Copyright©2003 IMDA
Clinical specialists keep sales reps on the street
It’s pretty simple: If you want to grow sales, your salespeople have
to make sales call -- each day, every day.
But, as IMDA members know, that’s not easy to do when the products
you sell are specialty medical devices. There are inservices to perform,
surgical procedures to observe, CEU workshops to coordinate and host, and
general hand-holding to help clinicians become comfortable using new devices.
That’s why IMDA member Vital/Med Systems in Castle Rock, CO,
recently contracted with two RNs to serve as clinical specialists. “We’ll plug
them in wherever we’d find our sales reps bogged down in inservice training or
hand-holding,” says Vital/Med President Dave Campbell. “I’d rather have a nurse
with credentials filling that role.”
Indeed, the two nurses – who serve as independent contractors –
have plenty of credentials. Glenda Rainold, RN, MSN, received her master’s of
science degree in cardiovascular nursing in 1981, and has held a variety of
clinical nursing positions since then, including charge nurse/intermediate
coronary care, staff nurse/surgical ICU, and clinical nurse specialist. Her
cardiovascular nursing experience includes work with cardiac rehab and cardiac
cath lab personnel in the development of angioplasty, streptokinase and
implantable defibrillator programs. Most recently she has served as Instructor
in Advanced Cardiac Life Support at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO.
Jeanne Hately, RN, MSN, CNOR, received her master’s of science in
nursing in 1994 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from Clayton College of
Natural Health. She has worked as a perioperative nurse, nursing supervisor,
ICU/CCU/telemetry nurse, and director of emergency services in a busy ER with
more than 43,000 emergency patients per year. She is a major in the Air Force
Reserve, and served a tour of duty at Wright Patterson Air Force Base Hospital
as neurosurgery nurse manager. More recently, she served two years as clinical
editor for the prestigious AORN Journal and coordinated AORN’s home study
program for OR nurses pursuing continuing education. In 2000 and 2001, she
served as managing editor at Global Healthcare Exchange, where she oversaw
written copy for the GHX internet site.
Campbell recruited the two by placing an ad in a Denver area
nursing newspaper, the Denver Nursing Star. Neither work full-time in a
hospital, and that’s a good thing. “I wanted people who would be available on
reasonable notice, and who could change their schedule,” says Campbell.
Rainold and Hately will not be making sales calls with the
reps, nor will they be compensated on a commission basis. Rather, they will
conduct potentially time-consuming inservices, such as those for products used
in multiple departments by three shifts, or for surgical devices used by
multiple surgeons, all of whom want a Vital/Med representative to observe a
number of procedures.
Vital/Med’s own reps will continue to perform inservices in the
company’s more isolated territories, says Campbell.
Advisory board
Meanwhile, Vital/Med has assembled an advisory board to help with
strategic planning and more tactical projects, such as testing out new products.
“It’s a nice cross-section of people, each with a different slant
on healthcare,” says Campbell. “They will help us look to the future.” In
addition, their names on Vital/Med’s website (www.vitalmed.com)
will convince manufacturers that the company is serious about growth.
The four advisory board members are:
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