When Healthcare Innovations Reach the Right Hands.

The man saved my fingers... which I used to type this blog post.

In healthcare, every product we bring to market has a real, human impact. Sometimes that impact comes full circle in ways you don't expect.

When I first moved into orthopaedic sales, I wanted to be closer to the frontline of healthcare (particularly in the operating room). I joined a small company on the South Coast with a very focused portfolio, one of which was the Mayday Nail. The Mayday Nail was a knee arthrodesis designed to give patients a final option before amputation. It allowed patients to bear weight even after multiple failed revisions.

Scanning the product brochure, I came across a name that sounded familiar. The designing surgeon was listed as 'Mr Miller'.

I quickly realised I had met Mr Miller before.

He had operated on me as a child following a severe hand injury.

When I was just four years old, a table collapsed on my hand and crushed my fingers.

At the time, the prognosis was that I'd likely lose one finger (if not both) unless immediate surgery was performed. Despite it being his weekend off, Mr Miller stepped in and performed finger-saving surgery.

Years later, here I was working to help bring his product to market. But I needed to understand more than just the technical specifications. I wanted to know the design rationale, what clinical challenge had driven Mr Miller to create this specific solution?

When I finally understood the beginnings from speaking with the designers of the product, the story became clear. He'd watched too many patients face amputation after multiple failed revisions. Traditional solutions weren't giving these patients a final chance at mobility. The Mayday Nail was born from his frustration with telling patients there were no options left.

That origin story became my compass for targeting.

I wasn't looking for surgeons who needed another knee implant. I was looking for surgeons who shared Mr Miller's frustration, clinicians who'd had those difficult conversations with patients about running out of options. Surgeons who understood that sometimes innovation comes from refusing to accept "nothing more can be done."

This targeting approach changed everything. Instead of broad-based product presentations, I could open conversations with a story that resonated: "What do you do when a patient has exhausted all revision options?"

The surgeons who leaned forward at that question were my ideal customers. They got it immediately.

As a recipient of Mr Miller's life-enhancing, innovative work, it became my mission to ensure the Mayday Nail reached the surgeons and patients who needed it most. But more importantly, I learned that understanding the clinical challenge behind every innovation is what separates effective targeting from product pushing.

Through understanding his challenge and the solution he created, I could find others with a similar challenge.

I inadvertently created an ideal customer persona.

Then I went to find more of them across the South West.

This experience reinforced my belief that healthcare is about more than just products; it's about ensuring those products reach the right hands. Every piece of medical technology has a story of clinical frustration that sparked its creation. My role is to find the clinicians who share that same frustration.

That's the core of what I do now, helping healthcare innovations reach their full potential by understanding the design rationale and crafting origin stories that resonate with the right clinical audience.

My team and I ensure the right people know about the product and that it gets the recognition it deserves.

So that patients can receive life-changing procedures.

Just like Mr. Miller did for me all those years ago.