Friday, June 15, 2012

Friday Editorial

On Thursday, June 14th, TSB posted a blog regarding the sudden execution of 25 reps by Care Fusion. Our deepest condolences to those whose job hath taken.  In response to this post and a comment that MSM had, one of our commentators disagreed with our opinion that upper management can be blamed for failure by the ground troops, i.e., the sales people.  TSB agrees with our commentator that no one has a crystal ball, yet, isn't any company's success contingent on those in charge making prudent decisions in product development, in marketing, in continuing education, in customer service, in providing the sales team with the necessary tools to either build the house, or get the job done?  Aren't these people responsible for developing the strategy and tactics needed to effectively execute the plan, and can those individuals effectively convey the plan?  To quote an industry source, if you were in the military and they dropped you in a hot zone and you are engaged in a fire fight with a six shooter, and the enemy had rocket propelled grenades, how long do you believe you would last? Companies that have the ability to sustain or grow market share are companies that understand that practices and behaviors that once worked are constantly evolving.  The market is dynamic regardless whether it is affected by society, your customers, the clinical trends, let alone technological innovation.  If there is no inherent value in your product, why should someone use it?  Do you sell on price?  Do you sell on relationships? Do you sell on features and benefits?  How is your product better?  There is a reason why someone wants to buy your product. Why aren't your products used, and what are those reasons? Diagnosis and analysis is important considering that a degenerative disease will not be cured by procrastination.

Recently TSB spoke to a sales manager at an interbody company.  The company had lost a half a million dollars in revenue from '10 thru '11, there were inventory issues, product design issues, intra-operative implant breakage, no educational platform, no marketing collaterals,  poor instrumentation and a cash flow problem.  The question TSB must ask our commentator is whether or not these problems are symptoms and manifestations of an underlying problem, i.e., could the people in charge, the CEO. the CFO, the VP of R&D, the VP of Sales, be incapable of providing the distributors and its sales managers the necessary tools to grow the business? Executive management teams may not be able to control what the competition does, but it can effectively manage what is in their control.  Our commentator is correct in that we are all responsible for our own performance, and that also includes the people that run a business, they affect everyone's performance by their strengths and weaknesses.  The smartest guys in the room, may not necessarily be the smartest guys in the room. The reason that the spine industry has such a high attrition rate is that upper management still expects 20-30% growth. How can you understand how to build something if you've never built it?  We have become a myopic society, thanks to our shareholders and the Street. The market no longer has five to seven competitors, it has one hundred to one hundred and fifty companies vying for revenue in  a zero-sum market. But then again, do any of these people have the ability to adapt?

Most managers that TSB has spoken with marvel at how people in charge create fiscal objectives that are not only unattainable, they are delusional.  100% growth, no new product extensions, lack of inventory, lack of capital, how does any salesperson execute under those conditions? Sustaining marketshare in today's volatile environment may have more value than you think.  At least a company like Medtronic, Zimmer, Biomet, DePuy, Nuvasive or Globus can throw enough of money around to effect growth, even nominal growth, but small companies do not have that ability of course unless you are a POC, POD, or PIC, let alone a company that is a one-trick pony.  So, TSB doesn't have to be reminded about competition, unfortunately, sports metaphors are nice, but even sports teams don't rely on talent alone, if they cannot execute, they become spectators rather than competitors.

To All our Readers, Happy Fathers Day, go out and play some golf, drink some beer, throw a barbecue, hug your dog and kick the kids, and hopefully you'll get lucky this weekend.  We are outta here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MSM

26 comments:

  1. Old news but somewhat true Jerry! "show me the money", "show me the money". "I have an ant problem here Jerry". can we all just get along please. Live below you means and save some cash guys.

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  2. Yep. Save and invest so that when this industry squeezes us out we can start enjoying life and maybe get rid of the tension headaches and high blood pressure with a few mil in the bank paying dividends.

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  3. I deal with a third tear company that is the exact picture from above discription. Is the CEO keeping all the money? They produce great ideas but never complete anything, inventory is terrible and the management has no real answers.

    LS

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  4. Zimmer, Depuy, and Medtronic aren't growing. Zimmer has wasted well over a billion dollars of shareholder $ on it's failed initiative in Spine.

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  5. MM,
    So what's the word on the biggest news of the year, the DuhPoo and Syn-tez merger? I see lots of blood in the streets already.

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  6. 22 BILLION dollars! That's a lot of Swiss francs for Hanjorge Wyss. He's the big winner while his former minions languish in prison for taking his fall.

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  7. The problem with small companies is that the companies turn over management way to much. A new manager brings in "His boys" and fires the existing sales force. After one year of it not working the cycle continues, The new manger gets fired, in comes another manager and a new sales force. This is the second biggest reason why Medrtronic, Globus, and Nuvasive is good is because they constantly reinvest in their people and have quality distribution channels (First would be product). Secondly, As mentioned in a previous post these RVP's and VP's and RSD's go from company to company and they don't understand that the relationship lies with the rep and the doctor as long as the product is decent. These VP's RVP's and RSD's dont understand that what goes on in the field changes about every 2 weeks.

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  8. Team DePuy Synthes is STRONG in CHI TOWN!

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  9. TSB - That was my previous post and I certainly did not mean to communicate that management shares no blame, I would agree that most times it is managements fault. However, if your dropped off in the hot zone with a six shooter and the other team has rocket propelled grenades do you give up, surrender or let yourself be killed. My stepfather was Marine Recon (or what is today) in Vietnam and said his platoon preferred using their bowie knifes so as to not alert the enemy. I can't collaborate his story as thankfully I wasn't there but I can say he didn't like to discuss Vietnam and wasn't' bragging about hand to hand combat or having to take someones life with any weapon! I can also objectively state that if any one was outgunned it was the Vietnamese. So something can be said about commitment and will, which obviously Carefusion a six billion dollar company no longer had for this division in spine.

    Fortunately comparing sales to war isn't fair to the serious nature of war. My point is, unlike war, if your feeling out gunned or don't believe in your leadership/management make a strategic move and join the other team. Otherwise do the best you can and find a way to win or be prepared to lose the proverbially "battle and the war."

    I am terribly sorry for all the reps that lost their jobs at Carefusion. Keep plugging and plodding and hopefully as in my experience when one door closes usually a better opportunity presents itself and in the end you will thankful for this turn of events. I am sure the Globus Kyphoplasty company is hiring, they are growing for sure!

    Good Luck and Good Selling, happy fathers day and hug and be thankful for your families!

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  10. There is only one market leader the rest of us are selling from a competitive disadvantage.

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  11. This is the precise reason why many of those "favorites" in the spine business keep turning up at company after company, "Just give me the line and I can guarantee you "X" dollars, of course after you pay me a 50% commission. Upper management is only concerned about the numbers and NOT in the way the numbers are achieved.

    I am always amazed that companies allow management to bring in their cronies who don't even know what a spine is and they then decide a sales number that everyone in the field KNOWS is absolutely ridiculous. Or, in many cases, the VP's of sales, who are well known in the business, come in, quote a sales number, they get their bonus and are gone within a year because the number is bogus BUT they turn up again somewhere else.

    Wouldn't it be refreshing if a company actually hired someone with EXPERIENCE in the field, understood the the issues, listened to the sales force, and at least tried to "arm" the field with what they needed to achieve the numbers? Polyanna where are you?

    Spine has become a business of "me too's", sleazy sales people, surgeons with their hands out for more than a handshake with no moral compass. In some ways we have done this to ourselves, and I know its cliche, but there are times when I truly wish for the "old" days.

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  12. Where besides CHI town is DepuySyn strong ?

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  13. Other than bundling/Contracting will DePuySynthes have a new advantage ?

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  14. We inherited a new VP of Sales for a 4 million dollar company in 2011, his forecast for 012 is 300% increase with a limited product launch, our CEO has no skills to run a company and we have inventory issue by golly how do we achieve our objective

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    1. I'm talking to a company now that sounds alarmingly familiar-any hint as to who you're talking about?

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  15. Math is math. Hard to make a number when price erodes at 10% every year.

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  16. Why no news on the Synthes acquisition by DePuy and nearly the whole sales force going direct from a distributor model. I would love to hear peoples perspectives on the acquisition and pros/cons to direct/1099....... Going to be a crazy time for good ole' #2. My guess is that there are going to be a lot of good reps with relationships that will become available from both sides...

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  17. Here is how Medtronics pay for all the lawsuits. http://www.twincities.com/ci_20680105/medtronic-layoffs-at-1-000-includes-220-at

    After they kill and maim patients they lay off workers.

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  18. In short, Carefusion kyphoplasty distributors had much more business than their direct reps and got that business in a short period of time. The direct rep in my area was paid an override of 8% on everything the distributor reps sold, and the distributors were forced to order through them. It was just a matter of time before they cut out the middle man who added proportionately little if anything to the bottom line.

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  19. Italy and France are ranked 1 and 2 for health care. The US is ranked 37th. We pay close to 3 times what France and Italy pays.

    France and Italy have single payer government run health care.

    Italy and France treat disk hernias with Medical Ozone and DiskoGel. Both are an out patient procedure that takes about 30 minutes. The success rate is close to 90%.

    The fact is if the above treatments were available in the US it would put a major dent in the companies who sell their over priced Frankenstein bolts and plates.

    A lot of you work in an industry that sucks.

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  20. The problem is there are just to many companies out there and not enough business. I see to many reps switching companies to make more commission and then another start up spine company comes along and the rep switches again. Another issue is, it's just to easy for anyone to start a company and get a 501K on products they make in their garage. Don't get me wrong, I believe in free market but there needs to be some sanctions in place to make sure every Joe blow cannot start a medical company. It's so easy for surgeons to get their kids/family members and friends jobs who have no experience. You usually only see this with the small companies and these companies don't care about innovation, they other care about the revenue they are about to bring in.

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  21. It's a whore's market. They all sell essentially the same poorly designed junk.

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    1. FB, we need to join forces and write a book - at least for the time I have left.

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  22. Hallo good web site for spine problems is www.chrbtica.eu

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