Value Analysis Advisor (For Sales Reps) Become a Welcome Guest, Not an Annoying Pest Robert T. Yokl, President/CEO, SVAH Solutions
Before I founded SVAH Solutions thirty-four years ago, I was a supply chain director and value analysis practitioner for 15 years, meeting with sales representatives just about every day to discuss and evaluate their offerings. Unfortunately, there were only a few sales representatives that I looked forward to seeing. These were the reps who brought me useful information or a value proposition that either made my customers’ jobs easier, or their products or services better, less expensive, or safer. Unfortunately, many of these discussions were often repetitive, boring, time consuming, and added little value to my healthcare organization.
Show Up with Useful Information or a Winning Value Proposition The secret to becoming a welcome guest and not an annoying pest is to show up with useful information or a well thought out value proposition. Every time you visit with a supply chain director, value analysis manager, or product or service owner, make sure you have new information (e.g., case study, research paper, relatable story, etc.) to enlighten them about your product or service category – not just your product or service. For instance, one time a sales rep gave me a conversion list of his products vs. his competition’s. Even though this information was confidential, it made my job easier as I started to convert to many products in his product line. Without this list, maybe I wouldn’t have ever even considered converting to this new company’s product line. This conversion list was very useful information for me. Do the same for your customers. A value proposition is an innovative offering specifically tailored to your customer’s healthcare organization’s specific requirements. I would suggest that you ask your customer if you can perform a free survey to understand their exact functional requirements before you offer a value proposition to them.
Volume 10/Issue 1
Healthcare Value Analysis & Utilization Management Magazine
24
