Group purchasing, home care are two key initiatives
IMCO unveiled several key initiatives and programs at its 2014 Convention, held this spring in Tampa, Fla. They included: SEL, or Sales Emphasis Lines; IMCO’s group purchasing initiative; and changes to IMCO’s home care and primary care programs.
“Ultimately, we must not and do not forget that we are in a service industry, and IMCO is here to serve you with alacrity, ingenuity and value,” said Deb Bullock, IMCO president, at the general session.
Close to 600 people attended the convention, and 104 vendors exhibited at the trade show at Tampa Convention Center. IMCO’s H2H sessions brought together members and vendors in private appointments during trade show hours. Meanwhile, IMCO announced that sales of IMCO brand products grew both in sales and SKUs in 2013, and is on track to do the same in 2014.
Education
Speakers and educational sessions included:
- Keynote speaker Mark Scharenbroich, author of Nice Bike: Making Meaningful Connections on the Road of Life, who spoke about the importance of relationships to achieving successful results, and about connecting people to people – management to front line, team member to team member, and company to customer.
- Jeffrey Dietrich, senior analyst for ITR Economics, an economic research and consulting firm, who spoke about “economics and medical distribution.”
- Stacey Hanke, co-author of Yes You Can! Everything You Need from A To Z to Influence Others to Take Action, who offered practical, immediate skills and techniques to help people be at their best in all face-to-face communication.
- Bob McCart, IMCO vice president of national accounts, and Suzanne Lord, vice president of sales and marketing at MSISI, who shared information on how IMCO members can maximize potential opportunities in group purchasing.
Initiatives SEL, or Sales Emphasis Lines, is a new program of partnering with key IMCO vendors, says IMCO Vice President Bill McLaughlin Jr. “The SEL program helps identify the preferred vendors in the IMCO portfolio, and helps members focus on [them]. The shared goal is cooperative compliance to yield better pricing, enhanced support material and exclusive quarterly promotions, plus greater attention and support from the field sales force. The SEL vendors are committing to each member over and above their current position.”
Group purchasing. IMCO has secured long-term authorized-distributor agreements with the four largest national GPOs. “It has gotten to a point where certain customers will not even meet with a distributor if that distributor is not listed as an AD with the GPO,” says McCart. “So the first good thing is that IMCO’s four GPO agreements give our distributors access to the GPO membership. The next hurdle for our distributors is access to manufacturer GPO-negotiated contracted costs. Again, if we are not an AD, access is denied.”
Group purchasing in the non-hospital market is more important than ever, he adds. “It used to be that GPOs’ focus was acute care and the O.L.M. (owned, leased or managed) alternate care accounts of the acute care system,” he says. “That focus has evolved to the point of every GPO also offering their programs to affiliated members. Through customer mergers, acquisitions and affiliations, access to manufacturer better-cost tiers are now being offered in tandem with both hospital and non-hospital customers. For the last several years, national distributors have focused on offering better cost tiers to O.L.M. and affiliated customers. Now our IMCO distributor has the ability to neutralize that card and get down to the real issues of helping healthcare providers solve their biggest challenges.”
IMCO Home Care. Introduced last year to offer independent home care providers competitive pricing, products and services, such as education, compliance, financing and marketing, IMCO Home Care continues to gain traction in large part due to the efforts of Vice President Pam Wedow and newly named Marketing Manager Suzanne Carlino.
“Home care is the fastest growing segment of our business,” says Bullock. “With home care consolidation and competitive bidding, IMCO Home Care is providing solutions to many industry pain points. The five phases of our program will be rolled out over the next 24 months.
Primary care. Richard Bigham, who formerly held an executive role in sales/marketing for PSS, joined IMCO in April as director of primary care markets. “His fresh prospective is helping IMCO evolve, specifically with product development, sales rep training and marketing,” says Bullock. Yates Farris continues in his role as vice president of primary care, and Steve Dennison has entered a new role as director of vendor relations.
———————————————————-
IMCO award winners
Winners Circle
- Member Rep Rookie of the Year: Oliver Lollis, Grove Medical, Greenville, S.C.
- Vendor of the Year: Attends Healthcare/Domtar
- Vendor Rep of the Year: Joel DeMarais, GOJO Industries.
- Sergio Bustamante, American Medical Supplies & Equipment, Miami, Fla.
- Marie Rabin, CARA Medical, Buffalo, N.Y.
- Greg Myers, Midland Medical Supply Co., Lincoln, Neb.
- Bill Muich, MMS – A Medical Supply Company, Earth City, Mo.
- Bob Vandergriff, MMS – A Medical Supply Company, Earth City, Mo.
- Melissa Barcewski, Premier Medical Distribution, Draper, Utah.
- David Marion, Seneca Medical, Tiffin, Ohio.
- Dana Frank, Seneca Medical, Tiffin, Ohio.
- Jeff Shuey, Seneca Medical, Tiffin, Ohio.
- Courtney Ward, Sun Surgical, Gainesville, Fla.
IMCO member reps earned $121,000 in SPIFs in 2013.
IMCO Brand 450 Promotion
Sun Surgical, Gainesville, Fla. won the promotion for the second year in a row. The Brand 450 Promotion is the annual sales contest for the IMCO brand of products, and includes quarterly promotions, member savings and, for the winning company, an all-expense-paid trip to the Daytona 300 and 500 races, complete with beachside accommodations and “backstage” garage passes.
Show floor winners
- Grand Prize/Member: Randy Bomberger, Manheim (Pa.) Medical.
- Grand Prize/Vendor: Bailey Cobbs, independent rep, attending with Innovative Healthcare Corp.
- Best Booth: Innovative Healthcare Corp.
Golf
The winning IMCO scramble team comprised Roy Arthur, Luffeys; Jason Greiner, Cincinnati Surgical; Brian Eve, Cincinnati Surgical; and Kurt Rosinski, Health o Meter. The golf scramble, sponsored by GOJO Industries, was held at Feather Sound Country Club.
The IMCO 2015 National Convention is scheduled for May 2-6, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla.
Leave a Reply