This past December I inherited the Medical Devices Group, the industry’s only spam-free, curated forum for intelligent conversations with medical device thought leaders. With nearly 110,000 members, the Medical Devices Group is the largest medical group on all of LinkedIn and the 45th-largest among more than two-million LinkedIn groups.

The most discussed topic in the forum? A 2.3-percent excise tax on medical device companies signed into law as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

It started months ago, when group member Robert Trinka asked, “Does anyone see anything GOOD for the US medical device industry in the soon to be effective Tongue Depressor Tax?” 100 comments later, the answer in this still-active discussion is an emphatic “no.”

The tax, to be paid by firms with or without net income, roughly doubles the industry’s total tax bill and raises the average effective corporate income tax rate to one the highest faced by any industry in the world. According to a September 2011 study entitled “Employment Effects of the New Excise Tax on the Medical Device Industry,” the tax could result in job losses in excess of 43,000 and wage losses in excess of $3.5 billion.

Now, don’t get me wrong: Talking about the tax has its place but could we actually do something about it? What if we harnessed the energy of the 110,000-member group and tried to affect policy? Could it work?

So last week we launched an online petition featuring video, articles, and downloads about the medical device tax was born. At “no2point3.com,” investors, suppliers, vendors, distributors, employees and adversely affected families can add their names to the July 2011 letter sent to Congress by 400 medical device company leaders, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and others.

I’m encouraged by our early successes. The Office of anti-tax Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN) called me with steps to help persuade the Senate. A med device CEO urged his employees, “Please go to http://bit.ly/no2point3 and sign the petition.” Med device publications generously covered our debut and progress.

It’s a long road ahead for Paulsen’s bill for repeal, now with 229 co-sponsors, to pass the Senate. For our grassroots effort, we seek 25,000 signatures so industry can say, ”This isn’t just medical device CEOs talking. Your constituents object to the tax as well. Hear their voice and represent their interests.”

The site is co-sponsored by Cook Medical and by my company, Medical Marcom, and we need more sponsors. If your company will be adversely affected by the tax, contact me. We have ambitious plans and with each brand we add to our marquee, the more seriously Congress will take our effort.

MassDevice, thanks for publishing, and readers, please stand with your industry and add your voice to the petition now.

About the Author: Joe Hage is the owner of the largest Medical Devices Group on LinkedIn. As CEO of Medical Marcom, a medical device marketing consultancy, Joe gives medical device companies marketing and communication strategies that generate qualified leads. Reach him at JHage@MedicalMarcom.com.

Ted Rubin, the most followed CMO on Twitter at @TedRubin and author of the upcoming book, Return on Relationship^TM, sits with Joe Hage to share how his principles can be applied to the medical device industry.

Ted Rubin: Hey, Joe!

Joe Hage: Ted. Before Ted Rubin here was named the top CMO on Twitter, he had a different title. He was just called “Joe’s friend.”

Ted Rubin: That’s true.

Joe Hage: I’ve known you for 13 years now.

Ted Rubin: And I’ve loved being Joe’s friend.

Joe Hage: And I love being Ted’s friend.

Beth Hage: Yeah, but you’re the “second Joe.” (Ted has another friend named “Joe.”)

Joe Hage: And that’s Beth, my wife behind the camera.

Beth Hage: Hello!

Joe Hage: Ted I wasn’t going to let you come to my house without having an interview with you. I mean, everyone else gets to interview you.

Ted Rubin: Well, this is more fun.

Joe Hage: This is more fun and the last time I interviewed you I erased it. By mistake.

Ted Rubin: You did. We made the video in the car outside your sister’s house.

Joe Hage: It was great content. But now here we are.

So here’s a question. You know I now have the largest medical group on all of LinkedIn.

Ted Rubin: I do know that. It is exciting.

Joe Hage: It is exciting. And you talk a lot about return on relationships. You coined the phrase. Not my whole audience is familiar with you and what you’ve done, so briefly tell us what is “RoR” or #RonR.

Ted Rubin: Well, it is “RoR.” #RonR is just a hashtag, if you are familiar with Twitter. Return on relationship is, simply put, the value of accrued by a person or brand for nurturing a relationship. It’s measured by loyalty, trust that converts to an emotional connection and adds up to something of value, is what I like to say.

I try to stay away from the terms “increase sales,” “increase revenues,” because I think value is a term that is much more comprehensive.

Joe Hage: I’m thinking that a lot of people… I know you do a lot of speaking and I’m sure one of the questions you get often is, “Return on relationships. Okay, I get the concept but really what you mean is return on investment. I mean, the relationship is a means to an end.

Ted Rubin: Well, it all depends on how you look at. Yes, it is a return on investment when it comes to the corporate world, the brand world, and the sales world.

Joe Hage: That’s live taping, folks!

Ted Rubin: We were discussing how RoR, return on relationship, in the end it’s actually ROI…from a corporate standpoint, from a brand standpoint, absolutely. Because the endgame of any company is to make money, or else it’s not going to be around.

From a personal perspective, what I try to do and tell others to do, is I try to go out and build relationships and do for people without any expectation of return. And I find that, if a brand can do that to the best of their ability, knowing that there will be a return.

You know, you’ve heard the expression, “What goes around, comes around” or “Pay it forward.”

These things really have reality. The way I look at it is if you look for something directly in return, you end up being disappointed a good amount of the time. What I try to do is, I feel if I do good for people, others will do good for me. And I have found that it really is that way.

Joe Hage: I think that makes a lot of sense for service and I think it makes a lot of sense for B2C. But B2B?

Ted Rubin: Ok. B2B? Ok, you’re talking about …

Joe Hage: Most of the people watching this will probably… say, medical device manufacturers, so I make an ECG machine or I make rubber gloves. How much of this return on relationship makes sense for me?

Ted Rubin: Well I think return on relationship makes huge amounts of sense for you. It’s all about making people understand that you care about them.

So if you just sell something to somebody, and let’s take the extreme: You sell it to them, buyer beware, you walk away, you’re done. Okay? We are all the way out on one extreme. That’s not going to work.

The people that show customers…

Joe Hage: Ok, we’re back, because I think Beth has shut off her phone now? Have you? Ok, we’re going to continue now.

Ted Rubin: Return on Relationship is very important in B2B. Return on relationship is… it’s making people understand that as you build relationships, as you engage and interact, as you do things for others, things will be done for you and you’ll gain loyal customers, you’ll gain trust.

To me, I would think in B2B, trust is much more important than it is in B2C.

People are going to buy products. People are going to buy Cheerios whether they trust General Mills or not. There might be a better relationship in certain ways your reputation is what you are.

Remember, a brand is what you do. It reputation is what people remember.

Ted Rubin: And, and … . You had to do that, Joe?!

Joe smiles at me because he knows I have one-liners and I like to use them because they are easily remembered. And they are things that people can share. And I will tell you as a small business, and in medical and anything, learn to have those things because then they get attributed to you.

And when people talk about them… I don’t know if they called them a ‘meme’ now if you’re familiar with that expression… I try to use them because it relates back to you, it builds your personal brand, but now… because Joe made me smile… that I knew that what he was saying…

Joe Hage: I know. Because I thought to myself: That is very Tweet-able.

Ted Rubin: Now think about reputation for a B2B company. How do most B2B companies get their business? A lot of them get it through recommendations, referrals, through engaging with the customers. The better you do for people and the stronger the relationship is, the more likely someone is to recommend you to someone else.

It’s not just about did you deliver the product for good price in a timely manner with good customer service. It goes beyond that. People will recommend that. But they will go much further to recommend if they like you.

People like to do business with people they like. It’s really very simple. And this is why relationship commerce is starting to become such a big thing, which is a step beyond social commerce. And that goes to… think about a retailer…

You’re much happier buying something at the store where people are nice to you and you can feel good about… and, you know, what I think a lot of small businesses and B2B companies can do is be more like the guy with the store in the community. The guy who takes care of you. The guy that you feel good about.

You know, I’ll give you a perfect example.

Right now, it’s very, very hard, right? Everything is going into not only big box stores but into digital. Best Buy: C’mon, how much longer do they have? A year? Two years? They are Amazon’s show room.

You go there. You do, feel, play, and then you go online and buy it for a better price.

So what is the only thing, whether it be a small B2B business or even a larger one has? Service. Relationships. That’s what’s going to make it happen.

Joe Hage: Good point.

Ted Rubin: I went with my daughter… I have a 15-year-old daughter… I’m a divorced dad, I’m desperate to have time with her “count.” It’s her birthday; I want to buy her something. I suggest jewelry. Her mom buys for a lot of jewelry.

I say, listen, I want you to have something that you really want. So I tell her I’ll go shopping with her because if I pick something, it’s just not going to be the right thing.

We walk into two jewelers and they treat us the way… they follow you around the store… they’re worried about everything you’re touching, they won’t give my daughter a chance to breathe, and we walk out.

We end up in the more expensive store and there is a salesperson there, what I call a real professional. She picked up on it right away: And this is what someone with a B2B business understands. They learn more because they are not selling to thousands and thousands of people.

So return on relationship is even more in Portland because you can get to know the people. She watched my daughter. She realized right away my daughter needed space. When my daughter wasn’t really paying attention, she came over and chatted with me a bit, just to see what something might be.

Then she paid attention. She watched my daughter’s eyes. She saw what she was looking at. She’d make a casual recommendation. Then the salesperson would garner some information from that recommendation, do a little learning, and then refine a recommendation the next time around.

And I have to tell you that when we left the store, I had an experience that I felt right here (touches heart). My daughter was happy and I have told friends about that experience, I have spoken about it at events, and I talked about the store itself: Libutti Jewelers in Huntington, New York. It’s a fabulous place to go. And a small business can do this.

But this is about relationships.

This woman knew there was a good chance that we were going to walk out of her store. But she treated us the same way, I could see, the way she treated regular customers at that store. Because she understood that if you do that all the time, not only do you have those people as potential customers, but even if I never bought anything there, I would still talked about how nice this woman was.

Joe Hage: I know that our time is short. I do want to redirect you.

I have a number of members who don’t have very big companies, who have maybe 20, maybe 100, maybe they are startups… and they buy into this notion. They would love to do that but they don’t have the resources to do it.

Or, I know this comes very naturally to you, it comes naturally to me… I love being online and doing that kind of thing… But some people are, like, uhh, I really don’t…?

Would you tell those people? Because I’ll tell you what I say is social media is binary: Either you do it or you don’t. Because there’s nothing worse than putting a Twitter account together and then seeing just five tweets. Or ignoring your Facebook page.

So what do you tell those people who are intrigued by what you’re saying but, you know…?

Ted Rubin: I agree with you 100%. Don’t start if you’re not going to make it valuable. Or start… but then take it down! So it’s not even there if there’s not going to be any engagement.

I tell people feel that it’s not for them or they don’t have the time, don’t do it. Not everything works for everybody. And if you do get involved with social media, don’t get overwhelmed by everyone’s saying you have to have a Twitter page, you have to have a Facebook page, YouTube account, Pinterest page, Tumblr account … I don’t buy into that either.

Joe Hage: Well, you specialize in…

Ted Rubin: I specialize in Twitter. I do have other places but Twitter is where I really spend most of my time. Because I have developed a passion for it, it fits in perfectly with the way I communicate and, again, there’s only so many hours in a day.

Joe Hage: It won’t surprise you that I’m on LinkedIn all time.

Ted Rubin: Right. So what I will say is depending on what your goals are, if you do have spare hours, if you are spending a lot of hours watching TV at night, I would say redirect that. And use that time for social. And build that presence. Because I guarantee you, it will be valuable.

Joe Hage: You and I definitely share a point of view on this. You say, don’t give your social media program to your intern for junior marketing person.

Ted Rubin: What I say is have that junior marketing person or that intern but make sure they are executing your strategy. Okay? Because these people are great at executing. Young people totally, totally get the platforms and the technologies better than, probably, we ever will, but they don’t have the experience in marketing or relationship building to be the person that’s running point.

I have plenty of interns working for me or younger people or junior marketing people, but I trained them in how I want them to operate. I’m the last word and my own personal Twitter account, I run myself. But business ones I will train other people to work them. You can do that. But you have to make sure that first of all, in the beginning, you do it yourself as otherwise… like anything else… If you have a printing press, you want to know how to do it, so if that guy walks out, you have to know how to do it.

And it’s the only way you’re ever going to really understand the medium. And when they come back to you, and they will, and tell you you’re tweeting too much, or you’re not doing it the right way, remind them that this is your brand and your company and you know what’s best for in that respect and you’ll take their advice, again, about how to do things technologically but that there are better ways as far as communicating.

Joe Hage: Last question I want to ask you. Now, I know that you are not in the medical device space.

And you are not as familiar, perhaps, as the people watching this video, about FDA and what you can and can’t say and things like that. And, we have a lot of capital constraints. Say, for example, you want to replace a cardiac stress system. That’s a $25,000 piece of equipment. We are in a hospital…

Is social media for everyone? Or are there some categories where it just doesn’t make as much sense?

Ted Rubin: Well, there are certainly some categories where it doesn’t make sense. But I would tell you that has nothing to do with regulation. Here’s what I would tell you about it.

You don’t have to talk about the regulatory nature of your product to build a social presence. Maybe you want to have a site that has something to do about wellness. Maybe you want something that has to do with physical exercise or things that are around your concept that is a value to your consumer and not directly related to the regulatory portion of your business.

For example, financial services companies, there’s a lot they can’t say. And I tell them, build something about lifestyle. About travel. About something that’s related to the financial services industry and in medical you could do the same thing or just offer up an aggregated site. You could do that on a blog, you could do that with social, you can provide great links into other peoples verified data, white papers, things that are of value.

And then, leave it as a communication vehicle for the regulated topics and then pop off some of that communication into an email or some other way where it can be more personal and can be monitored more.

Joe Hage: My friend, Ted Rubin. Return on Relationships.

Ted Rubin: Thank you very much.

Joe Hage: Thank you, Buddy.

Ted Rubin: Always a pleasure.

Remember when your medical device marketing media plan was primarily print? Your media buyer would collect rate cards with numbers of subscribers and negotiate for the best cost-per-thousand impressions.

She’d negotiate with the publication’s sales manager who would invariably talk about “pass-along readership” to give a sense of the “true” number of readers exposed to your message.

Guess what?

Those little share buttons? The ones inviting you to email to a friend, tweet on Twitter, share on Facebook, update on LinkedIn, upload on YouTube?

That’s your new pass-along readership.

How are you leveraging it?

A recent Medical Marcom subscriber wrote me and said,

“I like your blog and your approach. In fact, the way you represent yourself through your content, it’s almost hard to tell how you make money. Now, that’s content.”
– John

John, I’m grateful for your compliment especially for the question it sparks for my readers:
How much value do visitors get from your website?

You certainly have marketing information about your medical device. You talk about its features and benefits. You may have a video. You may have a case study.

That’s a good start. But if that’s all you have, you’re missing opportunities to engage visitors.

Here are five practical ideas you can add to your medical device marketing efforts.

1. Give them something immediately: The top third of my homepage gives away a list of US Doctors on Twitter. When it’s downloaded, I’m given the opportunity to identify and reach the prospect again. Without “lead capture forms,” as they are called, that visitor might otherwise come and go without a trace.
2. Add a testimonial and lead capture in the footer: To my great delight and surprise, I lifted my site response by 20 percent when I added a testimonial from my former boss to my footer. Right there is an opportunity for you to sign up, just as he had, because I provide “relevant, contemporary marketing strategies in the medical device space.”
3. Treat prospects like people: Medical devices need to be sterilized – not the professionals who work with them! Talk with us, not at us. Use familiar language. Don’t be overly technical or boring (the main point of my services video).
4. Use more photos, use standard web design, an easy-to-read font like Arial, and bump up your font size to 14. Make it inviting for us to poke around.
5. Use SnapEngage (as I do): When I’m online, I have SnapEngage send a message to visitors. It says, “Hello, thank you for visiting! I happen to be online now. Can I help you in any way? The free ebook download is popular at http://bit.ly/tNDA6P.” I’ve converted many visitors into prospects this way.

So, to answer John’s question, I make money when I demonstrate my expertise marketing medical devices. They ask me to help them do the same and that’s how I earn my living.

Which of these ideas will you put into practice? Say so in the comments so I can visit your new and improved site!

How often do you use your phone’s video recorder to promote your business?

Here are three promotional ideas you can use right away.

1. Record a Subject Matter Expert. I was sitting with Michael Paquin, Fellow of the Health Information Management System Society, or HIMSS. The founder and former president of Midmark, Michael helps medical device companies integrate with electronic medical record and health information systems. I asked him how physicians can get their share of Meaningful Use dollars and video-recorded his answer.

I posted it on my site. It reinforced my relationship with Michael, added value for my subscribers, and brought him inbound traffic and leads.

I also shared it with small-practice consultant, speaker, and author Mary Pat Whaley. She posted the video on her Manage My Practice site. It mentioned my name, had a link to my site, and opened her followers to my company.

2. Capture a Testimonial. As Cialdini writes, social proof is one of the most powerful motivators. Record a customer testimonial (as I did here) and post it on your site, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Have it transcribed and ask if they’ll endorse your LinkedIn profile as well.

3. Record What You See. If you’re on a field visit or customer call, ask if you can take some video of their equipment. You can share it back home with your colleagues who don’t get out into the field as often. It will help them better relate to your daily challenges.

#MedDevice guest Sean Morris, the CEO of Veniti Medical, pioneers in the venous disease space, taught me something new. Today, there is no such thing as a dedicated stent for veins!

Well, not yet. That’s where Veniti comes in.

Sean Morris: Thanks for having me, Joe. Veniti Medical is a start up company with multiple products for chronic disease treatment. We have been around since January of 2010 and are unique in that we are the first company dedicated to this space.

Joe Hage: You are two years old now. Did you found the company, Sean? How many are you now?

Sean Morris: I, along with some thought leaders in the venous space, started the company. Veniti now has 15 employees having recently brought on a high caliber COO. I am very proud of the team we’ve assembled.

Joe Hage: Please educate me. Who else is in the space and how big is the market globally?

Sean Morris: There is a huge interest in this $5-billion global market.

Chronic venous disease can be deadly. Serious conditions such as deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms are dangerous effects of venous disease. 40 percent of adults are estimated to have venous disease. That’s 25 percent of the total population.

Covidien has been very active having purchased VNUS medical, Bacchus Vascular and ev3 in the past three years. Beyond this, every company they compete with (Boston Scientific, Bard, AngioDynamics, Maquet, Abbott; others) are monitoring this area.

Joe Hage: According to your website, your first three products are still in development: an ablation device, a vena cava filter, and a venous stent.

Our ablation system has been designed to provide comprehensive therapy to all types of veins, beyond what is currently available.

Our vena cava filter allows for active anchoring which serves to keep the filter centered and migration free.

Our venous stent is the first of its kind and built from the start to be a venous stent. We also have a unique delivery system.

Joe Hage: Sean, you are saying, the venous stents on the market today are adaptations of competitors’ arterial stents?

Sean Morris: Today, an FDA-cleared venous stent does not exist.

We are bringing the first venous stent to market. It took us an entire year to figure out what our 1st generation stent would need to look like before we made our 1st prototype. Veins are complex and require a complex system for optimal results.

Joe Hage: How protect-able is your technology? How easily can your competitors reverse engineer it and compete against you?

Sean Morris: I believe this would be difficult. Our stent is made of Nitinol and tweaked in a very specific way to optimize clinical results. Given our extensive comprehensive research, we feel we have the right recipe and the recipe is secret.

Joe Hage: Before we continue, Sean, what is your background? Engineering? Sales? How and why did you break away to start your own thing?

Sean Morris: I have an extensive background in sales, marketing, strategy and operations. I started Veniti because I have a passion for this space and love the idea of building something and providing jobs to people. I learned from some of the best at my former employer AngioDynamics and it was there were I developed my interest in venous disease therapies.

Sean Morris: I think you are right, Joe. There are great minds and passionate people in every organization. I know I’m not the 1st to do this.

Joe Hage: What is the timeline for clearance? Are you targeting the US first? We’ve been debating the merits of FDA versus CE in the Medical Devices Group.

Sean Morris: There is a global need for our technologies and we intend to work with the FDA and our colleagues overseas to gain approvals. Our product launches will be staged. We expect our ablation system to be ready this summer, followed by our stent, and then filter.

Joe Hage: Without a predicate device, this must be costing you a friggin’ fortune!

Sean Morris: Bringing a medical device to market is expensive and we plan for the worst and hope for the best. We have excellent VC investors that are dedicated to our cause and a strong board. It’s up to us to execute and I am confident the team we have in place is up for the challenge. The key is to stay focused, spend wisely and mitigate risks.

Joe Hage: Will you be going through distribution? Hiring a sales force? Working with a manufacturer’s rep?

Sean Morris: I am very biased towards going direct. With our mission, we need maximum efficiency and direct is the only way to get that.

Joe Hage: Excellent. Last question today, Sean, and thanks so much for joining us.

Sean Morris: Thanks Joe! The best way to answer that is with a real life experience. I spent last week the American Venous Forum meeting in Orlando, FL. Every physician I spoke with discussed how much there was still to learn about this disease state.

Physicians said they understand they don’t have the right devices for venous disease. They “don’t know what they don’t know” and have “decades of research ahead of us.”

I’d conclude by telling the Medical Devices Group to learn more about the differences between aertial and venous disease states and, when our products come to market, to learn more about the possibilities with us.

…

>>> Click to review the archive of #MedDevice chats you missed! <<<

Join the Medical Devices Group on LinkedIn to network and grow your business. #MedDevice is held most Wednesdays, 4 p.m. EST. We interview the medical device industry’s best minds and cover issues including sales, reimbursement, distribution, EMRs/HIT, regulations, and Marketing Medical Devices.

If your job remotely relates to medical device marketing, you’ve gotten this email:

“SEO Services for Top Google Ranking.”

The one I got this weekend has an “SEO discount offer going on right now.”

If you’re like most, you delete this. Are you being too hasty?

So the email I received proclaimed,

We use only white hat SEO techniques for each website.

Monthly task and responsibilities package for 25 keywords:
1. 20 Search Engine Submissions
2. 200 Manually Directory Submissions
3. 60 Article Submissions
4. 10 Press Release Distributions
5. 5 Web2.0/Blog postings (Using pre-written articles)
6. 30 Social Book marking Submissions
7. 5 Forum postings
8. 3 Unique Article writing (400+ words)
9. 1 Press Release writing (350+ words)
10. Keywords Mapping
11. New pages suggestions
12. Keywords research
13. Competitor Analysis
14. Title Tag changes suggestions
15. Meta tags changes suggestions
16. Alt tag changes suggestions
17. HTML Site Map
18. XML site map setup
19. Anchor text optimization
20. Google webmaster setup
21. Google analytics setup
22. Fortnightly Ranking Report
23. Fortnightly Full Detailed SEO Work Report in Excel

Please let us know in case you are interested.

I am not interested. I say “DELETE” for five reasons:

1. You can do better than spam. Spam is not a great credibility builder. You don’t see trusted institutions (SEOMoz, Hubspot) sending spam. Instead, do a  little research and find articles by experts who used SEO to be found!
2. If this offer looks good, you probably haven’t done much SEO work yet. These guys are ready to execute tactics. Where’s the strategy conversation? What is your target market searching for? You have homework to do.
3. Should you even be doing SEO? I recently told a client to blow off SEO all together. He would never win the terms he sought. Instead, he needed “brochure-ware,” a relatively static site he could show his prospects. See last week’s “What the New York Giants can teach you about SEO.”
4. If you don’t plan on SEO for the long haul, don’t bother. I compete for the term “medical device marketing.” Go ahead and look up at the URL address for this post. There it is again … “medical device marketing.” I use the term in the URL every time I write. I’ve used it three times in this article alone and threw in two self-referential links for good measure. So someone competing for the term had better be prolific to compete against me. The spammers above aren’t going to be writing copy for you!
5. You know me! This isn’t a “hire Joe Hage” thing. No, chances are, I’ve worked on a site like yours WITH search engine optimization experts much more knowledgeable than I. Let me refer them to you.

So there you have it. Delete away!

And I can write about it all day.

But I will never, ever rank on Google for the term “New York Giants.”

• There is WAY too much competition for the term.
• No one will link to my articles.
• I will never be recognized as an expert on “New York Giants.”

So I should never even try to rank for “New York Giants.”

Today’s point:

It’s binary. If you can’t get on page one of Google, don’t even try.

Any money or effort you spend on search engine optimization for unattainable terms (“healthcare,” “sales training,” “New York Giants”) is a big, fat waste.

What does he have to offer a well-heeled multi-national company looking to capitalize in the US?

Is it the beauty device that smooths out cellulite?

The shockwave medical device that heals wounds and injuries?

The low-cost medical device that can handle any mutant strain of malaria?

Mr. Hague tells me his Cellsonic machines do it all – but none of these indications are FDA cleared – and, without a predicate device on the market, trials will be very, very expensive.

Andrew explained the opportunity and outlined what he needs to do next.

Joe Hage: Welcome to #MedDevice. We’ve moved up the time to accommodate our UK-based guest, @CellsonicAndrew. Welcome Andrew! Tell us about Cellsonic.

Andrew Hague: CellSonic makes many machines. The star product is a hand-held, shockwave machine that heals wounds, injuries and smooths out cellulite. It also removes fat. So we are in the medical business and the beauty business.

Joe Hage: One of the things I most enjoy about running the Medical Devices Group on LinkedIn is I get to meet interesting folks like you. You were telling me your products are CE marked but have not been cleared for use in the US.

Joe Hage: You could put each of these indications into one 510(k) application, though, yes?

Andrew Hague: We are not sure because the CellSonic is a Class II machine and we do not know if it possible for this class.

Joe Hage: I’m not a regulatory expert but I’m confident some of my readers are. (If you are an FDA expert, please confirm: The 510(k) process works for Class II devices, yes?)

In the meanwhile, let’s assume an FDA expert responds to this conversation and says, yes, they can help you file your Class II.

Andrew Hague: However, we do not know of another shockwave machine in whose footsteps we can follow. I believe the 510(k) requires a predicate device.

Joe Hage: I believe the sticking point is having trials if you don’t have a predicate device. That’s what would hold up your 510(k).

This tension explains some of the conversation over on the LinkedIn thread where we met, “Is a CE mark good enough?”

Andrew Hague: Yes, without competitors, we have no predicate device so we have to be pioneers. We are looking for a big company which can pay for a lot of FDA trials.

They must also have a big sales force for when permission is recorded there will be a big demand.

The CellSonic Medical machine is a lithotripter with variable power for use in hospitals and clinics to treat bones, wounds, and sports injuries. (Click for more.)

Andrew Hague:A lithotripter breaks a kidney stone noninvasively with sudden acoustic bangs into grains of sand to pee out. On the question of a business partner, we may need two: One for medical, one for beauty.

The market for diabetic foot ulcers is one person in 1000. For cellulite, it is virtually any woman over the age of 30.

Joe Hage: How long has Cellsonic been in business? How did you develop this device?

Andrew Hague: I began with the first lithotripter in England in 1987. Later I was the distributor for a Swiss machine. About ten years ago came the opportunity to make our own machines and only now do we have the CellSonic ready to sell. These are complicated machines to make and easy to use. Ours is half the price of anything similar from China.

Joe Hage: So you do have competitors?

Andrew Hague: We have potential competitors from China. What I hear about their products is, they don’t work. But I am sure, before long, they will work.

Joe Hage: Is this on the beauty side, the medical side, or both?

Andrew Hague: Both. Our clever design will enable us to always be the least expensive.

Joe Hage: OK, I’ll bite. How can you be confident you will always be the least expensive?

Andrew Hague: The design helps keep the cost down and you can’t get cheaper than where we make it, in India.

Now, cosmetic treatments for cellulite may not be terribly price sensitive in America. But if you consider the medical side, this device could potentially help millions with buruli ulcer in Africa and chagas in Latin America, for example.

Malaria kills millions and our device can handle any mutant strain because, instead of treating it pharmacologically, we are mechanically hitting the germ.

When the shockwave travels through the cell, it stretches it four times per second and it comes back under its own elasticity until it eventually ruptures. The small things like viruses, bacteria, and parasites are exploded.

So you can see, being low cost is very important when you consider the third-world markets we can affect.

Joe Hage: Someone will ask, “The poor people have no money. How will you make a profit at that?” And you will say …

Will the UN help?

Andrew Hague:The money is in Geneva. The United Nations, WHO, Unicef, and Medecins sans Frontiere are already spending more than we need to do our job.

Geneva will only listen to its operators in the field. So we need to convince the NGOs that this new technology is better than what is not working properly at present.

Joe Hage: Ok. I follow you. If Geneva and the third world are the primary markets for the medical side, why do you need to partner with a big-heeled multi-national? Why aren’t you approaching Geneva yourself?

Andrew Hague: Outside the US, we don’t need a big partner.

Joe Hage: Then have you already approached Geneva? What was their response?

Andrew Hague: Geneva only listens to workers in the field. So we are now getting the message to West Africa, Ecuador, Peru, and the message will feed back to Geneva.

Joe Hage: Got it. You know, Andrew, this is fascinating to me. I fear this interview is getting long but I have to ask, on a very separate note, you were telling me some intriguing facts about cellulite I had never heard before.

Cellulite is a junk yard for body waste and can only be removed by loosening it and letting the waste escape by encouraging the growth of capillary veins. (More)

Andrew Hague:Cellulite is fat without blood so it cannot be accessed by the digestion system as a reserve fuel. Women get cellulite at the back of the legs. In men it is at the side of the waist, love handles. If you starve, you will still have cellulite. Athletes will get cellulite unless they are very careful.

Joe Hage: How do “men of a certain age” know if they have fat or cellulite around their waists? And what does “very careful” mean in this context?

Andrew Hague: If you don’t know you obviously have both so starve (diet) and see what’s left, that’s the cellulite. It means not being in civilised society. The answer for health is not medicine but transport.

Andrew Hague: Remember we are all cave men. Mechanised transport is a major problem. Walk, run, or cycle and you have all the exercise you need. Ban cars.

Joe Hage: Talk us through your next steps. How, specifically, will you approach beauty and/or medical multi-nationals for FDA clearance?

Andrew Hague: Simultaneously. They are aiming at 10% return on capital and both markets are big enough.

Joe Hage: Let’s use this interview as an opportunity to get your message out there. What should an interested party do? You have the floor, Sir.

Andrew Hague: The US market is unique so it is best run by Americans. The owners could be non-US but surely this is for America. We would create an American company and it would serve American people making profits in America.

Selling to doctors is, of course, different than selling to beauty salons so that’s why separate companies may be best. The next step for CellSonic is treating blood for transfusions. All germs will be killed and the blood safe.

Being able to clean blood leads to cleaning blood in the patient which could cure malaria, hepatitis, and maybe HIV – without drugs.

This means we are competitors to Big Pharma because we solve their problems and do not use drugs. There will always be a need for drugs but now there is a cheaper alternative without side effects.

Joe Hage: Andrew, this has absolutely been one of the most enlightening #MedDevice chats I’ve ever had. Thank you so much.

Andrew Hague: My task is to find the right partners for many years to come. CellSonic will outlive me.

Joe Hage: Yes, unless you live for generations and generations! I wish you the very best, Andrew. Thanks again for talking with us today.

…

>>> Click to review the archive of #MedDevice chats you missed! <<<

Join the Medical Devices Group on LinkedIn to network and grow your business. #MedDevice is held most Wednesdays, 4 p.m. EST. We interview the medical device industry’s best minds and cover issues including sales, reimbursement, distribution, EMRs/HIT, regulations, and Marketing Medical Devices.

Or, I should say, $3,000 poorer Yash Khanna.

Dr. Khanna wants you to attend his “Polymers & Plastics in Medical Applications” conference in Las Vegas on Feb. 29.

And don’t get me wrong, if you have anything to do with medical device manufacturing and engineering, you should probably attend.

But Yash completely wasted his money when he paid $3,000 for his email blast.

This effort was SO bad, in fact, shame on you, Mr. Publisher, for even letting it out the door!

As a direct marketer early in my career, I learned a successful mailing is due to three factors:
1. List (40 percent), who you are mailing;
2. Offer (40 percent), what’s ‘in it’ for the prospect; and,
3. Creative (20 percent), how the offer is presented.

The List
Lets assume Yash rented the best list on the market.

Give him full credit = 40 percent there!

The Offer
I’m not in love with the offer (a conference to help you and your company) because the prospective attendees:

• Need permission and a budget to attend (Yash offers no benefits to those who cannot physically attend);
• Need to be available for at least four days (including travel time);
• Need to believe the information and connections are not available elsewhere. (Yash had better do an excellent job communicating this with the remaining 20 percent, the creative.)

It’s easier to get a conversion (a prospect indicating interest) with a smaller request.

If I were Yash, I might have offered “Would you like my free white paper” instead of “Would you commit now to a $1,300 conference you hadn’t heard about before you got this email.”

Let’s give Yash 10 percent out of 20 for “the offer.” This is subjective, of course, but this is my blog post! Go write your own! <chuckles at his own joke>

The Creative
How spectacularly did Yash fail with the creative? Let me count the ways.

1. The Subject Line. The subject line is, by far, the most important part of any email.

Yash blew it. Big time. This is what I saw in my inbox.

Hotel Discount Ends JAN 27?

I’m thinking, SPAM!

What is this? I didn’t order a hotel room. I don’t have any travel planned so why do I need a hotel room?!

DELETE.

2. The Subject Line. Yash’s subject line is so bad it deserves two places on the no-no list.

The whole subject line (which I could not see) is actually:

Hotel Discount Ends JAN 27: Medical Device Polymers & Plastics, Las Vegas, FEB 29-March 2, 2012

That’s 95 characters – more than twice the average number of characters. Test after test show shorter email lines outperform longer ones.

3. Who’s It From? Second only to the subject line is “who is this from?”

Well, in this case, the email is from your friend “Medical.” You remember “Medical,” from 76th Street? We used to go to Pete’s Pizzeria after school. Great guy, that “Medical.”

4. Who’s It To? Presumably, it’s to you, right?

Not in this case.

No, here “Medical” emailed himself (I’m assuming Medical is a boy). You have been blind-copied. So have untold other thousands of people.

Which reminds me, Seth Godin (whom I partially credit for helping me get my 1800FLOWERS.COM job in 1999) defines spam as anything that is not Anticipated, Relevant, and Personal.

It’s safe to say: Blind-copying me on my own message is not personal.

Another demerit? This email, from someone I don’t know, was sent with ”High Importance.” Important to Medical, perhaps, not to me. I’m not sure how I feel about the PDF attachment, either.

5. Could Not Reply! In the miracle that was me looking for more information, I got a bounceback!

Note to self: When sending out tens of thousands of emails, be ready to reply.

6. A BIG FAT MESS! With four different fonts and at least four different colors and highlights!

He also used underlines, another no-no. Readers might mistake them for clickable hyperlinks.

I really, really wish I were making this up. The next image is un-retouched. The only thing I did was take out sections so the length would be smaller.

EYESORE! How can anyone take this seriously? (Click to enlarge, if you dare!)

Could I go on about other choices Yash made on this email? Of course I could.

Could we talk about the landing page for his offer? Yes. But I won’t. Not now.

We all suffered enough today, but not as much as Yash’s wallet.

…

Epilogue: Lest you think me a horrible person for calling out Yash so mercilessly here, Yash knew about the post and was very good-natured about it. We hope this post does more to promote the “Polymers & Plastics in Medical Applications” conference in Las Vegas on Feb. 29 than his email did!

So do Yash a favor. Click on his conference link and consider going. His content will be much stronger than his marketing effort; I can promise you that!