Sales Enablement for Medical Devices: Showpad vs Highspot vs Specialized Solutions

Your medical device company has outgrown basic tools like Dropbox and PowerPoint, and you're evaluating sales enablement platforms like Showpad and Highspot. While both are established names in sales enablement, the question remains: do generic platforms truly serve the unique needs of medical device companies?

Medical device sales involve complex technical specifications, regulatory compliance requirements, clinical data, and sophisticated buyer education needs that generic sales enablement platforms weren't designed to handle. Your evaluation should focus on whether these platforms can support the specialized demands of MedTech sales cycles, compliance requirements, and healthcare professional engagement.

In this article, we'll compare Showpad and Highspot specifically from a medical device perspective, then explore why specialized sales enablement for medical devices might be the better choice for MedTech companies.

Medical Device Sales Enablement: Beyond Generic Platforms

Before comparing Showpad vs. Highspot for medical device companies, it's essential to understand the unique requirements of MedTech sales enablement. Medical device sales teams face challenges that generic platforms often can't address effectively.

From our perspective, medical device sales enablement leaders need to assess these factors from two angles: creativity and technology. Our sales enablement evaluation considers the needs of the buyer, seller, and organization from this medical device-specific lens.

Let's start by assessing the needs of each stakeholder.

For Healthcare Professional Buyers:

Medical device buyers—surgeons, administrators, technicians—need more than basic sales presentations. They require visually compelling stories and interactions that explain complex medical technology. Healthcare professionals want to know quickly, and without confusion, what your medical device is, how it works clinically, and how it can benefit their practice and patients. The need for well thought out and beautifully designed medical device sales presentation content is imperative.

For Medical Device Sales Teams:

For MedTech sales teams, speed and ease are of utmost importance in fast-paced healthcare environments. They don't want to waste time searching through multiple cloud-based storage systems, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, to find the right clinical data or device specifications for their healthcare clients. They need a system that supports a medical device sales enablement roadmap that aligns with their complex sales cycle and allows them to send compliant sales content in seconds, not hours.

For Medical Device Organizations:

We put this into two categories:

1. Control: Medical device sales and marketing leaders must ensure that their story is delivered with 100% consistency and control, especially given FDA regulations and compliance requirements. Sales teams should not be creating rogue presentations or sales content with incorrect clinical data to send to healthcare professionals.
2. Analytics: Medical device sales content must be delivered through a platform that delivers rich insights, providing teams the ability to optimize their sales story and its effectiveness with healthcare professional audiences.

As we compare Showpad and Highspot for medical device companies, these three criteria are used in our sales enablement evaluation to ensure they meet the needs of today's MedTech sales representatives and healthcare buyers.

Showpad Assessment for Medical Device Sales Enablement

Founded in 2011, Showpad is a comprehensive sales enablement platform that combines training and coaching software with content solutions to drive sales growth. With two main SaaS offerings, Showpad Coach and Showpad Content, organizations have the flexibility to choose either solution or utilize them together for their medical device sales enablement strategy.

Let's see how Showpad stacks up to our medical device sales enablement evaluation:

For the Healthcare Professional Buyer:

Showpad does not seem to offer any creative services specifically for medical device companies to help brands develop and create engaging clinical sales stories. However, they do offer a few tools of interest for MedTech companies:

1. 3D Models and Augmented Reality: With Showpad's virtual product demonstration, healthcare professionals can experience your medical devices within their real-life environment, delivering a more engaging and immersive experience. This innovative approach to medical device showcasing streamlines the learning process for buyers, without requiring additional time or expense. Sellers can easily present their device portfolio in detail and in real time, making complex medical devices and options easy to understand, regardless of the healthcare setting.
2. Showpad Video: A screen video recording service, similar to Loom, allows medical device sales reps to record themselves over backdrops, such as a clinical presentation, and send highly personalized messages to healthcare professionals.

Both can be effective tools in helping to engage healthcare professional buyers and allow them to understand how your medical device can benefit their practice. But please note that tools are just tools. You need to make sure you're putting the right medical device content into them.

For the Medical Device Sales Team:

Showpad, like most sales enablement platforms, is built around a robust content management system that allows medical device marketers to upload and categorize content to be distributed to their sales teams. If your main objective is consolidation for easy team access to clinical data and device specifications, you're covered here.

For the Medical Device Organization:

1. Control: Because of Showpad's content management system they check the box for control. Their CMS is built on a recommendation engine that provides content guidance to medical device sellers based on the sales cycle stage.
2. Analytics: Showpad offers a wide range of analytics from content to end-user and sales team engagement—all designed to help better inform medical device sellers and optimize sales content.

Showpad Pricing: We couldn't find a specific pricing structure on the Showpad website, but our web research indicates that plans range from $35 to $45 per user per month on an annual contract.

Highspot Assessment for Medical Device Sales Enablement

Founded in 2012, Highspot is another legacy sales enablement solution designed to help sales teams use content and data to improve their sales effectiveness and efficiency. Their platform is designed to manage content, onboard and train employees, guide sellers, and, ultimately, help medical device businesses engage with healthcare customers better.

Let's see how Highspot stacks up to our medical device sales enablement evaluation:

For the Healthcare Professional Buyer:

Highspot does not provide internal creative services or technology for enhancing the visualization and delivery of medical device sales content. However, they have a marketplace where users can access Highspot-certified partners for these services. The marketplace is the place to look for creative agency options for medical device content, if available.

For the Medical Device Sales Team:

Highspot offers a robust content management system for a "one source of truth" that prevents medical device sales reps from going off-message or using contradicting, outdated, or incomplete sources of clinical information. It comes equipped with browsing and filtering features to reduce wasted time hunting for medical device content.

Plus, it offers intelligent recommendations that adapt to the needs of each user, pairing medical device team members with appropriate content based on their roles.

For the Medical Device Organization:

1. Control: Because of Highspot's content management system they check the box for control.
2. Analytics: Highspot offers ease of content analysis, quality assessment, and upkeep: Highspot's features allow you to track down and update medical device content, remove duplicates, and learn which content has less engagement so you can fix or eliminate it.

Highspot Pricing: We couldn't find a specific pricing structure on the Highspot website, but our web research indicates that plans range from $35 to $60 per user per month on an annual contract.

Showpad vs. Highspot: Which Platform Best Serves Medical Device Companies?

If you need a strong content management system, either of the two sales enablement platform leaders would suffice for basic organization. Both offer the control and analytics necessary for today's B2B organizations, and both provide easy access to sales-ready content.

However, both platforms are lacking in the medical device-specific features and creative capabilities that MedTech companies need. Showpad has a slight competitive edge as they offer creative technological solutions with their Augmented Reality module, which can be valuable for medical device demonstrations.

Key limitations for medical device companies:

• No Regulatory Focus: Neither platform addresses FDA compliance, audit trails, or medical device-specific regulatory requirements
• Generic Content Types: Not optimized for clinical studies, technical specifications, or medical device documentation
• Limited Medical Visualization: Lack of specialized tools for medical device demonstrations, clinical data presentation, or anatomical illustrations
• No Healthcare Context: Missing features for hospital environments, medical professional workflows, or healthcare purchasing processes

Remember, working with a sales enablement partner that not only provides technology but can also develop visually compelling medical device stories can be your competitive advantage in the healthcare field.

Overall, we'd recommend Showpad over Highspot for medical device companies, but if cost is a consideration and all you need is a better Dropbox for organizing and sharing your medical device sales content, then Highspot is a serviceable choice.

Nuvue: Sales Enablement Built for Medical Device Companies

Ask any medical device sales representative if they value a well-designed medical device sales story and its supporting clinical content, and the answer will be a resounding yes. Today's sales enablement landscape offers a variety of tools, all claiming to be effective due to their robust content management systems and AI-powered recommendations and playbooks. However, the key to success is having the right medical device story at the core. Working with a sales enablement partner that brings medical device creativity will give you a competitive edge.

Let's see how Nuvue stacks up to our medical device sales enablement evaluation:

For the Healthcare Professional Buyer:

1. Medical Device Creative Services: Nuvue provides internal creative services specifically for medical device companies, including 3D medical device animations, mechanism of action videos, and clinical data visualization.
2. Mobile-Responsive Presentations: All content is built on mobile-responsive templates that work perfectly whether viewed by a surgeon on an iPad in the OR or an administrator on their desktop.
3. Interactive Medical Content: Beyond static presentations, Nuvue creates interactive product demonstrations, ROI calculators, and immersive experiences that help healthcare professionals understand complex medical device functionality.

For the Medical Device Sales Team:

Nuvue offers a content management system built specifically for medical device sales workflows. The platform organizes content by device type, clinical application, customer specialty, and sales stage—not generic folder structures. Medical device sales reps get instant access to device specifications, clinical studies, competitive comparisons, and regulatory documentation organized exactly how they need it.

For the Medical Device Organization:

1. Control: Nuvue provides complete brand control with medical device-specific compliance features. The platform includes FDA-compliant audit trails, version control for regulatory documentation, and prevents unauthorized modifications while enabling approved customization for different medical specialties.
2. Analytics: Nuvue offers comprehensive analytics designed for medical device sales, including clinical data engagement tracking, device specification viewing patterns, and healthcare professional interaction metrics. Marketing teams gain insights specific to medical device sales cycles and can optimize content based on what actually drives healthcare professional engagement.

Nuvue Pricing: Nuvue offers tiered pricing starting significantly lower than Showpad and Highspot, with discounts for annual commitments. Medical device companies typically save 25-50% compared to generic platforms while receiving specialized MedTech features and creative support.

At Nuvue, we know how to build effective and visually compelling medical device sales stories. Our team comes from a rich production background and years of experience working with medical device sales and marketing leaders to create visually smart clinical sales content. We pair this with the market's most sophisticated content management system that allows medical device sellers to quickly create compelling presentations and provides your organization with control and insights to optimize your sales story as your MedTech brand grows.

Choosing the Right Sales Enablement for Your Medical Device Company

When evaluating sales enablement platforms, medical device companies should ask:

1. Does the platform understand medical device sales cycles and regulatory requirements?
2. Can it handle clinical data, technical specifications, and safety documentation effectively?
3. Does it provide medical device-specific analytics and performance metrics?
4. Is the content optimized for healthcare professional viewing preferences and mobile usage?
5. Does the vendor have medical device industry experience and regulatory knowledge?

If the answer to these questions is no, you may be better served by specialized medical device sales enablement platforms rather than generic solutions.

If you're curious about what a creative-first medical device sales enablement tool could look like, schedule a 30-minute demo with Nuvue today. You'll learn how to craft the medical device sales story your brand deserves, deliver it consistently to healthcare professionals, and empower your team to sell smarter and faster in the competitive MedTech landscape.

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