CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

34 I I business _ digital dentistry market In market segments with comparatively low service and consulting effort, the wholesaler will retain its importance. A trend towards direct sales, primarily via the Internet and e-mail, can still be observed in these segments. Redefinecustomersegmentation andchannelmanagement In order to adjust to the changing dental practice andlaboratoryenvironment,manufacturersarerely- ing mostly on marketing and sales strategies tailored tocustomertypesandneeds.Thisinvolves,forexam- ple,segmentingcustomertypesaccordingtoportfo- liocoverageandpotential.Italsoinvolvesdeveloping innovative offer models that meet specific customer needs (e.g. partnership models and consulting serv- icesensuringindividualandtargetedcustomerdevel- opment).Inthiscontext,implementingstructuredkey account management is regarded as another impor- tant success factor. Manufacturers that sell primarily through wholesalers are currently being confronted with the question of how to optimise their manage- ment of wholesalers, for instance in selecting, steer- ing, developing and incentivising, plus pricing, and controllingcross-channelandcross-borderactivities. Expandportfoliosanddevelopsolutions forcustomers Manufacturers will continue to offer integrated solutionstostandoutfromcompetitors.Indoingso, they will expand their portfolios from products to IT solutions and from product-related services to ITandprocessconsultingservices.Addedpurchases or co-operation will open up new opportunities here.Attheheartofmanufacturers’portfoliostrat- egy considerations are work processes that are moreefficient,offeringcustomersaddedvalue(e.g. guarantees regarding quality and reproducibility of results),differentiatingfromcompetition,reducing simplereplaceability,aswellasexploitingup-selling and cross-selling potential. Improvevaluesellingandvaluecommunication Manufacturers are increasingly initiating quali- ficationmeasuresinmarketingandsaleswiththeaim of improving value selling and value communication. Inparallel,theyaredevelopinganewwayofthinking, moving from a traditional product sales approach to onethatfocusesonsolutionsforcustomers.Economic value drivers, for example total cost of ownership of integrated solutions versus the cost of individual products or demonstrating cost and time-savings in workflows,aregainingimportance.Inordertoachieve this, manufacturers provide sales with better support bymeansofcasestudiesandsimulationtools. _Recognising what needs to be done and acting on it Manufacturers of dental products are looking aheadwithcautiousoptimism.Inthenextfewyears, they will continue to focus on innovation as their numberonegrowthdriver.Atthesametime,thein- dustry is facing substantial changes in both supply anddemand.Whilemostcompaniesalreadyrecognise what must be done to overcome these problems, many still lack significant progress in appropriately changing sales and marketing approaches. For sustainable success in the dental industry, it is now time for manufacturers to proactively address growingcompetitivepressure,increasingcustomer consolidation and changing customer needs with smart portfolios, sales and price strategies, as well as effective organisational changes._ Fig. 2_The industry’s reactions and solutions. CAD/CAM 1_2014 KarinLaupheimerisadirector in the MedicalTechnology Competence Center of global marketing and strategy consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners.She can be contacted at karin.laupheimer@ simon-kucher.com. Jan Bordon is a senior consultant in Simon-Kucher & Partners’ MedicalTechnology Competence Center. He specialises in the dental industry. CAD/CAM_about the authors Fig. 2 CAD0114_32-34_Laupheiner 14.04.14 11:50 Seite 3