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Medical device manufacturers · Referral marketing

A device travels with the surgeon who was trained on it.

Referral for a device manufacturer is the clinician who asks for your instrument at a new hospital, the biomedical engineer who vouches for your service, and the distributor who opens a door. Paying for any of it is restricted territory. GullySales builds the network and flags what needs your adviser.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Realistic editorial illustration of medical device manufacturers at work in India

What referral marketing means

Referral marketing is asking an existing customer to recommend you to someone they know, usually with a reward for both sides. It differs from a loyalty scheme because it brings in a new customer rather than a repeat purchase. GullySales builds the ask and the reward into a point where a customer is already satisfied.

Also for medical device manufacturers

Sales and marketing for medical device manufacturers, the overview.

Last updated 5 Oct 2026. Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. We describe restrictions in general terms, so check the current position with your own council or adviser before you publish anything.

For medical device manufacturers

Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.

  • “Your best referral list is a record of who has used the device and where they went”

    A surgeon trained on your instrument asks for it when she moves hospital. If nobody kept that record, you find out only when a competitor's rep gets there first.

  • “The introduction that works is between two biomedical engineers”

    Ask the engineer at a reference hospital to speak to the one evaluating you, with no sales person on the call. They discuss uptime, spare availability and how your service behaves at eleven at night, and that conversation moves a committee.

  • “A distributor margin and a payment for influence are not the same thing”

    An agreed distributor margin is a commercial arrangement. Money to a doctor or a purchase officer for influencing a hospital purchase is restricted, the rules differ and they change. Take that to your own regulatory or legal adviser before anything is offered.

What we do

What we deliver for medical device manufacturers.

Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. A clinician record that follows people between institutions

    Who has been trained on your device, where they were, where they are now, and what they used it for.

    Result: You hear about a move in time to be useful.

  2. Peer introductions arranged between engineers

    A short, prepared call between a reference hospital's biomedical engineer and the one evaluating you, agreed with both in advance.

    Result: The evaluation is answered by somebody with nothing to sell.

  3. A written position on what may and may not be offered

    Your regulatory or legal adviser's answer on sponsorships, gifts and any payment connected to a purchase decision, turned into guidance the field team can follow.

    Result: Nobody offers something the company cannot defend.

  4. Distributor introductions treated as a channel

    Existing distributors asked, systematically, for the institutions and neighbouring territories they can open, with what each introduction is worth agreed in advance.

    Result: A distributor relationship produces more than his own order book.

  5. Referral source recorded on every enquiry

    The clinician, hospital or distributor behind each new account captured at the point of enquiry rather than reconstructed later.

    Result: You can see which relationships genuinely bring work.

How the result is measured

  • Referrals received
  • Referral conversion rate
  • Cost per referred customer

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Read the full referral marketing page

How referrals reach a device maker

Your references are people who have used the device, and where they go next.

The biomedical engineer who maintains your device
Ask which engineers at other hospitals would want to see how your unit is serviced. A visit between two engineers carries more weight than your brochure, and you only have to arrange it.
The clinician who has used your instrument and moves hospital
Record every clinician by name, department and institution, and update the record when he changes post. Write to him at the new place, offer product information, and let him decide whether to ask for a demonstration.
The distributor who already holds hospital accounts
Treat a distributor as a sales channel with a written agreement covering territory, registration holder, service duties and stock. Record which hospitals each distributor opened, so the credit is not argued later.
The reference site
Before any hospital is named in your material, get its written permission and the exact wording. Hospital administrators differ on this, and a site that did not agree may not take your next call.
What never to do
Never offer cash, gifts, travel or free equipment to anyone who buys, uses or recommends your device without written advice from your regulatory adviser. Rules for devices differ by body and change, so check before each arrangement.

Who it is for

This is written for these medical device manufacturers.

  • Diagnostic equipment manufacturers
  • Surgical instrument manufacturers
  • Hospital furniture and equipment makers
  • Disposable and consumable device manufacturers
  • Implant and orthopaedic device makers
  • Home healthcare device manufacturers
  • In-vitro diagnostic kit manufacturers
  • Export-focused medical device units

Not for

It is not the right fit if.

  • You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
  • You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
  • You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.

How it works

From your first message to the first report.

No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.

  1. First

    Your brief

    You tell us what you need in a few short steps: your business, what you want, where enquiries come from and how they are handled.

  2. After the brief

    A conversation and a written scope

    We read it, then talk with whoever handles your enquiries. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come in writing, and nothing starts before you have read them.

  3. Before work starts

    Baseline recorded

    Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.

  4. After the baseline

    The first fix goes live

    The fix we agreed to start with is put in place and measured against the baseline, whether that is reply time, a follow-up sequence, the page buyers land on or the handover between marketing and sales.

  5. As agreed

    Report against the baseline

    What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.

  6. At renewal

    Renew on the numbers

    The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.

How the referral marketing work runs

  1. 1

    Understand your margin and customer relationship

    We agree what reward is genuinely sustainable and appropriate for your business and customer type.

  2. 2

    Audit existing informal referrals

    We check how much word of mouth already happens, to size expectations for the formal programme realistically.

  3. 3

    Design the offer and mechanism

    A specific reward and an easy sharing method are built and tested.

  4. 4

    Implement and promote

    The programme is surfaced at the right moments in your customer journey.

  5. 5

    Measure and adjust

    We track referrals and conversions, adjusting the reward or promotion if uptake is low.

Why us

Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.

  • Marketing and sales, as one job

    Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.

  • The person on the first call does the work

    No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.

  • A baseline before anything starts

    Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.

  • The fee in writing, split three ways

    Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.

  • No guarantees we cannot keep

    The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.

  • One office, and we say so

    Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.

#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.

Your brief

Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Can we sponsor a doctor to attend a conference?
That sits squarely in restricted territory and we are not the people to rule on it. Arrangements between manufacturers and prescribers are governed by rules that differ and change, and your customer's own institution may have a policy too. Your regulatory or legal adviser answers it, in writing, before anything is agreed.
How do we ask a hospital to act as a reference site?
Ask after a service call that went well, name exactly what you want them to speak about, and give them a limit on how often they will be contacted. Most biomedical departments agree when the ask is specific and bounded. Record the consent and the date, and honour the limit.
How do we record which distributor or engineer opened a hospital?
Put a source field on every enquiry and demonstration request, and fill in the name of the person who introduced it at the first call. Keep the distributor's name separate from the engineer's. When the order arrives, the source is already on file.
A distributor wants exclusive rights for a whole state. What should we check?
Look at what he already sells that competes, who holds the registration, who handles service and what he must do to keep the rights. Put the territory, the stock and the exit conditions in writing, and have your adviser read it first.
Should our product pages state the device's risk class?
Yes. Under the Medical Devices Rules, 2017, each device falls in class A, B, C or D, and a biomedical engineer checks that class against your licence. Showing both on the page saves a round of emails before the demo.
Can we name the hospitals that already use our device?
Only with each hospital's written permission, and stated as a fact rather than an endorsement. Many hospitals refuse, so we plan the page to work without names. An installation count by city or specialty is a safer form of proof when you can verify it.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts, split into our time, your media spend and production.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on the trade, the channel and what is already in place. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.

From the blog

Further reading for medical device manufacturers.

All articles

More for medical device manufacturers

Everything else we would do for you.

Closest to this: customers after the sale

Also for medical device manufacturers

Or start from the overview: sales and marketing for medical device manufacturers.

Your next practical step

Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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