As Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ConMed, I have been reflecting on where we have been and where we are going with Altrus. We have made significant progress promoting Altrus as the best vessel sealing device on the market and ConMed Advanced Energy as the “Complete Energy Solution.” We have shown consistent growth quarter after quarter.
What many do not realize is this: selling Altrus or any other new product is one of the most difficult challenges in the medical device industry. Our competitors rely on contracts, existing business, and name brands, only needing to sell clinical acceptance. On the other hand, our sales reps may not have any of those luxuries when launching a new product and must gain clinical preference and then secure a surgeon to use his or her limited political capital to fight for the product.
In essence, to have success with Altrus, we must be significantly better than the competition, for nothing is taken for granted or handed to us. I am incredibly proud of our many leaders at ConMed who are consistently experiencing success with Altrus.
Selling a new medical device such as Altrus is all about momentum. In one of my favorite books, The Compound Effect, author Darren Hardy uses an analogy we can all relate to. Hardy explains momentum from a child’s perspective as he or she plays on the merry-go-round at the playground.
All successful sales people have good habits—there are no exceptions to this. A daily routine based on good habits separates the successful elite from everyone else. The habits of successful people have driven them to always be more informed, more knowledgeable, more competent, better skilled, and better prepared.
Selling Altrus or any new product is hard at first, but once you get into a routine of positive habits, you will really get going—then watch out! Newton’s law of inertia states the following:
“Objects at rest stay at rest, and objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.”
Remember playing on the merry-go-round as a kid? Everyone would jump on, and it would take so much effort to get it moving. One big push produced a little movement, and then another push produced a little bit more, and so on. You continued to push until all those efforts added up, making it easier and easier as the merry-go-round went faster and faster until it moved on its own! When it would start to slow down, you would run beside it for a few seconds and then jump back on. It took such little effort to keep the merry-go-round and the party going! The hardest part was the initial act of getting it moving.
Everything is at rest and wants to stay at rest. So how can you change this? It might seem difficult at first, but by making those efforts (pushes) to achieve a model day every day until it becomes a habit, you will build momentum. Once you get going, just like the merry-go-round, it will be hard to stop—you’ll be virtually unbeatable, and eventually you’ll be able to put forth less effort though you’ll be achieving even greater results. Remember, momentum can work in two ways: it can work for you or against you. The compound effect is always at work; negative habits, when left unchecked, can send you into a momentous tailspin of “unlucky” circumstances and consequences.
A few months ago, I heard a story about one of our successful Altrus sales representatives. The story resulted from a conversation between the rep and a manager two months into the quarter. The discussion focused on what to do with a particular PO they had in hand: should they process the order immediately or hold it for a month and then process it the next quarter?
The sales manager quickly turned the conversation to the importance of keeping the momentum going with their Altrus results; the worst thing they could do was jump off the merry-go-round and try to slow it down. What they needed to do was jump off and run a little faster to give this thing more momentum!
It’s so much easier to keep momentum going than it is to start all over with push after push. The sales rep trusted the manager, put the order in, and committed to every chance they got to get the merry-go-round to spin more quickly. We are now halfway through the year, and this rep is already very close to achieving the yearly Altrus quota, along with the coveted potential year-end bonuses!
There is still lots of time left in the year for you to create momentum with Altrus or your new product sales results. And this momentum will extend into next year as well! As Darren Hardy states, “Want Big Mo to pay you a visit? You build up to it. You get in the groove, the ‘Zone,’ by doing the things we know we need to do. Then BANG! Big Mo kicks in your door. And, you’re virtually unstoppable.”
