NAMSR Investigates: Does bucking the Medtech Industry Trends pay off?

ARLINGTON, Va. - Oct. 13, 2014 - PRLog -- A key trend in medtech today is the development of companies beyond their core role as technology providers into the position of hospital partners. Examples include Medtronic’s formation of a hospital solutions business and Philips’ 15-year contract to provide equipment, services, and revenue cycle management to Georgia Regents Medical Center.

That’s all well and good if you’re two of the top 10 medical devices companies in the world with more than $10 billion in annual revenue. But what if you’re a smaller player?

With around $1.8 billion in revenue, Teleflex is either a “big small company” or a “small big company,” depending on your perspective, CEO Benson Smith told an audience today at the AdvaMed 2014 conference in Chicago. As such, it would be tough for the company to compete against larger players on the basis of being a service provider, he said.

Besides, the device-company-as-service-provider model is as yet unproven. “The jury is still out on whether those work,” Smith said.

So while the big guys are innovating in their business models, Smith said Teleflex are continuing to focus on making devices. As he sees it, medical devices are just a small part of the healthcare ecosystem, accounting for only 6% of the overall cost of care. Instead of trying to balance the other 94% of the equation, Smith said Teleflex is homing in on its niche.

“We can make a great tennis racket; we can’t guarantee you’re going to win with it,” he said.

And shirking the service provider trend isn’t the only way in which Teleflex is going against the grain. Data from Ernst & Young’s 2014 Pulse of the Industry (http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-pulse-of-the-...) report, released today, shows that physicians will have waning influence on purchasing decisions over the coming years. As a result, many device firms are shifting their strategies to appeal to penny-pinching payers and the hospital c-suite with an abundance of clinical data. The problem, Smith said, is that it doesn’t always work.

“If you don’t get that translated into a labeling claim, you’re still in a tough position,” he said.

So while its competitors are busy compiling mountains of data, Smith said Teleflex is focusing on something else: Obviousness.

“That is, if you walk in and are demonstrating the product, you see right away what the benefit of the product is,” Smith said. “If that’s not present, you’re probably in for a long struggle.”

To show the value of the company’s vascular access devices, Teleflex doesn’t bombard buyers with numbers that Smith says they may or may not believe. Instead, the company brings clinicians into a cadaver lab to interact with the products.

“It’s not just about economy,” he said. “The least expensive thing you can do for the patient isn’t always the best thing.”

He gave the example of a drill Teleflex makes for performing bone marrow transplants. The $115 device competes with what Smith described as a “hammer and a chisel” that costs about $15. A purely economically focused buyer might be driven to purchase the former device for a savings of $100 “until they’re the patient on the table,” Smith said.

“It’s healthy for the industry to understand that [value] can’t always be measured in dollars and cents,” he said. “For companies our size, those are the kind of product opportunities we look for.”

CANDIDATES WHO WANT TO BREAK INTO MEDICAL SALES:

RMSR® Medical Sales Certification offered by the National Association of Medical Sales Representatives is designed for entry level medical device sales reps. The course covers a wide array of topics pertaining to industry knowledge that candidates need to acquire before applying to medical sales positions.

The course and training helps to develop the industry skills, maximizing the candidates’ potential and goals, as well as making them feel valued and stimulated in their role when communicating with members of the medical community. By an applicant acquiring medical sales training and a RMSR Certification, it puts him/her in a position of strength and qualifies them for medical sales jobs. Medical knowledge is key in this industry and when communicating with doctors, surgeons, and nurses etc. It is extremely important for representatives to use key terminology pertaining to the medical product he/she will be promoting. The only way to succeed in this industry is to garner actual sales. Doctors and Surgeons will not acknowledge a Sales Rep who is not proficient in essential medical terminology, knowledgeable of medical devices/equipment and the anatomy. For those lacking a solid sales background the RMSR course covers knowledge of medical selling techniques and regulation such as Effective Territory Management, Effective Networking, Medical Sales Ethical & Regulatory Guidelines and more.

The National Association of Medical Sales Representative™ (NAMSR) is the largest professional association in the world for Medical Sales Representatives. Through our numerous members, the NAMSR™ provides accredited training, continuing education, information about the industry, up-to-date news, programs to assist medical sales reps in their work, training programs to assist candidates who want to break into the industry and initiatives to improve communication with the medical sales field.

For more information on the NAMSR or the RMSR certification visit www.medicalsalescareer.com or call 800-313-9198