mix of proprietary and third-party data sources makes creating a ‘single-source-of-truth,’ a cumbersome process.
• Data for medical devices is primarily driven by claims and not retail prescriptions, making it available at the account-level and not individual HCP-level. This characteristic makes it difficult to gauge the demand-generating avenues.
• A significant proportion of medical device purchase decisions are centralized. When dealing with Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) and Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs), tracing the entire network of multiple HCPs, product accounts, and the corresponding relations comes with its challenges. This complex macro environment, with a series of third-party data sources, leads to inaccurate, incomplete, and delayed data.
• Medical device product portfolios often consist of several parent-child account relationships. The corresponding Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) for each product type make data views even more complicated to understand and analyze.

Harmonizing stubborn unstructured data is critical towards informed decision-making. When dealing with such complications, medical device companies must focus actively on the way their data is ingested, integrated, and analyzed across all business units. Streamlining multiple data sources and standardizing and merging the corresponding datasets into a single source of truth becomes a vital first step. It is equally essential to ensure robust governance of data across its management process.

Learn More - "Laboratory Information Systems and Medical Device Industry"

CUSTOMER PROFILING

Medical device sales reps face an extensive customer portfolio. Their customers range from individual HCPs to large GPOs and IDNs, coming with a network of several purchasing decision-makers. More so, beyond pitching products, most medical device sales teams transact at an account-level with these centralized decision-makers. In such a scenario, ensuring an excellent customer profile comes with its own set of rules.

• There are multiple facets of medical device sales. The field force drives compliance on existing contracts and maximizes annual sales. At the same time, Key Account Managers (KAMs) engage in contract negotiations with large GPOs, IDNs, and other centralized decision-makers. These multiple hierarchies of sales models need individual management teams ranging across product categories. It becomes challenging to profile customer portfolios, especially when they stretch across numerous specialty (e.g., imaging, surgery, etc.) and therapy areas (e.g., cardiology, orthopedic implants, etc.). GPOs and IDNs specifically aim to lower operating costs for healthcare facilities by negotiating purchasing prices. However, high medical supply costs and reduced margins are leading to the consolidation of GPOs and IDNs 3 .
• With some of the IDNs merging with GPOs and moving towards leaner contracts 3 , the customer portfolio spreads thin, with too many shipments into separate narrow inlets of individual accounts. This situation not only increases the supply chain logistics complexities but also significantly reduces sales and profitability.
• Determining the total business value of each customer account is tedious, as they cut across various product hierarchies and portfolios. Businesses with customers can range from individual products to complete care-delivery solutions. These permutations and combinations of customer engagements are challenging to track across multiple product categories, complicating the estimation and budgeting decisions.

It is crucial to have the utmost clarity of the customers and the way they interact with a medical device company. Customer data, along with field sales expertise, can be used to understand each customer account and chart out the corresponding product mapping across the various levels. This approach can simplify the process of evaluating each customer portfolio and channelize consistent sales efforts.

COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE

Successful execution and monitoring are as important as planning a robust commercial strategy. With varying degrees of sales responsibilities, the field forces and KAMs struggle to operationalize their desired sales models. Some of the apparent reasons are given below.

• While creating a territory alignment design for sales teams, KAMs take various routes to arrive at an optimized plan. Some customers are contacted based on their geographical ZIP-Codes, while the more significant, centralized customers at the account-levels. Few customers are recognized at the hybrid of the two as well. These alignment differences are critical, owing to the scale of medical device products being sold. As a result, the territory alignment process becomes more cumbersome, and the sales structures less flexible. In many cases, medical device stakeholders are not available in the same zip-code, city, or even state, reinforcing the importance of the KAM role.
• While targeting different customers, especially at the account-level, all the underlying decision-makers need to be approached strategically. Sometimes, this leads to multiple targets within the same accounts, adding many more complex layers to the segmentation and targeting process.
• Sales reps face many roadblocks while executing the sales process, such as complicated product portfolios, back-end supply challenges, longer sales cycles, and reduced productivity. These challenges come in the way of creating fair and equitable goals and quotas, overall impacting their motivation.

To ensure accelerated outcomes from commercial strategies, medical device companies need an innovative commercialization approach for their end-to-end sales processes. Since the selling and purchasing process could be long and arduous, the need for a comprehensive system of data, analytics, and decision enabling networks is critical to making the right choices. The first step is robust data management to create an on-demand single-source-of-truth. Various analytics models can then be designed to ensure accurate and timely actionable insights at the point-of-decision. The results can lead to multiple operational and business benefits.

• Predictive insights into salesforce requirements
• Account-prioritization by business potential
• Key accounts-based territory alignment
• Gamified sales processes for rep motivation
• Balanced qualitative and quantitative compensation designs
• Streamlined customer-to-product tracking
• Simplified end-to-end SKU-to-contract chain
• Optimized salesforce structuring to meet business objectives

Medical device companies work hard to succeed in the demanding and competitive healthcare landscape. The ability to pursue these opportunities, while being at the forefront of innovative commercialization, and satisfying existing customer relations can help them get ahead of the curve. Along with sophisticated data management, advanced analytics, and commercial operationalization solutions, end-to-end integrated platforms can help them punch above their weights. These platforms have proven to benefit customers with flexibility, agility, and scale while deploying enterprise-wide solutions. Implementing such cloud-based platforms will prove to be their single most winning proposition in the times to come.

REFERENCES:

• The Share Thief: How to Steal Market Share in Medical Devices, available at https://www.stealingshare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Medical-Device-Brand-Thief.pdf
• ScienceDirect: Drugs, Devices, and the FDA: Part 2: An Overview of Approval Processes: FDA Approval of Medical Devices, available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452302X16300183
• Definitive Healthcare: Effects of IDN and GPO Consolidation on the Healthcare Supply Chain, available at https://blog.definitivehc.com/idn-gpo-consolidation-healthcare-supply-chain

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What do Sales Reps need to know in order to be successful in the industry?

1) Sales Basics Sure, you know how to use medical terminology properly and even understand the details in the sales literature produced by your employer, but do you know the basics of sales? Are you able to close a deal? Do you know how to put together and present a sales pitch? All of these things are crucial for a medical sales rep to know. Some of the many things involved in sales include:

• Finding Leads – At the outset, finding leads sounds simple. All that you need to do is a Google search, right? In actuality, there’s a bit more to it. You also have to find the right people, their contact information, make sure you’re adhering to hospital policies and so on. A good training program will teach you all of this.
• Using Sales Tools – There are a number of different sales tools available. From internet and app-based programs to paper-based methods, it can be tricky to find the ones that work best for you. Your medical sales training program should include some information about these tools to help you make those decisions.
• Setting Realistic Goals – Finally, there are goals. Yes, your medical products company will set some for you, such as sales targets you need to hit on a quarterly or half-yearly basis. However, in order to meet them, you also need to set some goals of your own. Setting realistic goals is something that can easily be taught in a sales training program.

2) How to Develop Customer Relationships Not only do salespeople need to know how to find customers and sales leads, but they also need to know how to develop those relationships. After all, sales don’t usually take place after one phone call or email. A sales pitch, as well as some follow-up calls made within a reasonable timeline, are required to build the relationship. Covering this in a sales training program helps sales reps understand how to create a relationship in order to meet their goals. 3) Determining Pain Points Pain points are one of the most important aspects to be able to discern. In order to put together an effective sales pitch, you need to present those pain points to your customer, so you can solve their problems. Their pain points are what you’ll use as an effective sales tool. After all, you’re offering them a solution: your product and it needs to be emphasized just how useful that product will be in their day-to-day job. By teaching how to identify these pain points, your sales team will be able to put together useful pitches and make those sales. 4) General Business Skills Some general business skills are required in order to be a successful medical sales rep. You need to be able to communicate professionally with your customers, as well as understand their business from their particular perspective. The more you know about business in general, the better off you’ll be when it comes to working with customers and making sales. 5) Important Medical Terminology While medical sales reps might already know some important terminology, thanks to those biology, anatomy and physiology courses, there’s always more to learn. There may be specific terms used by people in a specific industry niche, like pharmaceuticals or biotech, that the sales reps need to know in order to understand the literature and speak to their customers. 

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