Covidien (Team Development)
Helping achieving a year-on-year increase in sales of 12 million dollars in Pre-Filled Syringes
Summary
Covidien is one of the world’s leading healthcare product providers. We have worked with Covidien’s Medical Imaging business in Europe for several years. During 2007-8 we helped to drive a project that achieved a major step function increase in the sales of PFS (Pre-Filled Syringes).
Client Need
One of Imaging’s products had been on the market for several years and had achieved significant penetration. However, research indicated that its full potential had not been exploited. The company had used a range of conventional marketing and sales tactics to try to increase sales, but with only limited success. Our client needed much better performance from the product; we suggested a project to secure a big improvement in a short time.
Our Approach
We worked with our client to design and drive a project involving its core management team, its regional sales & marketing directors and selected members of its sales European force. Key features of the project included:
- The definition of a single, clear and challenging objective for increased sales – more ambitious than those set, and missed, in the past
- Participation in 6 project team events by those with the best understanding of the product and its market and with a direct interest in the outcome
- Analysis of the sales environment and sales process that isolated the key steps which could be proven to increase purchasing by healthcare providers. This process was also used as a simple way to evaluate each potential customer’s position in the sales funnel and how they could best be actively moved on to the next stage
- Creative problem-solving to isolate a few key actions to drive sales in a new way. These ranged from modifying the roles of some of the technical specialists supporting the sales process, through a re-training initiative, to better alignment of teams and incentives
- Clear assignment of accountabilities for action, coupled with specific steps to obtain real commitment in ways that previous initiatives had failed to do
- A more hands-on project management and follow-up approach than had been used in the past, with a member of senior management personally taking on the role
Results
The analytical, problem-solving and planning phases of the project were completed over a 6 month period. Implementation took place over the following 12 months by the end of which a year-on-year increase in sales of 14% or $12 million had been secured. Importantly, the changes brought about by the project have established a new higher baseline for future sales of this product; a true step function increase has been achieved.