Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tommy Can You Hear Me? I Can Hear Your Wind Blow

Welcome to the camp, I guess you all know why we're here, my name is Tommy, and I became aware this year, if you want to follow me you've got to play pin ball, so put in your ear plugs, put on your eye shades, you know where to put the caulk. Unfortunately fellow bloggers, the Tommy that TSB is writing about is not the Tommy that we know and love, that deaf dumb and blind kid that sure can play a mean pinball. Kudos go out to one of our commentators that has posted the link to the Becker's Orthopedic and Spine Company article on Ortho Direct USA.  If you haven’t read this article or watched the You Tube video with Tommy, you’re missing out on the latest and greatest business model to take the healthcare industry by storm.

“Reducing Selling Cost?  Skyrocketing implant costs?  Driving down the cost of Marketing? Retool Sales People? Taking Back the Operating Room? Virtuous Cycle? Hospitals having difficulty in negotiating better pricing? More reps equal higher implant prices? Redefine the culture in the operating room?  Medicare broke?  Hospital having to figure out how to make profits? Take the salesman out of the equation?  Helping hospitals take back responsibility for managing their implant business? Hospitals taking ownership, versus being a renter of our services? Changing the dynamics of organizational behavior? Seasoned, experienced and tenured individuals standing next to their ORDT candidates?”  How many times have we heard the continuous harangue of these echoes of love directed at sales people in the industry?

Sounds a bit like a Jim Jones and Charlie Manson cocktail, a little social engineering mixed in with a bit of the ole Aztec Two-Step. Tommy, TSB doesn't know if you have been in a hospital lately, or whatever it is that their putting in your tap water, but if you have had the opportunity to visit the OR at your local hospital, there are more barriers and cost controls than ever before.  And before you go any further with that wonderful Fort Wayne marketing spiel about outsourcing your own Orthopedic Device Technicians, or that cookie cutter program that you claim that you don't offer, you need to stop urinating on our shoes and telling us its raining.  It's been raining so long, that we are being deluged out in the field. Where do you get your data that substantiates irresponsible information that sales reps are making more than surgeons?  We haven’t seen any surgeons jumping ship to become salespeople lately, Tommy.  The current climate in the industry is pernicious at best, such that hospital administrators and their staffs view sales reps as an adversary rather than an ally. Tommy…..Tommy……Tommy, can you hear me?  Tommy, so let us get this straight, the hospital is going to contract you so that you can audit their process by recruiting sales people or distributors to turn over their accounts to be part of your so-called revolution.  Black Belts in Six Sigma, why Tommy you may be the next coming of Jack Welch.  In addition, if you're talking about driving up the cost of delivering great products at affordable prices, let's begin with Vendomate, Status Blue, and Rep Trax that suck dollars out of companies, distributors, sales people, and other allied healthcare professionals that attempt to do their jobs on a day to day basis? We actually have to pay to play,  $100 here, $150 there, $400 here, $39 over there and after a while you have a “purdy” good scam hidden behind the guise that all someone is attempt to do is protect the patient. What all the PT Barnums in the industry are attempting to do is take money out of the pockets of hard working sales people who are obviously driving up the cost of healthcare, right Tommy, it’s those God awful salespeople that have caused healthcare to become 25% of the GDP by 2012.


But Tommy, maybe you are the wake up call that many people in this industry need, and that is that salespeople must understand that they have become the enemy within, that it is always easier to pick on the weakest link in the chain, than it is to go after the Big Boys.    So before we end this blog TSB must send one message to his followers and tweeters of spine nation, raise your level of professionalism,  learn as much as you can so you are viewed as an asset rather than a liability, increase your clinical knowledge and commitment, and the Tommy's of the world will become extinct rather than you yourselves.  TSB wants to know what our readers think?


You feel me coming, a new vibration, from afar you'll see me, Tommy's a sensation.

48 comments:

  1. Well said! Very refreshing! Thank you!

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  2. Tommy never has made an account public with a contact name on where his "earth shattering" model has actually been implemented with his cradle to grave involvement. If he throws any names out there then all I say is check his references! Better yet, ask if Tommy has ever managed a case on his own in the last 12 months? Just because he can quote General Schwartzcoff does not mean he can manage a Team in battle and my friends that is what we have going on in our world today...Battle! Battle, Battle. To win the war you have to fight the Battle Tommy!

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  3. NuVasive was down to $15 a share yesterday. Looks like a nice buy right now.

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  4. Tommy must feel sad his son Dan Lupre was recently found dead.
    btw 6:01 NuVasive has lost it's good buy!

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  5. This blog is dead MSM! Only 5 posts since you blogged at 3:00 p.m. It became tired and boring. Night.

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  6. I gather that race to win wasn't providing enough 'spirituality' for ol' Tommy

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  7. Tommy and Ray... Next time you stage a video interview, one of you should go to the next-door neighbor's house... I can hear the echo.

    Tommy-Boy will revolutionize the ortho/spine market for sure... ultimately improving the perception of OR Reps.

    HCPs... read carefully. Carrot and Stick applies to your hospital, your OR, your surgeon and your patient. Remove good reps, and

    Find one person on your staff who will drive into the wee hours of the morning just to make sure every size of implant is ready and available. Does it make a difference? I sure as hell want the ideal size implant for my body, and the baby boomers are willing to pay for it.

    Find one person on your staff who will spend hours the day before a case trying to identify prior instrumentation and ensure that the proper equipment is available to remove.

    In the spine cases I'm in, the RN never sits down... How many times does a rep assist an OR Nurse by making sure the room is set up properly, the bed is right, and every instrument is ready.

    Remove the single person in the OR who lives by the carrot (an ever shrinking carrot), and you may see the true meaning of disfunctional. Reps are the only other party with a vested interest in the outcome of the case (aside from the surgeon and the patient). The surgeon has 40 other things on his/her mind, and the patient is asleep. Who will ensure every other detail is perfect?

    I'm disgusted by the "golfing buddy" line. Sure, reps and surgeons may have a beer from time to time, perhaps some develop a deeper relationship. At the end of the day, the good rep has the surgeon's, patient's and hospital's best interest in mind.

    If you haven't found a good one yet, then I'm sorry. There are plenty out there... and very few drive new-model Mercedes.

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  8. I think we can all agree that the majority of the surgeons and OR staff view us as an asset in the room. Whether it be pulling trays, helping around the room, paging x-ray, setting up instruments etc....we go above and beyond every day in the OR to do what's best for our patients, our nurses and our surgeons (well, most of us anyway!)...and let's not even mention the countless hours before and after cases replenishing, setting up etc. We do our fair part

    On the flip side, I think we can also all agree that the majority of hospital administration sees us as adversaries. You know who I'm talking about...the OR nurse mgr who chases you down a hallway if you are missing your Reptrax or Vendormate badge and threatens to throw you out...or the one who calls you at 7:29 telling you your trays are missing....or how about the purchasing and higher ups that willfully hold up POs as a way of almost punishing us for being sales reps and earning a living. The ones who say "we need to cut OR costs, those reps make too much money, let's cut their pricing"...without even knowing what we do on a day to day basis at the hospital to make those cases run as smooth as they do

    This once fun and exciting job has detoriated. Pricing is collapsing everywhere, we are being relied on more and more by high maintenance surgeons/hospitals..eventually it has to get to a point where you have to ask yourself....is it worth it?

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  9. I don't know what everyone else is seeing in their accounts, but the hospitals in my area would be lost without representation. Sure a surgeon / staff can get along on ACDF's on their own, but good luck getting 20-25 sets together for laterals with perc screws. Reps earn their pay / keep for when sh*t hits the fan and alternate implants / procedures are needed. Cutting the rep out of the equation would only cut the total hospital bill 3-5% max.

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  10. incredible...i was talking to my wife a month ago with this exact business plan.
    but not sure it can work.

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  11. Who is Thommy ? Where can I see the video ?

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  12. http://youtu.be/oHg5SJYRHA0

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  13. http://www.orthodirectusa.com/landing/

    http://www.tax-exempt-status.com/netlist/netlist_R.html

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  14. "There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.”

    John Ruskin

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  15. Tommy and his minion Shawn Hoover are coming....coming....

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  16. Anbody know of a 16 wide by 12 deep cervical cage? Who makes soemthing like this?

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  17. Fantastic article! I've been in the spine industry since 1992. Yes, Smith/Nephew Richards was marketing BAK cages back then (overseas).How things have changed! Early in my career as a Danek Group/Sofamor Danek sales representative, there were 8 spine products on the market. It was an easy plan: Beat the Acromed & Synthes rep: capitalism at it's best! Now, several thousand products later, declining reimbursements, PODs, supposed vendor "credentialing" etc: I hate to say it, but yes! The DOJ must get involved! Just depressing how this great market has changed for the worse!

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  18. 2:39am, great post....agreed and thank you. well said.

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  19. I couldn't agree with Musculoskeletal Man more, I am an RN and have worked around surgeons for years, I have yet to hear one surgeon talking about his or her plans to give up their practice to attain a medical device sales position. I have been trying to get into the medical device sales industry for more than a year and can honestly say it has been the most difficult process I have taken part in. I will be the first to say that in my experience much of the negative talk about med device reps among many healthcare workers(nurses, resp therapists, physical therapists, etc) is more from animosity than it is legitimate criticism. I know of a few people who landed med device sales positions only because of who they knew and not based on merit and these people did not last because they were not producing. IMO the reps who are successful are only successful because they work harder than others. When my shift as a nurse is over I go home and relax, but a successful rep is still working even after they get home either on the computer or making calls or running all over town picking up sets to use the next day etc. The idea that a person can be rewarded according to how hard they work is what our country was founded on and is how our country became so great. That is what the american dream is all about. To better illustrate my point, I recover patients from CABG surgery. I have spent many hours in self study on the physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiopulmonary system so that I can be more effective in recovering my patients and in communicating with the cardiac surgeons. I have worked along side many nurses who only knew the very basics and did not care to learn more. It was an ongoing joke among a certain group of nurses who claimed that I only put in the extra effort to impress the surgeons since all registered nurses were paid the same within a particular hospital. I believe there are some bad apples in all professions that can cause negative opinions about each profession. IMO the medical device reps who do not have a love for the profession are the ones who end up doing something else for a living. I want to work within an industry I am passionate about and have a profession that rewards me according to the effort I put into it. That industry is the medical industry and the profession is medical device sales. I have recently completed an 8 week medical sales program specific to spine surgery including interbody devices, instrumentation and biologics. I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to stand out so that I can get a face to face interview with a spine company. Sorry for the long comment. Jason

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  20. @3:14 Globus makes a 14widex12deep... i'm sure others make that size as well

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  21. I met Shawn Hoover a while back. Did not know he was in cahoots with Tommy. I saw Tommy's video and google-mapped his office address. Appears to be a home in a housing addition in Fort Wayne. So these two are doing their best to put out feelers, promising huge cost savings, see who bites, and profit by pulling the rug out from under sales reps? Shawn is a sales rep. Looks like he's trying to be first to the punch. Anyone know Tommy's background?

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  22. Tommy is a legend in his own mind, and who on earth is the dude that interviews him? Is that Mr. Bassomatic?

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  23. Is there a usable link to this video? Any help appreciated.

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  24. I need 16-17 wide by 12 deep

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  25. Isn't the biggest story in spine right now the demise of NUVA? I know of reps and ABMs just chomping at the bit to get out?

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  26. 16mmx14mm anatomic peek, mdt

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  27. @6:23 K2M's standalone cervical comes in 12x17 and 13x18mm footprints.

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  28. We call Tommy "bible boy"

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  29. 16x12 Peek Prevail MDT

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  30. @8:39am, follow this link and you will find out why!
    http://www.tax-exempt-status.com/netlist/netlist_R.html

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  31. Jason-being a nurse isn't a bad gig. Device is not necessarily looking like the most stellar industry at the moment, and nursing is only going up.

    It seems as if there's a lot of money to be made, but it's getting harder, and I find the most successful people have been at it for 5-10+ years - it takes time in your territory.

    Unless you're leaving your gig with immediate business in hand be cautious about how green the grass looks.

    Also, paragraphs are okay to use every once in a while.

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  32. I know Biomet Spine is struggling but what are the starting points for a distributor to come aboard Biomet? Is 35 plus 5 doable from management. Just want to know what to lead with when negotiating my commissions.

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  33. the first question i ask anyone interviewing for a job is 'why on earth would you want this job?'

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  34. If you have to ask a blog forum what points to start with in negotiating a dist. opportunity, you just proved we really do have a serious issue within our industry. Plus it's Biomet for sake. You obviously have no tenure or clue as to your job or what you really do. Please leave our once prestigious industry and don't kid yourself that you are ready to run a business. You are probably a rep that lucked into a decent territory and think the surgeons you inherited will follow you and provide you the greed you are looking for without ever having to earn or sacrifice anything for it.

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  35. You are must be in an area were Pot is legal if you are considering Biomet! Without a doubt BMEt has had no direction, leadership, or a clue on how to operate in the changing spine environment. Since the acquisition of Interpore Cross and changing sales model they have failed by losing all market share in spine, stimulation, and biologics

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  36. WSJ weekend edition slams Spinal USA/ PODS today.

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  37. Please share wsj "Taking Double Cut, Surgeons Implant Their Own Devices" if you have access..

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  38. Can't wait to read the article. The PODS have come into my territory fast and furious. The more the public knows, the better. I think Gordon Gecko was awesome, but, greed really isn't good.

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  39. 6:09, you say "greed really isn't good." I guess you mean unless its your greed.

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  40. Well, I would be glad to disclose to you the sales methods I used to achieve 13 years of success in this industry. No consulting agreements, no pods, no payoffs etc... I earned my success by being a reliable consultant to my customers. How long have you been here? Tell us all your magic formula... You know, the one that allows you to pass judgement on others while remaining above it yourself.

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  41. Anyone else not like the new background?

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  42. If medical device companies can train people to be sales reps why can't a hospital do the same thing with its own people? If sales reps have to "work after hours" chasing inventory around the countryside that means their system of inventory control is broken. Much better to have inventory in only two locations - manufacturer and hospital - rather than trunks of cars and other distributors.

    Good reps (and there are many) are worth their weight in gold. And they have provided a great service over the past 30+ years. But reimbursements are shrinking. Medicare is broke. Demographics are working against the entire system. There must be a more efficient method to bring products from the manufacturer to the hospital.

    The Old Business Model:

    Selling Price = Cost + Desired Profit

    New Business Model

    Profit = Selling Price - Cost
    The selling price is determined by the payor so the only way to improve profit for the hospital is to control costs.

    I believe that there will always be a place for the reps but it is going to be a shrinking breed. The healthcare "system" cannot sustain itself under the current distribution system.

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  43. 2:18 said "If sales reps have to "work after hours" chasing inventory around the countryside that means their system of inventory control is broken. Much better to have inventory in only two locations - manufacturer and hospital - rather than trunks of cars and other distributors." That's great if you do business at one hospital. I do business at seven different hospitals. Most reps are at more than one hospital. I have enough volume to justify a couple consigned sets but not seven consigned sets. Would it really be cost efficient for my company to ship sets to each hospital and then back again? Reps must spend time hauling sets.

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  44. To get the best price hospitals must stop being renters and become owners. Consignment ends. So inventory control by the hospital is much more efficient and costs less than reps moving sets around the countryside. Throw away your old thinking.

    Wouldn't you rather have one hospital which you controlled all the technologies and could control all of your own inventory of instruments and implants? The in-house rep is the future. You are now an employee of the hospital. You do all of the same things you used to do but you now have a home base.

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  45. Tommy will be an cog in the change that is taking place in spine and ortho as we speak. You are seriously mistaken if you dont think this landscape is changing. Distributors and Reps will be gone! Coverage/account managers will be a real position. Wake up!! I hope you are thinking of other avenues to use your knowledge and become a business partner and not just another rep ready to be slaughtered!

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