Getting Past the Gatekeepers: A Guide for Medical Device Sales Reps

You are in your car fighting traffic early in the morning, heading out to make your sales calls. You have a long list of doctors you hope to see that day. You have already decided how many you will need to see in order to achieve your goals and easily make your quota. But at the end of the day it seems that you spent even more time sitting in the doctor's waiting area than you did in traffic.

As a practicing foot surgeon and owner of a medical device company, I have a dual perspective on what it takes to get in to see the doctor. And after all, time is money for all of us.

The healthcare climate is rapidly changing. Gone are the days when you could buy a new set of golf clubs for your favorite doctor. In recent years past salepeople could schedule a fancy dinner or weekend outing during which you might have a great deal of time to build a relationship and peddle your wares to a prospective doctor. For the most part, today these sorts of activities are either banned by company policy or are outright illegal.

Because of these changes in the ways that pharmaceutical and medical device sales representatives are expected to conduct themselves, you have to think more about what it is exactly that the doctor needs from you.

In my private practice, I had a very short list of people I would see while I was taking care of patients. The office staff had strict instructions to only allow my wife, my mother and Jesus back without an appointment. And even Jesus needed to show identification.

One afternoon, a medical device sales rep showed up at the front desk without an appointment. The waiting area was filled with patients who were waiting to see me. Our receptionist explained that I did not see anyone without an appointment.

The sale rep expressed his arrogance when he said this "was a problem." He explained he only came to town once a year from Chicago, and so he needed to speak with me right away. The receptionist said, "Well that is no problem at all. I can go ahead and schedule your appointment with him a year from now. This way, none of these patients you see patiently waiting behind you will have to wait any longer."

This exchange actually served me very well because all of the patients had overheard that conversation and were pleased that they would not get bumped for an unscheduled visit. As angry as patients can get waiting, I simply can't afford having them think they are less important than a sales rep.

Let me share a standard error in thinking that physicians and surgeons have related to medical device reps. Doctors now seem to believe that every day third-party reimbursement for their services decreases. And as a result, every day physicians feel more pressure to move efficiently and ave time anywhere they can. With this in mind, doctors often believe that time with patients equals money for the doctor, while time with sales reps takes away money from the doctor.

Obviously if your product line is useful, your info should help the doctor generate income and build a more successful practice. Although this is a fact, most doctors will not stop the clock long enough to try understand this and figure out what it is that they need from you. This is where you can help them the most.

You must have a single sentence than can clearly show your product or service has value. For example, we tell our prospective foot surgeons that our instrument decreases the amount of time required in the operating room to perform a fusion or reconstruction. What the doctor hears in that statement is only that he will save time. To the doctor, this is gold. Once you have the doctor's attention, and you can go into a deeper explanation about your product.

One of the worst and most insulting things you can do to a doctor is start citing research studies. Pharmaceutical reps are notorious for this. The reality is that most doctors actually read studies that are relevant to their own practices. Repeatedly reciting the statistics from these studies has the same effect as continually telling an 18-year-old to look both ways before they cross the street. They become so distracted with the irritation that they disregard the utility and what is being said.

Never ask to see the doctor without an appointment. On the first visit to a new doctor, start by explaining to the receptionist that you don't expect to interrupt the doctor, but would just like to leave some information for review. If you open with this, it is very likely that you will be permitted to schedule an appointment at a later date. It is also likely that the receptionist will inform the doctor that your behavior was different from most sales representatives. Different is better.

Once you do get to speak with the doctor, keep in mind that all discussions should be geared toward the egocentric physician, who believes he has no time for you. Anything you can explain to the doctor about your product that clearly demonstrates you will save him time or money will stick in his brain. If you can actually achieve this, and develop a relationship where you are adding to his practice by increasing efficiency, you just might find that he actually invites you out for a round of golf.