Joe King
National account and distribution manager – ASC
CareFusion-BD
Repertoire: What are the two or three most important things you can do for your distributor rep partners to enhance their sales?
Joe King:
- I look to leverage our national manufacturing agreements with our customer groups for our clinically differentiated products to help generate leads/referrals and protect existing business from competitive conversion.
- I want to be a trusted partner. When working with a distributor rep, I want them to trust me to manage the sales process, to minimize the amount of work and streamline the process.
- I will provide ancillary value-add educational services to distributor customers to help them differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Repertoire: Name two or three ways distributor reps can help you add value to their accounts and increase sales.
King: Distributors that drive same-store sales with a single manufacturer will be able to provide more aggressive pricing agreements to their customers. If a customer has a significant spend on one product, look to see what else in the category can be switched to maximize savings. Bring us into accounts whenever possible. Let your manufacturing rep be an extension of yourself and partner with your customer to help differentiate products and increase your serviceability.
Repertoire: What is the biggest change you anticipate in medical product sales in the next five years?
King: The market will continue to become more cost-sensitive, and regulatory complexity will increase. Companies that have the most diverse capabilities will be the best suited to help distributors and customers navigate these changes.
Repertoire: What do you like/dislike about ride-days with distributor reps?
King: Ride-days always have a significant ROI and help build strong relationships with the distributor while also enhancing the customer’s experience. The biggest inhibitor to a successful field ride is micromanaging your manufacturing counterpart by being overly guarded with your key relationships.
Repertoire: Do you think distributor reps should embrace ride days?
King: Absolutely. As a distributor, you are a jack of all trades, and the demands on your time can limit your effectiveness. The more you lean on your manufacturing partners and trust them to be an extension of your business, the more you can focus on allowing them to organically grow with your existing accounts while allowing the distributor to focus on growing their overall market.
Repertoire: Do you have a favorite ride-day story?
King: There was actually one field ride that defined my career, as well as the distributor’s. I was on a ride-along with a distributor rep in Tampa, Florida, who introduced me to an administrator of an ambulatory surgery center that was in development. This introduction parlayed into a meeting with the executive vice president of the development group. We signed their first preferred vendor agreement, and over the last five years have been the primary partner for 50+ of their new builds while this group grew into one of the largest national chains.