The Medical Laboratory Made Easy

Business is very easy. It is as simple as finding a product that the customer wants and selling that product to the customer. This is the easiest method to build a business, which I call PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY. The secret question to ask customers is "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A PRODUCT?" This "PRODUCT" is dependent on which industry the customer regularly sources products from.

Similarly, in the Laboratory Medicine industry, building a Medical Laboratory is easy. It is as simple as finding a Medical Laboratory Test that Doctors and Patients want and selling that Medical Laboratory Test to the Doctor or Patient. The secret question to ask Doctors and Patients is "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A MEDICAL LABORATORY TEST?" Therefore, the "PRODUCT" in the Medical Laboratory industry is the Medical Laboratory Test.

Ask More Questions

The key to increasing sales is to ask more questions. Imagine you are a salesperson asking every customer you meet if they would consider buying from you. Wouldn't that increase your likelihood of closing more sales? The education system usually applauds the student who gives the right answer but ignores the student who asks a lot questions. However, in order to be an effective salesperson and businessperson, it is very important to ask a lot of questions. In some sales processes this is called probing or needs analysis, which is simply asking questions to find out if your product can solve your customer's problem.

The most important question to ask a customer in Laboratory Medicine is: "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A MEDICAL LABORATORY TEST?" I cannot stress this fact any more than to highlight the results that you will receive from asking this question. This is what I call "PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY." This question can fit into any step of the sales process whether it is greeting, qualifying, presenting or closing. ASK MORE QUESTIONS.

Secret Societies in Laboratory Medicine

For centuries, secret societies have existed and exerted a mysterious influence on the world and our way of life. Throughout history there has been many conspiracy theories about how these secret societies conduct business and constitute the super rich. Some names which automatically come to mind include: The Illuminati, Freemasons and the Order of Skull and Bones. With the advent of the internet, it makes it hard for these societies to keep real secrets. Books have been written about the secret handshakes, the code words and the hand signals. Historically, membership in a secret society usually guarantees political favors, business opportunities and financial success.

In Laboratory Medicine, the only secret in our Medical Laboratory society is PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY. The code words are: "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A MEDICAL LABORATORY TEST?" The secret handshake is made after you have closed the sale and repeated the action continuously with customers. That is the Secret Society in Laboratory Medicine and its rituals only lead to increased SALES and more revenue. The only difference is that these activities are not concealed and there is really no secret. The secret is SELL MORE.

The Medical Laboratory and Social Media

THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS HAS TRANSFORMED THE WAY THE WORLD COMMUNICATES.

Once we have access to a smartphone or a laptop and access to an internet connection, we can connect with the world whether by video, audio or written form. Everyone is now able to share ideas, promote messages and connect, for FREE, with each other easier than ever before in the information age. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, Linkedin, SoundCloud and Tik Tok provides us with media to market, promote, advertise and sell ideas.

Social media provides an excellent tool for Medical Technologists to connect and share their knowledge with the world in the form of patient education. The internet provides a voice for the Medical Laboratory to become more visible, educate patients about medical lab tests and change the world. A variety of topics about Laboratory Medicine can be discussed on social media such as the importance of Medical Laboratory Tests, Medical Laboratory Product Search, and building a brand around Laboratory Medicine. Health professionals can benefit from topics such as the importance of order of draw, causes of hemolysis, clotted specimens, and recollect requests. This helps with making the healthcare system more effective.

Business is a religious mission

Entrepreneurs should approach their business like it is a religion. The level of devotion, sacredness, commitment and obsession that an entrepreneur has towards their business will shape the spiritual and religious mission of the business. All humans are born entrepreneurs but not all humans will become highly successful entrepreneurs. Success in business requires a high level of cult-like religious devotion to your brand, marketing and sales. SALES play an important role in keeping a business afloat and looking at your SALES daily has to be a religious mission. Naysayers will label your strategy as sacrilegious, but that is not really a bad thing when it leads to success.

SALES has to be the sacred mission and holy grail of your business. There should be no other department that is as supreme as your SALES team. Sales in Laboratory Medicine is a book written as a Bible for Medical Laboratories that want to grow and prosper. The most important skill of an entrepreneur is their ability to sell. Hence, SALES should be approached as a religious duty of every entrepreneur. Sell More. Help more people.

All Humans are Entrepreneurs

All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves, we were all self-employed... finding our food, feeding ourselves. That's where human history began. As civilization came, we suppressed it. We became "labor" because they stamped us, "You are labor." We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.

-Muhammad Yunus,
Nobel Peace Prize winner and microfinance pioneer

You need to embrace the fact that you were born an entrepreneur. An easy way to embrace your entrepreneurial nature is to use PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY. The most important question to ask a customer as a salesperson is: "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A PRODUCT?" The "PRODUCT" is based on which industry you are catering to and the needs of the customer. For example, in the Laboratory Medicine industry, the salesperson would ask the customer if he or she is having difficulties finding a Medical Laboratory Test.

PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY is the simplest method to embrace your entrepreneurial nature that the industrial age has suppressed and remove the stamp: "You are labor" and replace it with: "You are an entrepreneur" . Source More and Sell More.

Be a Product Search Engine

You have to operate your business like Google. Whenever someone wants information, they use google to source that information. In other words, whenever your customer wants a product, the salesperson should source the product for the customer. You might then ask, "How do you make money from that?" Well Google operates like a media company and that is model you can use or you can use the e-commerce model that Amazon uses. Google makes money from advertising. This leads back to the key question you should ask all customers, "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A PRODUCT?" You should then search for any product your customer wants and give it the customer. It is an excellent marketing tool for any business model which I call "PRODUCT SOURCING STRATEGY".

It is now the information age and people are searching for products online daily. You can transform your business into a product search engine by using your phone to call a customer and ask them if they are having difficulties finding any product that they need. This is exactly the business model Google uses, you want information and google finds the information and gives it to you. Be a product search engine and boost your SALES. 

Product Sourcing Strategy then Product Development

It is never a good idea to develop a product that there isn't a need for. Hence product sourcing strategies should be used to research the market before creating a product that does not solve people's problems. In my last article, I stated that the key question to ask customers in Laboratory Medicine is "DO YOU HAVE ISSUES SOURCING A MEDICAL LABORATORY TEST?" This is what product sourcing strategy is all about and it makes business much easier than it seems. All you need to do is find a product that customers have difficulty sourcing and then sell that product to the customer. This is the easiest method to use to make more money in business.

Product Sourcing Strategy is like doing a market research to find out what people want then the salesperson goes and find what they want and give it to the customer. That is how you provide value in any marketplace. This approach needs to be taken first before developing a product. A survey should be done to determine the demand for such a product then you will know how much of your product to supply to customers. This is what Gav-Med Solutions means by product sourcing strategy and it is the key to more SALES.

How to SELL Medical Lab Tests

The most important aspect of making a sale is asking great questions. Questions are at the heart of SALES. Product Sourcing Strategy is key element in making sales and should be used when selling Medical Laboratory Tests. The key question to ask customers is "DO YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES SOURCING A MEDICAL LABORATORY TEST? This is a game changer in the sales process for Medical Laboratories and the secret to more sales. The response to that question will set you on a path to dollar signs. As a salesperson, your role is then to find the product for your customer and sell it to them. It is that easy. Product Sourcing Strategy is one of the key elements that Gav-Med Solutions is founded on.

Additional information can be found in this VIDEO on the importance of product sourcing strategy in selling medical laboratory tests. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel for more information on Laboratory Medicine. Our mantra/ slogan for patient education is "The Medical Laboratory made easy."

Gav-Med Solutions is a consulting firm in Jamaica that assist health professionals, such as Doctors, with product sourcing strategy as well as the starting and managing of Medical Laboratories. We are a group of medical laboratory professionals dedicated to making Jamaica a better place to start and manage medical laboratories at the most affordable costs. Gav-Med Solutions assist health professionals with product selection, sourcing and purchasing management.

How Politics affects Medical Laboratories

Michael Manley, former prime minister of Jamaica, wrote an excellent book called The Politics of Change which was written with two not unrelated objectives in mind. Michael Manley had a desire to transform a post colonial society into a more egalitarian system where there is opportunity for all. Missing from the book is an analysis of imperialism, capitalism, socialism and tribalism and how it has affected the healthcare system. Medical Laboratories which is a crucial department of healthcare have been left on the back burner for decades. This unseen but vital aspect of patient diagnosis and treatment continues to cry out for change from a system of imperialism to one of egalitarianism. This "change" can only be achieved if everyone has access to information about how the healthcare system works. This calls for re-engineering of the healthcare system into a system where the patient is the most important person in healthcare.

Politics has oppressed many industries, such as Laboratory Medicine, and unless Medical Technologists unite and advocate for change it will be just business as usual. Even though Michael Manley's book speaks specifically about the politics of equality and social justice, it is self-evident that the Medical Laboratory has been affected by same. Lack of information especially about the Medical Laboratory has left many patients in the dark for years. The aim of Gav-Med is for all patients to have access to healthcare information about Laboratory Medicine via the internet, social media or any other distribution channel.