Excellence in Sales: Follow-up
Editor’s note: Every year since 2000, Repertoire has recognized recipients of the Repertoire/HIDA Excellence in Sales Award. In this issue, we follow up with one of those recipients.
In 2000, when Brad Jacob (of what was then called McKessonHBOC) was named the first recipient of the Repertoire/HIDA Excellence in Sales Award, he described the California physician market of the early 1980s – when he began his sales career – as “a little more predictable and simpler” than the market of 2000. Now, 19 years later, he says that “less predictable and less simple” has become “sophisticated and complex.”
Jacob is account manager for McKesson Medical-Surgical, serving the San Jose market. He began his medical sales career in 1983, with Bischoff Surgical Supply.
Like most of the rest of the country, the Northern California market has consolidated significantly, he says. “I have seen many independents either close down, work for Kaiser, or sell out to other large regional IDNs.” But even 19 years ago, he was preparing for the transformation.
“When this started happening in the early 2000s, I changed who I called on,” he says. “Instead of marketing to the person in charge of ordering, I would market to owners, decision makers, and/or divisional ownership offices. I wanted to establish a relationship and market to those who could influence change. I also started to call on other markets, like surgery centers.”
Despite the complexity and sophistication of today’s customers, “honest, transparent relationships are still valued today, once they are established,” he says. Account managers may find it difficult to win the business of a large physician practice or health system, but once they have done so, they have an excellent opportunity to retain it by acting ethically, fairly and efficiently.
Jacob says he believes he is a better consultative rep than he was back in 2000, And thanks to technology, he is more efficient too. “Embracing technology that makes sense and is applicable has increased accuracy, capacity and throughput,” he says.
“As I look back on my years in this job, sentimental warm memories dominate my thoughts. This job has not only provided a career, but has introduced me to individuals – not only clinicians, but non-clinicians as well – who are true friends. Many of these relationships will continue to be enjoyed in my retirement years.”
The job can be demanding, but Jacob wouldn’t change a thing. “My family and I will be forever grateful to DeWight Titus [owner of F. D. Titus & Son, who acquired Bischoff, and later sold his company to General Medical, now McKesson Medical-Surgical] and McKesson, because they not only allowed, but encouraged and rewarded, the entrepreneurial spirit that so many other employers didn’t and still don’t today.”