Concept · Journey
Clinical interest is not a sale. It's the start of the bottleneck that kills most MedTech deals.
Clinical interest is not a sale. It is the beginning of a handoff that kills more healthcare deals than any other single step. Here is what actually happens, and what the champion needs from you to carry it through.
Why it matters
The most common “we lost the deal” story.
A surgeon loves your product. They use it in a trial. They tell their colleagues. They ask procurement to order it. Three months later, nothing has happened. The champion has gone quiet. The rep cannot get a meeting. The trial expires. The department defaults to the incumbent.
The loss gets logged as “procurement delay” or “budget reshuffled.” The actual cause is almost always the same: the champion was asked to build a business case they were not equipped to build, on behalf of a vendor whose materials stopped at the demo.
The journey, step by step
Seven steps. Each one a place the deal can die.
01
Clinical interest
The surgeon, nurse specialist, or consultant sees the product, understands the clinical benefit, and wants to bring it into the department. This is the step vendor marketing usually plans for in detail.
02
Internal discussion
The champion raises it with peers, the clinical lead, or the user group. Questions come back. 'What does it cost?' 'Why not the incumbent?' 'Is it on the framework?' 'Who's used it at scale?' The champion has to answer.
03
Business case drafted
If the product is above a threshold, the champion has to put together a business case. They are doing this around clinical duties, often in evenings, often for the first time. Most departments have a template. Most vendors do not help fill it in.
04
Procurement engagement
Procurement enters. They ask about price, supplier status, framework contracts, total cost of ownership, and alternatives. The champion is not the right person to answer these. The rep often gets blocked at this step.
05
Finance sign-off
If above a higher threshold, finance reviews the ROI calculation. They do not care about clinical detail. They care about pipeline impact, payback, and whether the numbers hold up under scrutiny. The ROI calculator is the asset that lives or dies here.
06
Committee approval
The formal sign-off meeting. Usually monthly. The champion or procurement lead presents briefly, often over slide three of a deck they did not design. The deal survives or dies on whether that three-minute summary lands.
07
Purchase order
The PO is raised. The incumbent contract may have to be notified. Implementation is scheduled. Timelines vary wildly by trust or institution.
What to give the champion
Five assets that compress the cycle.
The champion is not your salesperson. They are a clinician doing this in evenings. Give them tools that let them carry the deal without becoming a part-time marketer.
ROI calculator
A simple spreadsheet, pre-populated with sensible defaults, that the champion can drop their own numbers into. Not a glossy PDF. A working tool that produces a number defensible to finance.
Two-page TCO comparison
Total cost of ownership against the incumbent. Price, consumables, training, complication rates, downstream costs. Not a sales sheet. A procurement-friendly document with sources cited.
Business case template
A completed template with everything in place except the local data. The champion fills in their trust name, their caseload, their current incumbent, and the document is 80% of the way there.
Implementation overview
A realistic timeline. Training time, onboarding, first-use protocols, support structure. Reassures compliance and operations that this is not going to create a mess.
Committee summary slide
One slide. Clinical benefit, cost impact, implementation, risk. Designed to survive the three-minute summary someone else will give on your behalf when you are not in the room.
How to put this to work
Where the work sits on the site.
Sector
MedTech
Where this journey is the dominant commercial challenge.
Service
Sales Enablement
Build the five champion assets so your rep is not trying to close cold.
Concept
The Commercial Chain
The wider stakeholder map this journey sits inside.
Case Studies
Case Studies
MedTech procurement wins where the champion was properly equipped.