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Objective: Capture revenue for new “intended-use” designation and reimbursement coding of an existing medical device
Our team was engaged by a leading medical device company enjoying a dominate market share with ophthalmologists performing corrective surgery.
Three recent key market events created a new revenue opportunity that warranted investigating: (1) the federal government published a long-term clinical study validating a clinically significant, new application of our client’s technology for the early detection of glaucoma, (2) an ongoing liberalization of state-by-state optometry regulations regarding who may “touch an eye” now enabled optometrists to diagnose and treat certain aspects of glaucoma, and (3) new Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement codes paved the way for government and private insurance payments to flow to optometrists who delivered these diagnostic and services. A market is born.
In light of these market changes, our client asked that we review their sales and marketing practices and introduce a trial field sales presence to determine whether they should permanently invest in this channel.
Project
We began by engaging the client in a detailed self-assessment of its strategic position. The company had pioneered the use of its device and had high brand equity in the ophthalmology market. Over the past 20 years, they had developed a transactionally based business model selling directly at national trade shows and symposia. Their consistent advertising campaign also maintained visibility in the marketplace, augmented by a scattering of independent sales representatives. The new market conditions attracted several new low-end, low-price competitors to the market space. These emerging competitors attended the same trade shows, and several used passive, national catalog distribution as an additional channel to the marketplace.
Next, with a thorough understanding of the technology’s value position and of glaucoma’s demographics, we evaluated markets on a state-by-state basis to determine where to deploy the trial sales resources. We selected five strategic geographies and created a prospect database of all registered optometrists within those geographies.
Finally, we developed a team of independent sales representatives, working as part of our national network on a six-month, 1099 engagement, in the targeted areas. Integral to the project, our senior strategist from the team dedicated significant time to “dragging the bag” to evaluate the impact of the engagement firsthand. Our field sales team also attended and worked several trade show events during the deployment.
Results
Over the course of the contract we determined that field presence drove revenue growth, although the transactionally based business model our client had employed still dominated the close of sales within a target market segment. Despite our efforts to convince them to try alternate methods, doctors still wanted to wait for the next trade show to make their purchase, knowing that state events were frequent.
Ultimately, our client had created market expectations best met by the model they had created. The project validated this position for a pre-determined investment that contributed field presence to the client’s organization while containing the potential risks and costs of a full-time, field sales force expansion. | 
