Sales Force

COVER STORY

In the medical device marketplace, spine surgery is an extremely competitive sector. A company's ability to convey its messages and products directly to its target audience is key to being successful. In 2005, NuVasive recognized that to drive interest in its technology and seize a leadership position in this sector, the company would have to radically alter its sales strategy.

To accomplish this objective, NuVasive initiated a plan to create a sales force focused exclusively on NuVasive's spine surgery products. Although NuVasive's prior sales network of independent distributors had served the company well in its early stages, the distributors' focus was often divided among competing products. NuVasive recognized that an exclusive sales force was necessary to achieve sustained, long-term growth; improve market penetration; and increase revenue per procedure.

"Our goal was to build the best sales team in spine, period," says NuVasive CEO Alexis Lukianov.

NuVasive moved quickly to execute its plan. By the end of 2005, the company had achieved 60% exclusivity, enabling NuVasive to vertically integrate 29% of its hospital customers by selling them products from all three categories of the company's maximum access surgery (MAS) platform: NeuroVision, MaXcess, and implant technologies.

Riding the momentum, NuVasive surpassed its target date of full sales force exclusivity when it announced completion of the project in the second quarter of 2006. The recently created sales force, now totaling more than 200 professionals, is made up of area business managers who are NuVasive shareowners (employees) and exclusive, independent distributors with defined territories.

NuVasive's exclusive sales force continues to make significant progress in deepening the company's overall product penetration as well as facilitating increased adoption of its extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) procedure. In its most recent earnings report, NuVasive was able to record a hospital vertical integration level of 45% while adding approximately 75 new accounts during the quarter.

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