Medtech manufacturers are facing a bottleneck. The industry is expecting strong growth despite disruptions in the supply chain. However, this growth can only be achieved if they give in to healthcare providers’ demands for the best prices while addressing ongoing challenges that all manufacturers face: A lack of sales talent, customers’ rising expectations, and a need for 24/7 self-service buying.
One powerful approach that medical technology providers can adopt, is to take customers beyond the product, and into the solution by turning a sales catalog into an interactive experience. Medical manufacturers can invite customers or prospects to self-register for an online portal where they can explore the entire portfolio of medical solutions themselves. Self-service buying is no longer a scenario of the future, even for the most complex products.
Another way to effectively bind customers long-term is by providing exemplary aftersales service. This approach empowers customers with the ability to easily augment, improve, and maintain their previously purchased equipment —so that they remain focused on driving outcomes instead of the product.
A seamless aftersales experience lets your customers focus on outcomes instead of products
A seamless aftersales experience is crucial for this approach. Your customers should be able to buy what they need when they need it. An online portal for a medical manufacturer must be intelligent enough to automatically suggest the most relevant upgrades and add-ons to their install base. The entire configuration and buying process should not take more than 10 minutes.
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While the selling or buying should be simple, the system is anything but. That’s because your sales process is incredibly complex. Making sure everything works together requires integrations that a generic eCommerce platform can’t provide. There are numerous critical connections to be made. First, it needs to have two-way integration with your SAP ERP to ensure product data used externally is always up-to-date and accurate.
At the same time, it needs to feed order data back into the system to inform production. Next, it needs an embedded CPQ to ensure pricing accuracy and fast configuration of products or solutions. Lastly, it needs an embedded CRM so that sales teams can track and prioritize high-potential leads while identifying opportunities based on the customers’ install base.
In short, it needs to be integrated with a manufacturer’s backend systems and digital sales tools.
With the advent of cloud computing, digitizing your entire aftersales go-to-market takes just weeks instead of months. However, some manufacturers may have some reservations regarding the intangible aspects of digital sales. Some questions that decision-makers in your organization could ask before digitizing aftersales:
Your answer: Digital sales can impact the customer relationship but in a wholly positive way. Digital sales helps your business meet customers where they are--a competitive advantage for manufacturers in your industry. It’s ready to sell when your customers are ready to buy. It has all the possible configurations your customer could want. And when your customers are not sure what they need, the system keeps your business fully aware of what upgrades, spare parts, or consumables are needed before the customer even realizes themselves. In essence, it enhances your relationships by removing bottlenecks from traditional sales methods, while keeping the things what your customers love intact.
Today, disruptions of any kind have proven to be a constant. Medtech technology manufacturers now need to focus on building resilience to weather future threats to “business as usual.” That means your Digital Sales Platform needs to have advanced features baked into it. Here’s a list of differentiating features that your business needs.
The list of features needed for effective aftersales digitization can seem exhaustive. However, these features come by default on a Digital Sales Platform built for MedTech manufacturers. Not only do the manufacturers get the features they need out-of-the-box, but they can also be implemented far faster than generic solutions. In this way, manufacturers can save on consultation and integration fees, as well as on human resources—while your business can start to leverage the platform in 6 months or less.
For the majority of manufacturers, including those in the Medtech manufacturing industry, aftersales is a massive revenue generator. Taking it online can result in transformative outcomes. With digital aftersales, your business benefits greatly.
Leading manufacturers that invested in digital sales have proven that these goals are achievable. Your business simply needs a helping hand from a solution provider that knows your industry inside and out. Book a no-obligation consultation with our manufacturing sales experts to understand what In Mind Cloud and our advanced Digital Sales Platform can do for you.