Will your sales hiring strategy need a check-up?
The NHS is moving from 'cheapest-first' to 'patient-first'.
New guidelines from NHS England are shifting the focus from cost to the overall impact on patients when it comes to buying new medical tech. The new procurement criteria will include things like long-term patient outcomes, and how likely the tech is to reduce waiting lists. It's also hoped that it'll boost innovation too.
Now, whilst I'm very hopeful this is going to have a positive impact on NHS patients and the ability for trusts to access cutting-edge tech, I'm not an expert on the intricacies of the NHS. I wrote a LinkedIn post about this topic and there are plenty of brilliant comments on there from people who are in the know, so I'd encourage you to have a look at that here.
But what I can talk to you about is the impact it might have on how Medical Device manufacturers approach recruitment for their clinical and commercial teams.
First of all, why will it have an impact?
You might think that the 'only' impact will be on users and employees of the NHS, but in reality almost any major change to healthcare in the UK has a knock-on effect on the way medical device manufacturers go to market.
With value being placed front and centre, it's going to be more crucial than ever before that sales teams are able to effectively communicate the benefits of their products to clinical (and commercial!) procurement teams in the NHS.
What's going to be important when hiring?
I don't think there'll be a huge shake-up here. But, I do think certain skills will become more important than ever before and companies will be trying to get these skills front and centre in their teams, whether that's through upskilling or hiring.
Here's the top 5 skills that I think are going to become increasingly important (in no particular order).
1. Market intelligence
A change in procurement model means it's important for sales people to not just know their product inside out, but to understand the system that they're selling it into. Think things like trust priorities, regional health inequalities, budgets.
Reps with strong market intelligence will be able to figure out where there are unmet needs in trusts, figure out if there are early adopters for particular types of tech, and map out how the policy shifts are influencing purchasing behaviour. By keeping on top of these things, they'll be able to plan where to target and how best to position their product portfolio to increase the likelihood of conversion - an invaluable skill to have!
2. Data analysis
Shifting to a value-based procurement model means measurable outcomes become increasingly important. These will typically include factors like reduction in patient complications and wait list lengths.
Reps will want to have a solid handle on data and what's important to particular trusts. By understanding this, they can tailor their pitch to include the data that stakeholders are really interested in. How has the product performed in clinical trials? What real-world successes has it had so far? Is there anything interesting in post-market data? A rep who is confident to present - and, crucially, discuss - this kind of evidence will be worth their weight in gold.
3. Consultative selling
We've been seeing a mass exodus away from transactional selling for a long time now. Companies have long been focused on building partnerships and imparting value to their customers, and the evolution of the NHS procurement model is only going to make this more important.
A move to patient-first almost demands a partnership approach too, with that understanding of what a trust needs, their patient pathways, and their specific targets being front and centre. Sales people will need to act as an advisor to the stakeholders within trusts, solving their specific problems and helping them get the best outcomes for their patients by using their tech. It'll be key for reps to really listen and dig into the needs of their customers, and position their products as the solution they need.
This requires a deep knowledge of the product portfolio and the benefits associated with it.
4. Clinical understanding
The best sales teams can speak the language of clinicians. They know what they're interested in, they understand technical terminology, and most importantly they can speak to them candidly about their goals.
For medical device manufacturers this is likely to look like building out a team of clinical specialists to support their sales teams in pre-sales processes, and with ongoing clinical support for existing customers. If their sales people have a clinical background, that's even better. Looking for candidates who've worked in a clinical environment, with clinical stakeholders, before and are comfortable in hospital environments is key.
If you're working in a clinical role right now and are thinking of making the move to a commercial one, download our guide here.
5. Influencing skills
The last key skill is the ability to influence stakeholders. Under the new guidelines, there's a chance reps are going to encounter more stakeholders than ever before in a sales process, from clinicians to service managers to procurement leads. They'll have to consider the impact of a product across many different departments.
Being a great relationship builder and influencer is, therefore, key. Reps will need to be able to build support, know how to navigate organisational/trust dynamics, and align different stakeholders on the same vision around their product and the value it has to patients. Really this is all about collaborative conversations that bring everyone's needs together.
Want to build your medical device sales team?
We've helped loads of medical device companies find the sales and clinical people with the skills they need to reach their goals. If you want us to help you do the same, get in touch on charlotte.clancy@fmctalent.com