7 min reading time

According to orthopedic surgeon Howard Luks MD,

“The worst offenders are the EMR companies, physician group consultants, and revenue cycle management company reps.”

Howard’s talking about the solicitations he gets on LinkedIn.

“Physicians on LinkedIn simply have targets on their back for salespeople to assault us.”

See http://medgroup.biz/luks for the full interview but here’s an excerpt:

Joe: You have components you’ve been using for years, relationships built since residency… so what hope or approach does a MedDevice company have to engage you?

Howard: I switched companies about 7 yrs ago due to rep issues… not issues related to the company, per se.

Joe: Do you typically get company reps calling on you? Or medical distribution companies? Or both?

Howard: Yes, all the time. But unless there is a very good reason to switch companies I’m not interested. Too many me-too one-off products out there. We have a significant interest in price controls, rev cycle mgmt, so it’s very hard to break in.

Joe: Do you look at direct mail?

Howard: Direct mail is a waste of a forest… reps can approach if they have something interesting to improve cost, or efficiency.

Joe: And I’ll assume there’s no amount of quarterly promotions that will sway you, correct?

Howard: Correct. We try not to switch unless there is a very good reason to do so.

Find the full interview at http://medgroup.biz/luks

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For today’s discussion, does Howard’s assessment resonate with you?

How does your company sell to doctors and hospitals?

What’s working these days? What isn’t?

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Howard is joining us for the 10x panel “How to Market Your Medical Device In This Environment.” See http://medgroup.biz/10x-agenda

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YOUR SUPER BOWL GUESS?

Free 10x Conference admission to the first Medical Devices Group member who guesses the correct teams and score of the 2015 Super Bowl.

http://medgroup.biz/superbowl to enter. Have fun!

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Marketers, join me for the “How Medical Device Websites Are Evolving” webinar in two days. It’s free.

Join the hundreds who’ve already registered at http://medgroup.biz/device-sites

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See you Thursday at the webinar,

Joe Hage
Medical Devices Group Leader

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Andrew Hague
President at CellSonic Limited
JH – the medical market is certainly very difficult because doctors think they know everything and country registration is based on scepticism. Nevertheless, with a product that is a game changer it is possible to sell whether you are a small or big company.

There is no single technique to selling. The only rule is determination. Eventually the word goes around.

Perry Mykleby
Customer Activation, Engagement & Retention
@Joe, to your question, ‘how does your company sell…’
Spend the time and brainpower to develop truly transformational products, or services that truly deliver value or reduce cost, and back them with evidence prior to going to market.

STUART ANDERSON
Commercial Finance & Leasing Professional at Carolina Piedmont Capital Inc.
@ Merrilee Zigarelli— Yes your point is spot on! Listening is the reason we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth. But getting to the decision maker is the most difficult part of the selling task.

David Lim, Ph.D. RAC, CQA
FDA Consultant Speaker | Drugs, Biologics, Medical Devices & IVDs, Combination Products, 483s, & FDA Inspection
All tools and methods should be used, to the extent effective and applicable, bringing the best results. Some people want to be approached by phone, email, a personal visit, through a meeting, online or any combination thereof. On a needed basis, approaches should be taken based on what it works under the situated circumstances. For example, to sell your device to me, I don’t need any conversation per se as an example. You just need to let me play with your device for an hour, a day, few weeks, etc.

Andrew Hague
President at CellSonic Limited
As the owner of the company, I buy as much as I sell so I am always seeing both sides of the trade. We are as reluctant to switch suppliers as anyone but we are not blind to progress. At the end of the line are patients suffering from drugs and they need a new technology without drugs. To make the best equipment, we have had to search for better components. Air freight is competitive. A lot of time is spent evaluating suppliers. So when I meet a doctor who is not interested in helping patients, I think he should have his medical licence removed. Thankfully, they are outnumbered by doctors who care, especially in developing countries.

Merrilee Zigarelli
Medical Marketing Consultant
OK, so here’s my two cents….Over 30 years ago, I was introduced to the most sensible and successful marketing tactic I’ve ever seen in Medical Device marketing….and it still works… educate, and support the education of doctors at the residency stage!!! It’s all about a comfort zone and confidence in your equipment and technique. I think most docs operate on the premise of, “if it ain’t broke — don’t fix it!” That being said, I’ve always encouraged my employers and clients to invest in the future by introducing their technology through residency programs and grand rounds programs…the rest will come. As far as the bombardment of multi-media cold calling….think about how much you hate it in your personal life, and judge from that how well received it will be by a busy professional. This is why I’ve always advocated a consultative selling approach. Instead of banging on doors touting your portfolio, try asking questions and listening to the answers — then see if your portfolio is a good fit for the doc’s perceived need. If so, you won’t have any problem getting him to listen to you and consider a change. For as long as I’ve been in this industry, it has been about relationships…barring a serious deficit in quality or outcomes, there is no reason to change…take that money you’d waste on meaningless campaigns and invest it in R&D so you can bring something new and better to the party!!

Andrew Hague
President at CellSonic Limited
Enough of criticising the sales person.

My prize for 2014 goes to the Director of the British Association for Diabetics who phoned me to say he is not interested in healing diabetic ulcers. He does not listen to salesmen. He only listens to the British National Health Service (NHS). I told him there are 100 amputations every week in Britain and he did not care. Does the NHS listen? Of course not so this last week I got angry and dropped all politeness and humility that salesmen cultivate and accused the NHS of negligence. They smelled a legal situation. Now they have invited me to a meeting in February, probably to tick me off for being rude. By then another 600 feet will have been chopped off. If they had listened to me months ago there would be no amputations.

Is the customer always right?

Aron D. Haber
Sales Manager at Gerresheimer | Contract Manufacturing Services for Medical Device & Pharmaceutical Device OEMs
Joe,
My point is that Dr. Luks admits that he does look at the advertising and will take a meeting without any intentions of changing his supplier. If cost savings and efficiencies were truly driving his decision process, you would think he would evaluate suppliers at least annually and even quarterly in some categories. The Doctor mentioned his last reason for change was a rep issue, not cost savings nor efficiency gains. I would also hope that improved patient care and improved outcomes would be motivating factors. Maybe this is not the right target for the salesperson to focus the sales efforts. Thanks for the discussion.

David Lim, Ph.D. RAC, CQA
FDA Consultant Speaker | Drugs, Biologics, Medical Devices & IVDs, Combination Products, 483s, & FDA Inspection
These days, the salesman should act and state differently unlike the one on the cartoon. These days, it should be stated and convincingly shown “it is easy, simple, very quick and affordable” -just pull the trigger instead of waving a sword, meeting all your needs/expectations!

Joe Hage
🔥 Find me at MedicalDevicesGroup.net 🔥
Aron, I don’t believe the cartoon captures what Howard had to say.

“Reps can approach if they have something interesting to improve cost, or efficiency.”

Your cartoon shows an efficient solution, not a shinier “sword.”

David Lim, Ph.D. RAC, CQA
FDA Consultant Speaker | Drugs, Biologics, Medical Devices & IVDs, Combination Products, 483s, & FDA Inspection
It is all about what/how to address and meet their needs/expectations (hospitals and surgeons or stakeholders, etc.).

William Stoermer
Experienced COO
Aron Haber has is exactly correct !

Aron D. Haber
Sales Manager at Gerresheimer | Contract Manufacturing Services for Medical Device & Pharmaceutical Device OEMs
Reminds me of the cartoon with the king that is too busy waging war with swords when the machine gun salesman wants to sell the king the new weapon.

[http://api.ning.com/files/B6ofJW8lVDCD7AFaVUT4Zs08lGre8szun7–NWqlkHGJxi5XaSOf7QuFVxmhVofVd250gtHdoSo7pbuUtB47eargRaybxBZo/KingMachineGunSalesmanCartoona.jpg|leo://plh/http%3A*3*3api%2Ening%2Ecom*3files*3B6ofJW8lVDCD7AFaVUT4Zs08lGre8szun7–NWqlkHGJxi5XaSOf7QuFVxmhVofVd250gtHdoSo7pbuUtB47eargRaybxBZo*3KingMachineGunSalesmanCartoona%2Ejpg/IsNj?_t=tracking_disc]

STUART ANDERSON
Commercial Finance & Leasing Professional at Carolina Piedmont Capital Inc.
Wow! While I understand Dr Howard’s position, one must understand these things come with the territory and title. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. Our original position, a few years ago before the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was implemented, was the healthcare sector was on the cusp of a boom! We were looking for medical related businesses to expand beyond the confines of today’s business. But in reality, the ACA has been less than expected and most professional healthcare businesses have either declined to participate or holding onto their CAPEX until a clearer direction is seen.

For today’s discussion, does Howard’s assessment resonate with you?
Yes, it resonates and it hurts. We offer financial services for the healthcare business and professional. What we offer, that others my not care about, is we insure sustainability and attempt to eliminate all risk of default by the customer. Whereas, larger financial institutions will do their due diligence, we try to eliminate ALL possibilities of repayment default. While some risk is always inherent to every finanial transaction, we try to eliminate as much as possible. If there is an area of concern within the financial documents, we will inform the customer and ask for an explanation or perhaps suggest a change that would bring the business or professionals finances in line with our lending requirements. One of the biggest area(s) that we focus “Is the customer vested in the transaction?”— But if its so difficult to meet the doctor or professional, then our message is being stifled at the door. Banks are good, but I believe we are better.

How does your company sell to doctors and hospitals? So far, we’ve managed to penetrate the “receptionist” by attending trade shows, joining professional organizations like the state medical society or dental society and networking. We’ve promoted our products and services through professional advertising, which has netted us a few clients, but still not a strong ROI. We’ve managed, but its more stagnation than growth.

What’s working these days? What isn’t?
What is working? Networking, Trade shows, LinkedIn, and next on our agenda is TV advertising. OUr company is not booming, but we aren’t sinking either. What doesn’t work? Cold Calls, direct mail, and beating the concrete for personal introductions. The receptionist guard will not allow us to pass!

Elizabeth Brooks
Executive Vice President, Global Commercialization Services at TTi Health Research & Economics
Howard’s assessment certainly resonates with me. As a health economics & value analysis service provider we work with a variety of medical device manufacturers. All of our clients with marketed products report that very little traction or penetration can be made with “traditional” relationship marketing. Hospitals & surgeons are interested in understanding how new technologies can reduce costs, increase labor efficiencies, and reduce events that adversely impact reimbursement (e.g., 30-day re-admissions; hospital-acquired infections). Without a clear and compelling value proposition, it is extremely difficult for technologies to gain a foothold in today’s marketplace.