This month's headlines

Smart selling can be habit-forming. By all accounts, IMDA’s “Smart Selling” seminars were worth the time and investment.

Sponsors and exhibitors sought for 2008 conference. Manufacturers have already been alerted to the opportunity to strengthen their ties with specialty sales and marketing companies at the upcoming Annual Conference in Oak Brook, Ill.

Outstanding manufacturer to be recognized. Do you represent a manufacturer that acts as a partner rather than an adversary? Nominate that company for IMDA’s Manufacturers Partnership Award.

Vidacare, Medtec join association. IMDA welcomes a new member and allied member.

Your customers probably weren’t aware. . . The next time a customer complains about the cost of new technology, tell them about Finger Guard.                                                                                                                                                         

For many members, it was a new experience, not to mention an investment. Many had never packed themselves and their sales reps up to attend an intensive, day-long sales training seminar. But from all accounts, it was well worth the time, effort and expense. In fact, IMDA members who attended say the experience taught them how to differentiate their companies by transforming their approach to selling. “I’m fired up,” says Wayne Grooters, president, Sovereign Medical, Hurdle Mills, N.C.

Grooters was one of almost 40 people -- nine from Sovereign -- to attend IMDA’s “Smart Selling” seminar in Atlanta Jan. 17-18. (IMDA sponsored a second seminar in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Jan. 21.) The seminars were conducted by Gerry Layo, sales trainer and speaker, of Sales Coach International, Granite Bay, Calif. (www.gerrylayo.com). Layo was the keynote speaker for the 2006 IMDA Annual Conference.

“We have several veteran sales reps -- and by ‘veteran,’ I mean 30 years experience -- who were writing notes as fast as they could,” says Brenda Grooters, Wayne’s wife. “We were thanked profusely by them and told things like, ‘I have never taken away so much from a seminar.’ Everyone is energized, excited, ready and willing to change old habits for useful, more productive ones. Wayne has already sent them an online ‘Training Workshop Followup Quiz.’”

“Gerry did a great job,” adds Shawn Walker, Bay State Anesthesia and IMDA president, who was the impetus behind the seminars. “He delivered a lot of good content. But the most positive part was after it was over, when many of the people who attended -- not just the principals, but the sales reps -- said, ‘Thank you for putting this together.’” Although many of Layo’s points have been made before, his energy and humor breathes new life into them, she says. “He kept everyone interactive, laughing, writing notes, participating.”

Be a professional

IMDA Announcement 2008 Annual Conference & Manufacturers Forum June 8-10, 2008 The Hyatt Lodge Oak Brook, Ill. (12 miles from the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park) Book it!

Layo had many messages for IMDA members. But three that stood out in the minds of those who attended were:

• Act like a professional.
• Shut up and listen.
• Develop good habits, and change outdated ones.

“We had a good mix of senior salespeople, brand new salespeople, young salespeople,” says Walker. “So it really got down to, ‘What’s really important about what you need to do to be successful?’”

According to Walker, one of Layo’s clearest messages was, “Take your job seriously.” “He says that the profession of sales is for sales professionals,” she says. “That means, you have to take your job seriously; you need to be prepared; and you need to differentiate yourself from your competition.” Not only must sales reps differentiate their companies, but themselves too. “They need to answer the question, ‘What do you offer? Why should people do business with you?’”

Part of being a professional means accepting responsibility for yourself and your actions. “You need to own it,” says Walker. “If you don’t get the opportunities or win the relationship, that’s your fault -- not the GPO’s, not the economy’s. If you’re not getting the business, someone else is. You can’t take credit when you succeed, then blame someone else when you don’t.”

Shut up and listen

At one point during the seminars, Layo instructed attendees to break down into small groups to arrive at a list of questions to ask their customers. “It was a list of questions to help reps reveal their customers’ pain and how to address it,” says Walker. Indeed, Layo is big on listening to customers.

“The thing that I heard from my reps who attended was that [Layo] seemed to be on track insofar as being real-world and in tune with the environment they live in,” says Walter Martin, Care Medical, Greenbrier, Ark. “They have embraced his way of doing things, namely, getting away from showing up and throwing up, and instead, asking the customer the right questions and waiting for him to give you the answers.”

Martin and the Care Medical reps have been students of Layo since his presentation at last year’s conference, when Martin invested in many of the sales trainer’s materials. “The first CD we started working on was about asking questions and developing good listening skills,” he says. “If you do that, you’re going to get going in the right direction.”

“We all need to be better listeners, and listen to what the customer has to say,” adds Grooters. “In doing so, you’ll find out what their hot buttons are. Your customer will lead you, instead of you vomiting information. Listen to their needs and be less concerned about what you want to say.”

Habit-forming

Layo impressed upon attendees the importance of developing good habits, and discarding ones that impede successful selling. “Our businesses change, but our habits may not,” he says, says Wayne Grooters. “So it’s important to recognize that even though your perception of yourself may be, ‘I’m pretty damned good,’ maybe you can be a lot better if you’d open your mind and look at how you do things.

“The hospital business has changed. It’s no longer a matter of going in, talking to your buddy and getting a requisition or purchase order. There are so many buying influences today. All that has changed; so we have to change too.”

Keep it going

To be worth the investment, a one-day sales seminar has to last more than a day. That’s why IMDA members who attended IMDA’s seminars are making sure Layo’s message stays alive.

“I have a saying: ‘People respect what you inspect,’” says Grooters. Not only did he buy Layo’s entire training package (books, CDs, etc.), but he wrote a summary of the Atlanta training session and sent a fill-in-the-blank quiz to his sales reps, which they were to return within the week. “We’re going to continue to make investments in training,” says Grooters. “But this is something you have to stay on top of. You have to continue to inspect what your people are doing to make sure [the sales seminar] wasn’t just a snapshot, a moment in time. This will be ongoing. I’m committed to it.”

He and his wife got back to North Carolina Friday night. On Saturday morning, they went shopping for their reps, picking up a supply of red spiral notebooks and “money bags,” two staples of Layo’s approach. The red spiral notebooks are for reps to write down new ideas and observations. The “money bags” are for the reps to keep a supply of business cards, thank-you notes, stamps, etc.

“Money bags can help you make money,” says Grooters. “They will help us be more personalized. We’re all so automated today. We use voice mail, e-mail, pagers. Gerry [Layo] is all about hand-writing notes, personalizing things. So when our reps walk out the door, at least for their significant customers, they will write a thank-you note and either leave it on the customer’s desk or drop it in the mail immediately.

“I tell my people, I want you walking through the single door, not the revolving door,” says Grooters. Continuing emphasis on sales training should help them do just that.

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June 2008 may seem far away to many IMDA members, but the headquarters staff has already disseminated information to potential sponsors and exhibitors for the 2008 Annual Conference & Manufacturers Forum in Oak Brook, Ill., a western Chicago suburb. “We encourage every member to make their manufacturer partners aware of this terrific opportunity to heighten their profile among IMDA members, learn more about the benefits of specialty sales and marketing, and explore business relationships,” says IMDA Executive Director Katie Swartz. Information about sponsorship and exhibiting at the Manufacturers Forum has already been posted on the IMDA Website at www.imda.org.

The Manufacturers Forum will span eight hours on Sunday, June 8, and Monday, June 9, beginning at 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. New for 2008 are “Manufacturers Forum Spotlights.” Manufacturers may buy a 10-minute slot to introduce their company and product to all IMDA attendees during a general session on Monday, June 9. In addition, Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorships are available, as well as golf sponsorships.

“IMDA members represent more than $420 million in annual sales of specialty medical devices and technologies,” says Swartz. “Being a sponsor or exhibitor at the Manufacturers Forum gives manufacturers a chance to meet the market-makers.”

The 2008 Annual Conference and Manufacturers Forum will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, with an orientation for first-time attendees. The welcome reception begins at 3:30, and the Manufacturers Forum opens up an hour later. Educational sessions will be held on Monday, followed by the Reception and Annual Dinner, beginning at 5:30 p.m. that evening. The Conference will end at noon on Tuesday, June 5. Watch your e-mail box for more information.

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Do you have a manufacturer whom you really like to work with? A company that works with you to get things done? A company that acts as a partner rather than an adversary? A company you’d like to see recognized at the upcoming Annual Conference?

It’s time to consider who you’ll nominate for the IMDA Manufacturers Partnership Award, designed to recognize manufacturers who work particularly well with IMDA members to increase sales of innovative medical technology in the market. The Award, which was introduced last year, will be presented at the upcoming Annual Conference and Manufacturers Forum in Oak Brook, Ill., in June. Last year’s winner was Vidacare (San Antonio, Texas).

The Manufacturers Partnership Award is intended to recognize manufacturers who:

• Offer exceptional clinical and sales support.

• Communicate frequently and openly with their specialty distributor or rep partners.

• Respond promptly to questions, suggestions or problems.

• Aggressively and creatively market their products through such vehicles as advertising, trade shows, promotions or direct mail.

• Actively contribute to helping the IMDA member increase revenues on the product line.

Do you work with such a manufacturer? Would you like to see that company publicly recognized? Then take the time to submit a nomination. Electronic forms will be e-mailed to you shortly. (Limit of one nomination per IMDA member company.)

IMDA welcomes Vidacare as its newest allied member. The San Antonio-based company makes the EZ-IO® system, designed for the rapid, secure and safe delivery of intraosseous drugs and fluids when existing methods of vascular access are challenging or impossible.

FDA news View a list of all medical devices receiving FDA marketing clearance in December by visiting the FDA Website at. http://www.fda.gov/ cdrh/510k/sumdec07.html. You might find a company in need of your expertise.

The company received IMDA’s first-ever Manufacturers Partnership Award at last year’s IMDA Annual Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Vidacare Executive Vice President and co-founder Jim Thomsen was on hand to receive the award, which recognized the company for 1) offering exceptional clinical and sales support; 2) communicating freely and openly with its specialty distributor partners; 3) responding promptly to questions, suggestions or problems; 4) aggressively and creatively marketing its products; and 5) actively contributing to helping its specialty sales and marketing organizations increase revenues on the product line. The company is also the subject of a testimonial regarding specialty sales and marketing organizations, which appears on the IMDA Website. (www.imda.org/news/update/VidaCare.htm). 

Thomsen has a history with specialty distributors, having founded two specialty distributor organizations in the past. And he needs no convincing of their capabilities. “They can create markets where there are none, through pure sales efforts,” he says. He exhibited EZ-IO at the IMDA Manufacturers Forum in 2003, and in its first year on the market, achieved $1.25 million in sales. In its second year, 2006, sales jumped to almost $6 million. And in 2007, sales reached $14 million. “Specialty sales companies are my sales organization,” says Thomsen. “They have a major impact on our company.”

Jim Thomsen may be reached at (210) 375-8500 or by e-mail. The company’s Website is www.vidacare.com.

Medtec Medical

Meanwhile, Medtec Medical, a specialty sales and marketing organization in Buffalo Grove, Ill., joined the association late last year. It has been supplying hospitals and non-hospital sites with wholesale medical supplies and durable medical equipment since 1982. It specialties are IV therapy, oncology, ICU/CCU, interventional radiology, dialysis, infection control and home care. Its principal territories are Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Indiana. Medtec’s president, Michael Kilcran, can be contacted at (800) 444-6451 or by e-mail. The company’s Website is www.medtechmedical.com. 

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The next time one of your customers objects to the cost of one of the specialty devices you carry, try educating them about the convoluted process an inventor must go through to bring an idea to fruition. It’s a process described in a recent article in Medscape Pulmonary Medicine called “The Finger Guard -- From Concept to Bedside,” by Mariruth Gurley and Margaret A. Clark. (The article -- which was brought to IMDA Update’s attention by IMDA member Duke Johns -- can be viewed at www.medscape.com/viewarticle/565685.) 

Gurley is a certified respiratory therapist who was alarmed at the rise of her hospital’s nosocomial infection rate. “As a respiratory therapist, I began looking for ways that I might be contributing to the transmission of infections from patient to patient,” she explains in the article. “The only ‘equipment’ I used daily was my stethoscope and pulse oximeter. Then the proverbial ‘light bulb’ came on above my head. Looking at my patients’ hands and fingers made me shudder. The fact that most ‘infections’ can be transferred by hands is a well-documented fact. I did not ‘clean’ my patients’ hands before or after using the pulse oximeter on them. I used gloves for my hands and washed them before and after each treatment (sometimes more). [But] I did not wash my patient's hands and fingers or give them gloves to wear. With this revelation, I searched for something or some way to protect my patients, my pulse oximeter, and ultimately others.” That’s how Finger Guard -- in essence, a one-fingered glove -- was born.

The article describes the winding path that Gurley had to take to bring her idea to fruition. First, she had to gather data to show that cross-contamination could, indeed, occur with pulse oximeters. After some searching, she did find literature to support her idea. That gave her impetus to move forward.

Then the real challenges began. “After inquiring into several sources, I found that because The Finger Guard is used with a pulse oximeter, which is a ‘prescription device,’ my product was also considered a ‘prescription device’” she explains in the article. “I had not even considered my product as a device or prescription-worthy. I felt it was just a finger cot to use with the pulse oximeter. This took me into a whole new world!”

That would be the world of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In fact, she failed to get FDA approval the first time around. But that didn’t stop her. “The FDA still looked insurmountable to me when I started the second time around,” she says. “Tests, tests, and more tests. I had to learn about places to perform the tests, engage people with the knowledge and the credentials to oversee the testing, find people to get permission from the right boards, and enlist someone to write up the data in FDA language and format. I found out during the FDA examination that I had chosen a plastic that had not been used for this type of medical ‘device’ before. Therefore, some of the testing was more extensive. So I had not only come up with an original product, I came up with an original product made from a plastic that had not been used in this way before!” Finger Guard finally received FDA clearance on January 6, 2006.

But even with FDA clearance, Gurley had to pass the manufacturing and quality-control hurdles presented by the State of California Department of Health Services Food and Drug branch. In fact, according to the Finger Guard Website (www.thefingerguard.com), the product is still on hold until California issues the green light.
 

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IMDA Update Published by IMDA 5204 Fairmount Ave., Downers Grove, IL 60515 Phone:  (630) 655-9280 (866) IMDA-YES (866-463-2937) Fax: (630) 493-0798 Website:  www.imda.org E-mail:  imda@imda.org   Staff Katie Swartz: Executive Director Judy Keel: Executive Vice President Patti Perillo:  Database & Finance Admin. Mary Moran:  Chief Financial Officer Mark Thill, Editor (847) 255-0716 Laura Thill, Associate Editor (847) 255-4854 Mitchell Kramer, Legal Counsel (800) 451-7466   2007-2008 Directors President Shawn Walker, Bay State Anesthesia (978) 682-6321 President-Elect Kevin Trout, Grandview Medical Resources (412) 914-0950 Secretary/Treasurer Leo Mindick, Med-Tech Consultant Partners, LLC (516) 708-1111 Chairman of the Board Dave Campbell, Vital/Med Systems (303) 660-0888 Directors-at-Large Hal Freehling, O.E. Meyer (419) 609-1633 Tom Birmingham, Bay State Anesthesia (978) 682-6321 Tony Marmo, Martab Medical (201) 512-1100 Past-President Ed Boracchia, Boracchia + Associates (707) 765-3100 Manufacturer Representative to Board Rick Pfahl, Bovie Aaron Medical (727) 384-2323 The ideas presented in this newsletter may or may not be applicable to your particular situation.  Always consult your tax advisor, attorney or CPA before putting them into effect.