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Many MedTech companies struggle to get their sales teams to use legacy CRMs. These tools require reps to spend hours each week manually logging their activities and updating opportunities. But time spent on data entry and administrative tasks is time taken away from actually selling. In many organizations, the reps with the best sales numbers are the ones who update the CRM the least.
But even with widespread use, legacy CRMs still have limited utility for sales leaders because they simply aren’t a good fit for the unique MedTech sales cycle for multiple reasons:
More often than not, reps become frustrated because they feel micromanaged, and sales leaders become frustrated because they don’t have the data they need to make strategic decisions and forecast revenue.
David Soler, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at HealthTronics, is quite familiar with these challenges. HealthTronics is a leader in kidney stone management, offering shockwave lithotripsy, laser lithotripsy, ureteroscopy, and more to 1,500 physicians across 2,000 facilities.
When Soler joined HealthTronics, his focus was to build a business development team and accelerate their sales process. He had an extensive background with CRMs, serving as a Salesforce super user, and felt these platforms can be powerful for accountability and execution. But HealthTronics’ existing CRM was becoming more of a burden than a benefit. It wasn’t intuitive or mobile-friendly, and excessive data entry requirements were taxing the sales team. Managers struggled with inaccurate data and little visibility into their pipeline, and were unable to create a full picture of their customers and market.
Soler knew HealthTronics needed a better solution. He wanted a solution that combined robust market data on physicians, sites of care, and referral patterns with an accurate, easy to use opportunity management system. He was also searching for a mobile-friendly platform so sales reps would have useful insights directly in their hands while in the field.
After seeing a demo of AcuityMD’s opportunity management functionality, Soler realized that it delivered his full wishlist and more. But as he pointed out, “Just as important to me was AcuityMD’s team. They strive for service, commitment, and a true partnership. It was easy to see the value for us.”
But Soler knew getting his sales team onboard was critical to success. “You can have the best technology out there, but you also need the people to drive it,” he observed. He worked with AcuityMD’s implementation team to assess the needs of his reps, creating workflows that would lower barriers to adoption, such as requiring reps to validate proposed opportunities with procedure data and using the platform for weekly status meetings.
David Soler, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing - HealthTronics
While reps were learning how AcuityMD would benefit and streamline their workflows, Soler developed a plan to ensure that its adoption would be sustainable and not a quick burst that eventually tapered off. His structured approach was making AcuityMD central to HealthTronics’ operations.
He made AcuityMD the focal point of his weekly meeting with reps, reviewing their opportunities directly in the platform, reinforcing the benefits of having accurate, timely data accessible by the entire organization. He then used his findings from those meetings to build his own executive reports. "The reps quickly understood that having their data updated wasn't just busywork,” Soler noted. “It directly informed executive decisions."
He also created a peer coaching network, empowering high-performing reps to demonstrate to their colleagues how they leverage the platform. Not only did this make the ramp up process more digestible for reps - providing them with distinct tactics they could immediately implement - it fostered a sense of healthy competition. Reps who were slower to adopt AcuityMD didn’t want to be left behind by the power users who kept appearing at the top of sales leaderboards.
Soler also incorporated business operations into the rollout, encouraging that team to champion AcuityMD as the organization’s single source of truth, eventually winding down legacy systems that could cause confusion.
One out of the box tactic that Soler introduced was incorporating AcuityMD into the interview process for new reps. He would show candidates their potential territories targets and ask if they were familiar with the high-volume providers shown.
Not only was this a way to test a candidate’s knowledge, as Soler explained, "We wanted candidates to see the power of the intelligence they'd have at their fingertips from day one. It also communicated that using the platform wasn't optional. It was core to how we operate."
David Soler, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing - HealthTronics
This strategy generated enthusiasm among new hires, who immediately recognized the value of having detailed market insights before even starting the job. "Reps who might have taken months to get their bearings are now productive within weeks because they understand their HCPs and territory dynamics through the platform," Soler noted.
Once onboarded, HealthTronics reps quickly realized that AcuityMD’s intuitive drag-and-drop system allowed them to easily create and update opportunities. They could now accurately size their market, keep centralized notes on each deal, and quickly track their pace to quota in minutes instead of hours. And when reps did identify a potential lead, Soler requested that they check the procedure data in AcuityMD before bringing it forward for discussion - a process that takes just minutes.
"I made it clear early on that I don't want hunches - I want data-informed opportunities," Soler states. "This simple check has dramatically improved the quality of our pipeline and eliminated countless hours of pursuing low-potential prospects." Reps took the time they saved on discovering and vetting opportunities - among other burdensome administrative tasks - and put that time back into actual sales.
AcuityMD has quickly become a strategic asset that transformed how HealthTronics approaches the market. The team now assesses deal timelines with greater precision, developing a clearer understanding of their true sales cycle across different opportunity types. Using this comprehensive performance data has allowed HealthTronics to revamp their product launch strategy as well. "We're building a comprehensive playbook for our future product launches based on the data we're collecting now," Soler explains. "And next year's quotas and territory planning will be far more data-driven."
HealthTronics continues to drive success with AcuityMD Targeting and Pipeline. As Soler notes, “Right now, 100% of our team is using AcuityMD,” and the sales reps who are the most engaged in the platform are now the team’s highest sellers.
David Soler, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing - HealthTronics
Soler now has complete visibility into the health of the business, tracking pipeline performance by rep and region to keep his team on target. With real-time insights into deal progression, he can quickly identify where support is needed and focus on high potential or at-risk deals.
HealthTronics' success demonstrates that technology adoption requires more than just good software. It demands leadership commitment, operational integration, and a clear connection to business outcomes. By embedding AcuityMD into everything from hiring practices to executive reporting, Soler created an environment where the platform's value was evident and its use a prerequisite.
Why are legacy CRMs a bad fit for the MedTech sales cycle? Hear David Soler explain why in our on-demand webinar, Why MedTech Companies Need to Move Beyond CRM to Optimize Sales and Strategy.
Specialty: Kidney stone management
Headquarters: Round Rock, TX
