Since the pandemic, medical device sales has come under increasing pressure. Challenges have come from all sides, forcing many distributors and sales reps to adapt in order to overcome these challenges.
- Supply chain issues persist, making it difficult to ensure adequate supply to support cases and forcing increased focus on inventory optimization and field management.
- Streamlined communication with manufacturers remains critical to ensure the proper inventory has arrived on-site in time for the case.
- Pandemic-era challenges have also meant that reps are facing reduced access to ORs which, for some providers, may be here to stay.
Each of these issues can create new challenges for the sales workflow, but all of them in concert can mean a seismic shift for distributors and their sales team. Questions that many companies are now asking regularly include:
- How is the rep recording what is sold and used?
- How is feedback on the case retrieved?
- How are the appropriate billing documents being shared and retained?
- How is product knowledge and support communicated to the providers when needed?
It is clear that new tools and strategies must be employed to answer these, and other concerns. And, increasingly, we’re seeing companies turn to new digital solutions to maintain inventory visibility, ensure seamless handoffs with their sales team, and support surgical teams when reps can’t be there in person. Various tools, including field inventory and case management systems like ConnectSx, have become necessary for most in the industry to stay competitive with sales and supply chain pressures.
Of course, changes occur rapidly and field sales and inventory solutions is just one strategy. But the original question remains: in what new and emerging ways can/are reps and medical device companies going to adapt to the changing sales landscape?
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