In every business, communication plays an important role. Whether it is
between members of the company or buyers and suppliers, how a person
communicates can help make or break a deal. Because the O&P industry is
somewhat insulated, the right forms of communication, such as face-to-face or
over the phone or computer, are especially important.
“[The O&P industry] is, in general, a very small
industry,” C. Rudolf Becker, Jr, vice president of marketing and IT
at Becker Orthopedic, told O&P Business News. “Everybody knows
of each other and for that reason I think we just have a personal goal that
requires a lot of personal face-to-face time and attention.”
Establish trust
In a study published in International Business Review, Sonia
Ketkar, co-director of the Center for Emerging Market Policies and
assistant professor of Global Business and Policy at George Mason University,
and co-authors concluded that face-to-face communication plays a major role in
establishing trust between buyers and suppliers.
According to the study, in a survey conducted by the Association for
Manufacturing Excellence, one of the critical factors for buyer/supplier
relations was mutual trust. A sense of security can be established through
face-to-face communication, which then enables knowledge sharing with the
belief that partners will not “exploit the knowledge beyond what is
intended… and fosters a willingness to work things out through mutual
problem-solving.”
“What’s nice about face-to-face meetings is it allows you to
create trust much quicker and, by establishing the trust, it allows the
individual the opportunity to ask questions,” Walter Governor,
National Director of Sales at Ottobock, said. “Our customers can ask
us questions about our business and our processes and we can do the same. When
we get a good understanding of their business and how their business works, we
can then provide the right solutions.”
Gerald Stark, vice president of education and product development
at The Fillauer Companies Inc., said that face-to-face communication maximizes
the effectiveness of professional communication and that focusing on
relationships in the O&P business is just as important as focusing on
tasks.
“Watering plants keeps them alive, but rain really makes them grow.
I think face-to-face communication is like the rain. It really makes
relationships flourish with its multiple forms of communication. Electronic
communication focuses simply on the verbal message, which may keep
relationships alive, but does not expand them,” he said.
“There aren’t too many studies that have examined the role of
face-to-face communication — which are social exchanges — on economic
exchanges,” Ketkar told O&P Business News. “Our study
results show, overall, that face-to-face communication plays a significant role
in strengthening the exchanges between buyers and suppliers.”
Face-to-face vs. email communication
Face-to-face communication can create a different effect and environment
when talking business compared with using email for communication.
According to Becker, being able to associate a name with a face helps
drive the connection home, and also helps to sell the product.
“I handle the marketing for the company and it’s never good
enough for our customers to have just a picture of a joint or a brace,”
Becker said. “They want to hold the products and see what they’re
like and get an idea of how they’re going to use them in their practice.
You can’t do that in an email, you have to go face-to-face.”
“There’s a lot we can do with phone and email, but so much of
the message or meaning gets lost,” Stark said. “It’s important
to meet the person in their own context because context really defines what
they’re relating to. When you miss that with different kinds of
communication instruments, you miss out on some of that meaningful
communication.” — by Casey Murphy
For more information:
Ketkar S, Kock N, Parente R, et al. The impact of individualism on
buyer-supplier relationship norms, trust and market performance: an analysis of
data from Brazil and the USA. Int Bus Rev. 2012; 21:782-793.
Disclosure: Becker is employed by Becker Orthopedic. Governor is
employed by Ottobock. Stark is employed by The Fillauer Companies Inc. Ketkar
had no relevant financial disclosures.
