Winning the GPO Contract Isn't Winning the Market: The Go-To-Market Reality After Your GPO Award

By Monica Minore

[January 14, 2026] — For many small and mid-sized medical technology companies, securing a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) contract feels like a defining milestone and a signal that your innovation is ready for broader adoption and meaningful growth. A national GPO or IDN agreement can open doors to hundreds of hospitals, streamline procurement, and accelerate market access. But one of the most common misconceptions that we see at Excelerant Consulting is that companies treat the GPO award as the end of the commercial journey, when it is only the beginning.

A GPO or IDN (Integrated delivery Network) contract does not create your commercial foundation, it amplifies what is already in place. Without a clear go-to-market strategy, crisp messaging, operational readiness, and a value story grounded in data, even strong technologies can struggle to gain traction. And it’s important to remember that GPOs and IDNs don’t just evaluate your product. They evaluate your organization’s readiness to perform, your sales and marketing approach, your ability to support adoption, and your capacity to deliver consistently throughout the supply chain. If your commercial approach is fragmented, your evidence unclear, or your story fails to resonate, great innovation risks being overlooked rather than adopted.

With Excelerant’s work across med-tech commercialization and GPO strategy, we consistently see the same pattern: companies that invest in strategic preparation before the contract are the ones that translate contracting success into true market adoption and growth. A strong Go-to-Market strategy begins long before the contracting process. It starts with preparation and a clear understanding of who you are selling to, what problem you are solving and why your solution matters in their environment today. That requires more than theoretical positioning.  It means understanding workflow realities, performance gaps, operational pressures, and the practical challenges your customers are trying to solve every day.

From there, your value must be shaped around what matters most to those stakeholders: regulatory and compliance readiness, safety and clinical ease-of-use, reductions in complications and process steps, shorter hospital stays, improved outcomes, and demonstrable economic value. Not simply lower cost, but measurable, defensible value. These dimensions form the elements of your value statement. They should be unmistakable in every customer conversation and consistently present across the market. Hospitals do not buy on a single point of view, and your messaging must reflect that. Clinicians, Value Analysis Committees, administrators, and supply chain leaders each evaluate value through a different lens. If your story is built for only one of them, you have already limited your chances of success.

There is no one-size-fits-all presentation; your narrative must connect credibly to each decision-maker’s priorities and constraints. At the same time, you must be able to clearly articulate why your product is meaningfully different from alternatives and most importantly why now is the right time to adopt it. Differentiation may come from ease-of-use, clinical impact, workflow efficiency, time savings, cost performance, or operational reliability, but it must be supported by evidence. When organizations cannot answer these questions with clarity and data, opportunities stall long before they reach meaningful commercialization.

A Real-World Client Example

Excelerant recently partnered with a new-to-market company in the oral-health space pursuing its first GPO contract. Through our assessment, it became clear that the challenge was not the technology. The technology was great; it was the story. The messaging was undeveloped, lacked a differentiated point of view and failed to connect to what stakeholders cared about. We went back to basics and worked with the leadership team to rebuild the value proposition and craft messaging aligned to each stakeholder group. The final positioning emphasized greater clinical impact, higher efficiency, fewer process steps to improved patient care, and a solution that met stakeholder needs. Most importantly, the claims were validated with data and transformed the narrative into one that was credible, compelling, and commercially ready. With that foundation in place, we are working with the organization to develop the broader go-to-market strategy including commercial positioning, market segmentation, sales model design, field execution approach, and an integrated marketing plan to support adoption across priority customer segments. In this case, the value proposition was not the end of the engagement; it became the platform for disciplined, scalable commercialization.

Where Marketing Connects Story, Stakeholders, and Adoption

Another critical part of a successful go-to-market strategy is Marketing. Too often, people see marketing as just a communications function instead of a growth driver. In reality, it is the tool that transforms a strong value story into awareness, credibility, and ongoing market engagement. After signing a contract, your buyers and influencers will search, validate, and compare. Your marketing presence should back up the same message that stakeholders hear in the field: who the solution is for, what problem it solves, and the clinical and economic value it provides. Thought leadership, messaging tailored to specific stakeholders, case evidence, and targeted campaigns aren’t just nice to have; they are necessary signs of readiness and maturity in the market.

Execution in the Field Still Determines the Outcome

A critical dimension to every go-to-market strategy is what happens in the field. Whether a company relies on a dedicated internal sales team, independent representatives, or a hybrid model, that decision must be intentional and aligned to the realities of the customer environment. The right structure accelerates awareness, engagement, and adoption; the wrong structure creates friction and slows momentum at exactly the time when credibility matters most.

Before you chase the contract:  build the story, define your audience, refine your message and prove your value. A GPO or IDN contract can be a powerful catalyst but only when it reflects an organization that is strategically prepared to support it and operationally ready to perform. The goal is not simply to secure the award; it is to enter the market with clarity, credibility, and a path to adoption, growth, and sustained profitability.

 If your organization is preparing for a GPO or IDN engagement or reevaluating how your current GTM strategy is translating to market adoption, we are always happy to provide an initial consultation. Sometimes the most valuable step is stepping back to ensure the story, the strategy, and the field execution are working together.

It’s your story — let’s make sure it’s told well!

ABOUT MONICA MINORE

With more than 25 years of leadership and consulting experience, Monica helps businesses accelerate growth. She works with Excelerant clients to identify barriers then leverages market, customer, competitive, and organizational insights to create or refine strategies and build effective go-to-market growth plans. Her proven approach delivers stronger business results and greater market presence.

For the past 15 years, Monica has served as a consultant to clients exclusively in the healthcare space. She specializes in marketing strategy and customer messaging, determining market entry for medical devices, developing and implementing business strategy, executing business development plans, sales productivity, and revenue forecasting. 

ABOUT EXCELERANT CONSULTING

Excelerant Consulting is the go-to organization for med-tech companies that need to position products and services successfully for value analysis committees, contract acquisition, and sales modeling and execution to commercialize the launch of medical devices or services with Group Purchasing Organizations [GPO], Integrated Delivery Networks [IDN], or Regional Purchasing Coalitions [RPC]. Our clients rely on us to enhance their product positioning, navigate corporate contracting opportunities, and provide sales support to accelerate sales growth.

For more info, contact Excelerant Consulting at info@excelerantconsulting.com