Today's Devastating Conference Call

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Anonymous said:
I can tell you that out of 8 EMID reps in Pittsburgh only 2 are safe. Positions "were eliminated" The rest were told that they need to interview against either each other or one of the 4 EBD reps for an open position. There is also a Surgical Supplies position open there which all are welcome to fight for. Just what I would want- to fight for a job selling commodity products that are over-priced.....
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That's awful to hear....a lot of dependable and tenured EMID representatives in that region with strong clinical knowledge and entrenched relationships. Not surprised, though. The state of Covidien Surgical right now is simply EBD in, everyone else out.

The division will reap what they sow. It's a known fact in the field that the majority of EBD reps are clueless, as this past fiscal year (first true competition for Ligasure, having to sell against Ethicon & Harmonic, reprocessing) exposed them, as well as their leadership team, as total liabilities.

Everyone looks like an all-star when you have no competition, no reprocessing, and a product that virtually sold itself, regardless of representative sales acumen, for over six years. Now that the game has changed...we'll see if you're all as good as you think you are.
 






Anonymous said:
That's awful to hear....a lot of dependable and tenured EMID representatives in that region with strong clinical knowledge and entrenched relationships. Not surprised, though. The state of Covidien Surgical right now is simply EBD in, everyone else out.

The division will reap what they sow. It's a known fact in the field that the majority of EBD reps are clueless, as this past fiscal year (first true competition for Ligasure, having to sell against Ethicon & Harmonic, reprocessing) exposed them, as well as their leadership team, as total liabilities.

Everyone looks like an all-star when you have no competition, no reprocessing, and a product that virtually sold itself, regardless of representative sales acumen, for over six years. Now that the game has changed...we'll see if you're all as good as you think you are.
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Couldn't agree more. If you were around when Valley Lab originally rolled out Ligasure, they couldn't sell it to save their lives. They handed it off to what was then still US Surgical in a co-sell and we helped them re-create the market. After helping build it up, it was handed back to the VL only to have them screw it up again. Once again we co-sold Ligasure and built the market back up for them. Then and only then were they capable of selling it on their own.

Now, they're the salesforce and management team to turn to? They lack the training and surgical skill set to take this the next level. You can give them the keys to the car but they've already proven they can't drive it. And the way their management team has mucked this thing up is another example of the piss-poor way they do things. I'm not saying it was a well oiled machine to begin with but these guys have revved up the process.

Good Luck Covidien. You're gonna need it to survive.
 






Anonymous said:
Very sorry to hear about folks losing their jobs. Never a good situation. The immediate uncertainty of the future probably seems a bit overwhelming, but you will get through it and you will prosper. I do not work for Covidien but I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of you folks. Very good people, very impressed with every Covidien employee I have met. Good luck to all of you.
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Lets be honest. A good portion of our sales for are overpaid, uneducated dimwits. This is coming from a mgr. those from up above call it evil but necessary
 






Truth is that unless you have a game changer product, most territories live and die by contracts. Fundamentally, Covidien is flawed when it comes to contracts. Many hospitals and GPO's feel that Covidien does not have much to offer. The contracting department is woefully inadequate and has been for some time. These days it makes no difference what the doctors are screaming for when a hospital system says not because you are not on "contract". Until Covidien becomes more adept in that area then only the reps who are lucky enough to be in a favorable contracting situation will prosper. Hansen and Berry would better serve themselves if they would totally gut the contracting department and put some impactful people in place.
 












Anonymous said:
Truth is that unless you have a game changer product, most territories live and die by contracts. Fundamentally, Covidien is flawed when it comes to contracts. Many hospitals and GPO's feel that Covidien does not have much to offer. The contracting department is woefully inadequate and has been for some time. These days it makes no difference what the doctors are screaming for when a hospital system says not because you are not on "contract". Until Covidien becomes more adept in that area then only the reps who are lucky enough to be in a favorable contracting situation will prosper. Hansen and Berry would better serve themselves if they would totally gut the contracting department and put some impactful people in place.
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This is also very true. Exhibit A: HPG. Why is there no transparency from this group? The only information ever seen from National Acct's is when a mass e-mail comes out, confirming that they've whiffed again on another GPO.
 






"Today, doctors are influencing the purchasing decisions much less than they did in the past. They can’t just go to the materials manager and ask for any product they want. That doesn’t happen anymore, and so when you have a sales force designed to cater to the old system and you see things change, you have to adapt as well. We’re constantly looking at how many sales reps we need in each region and what the profile of our reps should be – what kind of education and economic training they need when talking not just to physicians, but to hospital administration as well. Today, it’s about helping to prepare documents for value-added technology assessment committees inside hospitals, probably the biggest barrier in getting a new technology into a hospital. There’s also the challenge of balancing the corporate sales group and the divisional sales teams because there’s much more going on today at the corporate level and when you go in to talk with a Kaiser [Kaiser Permanente] or Intermountain [Intermountain Health Care Inc.] or Partners [Partners HealthCare System Inc.]; it’s a much different discussion. We can’t continue to spend the kinds of money on sales and marketing that we used to. We have to be able to get more out of our sales teams."

Direct quote from JA. That should give you an idea of where we are going and the bloodbath that we will see with the sales force.
 






Anonymous said:
Couldn't agree more. If you were around when Valley Lab originally rolled out Ligasure, they couldn't sell it to save their lives. They handed it off to what was then still US Surgical in a co-sell and we helped them re-create the market. After helping build it up, it was handed back to the VL only to have them screw it up again. Once again we co-sold Ligasure and built the market back up for them. Then and only then were they capable of selling it on their own.

Now, they're the salesforce and management team to turn to? They lack the training and surgical skill set to take this the next level. You can give them the keys to the car but they've already proven they can't drive it. And the way their management team has mucked this thing up is another example of the piss-poor way they do things. I'm not saying it was a well oiled machine to begin with but these guys have revved up the process.

Good Luck Covidien. You're gonna need it to survive.
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This level of arrogance is the reason half of the docs in my region can't stand my some of my EMID counterparts. While it's true that selling Ligasure can be a slam dunk at times, there are plenty of good people on the EbD side of things. Just look the numbers our business unit has put up year after year...actually, every year since the USS co-sell ended and energy reps took over the full bag.
 






Anonymous said:
This level of arrogance is the reason half of the docs in my region can't stand my some of my EMID counterparts. While it's true that selling Ligasure can be a slam dunk at times, there are plenty of good people on the EbD side of things. Just look the numbers our business unit has put up year after year...actually, every year since the USS co-sell ended and energy reps took over the full bag.
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Would that happen to coincide with the release of the Impact? A rhesus monkey could sell that.
 






Anonymous said:
This level of arrogance is the reason half of the docs in my region can't stand my some of my EMID counterparts. While it's true that selling Ligasure can be a slam dunk at times, there are plenty of good people on the EbD side of things. Just look the numbers our business unit has put up year after year...actually, every year since the USS co-sell ended and energy reps took over the full bag.
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Left up to you guys, Ligasure would have been run into the ground. Your dipshit leaders are doing a great job of running Covidien the same way. History is repeating itself all over again.
 






Anonymous said:
Left up to you guys, Ligasure would have been run into the ground. Your dipshit leaders are doing a great job of running Covidien the same way. History is repeating itself all over again.
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When is the last time Emid made there number moron.

You sit and bash Valleylab like you know what you're talking about. The only way you made a number is from price increases. If the Co-Sell went so well why did it go away. Further more how much Soni have you been involved in, SELLING, not just helping an evaluation?
 






At least we have a good strategic account team in place to lead the new organization through these changes. These guys and gals do a great job in writing down the business to save us and keep us relevant through these perilous times.
 






Anonymous said:
When is the last time Emid made there number moron.

You sit and bash Valleylab like you know what you're talking about. The only way you made a number is from price increases. If the Co-Sell went so well why did it go away. Further more how much Soni have you been involved in, SELLING, not just helping an evaluation?
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C'mon, before you get too high on yourself, how much SELLING is involved in Soni? We are trying to replace a similar device that costs less than Harmonic. As my Ligasure rep told our docs, "It's just like Harmonic but it doesn't have a cord." WOW, that's selling, right?
 






This must be Tripp! We all know you follow this board. Get off your duff and earn your keep. You and your group have been a disaster for quite some time.


Anonymous said:
"Today, doctors are influencing the purchasing decisions much less than they did in the past. They can’t just go to the materials manager and ask for any product they want. That doesn’t happen anymore, and so when you have a sales force designed to cater to the old system and you see things change, you have to adapt as well. We’re constantly looking at how many sales reps we need in each region and what the profile of our reps should be – what kind of education and economic training they need when talking not just to physicians, but to hospital administration as well. Today, it’s about helping to prepare documents for value-added technology assessment committees inside hospitals, probably the biggest barrier in getting a new technology into a hospital. There’s also the challenge of balancing the corporate sales group and the divisional sales teams because there’s much more going on today at the corporate level and when you go in to talk with a Kaiser [Kaiser Permanente] or Intermountain [Intermountain Health Care Inc.] or Partners [Partners HealthCare System Inc.]; it’s a much different discussion. We can’t continue to spend the kinds of money on sales and marketing that we used to. We have to be able to get more out of our sales teams."

Direct quote from JA. That should give you an idea of where we are going and the bloodbath that we will see with the sales force.
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Its amazing that Covidien wanted a co-selling approach for so long. They wanted us to cross sell for so long. They wanted us to play well in the sandbox together for so long. Now what, they want us to rip each others throat out and interview against each other. Makes a lot of since.
 






Anonymous said:
Couldn't agree more. If you were around when Valley Lab originally rolled out Ligasure, they couldn't sell it to save their lives. They handed it off to what was then still US Surgical in a co-sell and we helped them re-create the market. After helping build it up, it was handed back to the VL only to have them screw it up again. Once again we co-sold Ligasure and built the market back up for them. Then and only then were they capable of selling it on their own.

Now, they're the salesforce and management team to turn to? They lack the training and surgical skill set to take this the next level. You can give them the keys to the car but they've already proven they can't drive it. And the way their management team has mucked this thing up is another example of the piss-poor way they do things. I'm not saying it was a well oiled machine to begin with but these guys have revved up the process.

Good Luck Covidien. You're gonna need it to survive.
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AS has always been the class of this sales force. I cant wait to see these energy guys running to their AS counterparts for stapling questions. Little more to it than a purple button and a beep!
 






Anonymous said:
AS has always been the class of this sales force. I cant wait to see these energy guys running to their AS counterparts for stapling questions. Little more to it than a purple button and a beep!
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OMG is it a tan or purple load? How do you cycle the handle again? What's the green button for? Staplers are so complicated! I'd better find a new job...
 












Anonymous said:
Like OMG, the Sonicision is SOOO hard to operate. Pop in the battery, buzz buzz buz the,bipolar goes off. Big flipping deal. LOL
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First off, if you thing Sonicision is bipolar, you need to do the CBT again. Secondly, time to face the fact that none of us are hot shit anymore. Covidien is all about contracts and increasing market share across all units. Whatever you "know" about staplers or vessel sealing means very little.
 






I agree, energy is over folks. Nobody wants to sell it. If I could find another job tomorrow I would be gone, the only problem is when I tell employers that I was in the top 50 but only 100% of plan, they always hire the guys from other companies that were 120% of plan. I hate my job, I hate this company, and furthermore I hate my boss! But I guess I will continue to stay and get my $130,000 while I play golf everyday!
 






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