I have been leading a distribution company in Ukraine since 1996, and we are pioneers who developed the market from no phaco to full scope well, developed private sector, with no reimbursement, no medical insurance, and a highly competitive and price-sensitive environment.
And now, in 2024, during wartime, nothing has changed—we are still working in the private segment, with high competition in the private sector. There is no waiting time for cataracts at all, many well-equipped clinics, experienced surgeons, and premium, the latest technology IOLs.
I was inspired by some patients' stories at the beginning of my career, as we, as a distributor, were selling disposables directly to patients quite often. Let me share a story that I believe had a dramatic impact on my carreer and business development in general.
An old lady came to our office to purchase an IOL for her surgery on behalf of the doctor. She was poorly dressed, old, and came from a small village quite far from the city.
And her willingness to have the best product and technologies for her forthcoming cataract surgery was not evident at all. We did the common mistake of many private practices even today - based on her look, we have offered the lower cost options with no extras. And a miracle happened. She started to ask questions about other options available. She was not asking about the cost - she was focused on the best options for her eyes and vision. At the end of the visit, she purchased the best set - a viscoelastic, set of knives, BSS and the best IOL we had at that moment.
I do remember that now, and it was the strongest lesson learned - people do not ask for the low price, they are looking for the value!
Since that times, I’v realised that patient is the kind in our busienss, and it became a corner stone of the my business strategy.
Working in distribution, my company, at the beginning of Ukrainian market development in the late 1990th-early2000th, is focused on the private sector, helping our customers to win patients' hearts, attract traffic, and increase the conversion rate, especially in the premium IOL segment, where we are leading the market.
And the same approach I do apply, working with our core partners in distribution and if invited as an external business consultant by vendors.
The core take home messages today are:
Patient education is a starting point, but it has to be maximally personalized.
Content is king… but you never know how it is perceived, so...
User feedback is the only source to know the customer's language!
These principles are the core to success in a modern medical world, where great, often disruptive innovations can not reach people due to reimbursement, bureaucracy, and lack of knowledge barriers.
Oleksii Sologub
MSc, LLB, SE MBA
Entrepreneur | Board Member & Strategic Business Consultant in Ophthalmology
Comments