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Showing posts with label effective medical device sales. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Successful Medical Device Sales: How to Uncover Your Prospects’ Pain to Get Them to Buy

By Rick Fromme

A Pain That I'm Used To (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the biggest emotions we have is pain or discomfort. When medical sales reps can uncover their clients’ poignant pain and offer a solution to remove that pain, they’re more likely to get the deal. (Incidentally, in a subsequent blog, I’ll discuss how job candidates and interviewees can directly apply this proven methodology during their interviews to maximize their results.)

People buy emotionally and make decisions intellectually. That is, people often make buying decisions from an emotional, non-rational basis, whether they realize it or not. Successful medical device sales reps can benefit from understanding and utilizing this concept to close more sales consistently.

After obtaining a legitimate lead, first things first, you need to build a rapport. This is crucial. In order to help establish a rapport, you need to learn more about the key decision makers who will ultimately approve the purchase order (administrator, hospital manager, OR manager, purchasing department head, etc.) and his or her hospital, department, etc. Research time: Find out as much about this individual (or individuals) as possible so that when you do meet them, you can build upon some avenues of commonality. You need to personally or professionally identify with the prospect. Whether it’s a mutual acquaintance, graduated from the same school, share similar hobbies, belong to the same professional groups, attend the same house of worship, etc., you have about 15-30 seconds for a prospect to size you up and determine if they’re going to like you.

The second step is to have a conversation to probe and determine what are their true needs and pains. The key ― by running them through a series of probing questions ― is to identify the emotional pain they may feel towards the issue you’re discussing and getting them to tell you what would be the ideal solution. You don’t want to go through all the features and benefits of your product if it doesn’t address a prospect’s true interests and/or needs. For example, let’s say someone learns I’m in the marketplace for a boat. So they contact me about their various motorboats, telling me how fast they are, discuss various outboard motor options, the boats’ amenities such as diving platforms, if they can rigged for deep sea fishing, etc. Right?

Wrong. Turns out, I’m in the market for a small, easy-to-operate, personal sailboat.

Sailboat GBR 50816, Sada, Galicia (Spain) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m a big proponent of a system developed and taught by Sandler Training. What I learned in Sandler Training is that after building rapport, before you start talking about your product and what it has to offer, you need to back up and start asking probing questions. You’re trying to find out what their pain or discomfort is. By locating their pain and learning how it makes them feel, they’ll tell you what happened to them in the past, what other products they’ve purchased, what their concerns are, etc. You have to expose and understand those underlying issues, similar to a psychologist who’s trying to help a client experiencing emotional difficulties.

At that point, once you’ve established what their pain points or concerns are, you can position your product and/or services to eliminate their pain. When doing so, you’re predominately going to highlight the specific features and benefits of your product and/or service that are going to make their pain go away, whether it’s customer service, costs, features and benefits, cross-specialty utilization, ease of use/training, etc. You’ll predominately share those key elements of your product and/or service that are going to make them feel better.

It’s actually kind of like an interview, with you taking judicious notes. You ask them what they want and why, and, if you’ve followed through with the above, they’ll tell you. Hence, when you create your proposal, it will address exactly what they told you they wanted, based on their emotional pain or concerns. Chances are, if you demonstrate how your products or service can alleviate their pain, you’ve clinched the deal. Never put together a proposal or bid without understanding why they want to buy from an emotional standpoint.

Here’s a real-life example from when I was a successful medical device sales rep at Medtronic:

One of the products I used to sell was image-guided surgery (IGS) systems. This equipment allows surgeons in a variety of specialties to three dimensionally track surgical instrumentation while navigating through high-risk anatomical areas such as the brain, sinus cavities, spine, and other delicate regions. It’s like an internal GPS system. These systems are fairly pricey, ranging between $180,000 to $500,000+.

One day, I received a general lead from a hospital O.R. director in southeast Georgia that wanted to purchase an image guided stem. At that time, Medtronic was just one of many companies offering this sophisticated device, along with GE, Stryker, Brainlab and others.

I knew this was a C- Level decision, so I called the hospital’s administrator several times ― for this story, I’ll call him “Mr. Jones”― but he wasn’t returning my calls. So I reached out to Mr. Jones’ secretary who told me to send in a bid for one of my firm’s IGS systems just as my other competitors already had. I said, “Sure, but I’d like to drop the proposal off in person so I can briefly introduce myself to Mr. Jones.” She made an appointment for the following week for us to get together.

English: Georgia Bulldogs helmet. Made with Ph...

Georgia Bulldogs helmet. Made with Photoshop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I still didn’t know exactly what Mr. Jones wanted, that is, what his specific emotional pains or concerns were regarding this piece of capital equipment. In order to discover these, I needed to talk to him. But before doing so, I needed to learn more about Mr. Jones. I did my research and found out he’d graduated from the University of Georgia, that he was a big football fan, was a strong alumni supporter, etc.

So when I went to visit him, I wore a red shirt and black pants. No kidding. And, of course, once I was in his office, we immediately started talking about the Georgia Bulldogs, college football, the SEC, and the like. In talking with him, I also made certain comments and observations that would help establish some type of common ground between us.

Eventually he asked me, “Where’s the bid?”

Keeping in mind that several other companies had already submitted theirs, I replied, “There were several bids I could send, but I wasn’t sure which one would be best. However, I’m happy to fax you the bid once I know exactly what it is you want.” With that, I began my interview process by asking probing questions to ascertain his concerns (i.e., “pains”).

BellcoFormula in (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“We’ve purchased expensive capital equipment before because our docs said they’d wanted it,” Mr. Jones explained. “But several times these investments just turned into large and costly ‘paperweights’ that nobody uses,’” he said ruefully. He then went on to mention some of his other pains, such as experiencing poor customer service with previous suppliers and having to moderate multi-specialty requests for similar equipment.

“You really should only buy what you’re going to be comfortable with,” I responded, after carefully noting his issues with previous expenditures.

My meeting turned out to be fairly comprehensive, where Mr. Jones ended up telling me exactly what he wanted and why, all the way down to the terms, pricing, guarantees, service requirements and other key details. “Give me a day or two and I’ll have your bid,” I said, exiting his office. “And go Dawgs!”

As promised, a couple of days later, I drove back up to Georgia to personally drop off the bid he’d requested.

"$!" in Old Script font. Italiano: "$!" nel carattere Old Script. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After taking a few moments to look it over, Mr. Jones looked up at me and said, “Rick, this is exactly what we want.” It’s as if he’d forgotten about our previous conversation. For in creating the bid, I essentially gave him precisely what he needed that would address his needs and “pains” that I’d uncovered. He then told me he was going to sign a requisition for my IGS system. In response, I asked him what he was going to do if one of the competitors came back around trying to get his business. He answered with a Cheshire Cat-like grin, “I haven’t spoken to them and only received bids from them. I’ve not spoken to any of them. But if they come sniffing around, I’ll make them go away.” And I landed the deal. (No small feat in the competitive world of medical capital equipment sales).

To summarize the steps I took to secure this lucrative sale:

Research your client
Build rapport
Ask probing questions
Identify the client’s “pains” (Why do they want to buy this product?)
Discover what’s in it for them personally/professionally (i.e., gaining respect for championing a product into the hospital)
Create a proposal customized to their specific needs
Coach them how to handle your competition after they’ve committed to you

About the Sandler Selling System®

David H. Sandler developed his proprietary methodology — an innovative, non-traditional selling system —in the late 1960s, and subsequently created the concept of “reinforcement training” to support it. From that foundation, he then created a series of proven sales training programs for small- and mid-sized companies and Fortune 500 corporations. He went on to found the Sandler Sales Institute®. Sandler provides both basic and advanced selling methods, strategies and tactics that are marketplace proven across a wide variety of sales. It then provides ongoing support to reinforce its principles until they’re mastered. This powerful reinforcement training is Sandler’s key point of difference from all other training in the marketplace.

The firm changed its name to Sandler Training® in 2008, to more accurately reflect the diversity of its training offerings, which have expanded beyond sales training to include management, leadership, negotiating skills, customer service, as well as executive coaching and mentoring. It has now grown into an organization that dominates the global training market, with more than 200 offices worldwide, providing instruction in 27 languages.

In this article, I discussed the importance of why and how successful medical device sales representatives should discover a prospect’s “pain” in order to provide meaningful solutions to alleviating it. I gave a personal example of how I effectively closed a major medical device sale using these techniques established and taught by Sandler Training. I also briefly provided some information about Sandler Training. If you found this article useful, please feel free to share and repost it. If you have any questions or comments, as always, I’m eager to read them.

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.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Medical Device Sales: “Fascinating, Captain!” Part 5

By Rick Fromme

Despite some of the challenges many mid- and small-sized medical technology firms have been facing due to the medical-device excise tax, there continues to be robust research and development and FDA approval for exciting, innovative high-tech medical devices. Too, the job market in the medical device sector continues to increase. In fact, reports medcitynews.com:

“Most medical manufacturers actually increased their employee count for the year, according to a new report from EP Vantage. Of the top 15 device makers, only three experienced reductions in headcount – and two of those were simply because the companies spun off their pharmaceutical divisions. The remaining 12 increased their employee bases by six percent.”

That said, here’s this month’s look at some of most recently approved and/or up-and-coming medical devices and technologies from around the world.

Nymi Wristband Uses Your Heartbeat as Your ID

Imagine if your phone, computer, automobile home could recognize you and only unlock when you’re
nearby. How would they know it was you and not someone else? Your heart beat.

Devices running Nymi-associated apps can read the device's signal and react appropriately. For example, a smartphone with a Nymi app could unlock its screen when in range of the wristband's Bluetooth signal. A multiplicity of electronic devices, cars, and even homes with the app could also be configured to unlock, engage and receive respond to other commands when in range of the Nymi device.

The Nymi wristband, created by Toronto-based Bionym Inc., reads a wearer's electrocardiogram, or EKG. The wristband then transmits this specific ID based on the EKG to the wearer's devices.

EKGs are based on a number of factors, including variable measurements such as heart rate and stress. But the Nymi takes advantage of the fact EKGs also evaluate more “permanent” factors, such as an individual’s such as a heart's size, its position in the chest and other electrical signals. All of these characteristics contribute to the unique EKG wave's shape. Just like your fingertip, your heartbeat is unique. The Nymi tells the world who are you, allowing you to securely communicate your indentity to all your favorite devices and environments.

Each time a user puts the Nymi back on, the wristband performs a check to match the EKG with what it has on file from its initial reading. After that, the Nymi merely monitors whether it’s still in contact with the original wearer — it doesn't provide any data about the wearer's heart or other medical functions.

If the Nymi is removed, it will cease its Bluetooth transmissions and won't resume until it verifies that the correct user is wearing it.

Nymi EKG-Authenticating Wristband

New Hand-held Device Improves Melanoma Detection

A new hand-held device that uses lasers and sound waves may change the way doctors treat and diagnose melanoma, according to a team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis. The instrument is the first that can be used directly on a patient and accurately measure how deep a melanoma tumor extends into the skin, providing valuable information for treatment, diagnosis or prognosis.

The motor, translation stage, ultrasonic transducer, and optical fibers are all incorporated in this handheld probe for easy operation. Credit: Image courtesy of Yong Zhou.

The technique relies on the photoacoustic effect, in which light is converted into vibrations. In the case of the new device, a laser beam shines into the skin at the site of a tumor. Melanin, the skin pigment that's also in tumors, absorbs the light, whose energy is transferred into high-frequency acoustic waves. Unlike light, acoustic waves don't scatter as much when traveling through skin. Tumor cells will produce more melanin than the surrounding healthy skin cells, and as a result, the acoustic waves can be used to map the entire tumor with high resolution.

Initially, this tool will be mainly used for improving how doctors plan and prepare for surgeries. It can measure a tumor's entire volume, something that's never been possible with melanoma. If researchers can determine how the volume relates to cancer outcomes, then this device could give doctors a new type of measurement for diagnosis and prognosis.

Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer type in the U.S. and rate of incidence is rising faster than all other cancers. It's also the deadliest form of skin cancer, causing more than 75% of skin-cancer deaths.

3D Printed Anatomy Marks a New Era for Medical Training

The creators of a unique kit containing anatomical body parts produced by 3D printing say it will

revolutionize medical education and training, especially in countries where cadaver use is problematical.

The “3D Printed Anatomy Series,” developed by experts from Monash University in Australia, is thought to be the first commercially available resource of its kind. The kit contains no human tissue, yet it provides all the major parts of the body required to teach anatomy of the limbs, chest, abdomen, head and neck.

The simple and cost-effective anatomical kit would dramatically improve trainee doctors’ and other health professionals' knowledge and could even contribute to the development of new surgical treatments.The kit, which is set to go on sale later this year, could have particular impact in developing countries where cadavers aren't readily available, or are prohibited for cultural or religious reasons.

Even when cadavers are available, they’re often in short supply, are expensive and, as anyone who has been near them will readily attest, are rather noxious due to the embalming process.

Conversely, the 3D printed series can be produced quickly and easily, and unlike cadavers don’t deteriorate or require special storage facilities and protocols, making it more cost effective.

After scanning real anatomical specimens with either a CT or a surface laser scanner, the body parts are 3D printed either in a plaster-like powder or in plastic, resulting in high resolution, accurate color reproductions.

FDA Approves Attain Performa Quadripolar Lead & Viva Quad CRT-D

The FDA has given Medtronic approval to introduce its Attain Performa Model 4298 quadripolar lead and the Viva Quad XT and Viva Quad S cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D) in the U.S.

Having four electrodes on a lead allows cardiologists to select from any one of 16 available pacing configurations. Additionally, the short distance between the inner two electrodes provides facilitates fine tuning of CRT-D therapy.

Furthermore, the new quadripolar lead reduces the incidence of phrenic nerve stimulation (PNS), a potential side effect that results in muscle twitching, hiccups or shortness of breath. The Viva Quad XT device is equipped with the proprietary AdaptivCRT feature, which preserves normal heart rhythms and automatically adjusts to patients’ needs to customize therapy. The system includes VectorExpress technology, which reduces lead programming time to two minutes by providing physicians with clinically actionable information to help them select optimal pacing configurations for each patient.

The Attain Performa lead addresses the clinical challenges that can compromise lead position, offering implanting physicians more options to maintain lead position and optimize CRT therapy. The Model 4298 lead has a canted shape, and steroid on all four electrodes for lower pacing thresholds.

Bacterial Robotics Building “BactoBots” Engineered to Destroy Skull-based Tumors

Cincinnati-based Bacterial Robotics is engineering a legion of so-called “bactobots” to do our bidding in the fields of health care, industrial waste management and numerous others.

It just received National Science Foundation funding to further development of a bacterial robot that can be used as a surgical tool. It’s developing an organism that recognizes a certain type of skull-based tumor called a cholesteatoma, which leads often to meningitis, brain abscess and death.

Code-named the Auribot, the engineered bacterium is being developed to augment current skull-based surgical practices.It gives surgeons a consumable product that uses lysis to destroy residual cholesteatoma cells after the primary skull-based surgery is complete.

The synthetic biology company is focused on taking natural genes that allow organisms to complete any given task in a natural setting and move them into task-performing bacteria

These microscopic bacterial robots can work as surgical devices, produce biofuels, clean water supplies, nearly that a bacterium would do.

In this edition of “Fascinating Captain!” I briefly addressed the current growth and job outlook for the medical device industry, even after the implementation of the ACA-mandated excise tax. I highlighted some of the innovative medical devices that have recently received FDA approval and/or that may one day find their way into the ever-expanding medical device marketplace. 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.