Company: Baxa Corporation, Englewood CO
Company Description: Baxa develops safe and efficient systems for fluid drug preparation, handling, packaging and administration. Its state-of-the-art Exacta-Mix™ and MicroMacro™ Automated Compounders for hospital and home parenteral nutritional support are the only automated systems that accurately deliver macro and micro ingredients in a single unit, with barcode ingredient verification to eliminate med errors.
Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Sales Team

Nomination Title: Baxa Corporation's Entire Company is Our Sales Team

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in 2004 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

2004 was Baxa's best in its 30-year history.  US sales exceeded plan by 14% -
netting sales growth of 28%.  While fortune played a role in this unanticipated
growth; the "luck" resulted from careful planning and dedication to meeting
customer needs.

In January's national sales meeting, Baxa implemented its first formal selling
process.  ValueSelling™ promotes true customer relationship-building -- teaching
participants techniques for synchronizing customers needs with valuable
solutions.  This value model suited sales of Baxa MicroMacro™ Compounders for
automated mixing of parenteral nutrition solutions.  State-of-the art systems,
nevertheless they faced serious competition from a multi-billion dollar
manufacturer with a broader product line, greater market penetration and the ability to bundle drugs with equipment to reduce the apparent system cost.  A number two player, Baxa learned to focus its sales efforts on meeting true customer needs, creating tangible value for its offering.

In April, this key competitor underwent a product recall that removed its equipment
from customer sites.  Baxa made a proactive response, offering to assist large
hospitals by placing its automated compounders quickly to minimize the recall's
impact on patient care and safety.  Unfortunately, that same week, Baxa
experienced a recall on the valve set disposable used on its MicroMacro System.

Recognizing the serious potential for patient harm, Baxa immediately called
together sales, operations, marketing, quality and shipping teams to develop a
plan to expedite the recall resolution, allowing customers to continue mixing and
delivering parenteral nutrition solutions safely.  Baxa team members worked with
customers to share the available disposables, allowing the greatest number of
hospitals to continue using their equipment during the recall.  Customers received
daily email updates on progress toward resolution.  Bi-weekly customer phone
calls assessed short-term needs and addressed concerns.  Cross-functional
teams worked round-the-clock to resolve identified issues to get new product on
the shelf as quickly as possible.

These efforts culminated in a weekend testing marathon where the CEO and
executives worked alongside volunteers from throughout the company to validate
the valve sets and return them to production.  This extraordinary teamwork
resulted in the recall's resolution in two weeks' time.

By contrast, the competition kept their customers in the dark about recall details
and actions to resolve it.  Their sales team made promises that were not kept, and
customer communication was largely inaccurate or self-serving.  To protect market
share, the company even tried to prevent their best customers from switching to
competitive products.

Nine months later, the competition's recall has not yet been resolved, and many of
their best customers have converted to Baxa.  The ValueSelling model, combined
with a sophisticated customer relationship management system, positioned Baxa
well to service customers' specific requirements.  Demand for compounder
installations is so great that Baxa increased production forecasts by 30% and
hired additional Technical Support representatives to meet the implementation
schedule.

All truly great sales organizations focus on their customers.  Baxa went a step
further by focusing its whole organization.  This focus makes each associate a
sales team member, and is the reason for this Sales Team award nomination.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

http://www.baxa.com
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/press%20releases/Baxa%20PPN%202003.pdf
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/images/fact%20sheet.pdf
http://www.baxa.com/Products/Default.asp?ID=2&Item=7
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/GoodNews%20Archives/GoodNews%20Spring%202002.pdf
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/press%20releases/premier.pdf
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/press%20releases/Hooton%20PR.pdf
http://www.baxa.com/NewsAndEvents/press%20releases/CHCA.pdf

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated team:

Claude Hooton is Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Baxa
Corporation, responsible for leading the company’s marketing, business
development and sales efforts.  Prior to Baxa, Hooton was the Executive Vice
President of Marketing and Corporate Development for supply chain systems
provider, SupplyPro, Inc.  His experience includes marketing and business
development roles at the healthcare technology firm Pyxis Corporation and senior
positions with Dura Pharmaceuticals.  Hooton earned his Master’s Degree in
Business Administration from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of
Science Degree in Finance from San Diego State University.