The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way that medtech companies must approach the sales process in order to ensure revenue growth and deliver the products providers and patients need.
In a Feb. 16 webinar, sponsored by Salesforce and Appirio, four industry experts discussed key trends transforming the medtech industry, how the sales process has changed amid COVID-19, and how Salesforce's Configure-Price-Quote solution helped global eye care company Alcon optimize its quote-to-cash process to boost efficiencies and drive revenue growth.
The presenters were:
- Sandeep Menon, CPQ practice manager, Appirio
- Raj Krishnamoorthy, general manager of healthcare and life sciences, Appirio
- Derek Carless, manager of global healthcare and life sciences, Salesforce
- Ramya Moorthy, service delivery expert and program manager, Alcon
Five key takeaways from the webinar:
1. Health innovation leapt forward amid the pandemic, and there's no turning back. "2020 brought no shortage of challenges for both the healthcare and life science ecosystem. As the industry continues to navigate this period of change, we've also seen a tremendous amount of innovation reach the market in terms of new products, new services and new methods to engage healthcare consumers," Mr. Carless said. He added that while this change has brought some unease, there is no turning back for the healthcare and life science industry, and companies must adapt.
2. There has been a large shift to virtual sales. Many medtech companies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have shifted to making more virtual sales. This trend is expected to continue even when the pandemic subsides, Mr. Krishnamoorthy said. "It's a big change, especially in an industry where in-person sales [have] been prominent over the years given the nature of the products being sold," he said.
3. Complex and manual contracting processes have hindered revenue growth. Many companies still have fragmented systems and labor-intensive manual process when it comes to contracting and providing pricing quotes to their customers, Mr. Krishnamoorthy and Mr. Menon said. This can stretch the overall sales cycle to weeks, threatening customer satisfaction and leading to revenue loss, the panelists added.
4. The right CPQ solution can solve these challenges. Salesforce's CPQ solution provides many benefits to customers to help overcome challenges and support changes in the industry, according to the panelists. One of the benefits is that it combines all relevant customer information into one place, giving the sales teams the right data to sell more effectively, Mr. Menon said. It also allows customers to self-quote, reviews historical data to ensure each customer gets the right price every time, and grants the sales team insight into existing product stock so they can quote based on product inventory. "The solution can be tailor made to fix specific business processes if the goal is driving efficiency and accelerating that revenue growth," Mr. Menon said.
5. Alcon saw marked improvements using Salesforce's CPQ solution. Prior to implementing a CPQ solution, Alcon faced several challenges in its quote-to-cash process, including disconnected systems, many manual processes, an inefficient quote approval process and a lack of visibility by management into sales approvals. However, after implementing Salesforce's CPQ solution, Alcon saw marked improvements. Specifically, Alcon saw the average time for quote approval drop by 75 percent, satisfaction with the quoting process increase by more than 50 percent and the number of quotes accepted by customers increase. "It was a win-win-win from the customer, sales and management perspective," Ms. Moorthy said.
To learn more about how Salesforce's CPQ solution helped Alcon drive revenue growth and improve efficiencies, customer satisfaction and visibility, listen to the full webinar here.