Rep Corner: Michael Watson

The Opportunity to Shine

Solving problems brings out the best in Michael Watson.

Every medical distribution sales rep wants to shine among his or her customers. It offers a competitive advantage and, more important, a sense of satisfaction in filling the customer’s needs. And if there is an opportunity to shine, it’s not necessarily when things go right, but when they don’t, says Michael Watson, RN sales consultant, Gericare Medical Supply, in Gardendale, Alabama.

“Selling a glove is one thing,” says Watson, who calls on long-term-care facilities, hospices and community-based hospitals in northern Alabama. “But what if that glove tears during usage, or isn’t shipped when it was supposed to? Outstanding sales means meeting problems head-on, not running away from them. That’s the opportunity to shine.”

Watson got a world of experience meeting problems head-on while working retail. At age 16, he began working for T.J. Maxx in shipping, receiving, even restroom duty. He worked his way up to department head and assistant manager, and, at age 21, became the youngest person in the company to manage a new store. The work was challenging, the hours long, and in the end, simply not what Watson had in mind for a career.

He met with career counselors, one of whom suggested he pursue nursing. (His grandmother had been a nurse, and his mother had an administrative job in the receiving/purchasing department of a local hospital in Birmingham.) Nursing jobs were plentiful, and he could become a registered nurse with an associate’s degree – and pursue a bachelor’s degree later, if he wanted. “That’s exactly what I did.”

Through his mother’s contacts, Watson got a job delivering medical equipment to hospitals and home health agencies. In 1998, he joined Progressive Therapy Inc., which is Gericare’s rental company. It was there he met Bob Miller (who holds executive management positions with Gericare and PTI.) “Bob came from Novartis Clinical Nutrition, which had an elite sales program,” says Watson. “He taught me a lot about sales.”

Needs-based selling
For Miller, success in sales comes from simply acting as a resource to the customer, explains Watson. The sales rep can keep focused on that goal by asking the customer four questions:

• “What product are you using now?”
• “How do you like it?”
• “How would you improve on it?”
• “Are you the decision-maker?”

“It’s a very needs-based method of selling,” says Watson. “And it’s how I have been successful.”

Speaking of needs, his long-term-care customers have plenty of them – most related to reimbursement and staffing.

Ten years ago, long-term-care facilities received adequate funding from Medicare and Medicaid, he explains. But today, the feds are ratcheting down on reimbursement. At the same time, as baby boomer nurses and aides retire in greater numbers, his customers are finding it tougher to recruit and keep younger caregivers.

When things seem most challenging while helping customers meet their needs, Watson keeps in mind a favorite quote of his from former University of Alabama football coach Gene Stallings: “You can never go wrong by doing right.” “It’s something Bob and I talk about all the time,” he says. “And it’s a point I try to get through to my kids.”

Watson and his wife, Teresa, an attorney, have two children, both at West Point – Will, who has an interest in computer science; and Meredith, who has expressed an interest in law.

To any young person thinking about medical sales, he offers these words of advice: “Know your products and services, and to get to know your customers so you can help identify their needs and be a resourceful problem-solver for them.”