Sponsored: Dukal
By Heather Llorca-Kropp,
Vice President of Marketing and Channel Management, DUKAL Corporation
www.dukal.com
Initially it is daunting to any distribution sales rep to sell advanced wound care products due to the clinical nature of the product and the sales pitch, but it may be one of the most rewarding sales calls you can make! We talk more about patient outcomes and experience today than at any time in our industry’s history as a result of the ACA. Having advanced woundcare products in your bag and understanding how the innovation within this product category can positively affect patients’ lives will give you purpose and make you a valuable resource for your customers. Here are a few tips to better understand and prepare you to sell and recommend innovative products in this category.
Learn the basics about what really matters to a woundcare clinician and their patients. On the frontlines of treating wounds a clinician will be treating a patient who in many cases has a wound that impedes their daily life, and impacts not only that patient but the family helping to care for the patient. Some of these issues are:
Exudate management and strike through of exudate on to clothing and bedding can be traumatic for the patient. Understanding dressings that can help prevent this such as super absorbent ranges like Eclypse® with strike through backings is a good start. 
Odor management of infected wounds can cause psychological trauma for a patient. Understand what types of product like the Activon® Honey range can help mitigate odor and infection. - Frequent dressing changes take up valuable time for the clinician and can be traumatic for the patient. Understand how different products “stack up” and can help reduce dressing changes. This will save a facility money and valuable clinician time.
Pain associated with dressing changes can lead to patients not following proper protocols set in place by the clinician when the patient leaves the clinic or care setting. Dressings such as Advazorb® foam dressings and Eclypse® super absorbent dressings have options with a silicone contact layer that can help with atraumatic removal of a dressing and reduce the pain and stress of dressing changes. - Hard to dress areas can sometimes lead to the clinician having to be creative and patch together dressings to address this problem. There are options in the market, like the Eclypse® product range from DUKAL Advancis that have innovated the sizes and shapes to help solve this problem.
Learn from your manufacturer partners by working with them in the field and taking advantage of the remote education tools that are provided. DUKAL Advancis products are all supported by a robust offering of literature and educational modules to help you learn at your own pace remotely or hands on with our clinically trained staff in the field!
There are many other resources in the industry to help you become effective at selling advanced wound care. One of my favorite is the Skin and Wound Management course offered by the Wound Care Education Institute, Inc. (WCEI). This comprehensive program focuses on best practices in wound care, the science behind the healing wound and current standards of care. Eligible sales professionals upon completion of the course can sit for the Certified Wound Care Market Specialist board certification (CWCMS®). This certification distinction provides the sales professional the background and knowledge required to have a productive clinical conversation relative to product selection and wound healing. More information about WCEI can be found at www.wcei.net.
Increasing your knowledge of advanced woundcare and the latest innovations in the market, along with the basics of wound healing and clinician pain point, will greatly improve your value to your customer. So get educated and get out there and make a difference in patients’ lives!
*Advancis Medical, Eclypse®, Activon®, and Advazorb® are registered trademarks of Brightwake Ltd.