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I had a customer from a hospital in the Chicago area call this morning. He needed to immediately speak with one of our outside sales reps in the Chicago area. Through customer service, we normally will provide the sales rep's Normally, we will only give the customer either the sales reps voicemail number or their email address. We won't usually give the customer the sales reps cell phone number. For a couple of reasons, first of all these are traveling sales reps, they are constantly on the road and quite often meeting with other customers. It's extremely disruptive for them to be constantly receiving unsolicited calls on their cell phones. The other reason is alot of customers will try and contact their sales reps regarding issues that should be referred to customer service or not to us at all. Restricting the access to the sales reps cellphone numbers is a means of filtering out the moronic calls, including people looking for free medical advice.
Which leads me to this call.....
The players:
LC:
SC: Crack head Johnny, who wasn't shitty....just clueless
SR: Our sales rep
LC: Good Morning....blah, blah, blah (the standard phone greeting.)
SC (sounding like he just swallowed half a dozen valium): Yes I'm calling from {Chicago Area Hospital} I need to talk to a sales rep immediately!!
LC: Well actually, the sales reps are not based out of office, they are in the field, is there something I can help you with?
SC: Well we have a patient on the table (as in operating table) and we need your sales rep to bring us a dialysis catheter immediately.
This isn't the first "patient on a table" call that I've ever handled. They used to be more common place, but in the last few years we haven't received them that frequently.
At this point the customer has already failed on a few levels. One, they scheduled a surgery prior to actually ensuring that they actually had the required materials on hand to complete a procedure. As I've told many an SC, they're inability of their logistics people to adequately maintain their stock room does not represent a crisis on our part.
Two, our sales reps are just that. Sales reps, not a medical courier service.
Three, even if the sales rep did happen to have the catheter on hand, it would create a huge problem to bill them for the catheter, since we would have to bill them for something that they already received. With no proof that they had ever received the product. And we're talking about a product that cost a few hundred dollars.
Four, our sales reps are just that. Sales reps, not portable warehouses. Any product they may have on hand is sample product. We make 100+ different types of dialysis catheters, ranging in price from less than a hundred dollars a piece to over seven hundred dollars apiece.
Anyway....back to the call.
At this point I put the customer on hold, looked up the sales rep's cell number and called the sales rep.
LC: Hi Liza! (not her real name, but close) It's LC in customer service. I've got a good one for you. I have someone on the phone from {chicago area hospital} who is asking for your cell phone number. They have a patient on the table and want you to bring them a catheter.
SR:
.....I don't actually have any catheter's on hand to give them. I don't know what they expect me to do for them, but go ahead and give them my cell phone number. (hangs up)
LC: Sir, I have the sales reps cell phone number for you....gives number
SC: Do you have her beeper number?
OK. I do know that hospital personel use pagers within the hospital, which are on a local network, since cellphones are a no, no in a hospital environment. But, who would want a pager number rather than a phone number?
LC: No I don't, but if you call her number after I hang up with you, she is readily available and expecting your call.
I don't know how this going to turn out, but I know a few scenarios of these situation usually play out.
1.) Patient dies.
2.) Patient lives but suffers catastrophic damage to renal system.
3.) Hospital contacts another hospital in the area that has the product on hand and borrows a catheter. This is actually a fairly common practice between hospitals.
4.) The sales rep is able to contact a local distributor who stocks the product and arrange for the product to be delivered immediately via medical courier.
Oh....and did I mention that the hospital in question is a TEACHING hospital? Nice.
Hospitals are hands down the worst at maintaining the busiiness side of treating patients. Which is one of the main reason's that healthcare in this country is failing in it's current form.
Which leads me to this call.....
The players:
LC:
SC: Crack head Johnny, who wasn't shitty....just clueless
SR: Our sales rep
LC: Good Morning....blah, blah, blah (the standard phone greeting.)
SC (sounding like he just swallowed half a dozen valium): Yes I'm calling from {Chicago Area Hospital} I need to talk to a sales rep immediately!!
LC: Well actually, the sales reps are not based out of office, they are in the field, is there something I can help you with?
SC: Well we have a patient on the table (as in operating table) and we need your sales rep to bring us a dialysis catheter immediately.
This isn't the first "patient on a table" call that I've ever handled. They used to be more common place, but in the last few years we haven't received them that frequently.
At this point the customer has already failed on a few levels. One, they scheduled a surgery prior to actually ensuring that they actually had the required materials on hand to complete a procedure. As I've told many an SC, they're inability of their logistics people to adequately maintain their stock room does not represent a crisis on our part.
Two, our sales reps are just that. Sales reps, not a medical courier service.
Three, even if the sales rep did happen to have the catheter on hand, it would create a huge problem to bill them for the catheter, since we would have to bill them for something that they already received. With no proof that they had ever received the product. And we're talking about a product that cost a few hundred dollars.
Four, our sales reps are just that. Sales reps, not portable warehouses. Any product they may have on hand is sample product. We make 100+ different types of dialysis catheters, ranging in price from less than a hundred dollars a piece to over seven hundred dollars apiece.
Anyway....back to the call.
At this point I put the customer on hold, looked up the sales rep's cell number and called the sales rep.
LC: Hi Liza! (not her real name, but close) It's LC in customer service. I've got a good one for you. I have someone on the phone from {chicago area hospital} who is asking for your cell phone number. They have a patient on the table and want you to bring them a catheter.
SR:
.....I don't actually have any catheter's on hand to give them. I don't know what they expect me to do for them, but go ahead and give them my cell phone number. (hangs up)LC: Sir, I have the sales reps cell phone number for you....gives number
SC: Do you have her beeper number?
OK. I do know that hospital personel use pagers within the hospital, which are on a local network, since cellphones are a no, no in a hospital environment. But, who would want a pager number rather than a phone number?
LC: No I don't, but if you call her number after I hang up with you, she is readily available and expecting your call.
I don't know how this going to turn out, but I know a few scenarios of these situation usually play out.
1.) Patient dies.
2.) Patient lives but suffers catastrophic damage to renal system.
3.) Hospital contacts another hospital in the area that has the product on hand and borrows a catheter. This is actually a fairly common practice between hospitals.
4.) The sales rep is able to contact a local distributor who stocks the product and arrange for the product to be delivered immediately via medical courier.
Oh....and did I mention that the hospital in question is a TEACHING hospital? Nice.
Hospitals are hands down the worst at maintaining the busiiness side of treating patients. Which is one of the main reason's that healthcare in this country is failing in it's current form.
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