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Why Your Healthcare Sale Stalled After Clinical Validation (and What to Do About It)
- Michael Colling-Tuck
- Jun 24
- 2 min read
Introduction
You’ve done the hard part. Or so you thought.
CE mark? Secured.
Clinical validation? Robust.
KOLs? Supportive.
And yet, procurement drags on for months.
No traction.
No tender win.
Frustration builds.
This is a story I’ve seen time and time again, and one that highlights a painful truth for many medical innovators...
What gets you clinical approval isn’t what gets you commercial traction.
The Meeting That Changed My Perspective
A few years ago, I joined a sales call with the clinical lead and procurement director of one of the UK’s largest private healthcare groups.
Our product had stellar data. A 0.3% improvement in outcomes. Impressive clinical backing. The regulatory team had done their job brilliantly.
But halfway through the presentation, the procurement director cut us off:
“You’re talking about a 0.3% difference in outcomes. That’s not going to shift our purchasing decision.”
It was a gut punch. But also a lightbulb moment.
Because that small statistical improvement - the very thing that secured clinical approval - meant little in the eyes of the finance team.
Clinical Success vs Commercial Success
Procurement doesn’t operate on clinical logic. It operates on business logic.
Survivorship rates, p-values, and statistical deltas may win over regulators and clinicians. But procurement wants:
Cost-per-case comparisons
Efficiency savings
Resource optimisation
Reduced training burden
Evidence of smoother implementation
In short, they want to see a business case.
That means real-world evidence, case studies, and financial modelling. It means proving the product works in live environments and that it benefits not just patients, but the system.
Where the Gap Lives
What I see again and again is this:
Sales and marketing teams recycle the same deck from clinical meetings.
They lead with outcomes and survivorship rates.
They hope the procurement committee will be equally impressed.
But procurement teams aren’t looking for marginal clinical gains. They’re looking for scalable, system-level impact. That requires an entirely different story.
What You Can Do Differently
Here are a few steps that can help close the gap:
Reorder your slide deck so that cost-per-case delta appears before the clinical results.
Work with finance-savvy experts to build a robust economic model that holds up in VAC or tender reviews.
Equip your champions with tailored business cases and case studies they can share internally.
Avoid the survivorship trap by translating outcomes into real-world impacts.
The Takeaway
If your product is clinically validated but commercially stalled, take a step back.
You probably don’t need more evidence.
You need different evidence, evidence that resonates with the decision-makers controlling the budget.
Because in healthcare, value isn’t just about outcomes.
It’s about proving that your innovation improves both care and costs.
Want to help your marketing team increase demand?
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