Med device salespeople urged to better understand hospital needs

In a recent online column, sales-training guru Janet Spirer, PhD, coaches sellers of medical devices on how to succeed in the face of falling reimbursement, rising regulatory pressures and approaching reform. In the process, she reveals information useful to the people the sellers are looking to sell to.

“Today sales people must manage not only physicians—who are becoming increasingly cost-conscious—but also procurement, the C-suite and other healthcare practitioners (e.g., nurses, techs),” wrote Spirer on Sales Training Connection. “Many of these people will have preconceived notions about you and your competition. Some are your supporters, some are neutral and some are adversaries.”

Pointing to the rise of value-analysis committees and similar intra-hospital groups, Spirer, who also is founder of Sales Horizons and a professor emeritus at Marymount University in Arlington, Va., wrote that “a lot of the decision-making is going on when the sales rep isn’t there. Therefore, working with your internal champions to effectively present your solution is critical.”

Spirer also advised salespeople on crafting strategies for dealing with the influence of group purchasing organizations. “Just aiming to get them on your side isn’t always the answer,” she wrote. “Understand what drives them and their position in the hospital. Once you know where you stand and where they stand, you can craft a strategy which takes their influence into account. Whether you can build on the influence or try to neutralize or diffuse it will be different in each account.”

She concluded with a word on the pricing pressures under which medical device decision-makers must work. Sales people have to “craft strategies to help physicians and hospitals find ways to minimize other costs or grow patient census” while also becoming “more savvy about hospital economics,” she writes. “They must look at the bigger business picture” from the hospital’s point of view.

Spirer noted that worldwide sales of medical devices are expected to top $300 billion this year, with the U.S. maintaining its mark as the largest market.