By Peter J. Cass, OD
Sept. 20, 2017
The vendor reps who sell to your practice can be a resource of business expertise, who can show you how to better sell their products, and better serve patients. In the process, they can teach you how to be more profitable.
Understanding how to work with them will make it a beneficial relationship both to you, and them, and most importantly, to the benefit of your patients.
My one-location, 1.2 full-time OD practice has a working relationship with over 30 vendors:
Equipment vendors: 9 (regular visits from three, as needed support from the others)
Drug Reps: 4 (regular visits from all four)
Supply reps: 5 (regular visits from two, as needed support from the others)
Contact lens reps: 4 (regular visits from all four)
Frame reps: 12 (regular visit from eight, a few niche products from the others)
We will typically meet with a vendor every time they visit the practice. I have an average of three vendor meeting per week, and my staff has, on average, one meeting per week. For key vendors, we are also willing to schedule private lunches with myself and a key staff member, group lunch meetings, and even one-hour trainings or presentations during our office meetings.
Time allowing, we will meet with them every time they stop by, but we have a clear policy, which is explained to vendors the first time they show up:
If a vendor shows up without an appointment, and wants to meet with the doctors, the rep has to wait until the doctor has a break in the schedule, and will usually only be given 5-10 minutes.
If a vendor wants to plan a meeting with the doctors (or my staff), they can schedule a time to do so. The staff typically schedules the appointments at the end of the morning, right before lunch.
Leverage Vendor Expertise
EQUIPMENT: Our equipment vendors have been integral in staff training. For example, Optos helped us develop scripts to increase utilization. TearScience helped us rework our pre-testing order to integrate the equipment and testing into our flow. Diopsys flew one of our techs to its headquarters for advanced training which improved the speed and reliability of our testing. Our Bayou Ophthalmic rep help us rearrange our equipment for maximum efficiency.
DRUGS: Drug reps keep us stocked with samples and coupons to help with the cost of co-pays. One of our reps trained my staff on how to do web-based pre-authorizations, which has saved us a significant amount of time.
NUTRACEUTICALS: One of our supply reps from Ocusoft helped us set up our office for sales of nutraceuticals and dry eye products, which have provided additional revenue streams.
CONTACT LENSES: We heavily utilize our contact lens reps. We have at least monthly visits from most contact lens reps. We have created a contact lens room with built-in adjustable shelves, and have given each vendor their own section. Vendors are expected to remove old trial sets, keep their area neat and help fill gaps in the fit sets. We expect vendors to help with returns, customer service issues, and to provide up-to-date rebates.
FRAMES: We expect the frame reps to inventory their frames when they come in and compare those counts to the count in our EHR. We expect vendors to provide and manage POP materials, exchange old or poorly selling frames, and help us stay on top of trends in the industry. Frame reps help us know which frames have high turnover in similar practices so that we can stock those frames. Good reps understand our practice philosophy, our brand, and our demographic and provide us with frames consistent with our brand.
Key Questions Reps Can Answer: Here’s What to Ask Them
Reps can be a wealth of information. They visit many other offices besides mine and can let me know what is, and what isn’t, working in other offices. They can give me a feel for the local economy and trends. We like to ask:
• What trends are you seeing in our local market?
• What trends are you seeing in practices like ours in other markets?
• What are we doing well?
• What could we be doing better?
• What are other practices doing that we should try? (when a rep shares something unrelated to a product they sell, there is unlikely to be an ulterior motive)
• Do you offer volume or buying group discounts?
• Do you have coupons for our patients?
• Do you provide staff training? Onsite or at company headquarters?
• What support will you provide after the sale?
• What do you do about product that doesn’t sell?
• How do you handle returns?
Have Support Staff Meet with Reps
Let your staff meet with reps. My opticians and I set down and discuss goals for frame inventory, frame lines, styles and frame mix. I then let my staff meet with the frame reps. If there is a new line, or something particularly interesting, my opticians will include me in the meetings.
Similarly, my contact lens tech and I discuss which brands of contacts I prefer and which brands we have gotten good feedback from patients. My assistant does most of the meetings with the contact lens reps, but includes me if there is a new lens or a large purchase to make.
For the most part, I set the vision and outline goals for the departments and then empower my staff to make it happen and keep me informed.
Know When to End Relationships with Vendors
Fortunately, we have never had to ask for a new rep (although we have had some underwhelming reps). But we have had to end relationships with companies that did not fit our practice. This happened a few months ago with a frame vendor. The vendor was supposed to be selling us exclusive frames, but we found that the frames were being sold at a local warehouse club for close to our cost. This did not fit with our philosophy of having unique high-end frames that could not be found elsewhere, so we ended our relationship with that vendor.
Reps who just want to get in, make a sale, and leave, are not likely to be beneficial to your office. We prefer to work with reps who care about making our practice successful in the long-term, and who want a long-term relationship, not a quick sale.
For example, last year, I thought I needed a second table in my pre-testing room, and contacted my rep at Bayou Ophthalmic. He asked why I wanted the table, and I explained it to him. He told me that I likely just need to rearrange some things and that he would stop by and take a look. A few days later he showed up, rearranged my pre-testing room, and the problem was solved–without the need to purchase equipment from him. That story illustrates why he has been my equipment rep for over 10 years, and why I call him first when making any equipment purchases.
Course-Correct With Disappointing Vendors
I like to a have a sit-down meeting with under-performing reps, and politely, but firmly, tell them the issues that we are having with them.
We give them a time period to rectify the issues, but let them know that we will no longer purchase from them if the situation isn’t fixed. A direct conversation is best, there is no point in trying to spare feelings. We let them know that we are a busy office and like long-term relationships with vendors. If they can help our business, we want to work with them, but if the rep, or their company, are doing things that hinder the success of our business, we will not work with them.
Peter J. Cass, OD, is the owner of Beaumont Family Eye Care in Beaumont, Texas, and president of the Texas Optometric Association. To contact: pcassod@gmail.com
