The Carolinas Chapter of AAHAM recently completed a survey to develop ideas on how providers and vendors can better work together. Thanks to Katie Hughes, we were able to have some responses from our Virginia neighbors. Our Chapter would like to share the results with you.
John Cook, President
Carolinas AAHAM
How Providers & Vendors Can Better Work Together
By Brian Shannon
John Cook, President of the Carolinas AAHAM chapter, sent out an email to all members in November of 2010. The email explained that the chapter was conducting a survey that was intended to better understand how providers feel about working with vendors and vice versa. The intention of this survey was to gather data and share member perspectives in a way that could help both parties better partner on future opportunities. We are pleased to report that a total of thirty members responded to the survey, eighteen of which were providers. The following is a summary of the key points taken from the data received:
First, let’s review the information collected from providers. Approximately 40% of all responders of this survey categorized the frequency of vendor communications to be “driving them crazy.” When providers were asked how many times per month it was appropriate for a vendor to contact them, 100% said that “one to two” connections were appropriate. When providers were asked how they prefer to be communicated with by vendors, 60% answered “email” as their primary choice and “tradeshows” came in as second on the list. “Phone” correspondence and “Dropping in” came in as their least favorite.
When providers were asked what is most important to them when choosing a vendor, 79% stated that the “products/services they offer” were paramount. “Price” was second. The “organization they were partnering with” and the “sales person they were dealing with” were far less important to them. Additionally, an overwhelming majority (89%) of providers prefer to use vendors partnered with their state chapter (ie. AAHAM, HFMA, etc.). Furthermore, almost three out of four providers like to do business with vendors who are affiliated with their specific Group Purchasing Organizations (ie. Premier, SAHA, etc.).
Questions eight, nine and ten of the provider surveys were open-ended and allowed for respondents to type in answers. When employees from hospitals were asked “why they do not respond to vendors after a good initial meeting”, providers replied as follows:
“VP or decision maker not interested”
“Determined to not have a need or do not see a benefit”
“Not interested in pursuing the product right now or budgets prevent us from moving forward”
“Organization will not approve the purchase or whatever the vendor wants to sell us”
When providers were asked what things “vendors do that sometimes annoy you”, they answered as follows:
“Continue to contact me after I said there is not a need”
“Do not accept not now as an answer”
“Keep calling/emailing me after I have not returned their call”
“Talk down about their competitors”
“Going over my head or around me as the contact person”
“Read word for word from a PowerPoint presentation”
And when providers were asked to give vendors “one piece of advice to better work with them” they replied as follows:
“Listen to our needs and do not promise things you do not have”
“Make yourself available both during and after the sale”
“Know the product/service you are selling and understand our business”
“Do not put pressure on me and do not show up unannounced”
“Please understand that we have many responsibilities being asked of us and while your sale is important to you, it is likely not at the top of our priority list”
That concludes the summary of the provider responses. Let’s now take a look at how the vendors responded to similar questions.
Vendors typically communicate with providers via email and phone. Email aligns well with how the providers like to be responded with but phone is not preferred by them. Additionally, the high majority of vendors (75%) agree that contacting providers once or twice per month is appropriate. So the frequency of vendor communications appears to be fine in theory, yet almost two out of five providers said vendors were driving them crazy in terms of communication. There may be a disconnect between how often vendors are communicating with providers versus how often they think is acceptable.
When vendors were asked why “providers chose you over another company”, 80% said it was because of their “products and services.” Interestingly, vendors seem to assign a greater important to the quality of their company and to themselves (as the sales person) than do providers. When vendors were asked why “providers chose another company over you”, 67% responded because “the other company had superior products/services.” The second most common answer was because “the hospital preferred the other sales person more”, which the data from the provider surveys did not support.
Similar to the providers, the final open-ended survey questions for the vendors seemed to solicit the most interesting feedback. When vendors were asked “what is most challenging for you when dealing with providers” their answers were as follows:
“Getting them to respond to me after showing initial interest”
“Not returning calls or emails”
“Getting them to focus on the value we add and how that differentiates us from competitors”
“ Being able to speak with the decision maker”
When vendors were asked “what things would you ask the providers do differently when communicating with you” they replied as follows:
“If the person or hospital is not interested in moving forward, please just tell me that early in the process. It is fine if providers do not want to proceed, but please have the courtesy to tell me why and I will move on”
“The respect of a return phone call or email”
“Just be honest about their actual level of interest and what is standing in the way of them making a decision”
“Good, bad or indifferent….please just let us know”
When vendors were asked why “providers may not return their communications following a good meeting”, they shared the following:
“Competing priorities, although these were not articulated when asked what they might be”
“Even though they ask for a proposal, they may not really be interested in buying. Or, perhaps they use our proposal to get their current vendor to lower their price”
“The organization was really not prepared to take action on a purchase and make a change”
And finally, if vendors could “give providers one piece of advice that might enhance your relationship” it would be as follows:
“Please just tell me if you cannot or do not want to pursue a business relationship. If you tell me that and why, I will stop contacting you. The lack of reciprocal communication is hard to manage sometimes”
“Please respond to emails or phone calls I send to you, even if brief”
“Please just be down to earth and upfront with me. We are all adults and in business. Just communicate and be open with me and we will be OK”
The main themes that seem to have come from this survey are:
- Providers make decisions on what to buy based on the quality of the product/service being offered. The company and sales person have less to do with the ultimate direction they will make
- Providers prefer to do business with vendors who are affiliated with organizations like AAHAM and also relevant Group Purchasing Organizations
- When providers do not respond to a vendors inquiry it is likely because the hospital or their boss is not supportive of them moving forward
- Providers would like vendors to stop contacting them over and over again, and in particular after they have said they were not interested
- Vendors seem to want providers to better communicate with them. This seems to include more regular response to communication in general, but also related to specific opportunities
- Vendors would like providers to be upfront and honest with them. If hospitals cannot or chose not to pursue a purchase, that is fine, but please share that information as soon as you know
Hopefully these survey results provide more insight as to how each party views the other. These responses should enable both providers and vendors to be more empathetic to each other’s situation. Once we better understand what is important to our respected partners, the sooner both sides can move towards a productive business relationship. Happy buying and selling in 2011!
Brian Shannon is a writer and speaker in the healthcare community residing in Charlotte, NC. John Cook is President of Carolina AAHAM and longtime member of NCHFMA.