Five steps to the Good Life

Equipment PRIDE

Five steps to the Good Life.

By Brian Sullivan

Money can’t buy you love, but it

sure does make it easier to have fun. And while disposable, consumable, and pharmaceutical products do a nice job of bringing in enough commission/bonus to pay the mortgage and spend a cozy lake weekend at the Super 8 each year, don’t forget it’s capital equipment sales that help you step up your entertainment/vacation game. So, if you plan on making 2023 the year you became famous in your company and industry, now is the time to give your equipment portfolio a little more love. And that is going to take a little equipment PRIDE:

Prospect:

So, whose job is it to prospect for new business? The answer is EVERYBODY. That means both manufacturer reps and distributor reps. To do it well, you need to focus on a select number of products each month (3-5). For my example below, let’s use a three-month time-period.

There are three categories you need to work on.: ʯ How many sales of each product do you need to make in that time frame? ʯ How many product demos would you need to do to create those sales? ʯ How many cold prospecting calls do you need get those meetings?

For example, I want lab sales, but to get those five sales, I will need to do 15 lab demos. But to get 15 demos, I need to reach out to 45 prospects.

PRODUCT SALES MEETINGS PROSPECTS

Lab 5 15 45

Ultrasound 10 20 60

Laser

Stress

BP Monitor

Total 3

1

15

34 10

5

30

80 50

20

60

235

So, what number do you think is the most important? If you said prospecting (45), you are correct. Meetings and sales are hard to come by if you don’t proactively create opportunities by reaching out to either cold or existing clients.

Rep Communication:

If you are in distribution, take time in your office before the end of the year to determine which manufacturers you should be partnering with. Remember, not all manufacturers and reps are created equal. Look for well-known brands or cool new technologies that also have great sales reps to support you. By teaming up with the right partners, you will find that together you will create more leads, more meetings/demos, and more sales. And the same applies to manufacturer reps. You don’t need 20 great distribution reps who think about your equipment first thing when they wake up in the morning (although it would be nice.) You need between five and seven. And those five to seven need your absolute five-star attention.

In the Call:

When manufacturer and distributor reps do a joint call or product demo together, it’s important that they discuss specific roles during that call. If they don’t, the risk is that they will be talking over each other, and the communication/meeting will be disjointed. Take a few minutes before you walk in (or turn on your Zoom camera) and split up duties. For example, the distributor rep may start the call with a greeting and a recap of the initial prospecting call. The manufacturer rep may then ask deeper discovery questions and present their solution based on what they learned was important to the prospect. They may also be “in charge” of overcoming any sales objections. You just need to make sure there is clarity in those roles.

Decision-Time:

Once you receive buying signals and buying noises (like hmm, interesting, I like it), somebody needs to control the call. Remember, the financial presentation is as important as a good clinical presentation, so you need to master it. The best

time to deliver that financial presentation is NOW. When possible, don’t tell them you are going to get back to them with a proposal. Have three different product/pricing options available and present them immediately after you have built the emotional momentum. This means you need to prepare the financials before you ever attend that demo/ meeting. When salespeople don’t take the time to do this before the call, they often struggle creating that same prospect urgency days or weeks later.

Explore:

The best time to explore for additional capital equipment opportunities is immediately after a prospect says “yes” to the capital equipment opportunity you just presented. Too many salespeople are so elated to sell something that they’re afraid they will sound too pushy by bringing up another piece of equipment.

Meetings and sales are hard to come by if you don’t proactively create opportunities by reaching out to either cold or existing clients.

Before you walk into that demo/ presentation, think about the ancillary or cross-sell products that would be a perfect fit with the product you are showing. And after you get that “yes” on product one, set another hook by saying something like, “Doctor, we look forward to training your staff. By the way, many clinics who found value in our connected EKG also found value in being able to monitor heart rhythms over an extended period. Would you be interested in learning how others are combining the use of an EKG and Holter monitor?” By simply being prepared with that final exploration hook, you will be amazed how often you turn one opportunity into two.

With a little PRIDE and better preparation, 2023 could be your best capital equipment selling year. And the by-product will be higher commission checks that will allow you to do and see things that you haven’t even thought of in a while. It’s time for the Good Life.

PRECISE Selling Founder Brian Sullivan, CSP, is the author of the book 20 Days to the TOP – How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your Company’s Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less. He also hosts a Radio/ Podcast with MLB Hall of Famer George Brett called Golf Underground on ESPN Kansas City. To learn more, go to preciseselling.com.

A Spirit that Lives On

Henry Schein celebrates 90 years of serving healthcare providers across the continuum of care.

When Henry and Esther Schein founded Henry Schein

in 1932, they imbued the organization with an entrepreneurial spirit that would lead the company through the next 90 years – and then some. “The Company’s unique ability to listen to our customers and understand where health care is headed has allowed us to make [critical] pivots and successfully manage the changing environment in which we operate,” says Michael Ettinger, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “As we enter our 10th decade serving the health care industry, we remain confident that we are well positioned to help our customers run efficient practices so they can provide quality care more effectively.” From its introduction

Michael Ettinger of private-brand dental and medical products in the 1940s to its recent announcement of 2022-24 BOLD+1 Strategic Plan, Henry Schein has aimed to deliver an exceptional experience through differential solutions. Some of the organization’s top leaders shared with Repertoire their thoughts on how industry changes and important pivot points have impacted company growth and strengthened its ability to continue distributing healthcare products and services, nationally and abroad.

A Spirit that Lives On

Repertoire: Since its inception, what has had the greatest impact on Henry Schein’s sales force? Brad Connett, chief executive officer, North America Distri-

bution Group: Throughout Henry Schein’s 90-year history, there have been many changes and advances in healthcare. The pivot points that have had the greatest impact on Henry Schein’s sales force all tie back to advancements in technology. Technology has not only changed how care is being delivered to patients, but also how Henry Schein can engage and connect with its customers. We have transformed our businesses over the years to best reach, serve and provide value to our customers, from when we first automated the distribution cycle to today, as we continue to offer various supply chain technology solutions, inventory management solutions and other clinical, financial and operational solutions. Our sales force has evolved beyond the transaction and looks for ways to provide these solutions, because we understand how our customers have also transformed as a result of new technologies.

Repertoire: Would you consider COVID-19 an important pivot point in Henry Schein’s history? If so, how has it changed the company and its approach to the medical market? Trinh Clark, senior vice president and chief global customer

experience officer: The pace of digital adoption has been accelerating for many years, and exponentially over the last two and a half years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Customer experience demands and expectations, as well as advances in technology, are driving significant change in the way we need to interact with our customers. The data is showing that customers are increasingly basing decisions about staying with brands on customer experiences, with product and price becoming less and less important for customer retention. Customers are demanding experiences that deliver greater convenience, simplicity, consistency and a high level of personalization across all of our channels that they interact with us.

We know that our customers may start in one interaction channel and move to another as they progress to a purchase or resolution. The transition between channels for customers must be easy, cannot require the repetition of information and must have the same look, feel and consistency of information, regardless of the channels utilized. An integrated omni-channel customer experience strategy is of increasingly high importance to us, as we recognize it is a significant driver in delivering better outcomes for both our business and customers.

Consistent with our history of growth and evolution over the last 90 years, we have continued making strategic investments in our digital technology capabilities to remain relevant to our customers as their technology needs and expectations continue to evolve. We have prioritized additional investments in resources, process and technology to design and deliver an integrated, seamless and consistent omni-channel customer experience across multiple channels, including digital commerce, mobile and voice.

Repertoire: How have Henry Schein’s key decisions regarding mergers and acquisitions reflected its approach to business and the markets it serves? Ty Ford, vice president and general manager, U.S. Medical

Sales: I believe the decisions we have collectively made over the last 30 years speaks to our commitment to our providers, supplier partners and core values our organization was founded upon. Henry and Esther Schein started this business to provide a unique and improved experience amongst local dentists and physicians – a time-honored tradition we continue to build upon today. We believe in our ability to support the provider regardless of the care setting, and we look to leverage the technology and capabilities of our supplier partners in those markets as well. An aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy over the years has afforded us the opportunity to build an organization that thinks globally but services locally. We will continue to look for new partnerships as we expand to more markets and ensure our customers continue to have the greatest experience possible.

A Spirit that Lives On

Repertoire: How does Henry Schein’s history and involvement in the dental market impact its medical sales reps today? Nancy Lanni, vice president and general manager, strategic account management, North

America Strategic Accounts: It is widely known that good oral health can improve health outcomes and lower costs. According to the World Health Organization, oral diseases are among the most prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCDs), impacting 3.5 billion people globally. Untreated oral infections are closely linked to a wide range of costly NCDs, including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and stroke – that together drive 75% of overall health care costs. Many larger dental organizations are embracing the opportunity to integrate healthcare into their dental practices. This is being done to capture new patients as well as improve outcomes and the overall patient experience. Likewise, many emerging models of care delivery, such as retail and employer health, are expanding into dental. Traditional healthcare delivery through community health centers (CHC) have always embraced the combination of offering a dental and medical solution. As oral and traditional healthcare delivery continue to consolidate, the medical sales reps may need to expand their knowledge into oral care delivery. Ultimately, the consumer dictates where they want to receive care, and providing a seamless experience uniting dental and medical will become more prevalent.

Team Schein Values

Diversity & inclusion Each person is as important as the next Ethics

Recognize creativity and encourage it Mutuality People are our greatest asset Open communication No politics

Repertoire: How do Team Schein Values impact the activities of your sales reps and sales support teams?

Brad Connett: Team Schein Values represent the fundamental aspect that makes Henry Schein special is its people and culture. Henry Schein’s culture is deeply rooted throughout the organization and is based on eight shared values that guide our Team Schein Members and their actions. Our values have been in place since as long as I’ve been around, which is quite some time, but through all the years of change, a constant has always been our Team Schein Values. The eight values serve an important purpose in the fiber of our organization, but the ones that stand out the most are “Mutuality” and “Each person is as important as the next.” We believe that Henry Schein and its Team Schein Members are mutually responsible for the success of the business, but we also recognize each person’s value and their individual and collective contributions to not only Henry Schein but our stakeholders, supplier partners, customers and society at large. With these values, our teams want to win and want to win together.

Repertoire: Your mission statement says: “To provide innovative, integrated health care products and services; and to be trusted advisors and consultants to our customers – enabling them to deliver the best quality patient care and enhance their practice management efficiency and profitability.” How does that influence your sales reps on a day-to-day basis?

Ty Ford: First and foremost, trust is never something that should be taken for granted, and it is something that we believe is earned. It is also something that can be lost as quickly as it is gained. To me, this comes down to the experience our customers have, and ways in which each Team Schein Member engages. We have utilized a Team Selling Strategy now for more than 14 years, and in order for our team to enable our customers to provide an optimal patient experience, we must leverage the collective strength of our industry. We need for our customers to operate efficiently and in doing so, we hope they recognize our role and contributions along the way.

Our 2022–24 BOLD+1 strategic plan also continues to guide our team on a day-to-day basis. The elements of this plan are to: 1) build complementary high-growth software, specialty and services businesses; 2) operationalize “One Distribution” (which more

A Spirit that Lives On

tightly integrates the management of the company’s distribution businesses globally, while more fully leveraging the functions, talent, processes and systems of our distribution businesses) for exceptional customer experience, increased efficiency and growth; 3) broaden and deepen relationships with our customers; 4) drive digital transformation for our customers and the company; and 5) create shared value by activating our stakeholders around purpose-driven missions – our customers, supplier partners, Team Schein Members, investors and society. We expect customers to rely on us to do what we do exceptionally well, which in turn allows for them to do what they do – provide the best quality of care!

Key pivot points

A series of pivot points have played an important role in Henry Schein’s development as a global leader in healthcare:

1940s: Introduced private-brand dental and medical products.

1950s: Shifted focus from consumers to office-based practitioners.

1962: Produced first Henry Schein Catalog.

1971: Placed focus on dental practitioners.

1983: Introduced TouchTone™ telephone ordering.

1984: Automated the distribution cycle.

1990s: Began international expansion (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain). 1994: Introduced practice management software, initial step that led to Henry Schein One software business, helping to drive current strategic plan.

1995: Listed on Nasdaq Marketplace, raising $72.8 million in the IPO.

1996: Introduced unique integrated sales and marketing approach to serving customers (field sales, telesales, direct marketing).

1997: Became world’s largest healthcare distributor serving office-based practitioners.

2001: Established Henry Schein Cares global social responsibility program.

2004: Entered growing dental implant category, first step in creating Global Oral Reconstruction Group.

2010: Created a Medical Executive Selling Team as well as a Specialties Business serving oral surgeons and endodontists. 2014: Accelerated expansion into IDN market by acquiring Cardinal Health’s physician office sales team and distribution business.

2019: Tightened strategic focus on human health market, acquired North American Rescue.

2019: Expanded its web-based SolutionsHub, featuring a full suite of solutions to help customers improve patient outcomes, increase profitability, and run a more efficient business.

2021: Established One Distribution and One Schein strategic initiatives to enhance operational performance and increase growth.

2022: Introduced 2022-24 BOLD+1 Strategic Plan, focused on delivering an exceptional experience through differentiated solutions.

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