The Story of MEDEV Part 3: So, what would MEDEV be?

But isn't there so many players in the market already? Why would there be a need for MEDEV? Who will buy from MEDEV? and why?

I pose the above questions to myself early on, and I realize I have to answer them truthfully to myself. I wouldn't want to go into business and fail later. I have just no time for that. The real question is, what should set MEDEV apart from competition for it to have the right to exist?

With my more that 10 years in the market, I am lucky to have direct contacts with different customers in the industry from different perspectives. I have worn many different hats. I was a service engineer, then a product specialist, then a sales executive, then an administrative supervisor. I was there to service the customer, provide them information, sell to them, and support them in whatever way. I have first hand information on their problems, their needs, and requirements as a whole.

Not only that. I wore those hats from different angles. I was with a small medical equipment corporation, then with a family-owned corporation, then with a Japanese company, then with an Israeli company, and then with a big USA corporation. I know how all these companies (now competitors) operate. I figured out how I can differentiate MEDEV from all of them.

Integrity.
In the medical equipment market, integrity is one thing that majority, if not all, of competitors ignore. It is a rule rather than the exception for many companies to claim things about their products that are simply not true. It is a rule rather than the exception for many companies to lower their equipment costs by misdeclaring them at customs and by not paying the proper importation taxes. Many misdeclare their total income and avoid paying taxes on them too. Surprisingly, even long established and respected companies are practicing these without remorse and as the way of doing things.

And for the simple reason that medical equipment are very complicated products and that customers are having a hard time evaluating their purchases properly, these companies are still rewarded with orders even by customers who value integrity so much.

For example, competitors will always claim that they are selling brand new equipment, even if the same equipment has already been used as demonstration units, back-up units or even used by another customer who was unable to pay for it. There even are companies who purchase refurbished equipment and sell them as brand new! To them, brand new does not necessarily mean it is really brand new. It just have to look like brand new.

Now when competitors say that their equipment is a demo unit, more often than not, it is really a worn out unit and they only say it is a"demo unit" because they cannot hide (or it is expensive to hide) anymore the physical damages or obvious scratches.

And then everybody will say that their product is top-of-the-line, or the latest, state-of-the-art. Take the Acuson 128XP10 ultrasound machine for example. Many still buys this popular product even if its last production is almost 10 years ago. Why? Because many thought that it is still top-of-the-line, today! So many customers have been duped to buy this product for at least $40,000 when it is sold at the internet for not even a third of that price!

If MEDEV would jump on the lack-of-integrity bandwagon, I am sure we would be very successful in no time. I am sure we can also easily get away with it. Many will say that that is what business is all about. But I am not a businessman. I am just looking for employment, remember? I am looking for a company with integrity. And if I cannot find one, I'll make one!

But if my competitors lack integrity, and if they mostly get away with it, how can I fight them head on? How can you compete on their price when they are offering even used equipment, which they bought at a bargain, as brand new?

That leads me to the other thing that will differentiate us apart from our them...

Service.
I mean Great Service! Some companies have engineers. We will have the best ones and those with the best experience on the products we carry, and we will train them better.

Some companies provide quick response to customer service requirements. We will provide faster response. We will equip our engineers with the right tools. We will also provide the engineers with back units and boards at their disposal. That way, they can decide on their own whether it is prudent to provide the customer with whatever back-up items are available. We will provide the engineers with cellphones so that they can immediately be contacted. We will provide them with means of transportation so that they can be at a place where they are needed the most.

Some companies provide training. We will provide better training. We will hire people who, even as members of the our service department, will primarily provide training to the customer. As with the other companies, we will make available training from different sites, even abroad. But to set us apart, we will also provide training on site, to those people who need and benefit the training most - the equipment technicians, the end-users, and in front of the equipment they bought.

In short, we will work our very best to return in the form of service every centavo the customer will pay us.

I believe Integrity and Service will set us apart from the competition. Yes, it will take us a long time to do that, for the customer need to experience us first before we can show them the difference. Nevertheless, MEDEV will be ready to do that, whatever and however long it takes.