Is My Sales Rep a Captive Agent or a Device Broker?

What’s the difference and does it really matter?

Simply put, a captive agent is a sales representative that contracts to sell a single company’s products. Conversely, a medical device broker represents products from a wide variety of competing manufacturers.

This same model has been utilized in other industries for years. Take auto/life/home insurance as an example: A State Farm agent may offer several different policy options, but only those underwritten by their specific company. On the other hand, an independent insurance broker is free to negotiate on the buyer's behalf with many different companies to cultivate a wider array of options.

These differing approaches can impact several key areas for the consumer including: price, product offerings, and points of contact.

Price: Competition, or lack thereof drives pricing. Generally speaking, purchasing via a single company/captive agent will result in higher pricing for equivalent products. A broker’s ability to work on the customer’s behalf and secure bids from numerous competing companies often results in substantial cost savings.

Product Offerings: Captive agents have access to a more limited number of product offerings than an independent broker. This isn’t necessarily a problem, however, if the smaller product portfolio is well aligned with the individual surgeon customer’s needs. That said, surgeons often find that while every company has some things they like, no single company has the best of every option.

Points of Contact: An independent device broker working on your behalf can act as a single trusted point of contact for interaction with many different companies, across different procedural types, and within different facets of your medical practice. Contrast this with the typical captive sales agent that is only allowed to represent their company, and often a very niched portion of that company’s overall product portfolio.