How Do Medical Device Consulting Firms Predict Market Success for their Clients?

Great medical device consulting firms can predict market success with surprising accuracy. Here’s how they do it.

Just like any other group, medical device executives come from different backgrounds with varying specializations and experience. They run companies across a vast array of healthcare specialties, from digital health to interventional cardiology. Each of these people brings unique perspectives and abilities.

And yet, there is one thing they all have in common: an intense desire to peek into the future. They would likely give anything for a crystal ball – one that revealed, with detail and precision, exactly how their product would be welcomed into the market.

This is why medical device consulting firms are a critical resource to medical device startups or any MedTech company tasked with entering a new market. Consulting firms perform critical due diligence and market analysis to build successful strategies, and then help companies apply that insight to ensure products succeed.

Great medical device consulting firms can predict market success with surprising accuracy. Here’s how they do it.

4 Reasons MedTech Consulting Firms Can Predict Product Success

Medical device consulting firms should have specific skills and tools that help guide companies to success. Here are four reasons that our firm is able to provide unique insights into how well a product will perform, predicting product success before it goes to market.

#1: We’ve been there, done that—a lot.

As a medical device consulting firm, we work with dozens of clients each year and have experience witnessing the successes—and warning against the failures—of the commercial side of MedTech. It is with these experiences that we can inform companies about how they should approach their initial market evaluation strategy.

We have dug into data surrounding companies that have succeeded and failed, and performed countless voice-of-customer interviews. This experience gives us a deeper understanding of what works in MedTech and what doesn’t. For example, because we learned that certain physicians always ask certain questions, we give our clients’ strategies a head start by addressing those questions and issues at the forefront.

#2: We apply a healthy level of skepticism

Medical device consulting firms should offer an unbiased, expert perspective. MedTech leaders and teams are emotionally invested in their new product—and they should be. It’s a passion for the product that pushes executives to take steps to bring it to market. However, it also means that you may not have the clearest vision of the obstacles and challenges that need to be addressed.

While we act as a partner to our MedTech clients, we are still independent. We can apply a skeptical lens that executives in the trenches, and particularly founders, may lack or fail to see due to a cognitive bias. It allows us to talk to stakeholders with an open mind and gain true reactions and behaviors so we can identify those challenges that are worth solving.

#3: We know what to ask – and what not to ask

Navigating a successful launch requires that companies conduct primary market research. You need to know what stakeholders think, and yet not all questions are created equal.  You need to make sure that physicians, patients, healthcare systems, and anyone else you engage with is answering the right questions. We know which questions will give you the actionable insights you need – and which won’t.

When engaging with physicians, for example, we have learned not to ask about personal preferences or opinions. Instead, we ask questions related to current problems and challenges. We ask how, in that context, the new device might solve those issues. We also ask about any barriers to adoption.

People are poor predictors of their future behaviors. For example, asking “do you want to buy this?” is not as effective as asking, “what would this do for you if you had it?” This way, they are envisioning having it and providing insights into how it will fit into their workflow, what patient reactions might be, what unintended consequences might pop up. That gives medical device executives much more value than a “yes” or “no” related to purchase.

#4: We articulate the value of the product to the opportunity

We help companies position their product to speak directly to the market opportunity. We work with clients to draft a value proposition that shows all of the stakeholders, from investors to providers, why customers have to have this product. In fact, we seek to create a value proposition that is so a compelling it will feel nearly criminal not to use the product.

Quantifying the market need early allows our firm to predict how successful the product will be long-term. The right consulting firm should help companies position their products to meet the full market potential.

Predict Your Success

With a MedTech consulting firm, a crystal ball is not necessary. Jaunt can help predict market success for MedTech clients with the accuracy and detail they need to advance their product confidently.

Jaunt combines our expertise in MedTech with comprehensive, customized research and analysis to create a Market Opportunity Analysis that predicts the future of each of our clients’ products.  Contact us today.