From the reps perspective, its also a great concern. Horrifying examples include: The Physician Supply Organization and the Manufactures Rep do all the leg work in an IDN owned Physician practice such as: the initial contact, the demo, the follow up… but the order ends up going to the “cost plus” contracted Hospital supply organization. You can’t help but get frustrated!

It’s going to be very important for manufacturers now more than ever, to track and trace every order closely to make sure their sales forces are accurately and fairly commissioned.  Reps and Manufactures will work through this over time. We are all are going to have to be very patient and understand that we are all in this together and no one want’s to see anyone get shorted as a result of  their hard work and well intended efforts.

Joe

Like it or not, it’s definitely a new world in the health care supply chain. This time I would venture to say  that there will be no turning back on their acquisitions of specialty private practices. I, like most, look forward to a time of some kind of normalcy and stabilization within the Supply Chain. I would venture to say for the foreseeable future the only norm will be chaos.

According to futurist and authors of their must read book ”The New Health Age” David Houle and Jonathan Fleece, we won’t see much change in the current velocity of change until at least 2020. Ouch! I hope their wrong, but I doubt it.

On the positive side, we are breeding better medicine as a result of valuable information sharing now possible amongst health care providers. So if being in the supply chain doest kill you first, you may live much longer than you had ever imagined.

Joe

First, it’s critical that manufacturers enter into the independent rep relationship as a peer-to-peer business partnership. Sales management must be onboard with this form of a relationship and be skilled in managing it for what it is rather than try to mold it into something it could never be. The natural inclination is to want to control how reps spend their time. This is nothing more than a recipe for disaster; it is totally counterproductive and ends up missing the mark for getting maximum effectiveness out of a rep network.

It’s also really important to choose reps who are a great fit for your business needs AND are cooperative and collaborative—in other words, easy to work with. This is far more important than it may seem at first. Remember, you may have to work with these people every day. It is a lot easier to communicate about concerns and opportunities – even personal issues – with people who make your work and life easier—not harder. Also remember that these people are the face of your company now; they are the ones that are out in front of the customer day in and day out. Think about whom you want representing you!

Let me share with you the final key to dealing successfully with manufacturers’ reps. I think manufacturers need to have a better understanding of the day in the life of the rep and would be wise to make them understand what their day is like as well. Physically bringing the reps into the business and making them feel as though they are or will become an integral part of the company goes a long way towards getting the most out of this rep relationship. Manufacturers must understand that what reps do is not easy, even though sometimes it may appear that way. It has always been a challenging job and it has become harder and more expensive to function than ever before in history. And reps should also be well aware of the manufacturer’s challenges.

So I would say there are three keys to getting the manufacturer off on the right foot in using a contracted sales force. First, start the relationship as a peer-to-peer business relationship, rather than trying to subordinate the rep underneath a sales manager or the ownership. Secondly, when choosing a rep it really helps if you find someone who is both well-suited to your business needs and easy to work with. Finally, I thin there has to be a mutual understanding between the manufacturer and the rep and I think this mutual understanding will help them move forward in a successful manner. Merging those three elements is the key to working successfully with contracted sales forces.