As one of the largest sectors in the healthcare industry, there are currently over 900 medical device companies (IBIS 2022) making it a continually fast-growing and competitive market. Most sales reps in this field face similar challenges such as:
- Engaging potential buyers.
- Being responsive to prospects and customers.
- Sharing information that builds trust to win deals.
And they're solving these by being at the forefront of adoption for mobile sales apps. Let's talk about why this is...
Overall the medical device industry is extremely innovative. In today's market, they must justify their spending on new tech by showing impressive ROI. We set out to try and determine what this industry has learned to justify their investment in mobile at such an incredible rate. We've uncovered some interesting recurring themes—mobile apps:
- Foster collaboration between sales and marketing.
- Make it easy to access pertinent information offline.
- Allow you to track performance in the field.
Let’s take a closer look at these concepts and why they might be so important in the medical device industry.
Reason #1: Mobile apps foster collaboration between sales and marketing.
Large companies, especially those with an international presence, are frequently challenged with communication between sales and marketing departments. A mobile digital sales tool gives reps working remotely the assurance that the materials accessed are always the most up-to-date, compliant versions available from their marketing organization.
From a content enablement standpoint, this same platform gives marketing teams the ability to share information and content in real-time. They are assured that their sellers only have access to the most current, and on-brand information available. And they can highlight content that is most important to bring attention to high-priority campaigns and business initiatives.
This is especially important to our Modus clients in the medical device industry. There are frequent innovations, product updates, and other changes happening for several products at the same time. Luckily, with a digital sales platform, reps don’t have to spend time worrying about whether they’re using the right information—about products, or clinical—it is always current and available, just when it's needed on the app.
Not only does this present a unified brand message across sales reps, regions, and even continents, but it also removes the likelihood of mistakes being made in the field during sales calls.
Sellers are sure that customers and prospects are getting the right information every time. This helps ensure compliance with key documents to doctors. That peace of mind is something that our clients consistently appreciate and enjoy.
Reason #2: Mobile sales apps deliver access to pertinent information offline.
This is something we hear all the time. How many times has a sales rep gone into a hospital for a sales call only to realize that there isn’t any Wi-Fi in the meeting location? If they don’t already have the materials downloaded, or if they need to access anything online for their presentation, they’re S.O.L.💩. And since those in the medical device industry spend their fair share of time in ‘no Wi-Fi zones’ it can get frustrating and become financially detrimental to the business.
An effective digital sales platform must provide access to all of the information needed, with or without connectivity. Modus allows reps to store all materials locally on their mobile device so everything is readily available anytime you’ve got an audience.
The right platform will give reps the ability to track valuable analytics even while they're offline. Then the next time the rep hits Wi-Fi, the app reports the data with no loss of information of buyer intent for easy follow-up and engagement.
The confidence your salespeople have when they walk into a room knowing they have everything they need, regardless of the wireless situation around them, shines during the pitch and in the relationship with the client for more wins.
Reason #3: Mobile sales apps allow you to track performance in the field.
One thing our clients love about Modus is the high-value analytics. Data including materials salespeople are using, how often, and with whom, automatically roll up to the marketing team. This gives insight into what is valuable for the rep. It's a way for sales and marketing to work together to improve sales. If the marketing team can track what works for specific markets, types of buyers, or even individual hospitals, they can make the necessary adjustments based on data that will help enable success for people in the field. For example, using analytics, you can see how your most successful reps are using the platform, what materials they use most, and even what presentations they are emailing to their customers.
With input from our platform users, we've put even more of a focus on analytics and integrations with CRM and MAP platforms. This kind of integration is key because it alerts a sales rep when one of their clients is interested in looking at something else on the company website. Then, the sales enablement platform can pull info out of their marketing and lead nurturing platform about any new leads that a salesperson gets. Our customer, BI Worldwide, uses our app in this way and has seen some great results.
Additionally, with med device companies, there's the importance of compliance. Ensuring that all sales reps are sending out compliant information hasn’t been something easily tracked in the past. But with a digital sales tool like Modus, the analytics can actually show when documents are used.
All types of industries can learn from Medical device companies. Before you invest time and capital into a mobile app you must ensure you will be able to measure its success and ROI. Modus’s robust analytics provides exceptional results for our clients -- their businesses are able to become more successful by using real data, instead of hypotheses, to guide their sales and marketing decisions.
Do you use a mobile sales app for your business? If you do, I’d love to hear what your favorite benefits are! Tweet them to us at @ModusEngagement or sound off in the comments. If you want to know more about using a sales enablement platform for your company, check us out!
