EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT
Zimmer Biomet VP on Covering the Territory
The mission at Zimmer Biomet is about mobility – restoring the capability to use your bones, joints and supportive tissues. That covers a lot of territory. But Brad Thomas covers even more. He sees his job as making sure the company’s skills are in place to assist customers and patients in every way possible. Brad has been a medtech executive for his entire career, having served at Wright Medical Technology, OrthoMatrix, and in several positions at Medtronic, including Director of Marketing for spine and biologics products, before coming to Zimmer Biomet as VP. What this journey taught him was that you have to do a lot more than just make sure the geographic territories are covered. You need every kind of expertise and service in place to satisfy customers’ and 9 | HS&M MAY/JUNE 2020
patients’ needs. Brad has identified ten distinct areas that are vital: Sales team: Assess the number of feet on the street to support all facets of the sales support model. Clinical support: Sales staff should sell, clinical should help support surgery. Product availability: From design to manufacturing to delivery, every aspect is important to ensuring the customer is served. Implementation components: This is about the ways the message gets out there. What is the best way to introduce your products to the customer? Is it an in-service? A demo? Drop-off literature? Warehousing: Efficiency is the key here. Every implant in the field but not being used only contributes to an E&O and robs money from your business. Distribution: Proper forecasting and planning with good metrics will allow you to save on costly distribution measures. You never want to deliver an incomplete set! Reimbursement: One of the best ways to grow a new product is to find a way to increase reimbursement or help the hospital capitalize on available funds. KOL development: Early adopters are usually the leaders who push the envelope, trying to find the best way to treat their patients. These relationships are the laboratory to help grow your business in the long term. Patient funnel: Once you have a right-sized sales force, properly trained and motivated, use all the
tools available to help drive more patients into the funnel. Competitive routes: Always look over your shoulder, as the competition keeps us on our toes. Always anticipate how you would compete against yourself. Write yourself a 100 million dollar check – how would you use that to compete against your business? Many companies do red team/blue team exercises to draft an experience, and then immediately draft the counter experience. Although it is found more in cyber security, we did this type of scenario planning while I was at Medtronic Spinal and Biologics. THE MISSTEPS THAT EDUCATED HIM Brad shared some of the learning experiences that helped him formulate this list. “As a marketing leader at OrthoMatrix Trauma, we were passionate in getting the word out about our new and somewhat unique product,” Brad says. “We needed sales, and we thought our product’s qualities would lead the conversation. Within weeks after launch, we quickly realized that we did not have properly trained clinical sales support, not enough inventory, and poorly designed distribution models. We fell into the trap of not developing the geographic coverage first but skipping to Step 3, New Product Launch, first. This set us back six months in the critical early stages.” At Medtronic, Brad was part of a large acquisition team, but didn’t have the proper sales force or a
