Working with Distributors What You Need to Know

According to the Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA), the U.S. healthcare system saves nearly $32 billion each year with distributor’s streamlined, aggregated ordering and efficient shipping logistics. SurgiStrategies spoke with ERI, a medical imaging equipment distributor to discuss some key components of what a distributor has to offer.

Q: describe the key roles of a distributor in the outpatient marketplace — how do they serve the niche between manufacturers and the end user?

Simply stated, a distributor must know what they are selling and the products’ appropriate applications. This permits a customer to receive accurate answers to presale questions allowing them to purchase with confidence. Furthermore, post sale support is just as critical. We often work with customers to properly integrate their new equipment and use it to its fullest potential. Given our extensive experience and our close working relationships with manufacturers, we can recommend best installation and operating practices to provide an optimal end-user experience.

Another important role for vendors is to serve as the flexible middleman between manufacturers and end-users. Given the manufacturers’ high overhead, they typically require significant minimum orders and demand very specific payment methods. Furthermore, manufacturers will often implement irregular production cycles, causing inventory surplus and shortages that are not readily apparent to the customer. This in turn may cause significant delays when ordering equipment and supplies. We anticipate these cycles and account for additional environmental factors. For example, we see a significant increase in gel-warmer sales as winter approaches and we adjust our inventory accordingly.

Q: can distributors bring value – added services that a direct – from – manufacturer approach can’t, and why?

In addition to providing purchasing advice and post-sale support, we also offer free equipment demonstrations and trials. This has been a very effective sales tool for our company and illustrates our confidence in our products and support. Customers are afforded the opportunity to put our equipment through their daily processes and workload. Relative to the manufacturers, our company is small by comparison but we believe that works to our advantage. Customers won’t become lost in the inherent bureaucracy of large companies, which allows for immediate and straight forward service. Customers frequently call in with a desperate need for equipment to be delivered the next morning. Our small stature allows us to quickly process and ship their order for overnight delivery.