Selling Cleveland's medical mart: Q&A with MMPI's sales chief

It’s Greg Sanker‘s job to sell Cleveland’s medical mart to the world.

Or at least that part of the world that needs to buy into the concept for it to be a success — medical device makers, health information technology vendors, and less-sexy members of the healthcare ecosystem like hospital bed manufacturers. Now that the project appears to be picking up some momentum, Sanker’s role is among the most important in ensuring that the medical mart idea becomes a reality.

Sanker, a Lakewood, Ohio resident for the last 15 years, is the vice president of leasing for Chicago-based MMPI, the property developer for Cleveland’s $425 million, 520,000-square-foot medical mart project, which is on track for an October groundbreaking.

Not only must Sanker sell Cleveland to prospective tenants, but he needs to create believers in the untested medical mart concept — the idea that hospital purchasing managers and other buyers will be attracted to a one-stop location of showrooms that feature a wide variety of medical products from a vast array of vendors.

Adding to the challenge is stiff competition from Nashville, another healthcare-centric city that’s hoping to open its own medical mart, plus decidedly less-intense competition from New York developers, whose quest to open a medical mart in high-rent Manhattan seems to have fizzled before it ever really got off the ground.

Since the medical mart is clearly one of the most important development projects in Cleveland’s recent history, there’s been lots of local teeth-gnashing and skepticism about the sometimes less-than-open process that’s surrounded it. But optimism may be growing as MMPI and local governments continue to scoop up land for the project and report that they’ve secured tentative agreements from 24 prospective tenants and 12 trade shows — though publicly announcing the identities of those tenants and trade shows would also go a long way toward quelling local doubts.

Sanker, who joined MMPI about a year ago after working as a business-development executive for CitiCapital HealthCare Finance, spoke with MedCity News about the medical mart’s biggest selling point, why he thinks Cleveland beats Nashville and why the prospective tenants’ identities haven’t been revealed.

Q: What selling point about the Cleveland medical mart do potential tenants respond best to?
A: The fact that the facility will be located in the center of medical excellence that is Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

Q: HIMSS says it chose Nashville because it believes Nashville will have a larger, more “comprehensive” facility (and Nashville’s plans call for a project roughly three times larger than Cleveland’s). What would your response be to a prospective tenant you’re trying to sell to who has the same perception?
A: My understanding of their project is that it isn’t fully funded and they won’t have the healthcare focus that we will. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a fine institution, but it doesn’t compare to what Cleveland and Northeast Ohio bring to the table from an institutional perspective, as a center of innovation, design or specialty manufacturing. My understanding is that the Nashville convention center is a general-purpose facility. The Cleveland Convention Center will be focused on healthcare and more closely linked to the medical mart function.

Q: MMPI has said that it has signed letters of intent from 24 medical mart tenants and 12 conventions. Why not publicly announce the identities of at least the companies that signed the letters? When might that happen?
A: [The announcement] is a function of the agreement between the county and MMPI, and it’s intended to create more of an impact at the time [the tenants] are all announced to demonstrate the momentum of the project. The timing of the announcement is related to issues of construction and confidentiality agreements with firms that have agreed to letters of intent. It’s not that we think what we have is insufficient. There are some legal questions about when that announcement could occur so that date is still in flux.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge you face in selling the medical mart concept?
A: This model is entirely new to the healthcare industry. The challenge really is in answering the question of where this new sales and marketing model fits into a healthcare company’s existing strategy.

Q: MMPI’s Mark Falanga has said: “It’s a critical issue to take advantage of first-mover benefits.” Do you agree that the first medical mart to open will have a huge advantage over the others? Is that something that ever comes up in discussions with prospective tenants?
A: Yes, I do agree because this is a new concept in the industry. I don’t believe major technology companies are likely to invest in more than one location at the start so the fact that we have the funding and the ability to get our project off the ground first will certainly attract more interest in being part of the Cleveland project instead of No. 2 or No. 3. Does it come up? It always comes up. We’re always asked to list what differentiates our project.

Q: Were you surprised at the public skepticism expressed by many Clevelanders over whether the medical mart project would ever happen or really benefit the city?
A: Yes, it was a surprise because my career had taken me outside of Cleveland to do business, so that pessimism was new to me. However, I believe the pessimism is starting to evaporate since the deal with Sportsman’s Restaurant has been finalized, we’re getting closer to the groundbreaking event and we’ve been talking about the numbers of firms that have signed letters of intent for permanent showrooms, conferences and conventions.