Connecting With Distributors

Connecting with Distributor Principals and their Sales Managers is a challenging task, and it is meant to be that way. Traditionally, many medical device companies have used the distributor model to sell their products. For example, Biomet uses a network of distributorships for their orthopedic, sports medicine, spine, and biologics product lines. Some distributors will carry the full line of products in a given territory, while others will carry only some of the products. They may carry a full line in one state and have a more limited product offering in a nearby state. Click here to view a list of all Biomet distributorships nationwide.

You might note that the name of the distributorship is the name of the local company. A Sales Manager on LinkedIn might use the name “Biomet” as in “Sales Manager for Biomet Sports Medicine” or they may use the name of the distributorship as in “Sales Manager for Orthocraft Inc.” which is a full-line distributor in the state of Georgia for Biomet. Some distributorships are small and may have only a few people. However, most of these companies are massive organizations in and of themselves. A large distributor may do upwards of $100M per year in sales and have a team of over 100 sales reps.

Like Biomet, Zimmer also publishes their distributor list online, which you can view here.

It may be difficult for you to identify if a person is working for a distributor or the corporate office as you connect with other sales professionals on LinkedIn. However, keep an eye out for sales reps or sales managers who use their distributorship name in their profile. Identifying this name can be especially valuable information.