Strategic Sales Planning Helps Medical Device Company Pummel Competitors With Sales Plan from Business Development Expert Ron Karr

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Having the best-in-class product doesn't ensure success. But having the best-in-class value proposition does.

That's what John Treace found out when he worked with Ron Karr, author of "Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way," when he served in senior sales management positions for two medical device companies. John is now a consultant working with companies in turnaround situations and is author of "Nuts & Bolts of Sales Management."

"We had a better unit, but our sales force could not even get in the front door with customers," said Treace. "We used a lot of the concepts in 'Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way' like having a vision and positioning oneself properly. Ron Karr worked with our sales team and designed a sales presentation as well as a strategy that helped them grow their sales. And at our national sales meeting, he trained our team to do that."

Treace was in a difficult sales situation even though it had a best-in-class machine for ear, nose and throat surgeons. Their competitor gave away their machines for free and made money on supplies. His company had $8 million of capital equipment on the street that was not paid for. He wanted to get that money back and teach his people how to compete. Plus, Treace's company had just gone public, so he was under pressure to make sure his staff hit their quarterly sales numbers. He asked Ron Karr for assistance.

"Our sales force had a real hill to climb," said Treace.

Thus he brought in Ron Karr, author of "Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way," to improve sales.

"We took the concepts of having the right vision, understanding what it was they were trying to go after, asking the right questions, and creating the right value proposition," said Karr, who helps companies create high-performance sales cultures. "We traveled in the field in three cities and we helped craft that message for the sales people."

The results were spectacular.

The first result was that they brought back that $8 million of free capital equipment on the street to the bottom line.

"Secondly, we never missed a quarter sales number after that," Treace said.  

Following Karr's advice turned out to be the pivotal point turning around the sales of that product line and company.

"It resulted in us taking, at the end of the first year, about 50% of the market from our biggest competitor. Every following year, we took 50% of what our major competitor had until we eventually took away the entire market away from them," he said. "At the end of three years the competitor was a non-player. It was a huge success for us."

"We came in, taught the sales executives how to position themselves powerfully in the eyes of the medical marketplace, how to ask the right questions and how to create the right value proposition," said Karr, who is a highly sought-after speaker for CEO groups and other sales-related meetings. He also facilitates strategic sales sessions on behalf of boards of directors and C-Level executives who want to increase market share and eliminate competition. Unlike other consultants and experts, Ron goes beyond theory. He leverages his 30 + years of experience and helps his clients execute the ideas and generate significant results.  

"Karr played a significant role in the reorganization and the success of Xomed Surgical Products, to the point that, Medtronic bought the company four years later at an evaluation of over ten times what the original investors had put in," Treace said.  

It all started with a vision.

"Specifically, Ron taught us how to write a statement of strategic intent for the sales meeting. That was 'What do we need to accomplish and what metrics will we use to tell us we have succeeded?' That is one of the most powerful things that I learned working with him and I used throughout my business career," Treace said. "If sales management cannot write a statement of strategic intent that lists the metrics to tell them that they have been successful with their sales meetings, then they do not understand the business."  

Knowledge and the right strategy is power.

"If you're going to be successful in 2011, for any industry, you have to be clear as to what you want to produce at the end of that year, make sure your actions are supporting it, and make sure that your position in the marketplace is being supported at the same time," said Karr.

To learn more about "Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way," go to http://www.ronkarr.com/leadsellbook

SOURCE Ron Karr