Medical Social Network News: Medical Device Sales

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Medical Sales: The Practice of Habits, Part 2

Habit 1: Be Proactive

By Rick Fromme

There are many companies and business people today (especially in medical sales), which erroneously think all they need do to be proactive when it comes to their customers is to launch a new touch marketing campaign, or worse, to call them back with a new sales offer. Wrong!

Read on, and learn more about what being proactive with customers really means.

As the esteemed, late Dr. Stephen Covey pointed out in his landmark international best-seller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effectively People,” being proactive requires a paradigm shift in mindset, behavior and for organizations, strategies. Being proactive means “that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decision, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.”

Photo Credit: n2growth.com

Dr. Covey, in further explaining the nature of being proactive, states that our basic nature is to act, versus being acted upon. As applied to customer service, this means it’s really all about reaching out to the customer to solve their problems, or answer their questions, before they even know they have them. This is exactly why proactive customer service starts not with a new marketing campaign, or a new sales offer, but with a change in mindset, behavior and strategies.

Last summer, inContact issued a customer service survey. The study, conducted online by Harris Interactive, on behalf of inContact, surveyed 2,034 U.S. adults aged 18 years or older. Here’s a summary of its main findings:

87% said they want to be contacted proactively by a company;

However, one of the major hindrances to being more proactive in customer service is the initial pause or delay that can often occur when traditional legacy predictive dialers are used in call centers;

Photo Credit: jsainterinteractive.com

The most popular reasons for wanting to be contacted included: fraudulent activity on their account (65%); setting appointments or reminders (53%); and questions about an order they placed (51%);

Nearly three quarters (73%) of those who had a pleasant surprise or positive experience with a proactive customer service call report they had a positive change in their perception of the business calling them; and

62% of those who had a pleasant surprise or positive experience with a proactive customer service call have taken an action as a result of that positive experience.

“Businesses, community groups, organizations of every kind ― including families ― can be proactive,” Dr. Covey states. “They can combine the creativity and resourcefulness of proactive individuals to create a proactive culture within the organization.”

Let’s say you’re a medical device salesperson. Imagine this scenario:

Photo Credit: msha.com

A month ago, you'd called upon a potential client, hoping to sell them a major piece of capital medical equipment (see my earlier blog, “ Successful Medical Device Sales: How to Uncover Your Prospects’ Pain to Get Them to Buy.”) As result of your efforts, you closed the deal ― congratulations! ― and the piece of equipment they’d purchased was delivered to them last week. To be truly proactive, you could do several things:

Upon closing the sale and procuring delivery arrangements, you would’ve sent your new client (note, they’re no longer a prospective customer) a “Thank You” note for making the purchase and reiterating that you (and the equipment’s manufacturer and/or distributor) will be there to answer any questions they may have.

Call the client to ensure the delivery and set up went ok. Or, even better, you would’ve arranged to be at the facility when the equipment was actually arriving to assist with the delivery and set up. At least, monitor its progress on site.

Photo Credit: tambabay.com

Arrange an appointment for you and, if necessary, a customer service representative from the equipment manufacturer or distributor to be on-site to help train your new client’s staff, offering assistance as to how to properly operate, utilize in a clinical setting, care for, and maintain the equipment.

Put your new client in touch with other facility’s key personnel who are more experienced in using the new piece of equipment to help them with any questions, issues, etc.

Keep your new client updated on any new software, firmware, upgrades, changes and or developments pertaining to the equipment they purchased.

Set up regularly scheduled conference calls to address any concerns, questions, or issues they may have.

Photo Credit: intuitivesurgical.com

If applicable, provide necessary information (photos, literature, PowerPoint presentations, boilerplate press releases, marketing points, etc.) to assist your new client in its efforts to advertise its acquisition of the new piece of equipment.

Provide your new client with testimonials from clinical staff and patients who’ve had a positive experience with the piece of equipment (videos, handwritten letters, department heads’ comments, etc.)

Keep the client informed about on any new products this manufacturer (or others) have developed that will also benefit their facility.

I’m certain if you thought about it even further, you’d be able to generate even more ideas on how to offer proactive customer services to your new client. Why not schedule a sales meeting/brainstorm session to come up with even more ideas?

Photo Credit: lifetothefullest.com

In general, most customers want to be helped and appreciated; they don’t want to be sold to. If you’re a company or individual sales representative that’s never done any proactive customer service or helping before (i.e., calling a customer to see if everything is all right, or to see if they are having any problems) but have only ever tried to call your customers to sell them something, then you need to make some behavioral paradigm shifts in order to alter your clients’ perceptions about you.

As Dr. Covey points out, individual human beings and organizational entities (businesses, community groups, families, etc.) are capable of can change and can thereby alter the way people think about us by what we do and how we do it. This change can take time and conscious effort. But in the long run, its dividends will be worth it. “Knowing that we are responsible ― “response-able” ― is fundamental to effectiveness and to every other habit of effectiveness …”

By helping your customers more, they will appreciate you more, trust you more, talk positively about you more, and buy from you more. How’s that for being proactive?

MedMasters' Testimonial

Oriented towards providing expert customer service in the medical sales industry, in this article, I discussed Habit 1 from Dr. Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” namely, Be Proactive. I talked about what being proactive is and what it’s not, particularly when pertaining to sales. I also offered several different ways one might be proactive after selling a piece of capital medical equipment to a client. If you found it interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends. As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Related Articles

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What is Good Customer Service?

15 Customer Service Skills That Every Employee Needs

Stephen Covey's Website

The Difference Between Proactive and Reactive Sales

Book by Franklin/Covey: "Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play -- Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship"

Monday, September 29, 2014

Medical Device Sales: “Fascinating, Captain!” Part 6

By Rick Fromme

Photo credit: werelover969.deviantart.com

The diversity of new, innovative medical innovations never ceases to amaze me. If you can think of a human physiological condition, malady or extenuating circumstance involving health and wellness, chances are there’s a research team or firm somewhere in the world that’s working on it.

This month’s edition of “Fascinating, Captain!” our ongoing series on new medical technologies, readily evinces this. (For more editions of this series, see our previous blogs, "Fascinating Captain!” Part 5 through Part1.) From advancements in ultrasound technology, to a newly improved spinal disc implant, to an implantable device to improve memory, to a European-invented monitoring system to prevent driver fatigue, I think you’ll agree that the breadth of medical device inventions are indeed, to quote Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, “Fascinating, Captain!”

Advancement in Ultrasound Allows for Assessment of Soft-Tissue

Photo credit: ptproductsonline.com

A new method of ultrasound is being developed to examine soft tissue, including tendons and ligaments. Vanderby, MS, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), is commercializing an ultrasound technique that can analyze the condition of soft tissue. The method was created as a result of insight from Hirohito Kobayashi, Vanderby’s former PhD student, who “had an analytical insight into the way waves propagate,” according to Vanderby.

Dr. Vanderby works in orthopedics. He and Kobayahi developed equations that described the physics of sound waves in living tissue.

Vanderby has since patented the resulting processes through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which has licensed the technology to Echometrix. The software can be loaded on to a laptop and employs images from any ultrasound instrument.

In ligaments and tendons, stiffness changes are dependent on whether tissue is intact, healing, or damaged. Dr. Vanderby says, “We can measure from the ultrasound image how physically compromised it is.” The software was approved by the FDA in 2012 and is currently being used in human studies to monitor treatment of injuries to hand tendons, the Achilles tendon, and the plantar fascia.

However, examining ligaments and tendons are not the only applications of this technology. Vanderby explains that any stressed, soft tissue could exhibit similar physical behavior. The new technology could be used to detect changes ―for example in tumors or in atherosclerosis ― where stiffness would evince degradation of the blood vessels.

Medtronic’s PRESTIGE LP Cervical Disc System Now Available in U.S.

Photo credit: medtronic.com

The FDA has approved Medtronic’s PRESTIGE® LP Cervical Disc System, an implant intended to treat single-level diseased discs, whether from radiculopathy and/or myelopathy.

The PRESTIGE LP Disc is a titanium ceramic composite device with two articulating components (ball on top & trough on the bottom) that are attached to the vertebral bodies. This ball-and-trough design provides for replication of normal motion. The device is available in a variety of sizes to allow surgeons to closely match patients’ anatomy.

This is an upgrade to the PRESTIGE disc Medtronic released in 2007, which featured a ball-and-trough socket that maintains natural bending, rotation, and translation of the two components relative to each other.

This newer, LP version uses different materials and an improved fixation mechanism that utilizes two rails that press into pre-drilled apertures, instead of the commonly used bone screws. Medtronic says its proprietary titanium-ceramic composite has demonstrated slower wear, while producing less visual scatter during MRI scans when compared to stainless steel. The device has been available around the world for a decade now, with the FDA finally issuing approval following a prospective, multicenter, historical-controlled IDE trial in the U.S.

While a fusion with an anterior cervical plate allows most patients to return to normal activities within a very short period of time, the artificial disc may provide an alternative solution for those patients suffering from degenerative disc disease.

DARPA/UCLA Project to Restore Brain Injury Patients' Memories

As part of a major federal initiative, UCLA has been awarded $15M to create a wireless, implantable device that could restore memory to millions.

Photo credit: darpa.mil

UCLA has been tapped by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to spearhead an innovative project aimed at developing a wireless, implantable brain device that could help restore lost memory function in individuals who have suffered debilitating brain injuries and other disorders.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability and death in the U.S. and contributes to around 30% of all deaths related to injury. TBI can have effects such as impaired thinking, movement, sensation, emotional functioning and memory.

TBI can be caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head. Not all blows to the head result in a TBI, yet when they do, normal functioning of the brain can be disrupted. In 2010, about 2.5 million emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, or deaths were associated with TBI.

The four-year effort, to be led by UCLA's Program in Memory Restoration and funded by up to $15 million from DARPA, will involve a team of experts in neurosurgery, engineering, neurobiology, psychology and physics who will collaborate to create, surgically implant and test the new "neuroprosthesis" in patients.

Innovative System Anticipates Driver Fatigue to Prevent Accidents

Photo credit: ibv.org

Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia (Biomechanics Institute - IBV) has worked on the development of a system with seamlessly integrated smart textiles that can measure heartbeat and respiratory rate to help prevent driver fatigue and sleepiness at the wheel. This is being researched and developed in the framework of a European project, called Harken.

This non-invasive sensor system measures heartbeat and respiratory rate embedded into the seat cover and the seat belt of the vehicle. Up to now, no system was capable of measuring those vital constants in a car non-invasively.

When people go into a state of fatigue or drowsiness, modifications appear in their breathing and heart rate; the Harken system can monitor those variables and therefore warn the driver before the onset of symptoms of fatigue.

The outcome of this project is a fully functional prototype that monitors the physiology of fatigue-associated symptoms vis-a-vis breathing and heart rate, with the aim of reducing the number of sleep- induced accidents.

The innovative Harken device, developed by companies, universities and technology centers of the consortium, measures both variables on a scenario affected by vibrations and user movements, by means of intelligent materials embedded into the seat cover and the seat belt. The system detects the mechanical effect of the heart beat and the respiratory activity, filtering and cancelling the noise caused by the moving vehicle elements (vibrations and body movements), and by calculating the relevant parameters that will be integrated into future fatigue or somnolence detectors.

The system is based on three main components: the seat sensor, the seat belt sensor and the signal-processing unit (SPU), which processes the sensor data in real time. Because of its integration possibilities, these sensors are invisible to the driver.

In this sixth edition of our ongoing series, “Fascinating Captain!” I shared with you some of the innovative medical devices that have recently received FDA approval or that will one day find their way into the ever-expanding medical device and consumer marketplaces. The diversity of medical device inventions throughout the world helps many of us to" l ive long and prosper.” If you found this article interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends. As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.