Pros
Extremely motivated sales force that spends about 70% of their time in the OR theatre. That is the place where the sales is done. Biomet is trusted by the majority of orthopedic surgeons and OR staff for it;s knowledge and skills in the sterile field. You can say that Biomet people really fit in in their customers teams at the workfloor. That is where thet create an extra, unique value over competitors like Zimmer, Stryker,etc. Surgeons sometimes send us x-rays just with written at the bottom "help". That proves how close customer relations are.
Cons
The Pros are also the cons. Because we like it so much "to be there" we forget to really act as accountmanagers, focussing on sales, the hospital, insurance companies, looking for opportunities, defining strategies, analyse our competitors, analyze sales and losses and enhance growth. Not only in hips and knees ( regarded as core-business by at least 60% of the salespeople) but also in areas as Biologics, spine, trauma, extremities, microfixation, sportsmedicine. Main problem is that all accountmanagers act like small independant companies within Biomet. This is almost impossible to manage, to control and to improve. Although the inter- collegue communcication on a personal level is excellent, communication about sales, opportunities, other products is almost not present. Al above is not a threat right now, but is a very unstable basis for the near future. If people want to be OR assistants, they should sign up at a hospital and exceed there. And I am convinced they will ! There is no marketing, no campaigns, very bad customer management documentation, hardly any information about competitors. There is some training, but the quality varies. Cementing training in Malmo, Sweden is excellent, but the knee training in Swindon last year really sucked. Training should be done by sales people, not by senior high level marketeers. Don't tell me that it is a good product. I know it is. Help me how to convince my customers.