Syncera

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Anonymous said:
Your response actually validates the fact that there is very little selling going on anymore. Everything you stated has to do with service, not sales. Imagine now if a facility doing 1000 joints per year can save $1000 per joint. That equates to $1mm dollars. They could hire 3 strong technical reps for $100k a piece to help them decide which trays to open, which insert to use, etc. and still save $700k annually. I agree that technical support is still taking place. What isn't happening anymore is selling. This is not a condemnation of the sales force. It is the hand that is dealt by contracts and hospital administration, product evaluation committees, etc.
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Good points but I would add there is not need for service w/o sales and w/o sales, service is mute as well...
 






Anonymous said:
Good points but I would add there is not need for service w/o sales and w/o sales, service is mute as well...
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I agree with you to a point but sales won't be done at the scrub sink or in the surgeon's office. Instead it will be done in the materials offices and service will be negotiated as a part of the agreement. The need for an over-paid rep are coming to an end, not just with S&N but everywhere. This will bleed into other specialties too.
 






Many good points to this new systematic approach. The only problem is that the discount does not correlate with the rep pay. You are proclaiming that with the new rep-less system a hospital who does 1000 can save $1 million... Would the reps who cover thus hospital have overhead cost's of $1 million? Highly unlikely. All commodities will be negotiated through VAC committees with the CFO more involved. Unfortunately for some of us this means less influence through surgeon buddies, on the other hand if you have been working with the C-Suite you are in good shape.
 






At first I thought this model would make some sense for big institutions with sole vendor contracts where they could employ one ortho liaison to oversee everything. But I was at an account today where I have 100% of the market share (community hospital doing 50-75 joints/yr) and was approached by the OR director who told me that the CFO received a letter from Smith and FU proposing a rep-less knee. I was floored. So the company I work for is not just going after high volume accounts where we don't have any market share, but going after a small account with nothing to gain? Good thing my résumé is polished. Can't wait to get out!
 






Anonymous said:
At first I thought this model would make some sense for big institutions with sole vendor contracts where they could employ one ortho liaison to oversee everything. But I was at an account today where I have 100% of the market share (community hospital doing 50-75 joints/yr) and was approached by the OR director who told me that the CFO received a letter from Smith and FU proposing a rep-less knee. I was floored. So the company I work for is not just going after high volume accounts where we don't have any market share, but going after a small account with nothing to gain? Good thing my résumé is polished. Can't wait to get out!
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This post can only mean one thing. The Syncera plan isn't designed to acquire customers or market share, but to bring down costs for existing clients. Watch out sales force. S&N has spoken loud and clear.
 












Every time I've been truly fucked over in the business, it's always been the manufacture I represented at the time.

I can deal with competition, I can deal with doctors and I can deal with hospitals, but I can't protect myself from my own manufacture.
 






Sounds like a great plan to me... Cut the rep out to save some cost, but let's not have business grow elsewhere with what's in the S&N portfolio. Curious to see what happens when a rev case comes up. They'll ask a rep to drive across state to cover it? I've been in tons of rev cases where the OR team would be shuffling through trays and freaking out if a rep wasn't in the room.. So, the only ortho S&N is looking to do in their not so bright future are totals.. Seems effective
 






Anonymous said:
This post can only mean one thing. The Syncera plan isn't designed to acquire customers or market share, but to bring down costs for existing clients. Watch out sales force. S&N has spoken loud and clear.
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Not to bring down the cost of products but to bring down the expenditure they put out for their sales force. They'll bump up the prices when they roll out the next price book and reap the profit, all at the expense of the reps whose commissions they don't have to pay. There are higher profit margins and ROI on implants but they lose money with their reps.
 






S&N has lots and lots of VPs to compensate with salaries and bonuses. That has to be accounted for. Olivier got a golden parachute shower before he did even one thing for the company. But at least money will be saved by employees emptying their own trash cans.
 


















Based on the fact that these are older (but proven) implants and instruments, the logistical hurdles and most importantly - no rep in the room, I highly doubt this will fly.
What happens when the 'straight forward' THA turns into a revision? Are all of those trays and implants sent as well? or do they close up the patient and fix it the following day with the proper equipment and rep?
Im still trying to figure out what SNNs real motive is.
 






It's either a cash grab to lift numbers for upper management before they bail or it's a tactic to force competitors to buy S&N to stop the rot. If big accounts like HSS buy in on this watch stryker get that checkbook out.
 












Anonymous said:
Based on the fact that these are older (but proven) implants and instruments, the logistical hurdles and most importantly - no rep in the room, I highly doubt this will fly.
What happens when the 'straight forward' THA turns into a revision? Are all of those trays and implants sent as well? or do they close up the patient and fix it the following day with the proper equipment and rep?
Im still trying to figure out what SNNs real motive is.
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The reps in the field crack me up! Seriously how many times have you been in a case when a straight forward hip or knee turned into a revision? I have been in over 10000, and that is not a typo, and the cases that even remotely had a degree of difficulty to them were scheduled (have long stems available, wedges, cemented stems, etc). The other 95% I stood in the room and chatted with the staff and had a good time. I realize we are all in the mode of justifying our existence, but unfortunately what we do could be done by a strong technical support person. We just don't sell anymore. We were paid good money to sell, and the reality is we can't really do that in most areas any more. You can thank national buying groups and surgeons who are now for the most part employees and have no leverage to make buying decisions. The game has changed. You may not like what I am saying, but if you dig deep and examine your daily schedule you know that there is very little selling going on anymore. That is sad but true. Should we make significant six figure incomes to cover the occasional difficult primary? I hope so, but I see the end in sight. And obviously so does SNN!
 












Anonymous said:
The reps in the field crack me up! Seriously how many times have you been in a case when a straight forward hip or knee turned into a revision? I have been in over 10000, and that is not a typo, and the cases that even remotely had a degree of difficulty to them were scheduled (have long stems available, wedges, cemented stems, etc). The other 95% I stood in the room and chatted with the staff and had a good time. I realize we are all in the mode of justifying our existence, but unfortunately what we do could be done by a strong technical support person. We just don't sell anymore. We were paid good money to sell, and the reality is we can't really do that in most areas any more. You can thank national buying groups and surgeons who are now for the most part employees and have no leverage to make buying decisions. The game has changed. You may not like what I am saying, but if you dig deep and examine your daily schedule you know that there is very little selling going on anymore. That is sad but true. Should we make significant six figure incomes to cover the occasional difficult primary? I hope so, but I see the end in sight. And obviously so does SNN!
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10,000 joints and no cracked femurs? no conversion to a constrained knee because the MCL was compromised? That's amazing.
 






Sure, I can recall a few instances where I may have "saved the day". I must admit however it was not as much as we would like to believe. What I am saying is for the vast majority of cases they are very predictable. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to put down the sales rep. I am one! What I am saying is that a strong technical rep could handle the conversion to a stemmed femur or a constrained poly. The "sales rep", who is historically the high value commodity, is becoming less critical. Don't get lost in the comparison between a sales rep and a technical rep. Not the same animal. What I am saying is sales reps are having less and less influence. Technical reps, whether vendor provided or hospital employed, will continue to have a role. All we have to do is ask ourselves if that last true sales call we had didn't end with a comment regarding price or a contract. That is very telling. Good luck to all. I really mean that.
 






Anonymous said:
Sure, I can recall a few instances where I may have "saved the day". I must admit however it was not as much as we would like to believe. What I am saying is for the vast majority of cases they are very predictable. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to put down the sales rep. I am one! What I am saying is that a strong technical rep could handle the conversion to a stemmed femur or a constrained poly. The "sales rep", who is historically the high value commodity, is becoming less critical. Don't get lost in the comparison between a sales rep and a technical rep. Not the same animal. What I am saying is sales reps are having less and less influence. Technical reps, whether vendor provided or hospital employed, will continue to have a role. All we have to do is ask ourselves if that last true sales call we had didn't end with a comment regarding price or a contract. That is very telling. Good luck to all. I really mean that.
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Tru dat. Im Fd
 






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