Introduction to Sales Trigger Events

The Medical Technology (MedTech) industry is growing daily. And if you're a vendor reaching out to medical device, IVD/Diagnostic, and/or SaMD OEMs, the fastest and most relevant way to identify a sales opportunity is by closely watching industry news and paying specific attention to the sales trigger events you can find in search engines and press releases.
A trigger event is a change in a company or market that creates demand for products/services and signals opening sales opportunities. Various trigger events across industries include:

• Funding Rounds
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• New Leadership
• Regulatory Changes
• Product Launches
• Market Expansions
• Industry Trends
• Personnel Changes
• Financial Milestones
• Competitor Activity
• Product Recalls or Quality Issues
• Industry News

This article groups the most common sales trigger events into five buckets--Financial Changes, Business Operation Changes, Regulatory and Quality Changes, Product and Service Changes, and Personnel Changes--and connects their relevance to common vendors in the MedTech space. This helps take some of the guesswork out of sales development, and create more alignment between the messaging used to sell a product or service and the actual needs of your prospective customer.

Financial Changes: A Catalyst for Growth

Every vendor selling a product or service to a MedTech OEM has heard the phrases "we don't have funding" or "there's no budget for that." This isn't necessarily a financial objection, it's a timing objection. It’s far easier to reach out to companies when you have a high degree of certainty there will be a budget available and there are funds present to purchase your product or service.

When monitoring the MedTech market; here are a few different types of financial trigger events to search for when looking for the right moment to reach out to companies:

• Series Funding Rounds
• Venture Capital Investments
• Initial Public Offering (IPO)
• Private Equity Acquisition
• Joint Venture Formation
• Strategic Partnerships
• Revenue Milestones
• Debt Financing
• New Investor Involvement
• Financial Turnaround
• Earnings Calls

Positive changes in a company's financial status signal growth and expansion, providing opportunities for engineering services or design firms to offer innovative solutions; the potential for CROs or clinical trial services to assist in product development and testing; QMS/eQMS providers aiding in maintaining regulatory compliance during growth phases and expansion; and CMOs in efficiently utilizing newly acquired funds for manufacturing scale-ups.

Changing Business Landscapes

The MedTech industry is constantly changing. New companies are formed and existing companies are acquired, daily. Large strategic organizations like Phillips, GE, and J&J have entire verticals dedicated to finding new innovations and buying intellectual property for sale under their brands. This leads to an exit for those original founders, and an entire market for starting companies with the end goal of acquisition rather than scaling.

Having insight into the corporate goals of the companies you reach out to is key for effectiveness in your messaging, and gives you the advantage of introducing a new product or service to a team at the right time. Many of these events are announced publicly in online press releases. Others are more subtle and require assessing a company's recent marketing or competition to reveal corporate goals. Here are some trigger events to look for when browsing industry news:

• SEC Filings
• Competitor Activity
• New Leadership/New Executives
• C-Suite Appointments
• Strategic Partnerships
• Market Expansions
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Divestitures
• Joint Ventures
• Strategic Initiatives
• Changes in Manufacturing Approach
• Shift in Product Focus
• Corporate Restructuring
• Spin-Offs
• New Company Formation
• Letters to Investors

Each one of these sales triggers gives unique insights for marketing to medical technology companies. Understanding what these events mean for a potential customer allows vendors to align directly with the disclosed intentions of a business. For example, engineering services or design firms can align their offerings with the known needs of a business; CROs or clinical trial services can position their offering to address stated research goals; QMS/eQMS providers can support the fulfillment of quality objectives disclosed in letters to investors or annual statements; and CMOs can gauge interest around collaborating on achieving manufacturing targets.

Regulatory and Quality Changes: The Rules of the Game

The medical technology industry is constantly evolving to produce higher quality medical devices with lower risk to the end user. Contributing factors involve everything from process improvements in individual businesses to sweeping changes in the world regulatory landscape like IVDR and EU MDR.

Trigger events that identify a greater emphasis on quality, changes in regulatory compliance, or news of a poor emphasis on either quality or regulatory, are excellent leads and represent future deals waiting to happen. Here are a few sales trigger events for MedTech OEMs related to quality and regulatory changes:

• New Regulatory Standards
• Product Approvals or Denials
• Warning Letters or Citations
• Quality System Overhauls
• Adverse Event Reporting Changes
• Product Recalls or Quality Issues
• Supply Chain Audits
• Post-Market Surveillance Updates
• Cybersecurity Requirements
• Labeling and UDI Changes

There are various ways MedTech companies can adapt to quality or regulatory trigger events. Most responses are a multi-step process and may involve engineering consultants or design firms adapting products to meet new regulatory standards; CROs helping to navigate updated approval processes; QMS/eQMS consultants and providers assisting with updating quality systems to adhere to new regulations; and CMOs ensuring manufacturing compliance following regulatory changes.

When all is said and done, investments in quality processes and regulatory standards add tremendous value to both companies and end users, offering a unique distinction from competitors in a highly technical industry.

Product and Service Changes: Paving the Path for Progress

For a MedTech company, their product is their business. The majority of the value of a MedTech company rests in the intellectual property behind the product.

This is what makes medical devices so valuable for acquisition by larger strategic companies like J&J, GE, Medtronic, Stryker, etc. It also means that press releases and news around product changes, improvements, or the launch of a new product are excellent trigger events for any company selling to MedTech OEMs. Here are a few product-related changes to search for to find new prospects:

• New Product Launches
• Emerging Technology Integration
• Adoption of Personalized Medicine
• Telehealth and Remote Monitoring
• Upgrades or Enhancements
• Shift in Clinical Focus
• Patient Engagement Solutions
• Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) Development
• Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Integration
• Clinical Trial or Trial Recruiting Announcements

When there is a product or service shift in a company, there will naturally be overlap with business and operational changes. This creates opportunities for consultants or design firms to support clinical trial preparation, equipment needs, or new market needs; allows CROs or clinical trial services to contribute to trial design, execution, and data management and engage in expanded research efforts; QMS/eQMS providers to ensure compliance and traceability throughout trials and assist in implementing standardized processes in new markets; and CMOs to collaborate and ensure timely and quality-driven production for clinical trial supplies and facilitate product distribution and manufacturing in expanded regions.

Personnel Changes: New Hiring and Talent Acquisition

Newly hired employees or leaders can make great sales triggers. Often, there's an element of wanting to kick off their new position by trying to make some meaningful change or show their colleagues they're going the extra mile in trying to make improvements. Hiring changes may also signal that the company is expanding or re-enforcing an area of the business to prepare for new strategic initiatives. Sometimes this meaningful change is even part of their job description and something they were hired to work on. There are a number of personnel changes to pay attention to, and this list of trigger events is a great place to start your research:

• New Executive or Board Appointments
• Key Researcher Recruitment
• Clinical Team Expansion
• The Addition of Quality and Regulatory Experts
• Engineering Team Changes
• Manufacturing Personnel Updates
• Technology Officer Appointments
• Sales and Marketing Leadership Changes
• Digital Transformation Specialists
• Chief Medical Officer Appointments

Often, new hiring reflects growth and innovation and offers opportunities for consultants or design firms to collaborate with newly assembled teams, CROs, or clinical trial services to support increased research staff, QMS/eQMS providers to aid in training and onboarding new personnel, and CMOs to synchronize with freshly recruited teams for efficient manufacturing.

For a MedTech company, their product is their business. The majority of the value of a MedTech company rests in the intellectual property behind the product.

Closing Thoughts

The categories explored today offer invaluable insights into the dynamic medtech landscape. These events act as vital signals, offering glimpses into evolving market needs, strategic shifts, and emerging opportunities with warm leads who are primed to seek solutions aligned with their changing circumstances. By identifying and proactively searching for trigger events, vendors can position themselves as providers of tailored solutions that directly address the emerging needs of medtech OEMs.

Finding a trigger event isn't hard. Finding a trigger event the moment it happens is extremely challenging. Proactive and timely outreach that responds to a trigger event is key to capitalizing on these opportunities and providing a stream of warm leads.

Rather than setting up Google Alerts or running periodic searches for every trigger event example laid out in this article, vendors are using Zapyrus to track trigger events and get notified of industry updates, news, and press releases for MedTech companies around the world, in real time. Zapyrus leverages AI to be your personal research assistant for finding trigger events the moment they are discoverable, giving you the upper hand of reaching out to connect with prospects at exactly the right moment.

To learn more about how you can increase your outbound efficiency while building meaningful relationships as a trusted advisor, check out www.zapyrus.com for a free product demo.

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