Field notes 2 min read
What marketing in healthcare taught me about selling anything
My first years were in marketing for medical technology. The rules there were strict, and most of them turned out to be good advice for every industry since.
My career started in marketing communications at Bridgeway Medical Systems. Later I worked on marketing across the GCC at Leader Healthcare. Medical and healthcare technology is a strange place to learn marketing, and I think it was the best possible place.
Here is what stayed with me.
Every claim needs a receipt
In healthcare you can’t write “the best” or “revolutionary” and move on. Every statement in a brochure has to be backed by something: a study, an approval, a specification. If you can’t prove it, you can’t say it.
At first that felt restrictive. Over time I realised it made the work better. When you can’t hide behind big words, you have to find the real reason someone should care. That habit is the most useful thing I took into every job since.
The user and the buyer are often different people
In a hospital, the person who uses a device every day is usually not the person who signs the purchase order. A clinician cares about how it works in their hands. Procurement cares about cost, service and contracts. Management cares about outcomes and risk.
You have to speak to all of them, and they want different things. I see the same pattern now in technology and B2B sales. Figuring out who actually decides, and what they are worried about, saves a lot of wasted effort.
One region, many markets
Working across the GCC taught me that “the region” isn’t one market. Each country has its own regulations, buying habits and relationships. A campaign that works well in one place can fall flat next door.
The lesson for me was simple. Listen locally before you scale.
Launch is the start, not the finish
With medical equipment, the sale is only the beginning. Training, service and support decide whether the product succeeds. A great device that nobody is trained to use properly is a failure.
I think about that every time I see a new tool rolled out with a big announcement and no follow-up. Adoption is the real launch.
Why it still matters
These days I work on the commercial side of an IT consumables business, which is a very different world. But the questions are the same. Is it true? Who decides? What do they need to hear? And what happens after they say yes?