Before you lock next year's budget, score your MedTech go-to-market across six levels, from the right clinicians noticing you to the account that orders again, and fix the weakest one first.
It's budget season, and the planning deck is already open on your screen. Sales wants two more reps. Marketing wants a bigger conference presence and a paid ABM campaign. The board wants to know why last year's investment didn't move the number as much as everyone hoped. You have one quarter to decide where next year's money goes, and every team has a good reason why it should go to them.
We see this moment with founders and CEOs every fall. The instinct is to fund whatever feels loudest. The better move is to find out where the commercial engine is actually leaking before you pour more into it.
A useful way to do that comes from a six-level go-to-market framework shared by Fivos Aresti of workflows.io. It runs from attracting the right people to keeping and expanding the accounts you win. We've adapted it for MedTech, where the buyer is a committee, the sales cycle is long, and trust carries more weight than reach.
Why the Weakest Level Sets Your Ceiling
The six levels work like a staircase. Each one feeds the next, so your commercial results can only climb as high as your weakest step allows. If hospitals don't remember you after the first conversation, more awareness spend won't fix that. If evaluations stall in value analysis, a bigger booth at the next congress won't either.
That's why we score before we spend. Each level gets an honest rating, and the lowest score gets the first dollar.
Level 1: The Right Audience Notices You
This is visibility with the people who matter: the surgeons, nurse leaders, department heads, and administrators in your priority segment. In MedTech, that attention usually comes from executive thought leadership, KOL relationships, peer-reviewed evidence, specialty conferences, and targeted outreach. Reach on its own is a vanity metric here. Ask whether the right people in your beachhead market would recognize your company name.
Level 2: Interest Turns Into a Conversation
Attention means little if nobody raises a hand. This level covers how you capture interest: a clinical webinar, a useful evidence summary, a demo request, a conference meeting, or a newsletter worth opening. Ask whether a curious clinician has a clear, low-friction next step, and whether someone on your team follows up within days instead of weeks.
Level 3: You Stay Useful Through a Long Cycle
MedTech buying cycles can run for months, and the stakeholders change along the way. Nurturing keeps you present and credible while the account works through its own process. That means relevant follow-up emails, retargeting for known accounts, sales outreach with a reason to call, and content that answers the questions each committee member is actually asking. Ask whether a champion has something to forward to the CFO or the value analysis committee.
Level 4: The Evaluation Builds Confidence
Conversion in MedTech usually means an evaluation, a pilot, or a formal review. Your website, case studies, clinical and economic evidence, and the demo experience either build confidence or quietly create doubt. Ask whether a buyer who has never met you could look at your site and materials and understand the problem you solve, the proof behind it, and what happens next.
Level 5: You Pursue the Accounts That Can Say Yes
Qualification is where a lot of budget disappears. Teams chase every interested contact equally, and the sales calendar fills with conversations that were never going to close. Strong qualification sorts accounts by fit, urgency, and access to the real decision makers, (tier 1 targets) then matches the effort to the opportunity. High-fit accounts get senior, personal attention. Lower-fit accounts get lighter, automated touches (think SDR, inside sales support or agents). Ask whether your team can name the top accounts it's pursuing and explain why each one made the list.
Level 6: The Account Orders Again
The first purchase opens the relationship. Reorders, expansion into new departments or sites, referrals to peer hospitals, and published outcomes are where MedTech companies build durable revenue and the proof that makes Level 1 easier next year. Ask whether you have a deliberate plan for onboarding, clinical support, and expansion after the first contract, or whether customers mostly hear from you at renewal.
Score Yourself Before You Set the Budget
Rate each level from 1 to 5, where 1 means "we don't really do this" and 5 means "this works consistently and we can show it." Be honest, and ideally have your sales, marketing, and clinical leads score it separately before you compare notes.
Level | What to Ask | Your Score |
1. The right clinicians notice you | Would our priority buyers recognize our name? | |
2. Interest turns into a conversation | Is there a clear next step, with fast follow-up? | |
3. You stay useful through a long cycle | Does every committee member get what they need? | |
4. The evaluation builds confidence | Do our site, evidence, and demo answer the hard questions? | |
5. You pursue the accounts that can say yes | Can we name our top accounts and why they're on the list? | |
6. The account orders again | Do we have a plan for reorders, expansion, and referrals? |
When your team's scores disagree, pay attention. A gap between how sales and marketing rate the same level is often the clearest sign of where the system is breaking.
Fix the Weakest Level First
Once you have your scores, circle the lowest one. That's where next year's first investment belongs. A company that scores well on visibility but poorly on qualification should hold off on new awareness campaigns until it can sort and pursue the right accounts. A company with strong evaluations but weak follow-through after the first sale is leaving its easiest revenue on the table.
AI can help with the repetitive work at several of these levels, like drafting follow-up sequences, summarizing call notes, or tracking account activity. The judgment calls about which level to fix, which accounts to prioritize, and what story to tell still belong to experienced people on your team.
Your budget should follow your weakest level, because more spend above a broken step only makes the leak more expensive.
Build the Plan Before the Year Starts
Our GTM Sprint is built for this exact moment. We work with your leadership team to score each level, find the constraint that's limiting growth, and turn it into a focused plan with priorities, owners, and a clear sequence for the year ahead. You walk into budget conversations with a point of view instead of a wish list.
If you're setting next year's commercial budget this quarter, let's look at your six levels together.
