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Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Nominations Now Open for 5th Annual National Clinical Laboratory Sales Excellence Awards

This is an opportunity for top-producing sales reps from medical laboratories, anatomic pathology groups, and lab vendors to achieve national recognition at the upcoming Executive War College

Nominations are now open for The Dark Report’s 5th Annual National Lab Sales Excellence Awards. This awards program recognizes those laboratory sales professionals who exceed sales goals and successfully help their lab organization win new clients and expand market share.

Nominating applications are available at Executive War College/5th Annual National Lab Sales Excellence Awards and should be submitted by the sales professional’s sales manager based on the sales rep’s 2019 performance. Winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to New Orleans for the 25th Annual Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management on April 28-29.

Each winner will also receive a check for $2,000!

“This is the fifth year for this first and only national recognition program in the United States for sales professionals involved in the clinical laboratory profession,” stated Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report. “It’s important for our industry because it shows the leaders and pathologists in other labs that, despite negative trends in the lab marketplace, there are sales professionals who continue to generate substantial volumes of new clients, new specimens, and new revenue for the clinical labs and pathology groups they represent.

“Moreover, as the sales team in your lab learns what some of their top-performing peers have accomplished, it raises the bar and motivates them to achieve more and reach for stretch goals that benefit them personally and contribute to the success of the lab that they represent,” emphasized Michel.

“Each year, the winners of the National Lab Sales Excellence Award tell us that this recognition was not only important for them, but that their hospital CEO and senior administrators took notice and it raised the profile of the lab throughout the entire hospital because of the national recognition for the accomplishments of the lab’s top sales producer. In some cases, the local newspapers picked up the story and reported it—another positive benefit for the lab in the community. Some award winners report that just the news coverage of the award led to new accounts from physicians who wanted the top service these lab sales professionals deliver.”

Winners are selected in each of three categories that represent the major sectors of the lab testing marketplace. The sectors are:

  • Hospital Laboratory Outreach;
  • Independent Clinical/Anatomic Pathology Laboratory (including molecular and genetic testing); and
  • Laboratory Supply Company/In Vitro Diagnostics Equipment Company.
Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report, is shown above with Tammy W. Mullen, Sales Representative with HealthLab in Aurora, Ill., a full-service, pathologist-directed clinical laboratory that is part of Northwestern Medicine. Mullen received her award during the 2019 Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management in New Orleans. Each year, Laboratory Sales professionals are recognized for their achievements with the National Lab Sales Excellence Award. (Photo copyright: The Dark Report.)

Nominations for National Lab Sales Excellence Awards

“We are asking that the sales managers and sales VPs of these sales reps nominate their top candidates. Nominations of these high-achieving medical lab industry sales professionals for the National Lab Sales Excellence Award are being accepted now. Details and the nominating form are available by clicking here or by copy and pasting this URL into your web browser: https://www.executivewarcollege.com/lab-sales-excellence-award-contest/.

To be considered, nominee applications should encompass actual sales results, feedback from nominating managers, and references from clients. Lab sales professionals will also be judged on other variables, such as:

  • The competitive environment;
  • Compliance with all state and federal regulations; and
  • Ethical behavior.

“A panel of judges will evaluate each nomination,” noted Michel. “These are individuals with their own impressive track record in sales and marketing. They understand the techniques of ethical selling, the unique aspects of marketing laboratory tests, and how much effort is required to build the number of clients, specimen volume, and revenue from assigned territories.”

It’s the medical laboratory industry’s first and only National Laboratory Sales Award program. Sales representatives employed by clinical laboratories, anatomic pathology groups, specialty molecular and genetic testing lab companies, in vitro diagnostics companies, and laboratory information technology companies will be competing for national recognition as The Dark Report announces the winners of its 5th annual National Lab Sales Excellence Awards during the Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management, which takes place April 28-29, 2020, in New Orleans. (Image copyright: The Dark Report.)

2020 Lab Sales Awards to Be Announced on April 29 in New Orleans

Nominations for the National Lab Sales Achievement Award are to be submitted to the offices of The Dark Report by Friday, March 20, 2020. Winners in each of the three categories will be notified by April 3 to allow them time to make arrangements to travel to New Orleans to be at the Executive War College for the award ceremony.

“Lab CEOs and hospital/health network lab administrators should recognize how having a winner from their sales team can turbo-charge their entire clinical laboratory sales program,” observed Michel. “By their nature, the 20% of the sales reps in your marketing program who do 80% of the business are highly competitive. We’ve had the sales vice presidents who nominated their top sales producer tell us, a year later, that having a National Lab Sales Excellence Award winner motivated the entire sales team, and that their lab saw substantial increases in specimen volume and revenue because other sales reps wanted to step up to the plate and show what they could produce.”

Michel also took the time to address the long-standing popular wisdom in the clinical laboratory industry that every lab wants to keep its top sales producers under wraps, because if competitors knew how much new lab business they were generating, competitors would recruit them away.

“This is one of those clinical lab industry widely-held beliefs that needs to disappear,” he explained. “The reality is that, in every community, competing labs (and competing sales reps) always know who the top producers are. Good lab leaders know how to retain their top performers and one way to do that is to boost their reputations and recognize their sales achievements by nominating these high-energy, result-driven producers for the unique recognition that comes from the National Lab Sales Excellence Award.”

Lab CEOs, administrators, Sales VPs, and Sales Managers—you can click here to get the nominating form for the 5th Annual National Lab Sales Excellence Awards (or by pasting this URL into your browser: http://www.executivewarcollege.com/wp-content/uploads/National-Lab-Sales-2020-Nomination-Form_02-13-2020.pdf).

—Michael McBride

Related Information:

To learn about The Dark Report’s National Lab Sales Excellence Award program

To access the nomination form for the National Lab Sales Excellence Award

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