Dennis Swanton
Corporate accounts manager
Halyard Health
Repertoire: What are the two or three most important things you can do for your distributor rep partners to enhance their sales?
Dennis Swanton: For a strong partnership, communication is key. For example, I periodically email my distributor reps to keep them up-to-date on new products, key products, and Halyard-sponsored distributor monthly promotions. I also always make sure I am accessible to them. Following up with a rep is always critical, as that is how I can ensure timely delivery of samples or information.
Repertoire: Name two or three ways distributor reps can help you add value to their accounts and increase sales.
Swanton: Co-traveling offers multiple ways for distributors to help:
- First, when a distributor is open to a co-travel, they gain instant credibility. It conveys to the customer the importance of the partnership he or she has forged with the manufacturer.
- Second, co-traveling gives you a reason to be in front of a customer, where the magic of selling happens. I can’t tell you how many times after we close a customer, the customer adds other products to the order. Often, it is a product they were purchasing through another distributor.
- Third, co-traveling gives you the opportunity to show customers new products. Even when I am not co-traveling, I still sample my distributor reps.
Repertoire: What is the biggest change you anticipate in medical product sales in the next five years?
Swanton: The medical and dental business is going to experience many changes in the next five to 10 years.
- The Affordable Care Act adds paperwork and cuts in reimbursement, which take away from time seeing patients and exploring new technology, and which make it harder to afford the latest technology.
- Proactive care has already begun, requiring integration of physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, pathology labs and ancillary service providers.
- Consolidation is continuing. Not only do we see integrated delivery networks buying and forming group practices, we also see private multilocation group practices growing in the primary care market. Additionally, there has been a surge in large private dental group practices with multiple locations. Consolidation will also continue to grow among manufacturers and distributors. As medical reimbursement continues to be squeezed, this will put increased pressure on manufacturers and distributors to shrink their margins.
- Last, with the meteoric rise in e-commerce, manufacturers will need to continue to develop new products to stay relevant in the price game.
Repertoire: What do you like/dislike about ride-days with distributor reps?
Swanton: Ride-days are a great opportunity to work alongside my distributor partners and get to know who I am working with. After all, people buy from people, and people sell to people. When I ride with a rep, I feel like I have met a new business partner.
One downside can be the weather. Getting in and out of a car in bad weather can get tedious. Great distributor reps are like postal carriers – neither rain, sleet nor snow will keep the rep from making a sales call. The great reps always show up.
Repertoire: Do you think distributor reps should embrace ride days?
Swanton: Of course they should. It is a great opportunity for the rep to work alongside the expert in their product line. A distributor rep has a hard job. They must know something about all the products in their bag. Going on ride-days provides an opportunity to become more educated about a product, learn language specific to the product, and hear about the best ways to sell it.
Repertoire: Do you have a favorite ride-day story?
Swanton: If I had to pick one story, it would be from my work with a rep in the Chinatown area of Flushing, New York. Given the parking challenges in this area, the rep and I parked our cars in a garage and walked together all day long. We must have visited 15 accounts. I was carrying samples and my briefcase to each. It was exhausting. The rep spoke several languages, and since this was Queens, it was a very diverse customer base. I think we sold over 30 cases of gloves and face masks on that day. That was an awesome experience.