#205 | The #1 Mistake MedTech Companies Make When Choosing Export Markets

The one thing that you're gonna discover on today's episode is why the first question when entering a new market isn't how do we get in, But should we be going there at all? Welcome to Clinician to CEO, the podcast helping clinicians simplify your go-to-market strategy so that you can stop guessing and turn your working prototypes into international MedTech businesses. I'm your host, Hakeem Aade. Let's get started.

So the three things that you're gonna discover on today's episode are, number one, why market understanding should come before market activity. Number two, how the right market entry strategy changes depending on the size of your business. And number three, the mistake many companies make that costs them time, money, and momentum. And to help me do that, I'm gonna go through the decision scenario from my conversation with Kurt Jennewin, who is a med tech expert with extensive experience helping companies enter the Japanese healthcare market.

So if you haven't listened to that episode, then, you can catch that on, it's episode two zero four So the scenario is, you are the president of a med tech company looking to enter the Japanese market, and you have a promising product, but you have limited resources and time. I'm sure everyone listening will recognize that. You need to make a strategic decision on your next step. So do you, A, focus on building relationships with Japanese distributors before finalizing the actual product?

Do you, B, invest heavily in local regulatory compliance before any market outreach? Do you, C, launch a pilot program to test product response in key hospitals? Or do you, D, conduct extensive market research to understand customer needs before taking further actions? So doing a pilot would be really difficult because generally you have to have regulatory approval before you would start a pilot.

There are ways of importing your product into Japan prior to regulatory approval, but it's generally difficult to do. The regulatory work, you may not want to do until you, have a good understanding of the market and whether or not y- you- your product will really be successful there. From a market research perspective, I think there's a lot of things to say, yeah, market research is is definitely worth doing. It can be expensive.

It can take time to do that market research. And, if you're limited in terms of money or focus y- maybe that's not money that you wanna spend on the Japanese market, depending on how big you are as a company or your stage of development. And the relationship development with lots of Japanese potential partners that probably does- just doesn't make sense until you know if you should be in the market, and it can just delay the time that it takes to get into market. So out of those four different options, I would probably say, market research is the way to go.

What I really like about Kurt's answer there is that, as you'd expect, he starts with understanding before action, and that's really important cause I see lots of businesses doing the exact opposite. I- they book the flights, they attend the trade shows, they start speaking to distributors, and they start spending lots of money on things like regulatory consultants and translating market materials, and they do all of that before they've answered one fundamental question, which is: Is this actually the right market?

Because entering a market isn't that difficult, A, just getting into the market, but entering the wrong market is very, very expensive. And the reality is that market selection is often more important than market entry, because if you pick the wrong market, then the best distributor in the world isn't gonna save you, nor is the best regulatory strategy, and the best sales strategy won't save you either. Because you may have started with the wrong assumption. So the first thing is understanding it and making sure that you're not making any wrong assumptions.

The only thing I'd like to clarify, is that term extensive market research, because many SMEs and founders hear that, and they immediately think, "All right, we need a six-month project. We need a £30,000 report. We need hundreds of pages of analysis." And actually most don't.

What they actually need is enough information to make a decision. and for me, there's three questions. Number one, is there a genuine opportunity, not just a big market, but an opportunity for your product in that market? Number two, can we access customers in that market?

Can we realistically reach decision-makers, hospitals, distributors or buyers in that market? And then number three, can we actually make money? Because after distributors, margins, regulations and support costs, you need to know there's actually still a commercially viable business. Now, if you can answer those three questions confidently, then you're often ready to move forward in that specific market.

So this week's action that I'd like you to take to look at the next market on your target list, then write down: Why do we believe this market attractive? What evidence supports that belief? Who are the main competitors? What are the biggest barriers to entry?

And how would we make money in that market? Now if you struggle to answer those questions, stop thinking about entry and start thinking about understanding what and how you're gonna do stuff before you start thinking about the market. And then my closing quote is that one of the biggest mistakes in international business is confusing activity with progress. I've said this on lots of other episodes.

Talking to distributors always feels productive. Traveling feels productive. Trade shows feel productive. Regulatory discussions feel productive.

But none of them matter if you've chosen the wrong market. So before asking, "How do we enter Japan?" Ask, Should Japan be our next market at all?" Because the quality of your market selection often determines the success of your market entry.

And if you're building a MedTech business and you're not sure whether your next move should be around evidence, market access, commercialization, distributor strategy. Or adoption. Do not guess. Book a healthcare export accelerator diagnostic Call with me.

Use my link in the show notes. And in that session I'll help you identify the specific constraints blocking your momentum and the commercial move most likely to unlock your progress. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, thanks for listening.

Keep challenging your assumptions and keep growing.