Featured Episodes

A high IQ and 10+ years of advanced schooling can’t save your physician partner from being a crappy communicator. Worse yet, their lack of ‘conversational capacity’ may be alienating staff and hurting their practice’s bottom line. In this episode, you’ll learn why leading consultant and author Craig Weber created the conversational capacity framework, some actionable tips to master its three elements (Self-awareness, Mentality, and Skillset), and why sharing it with practice owners may just be your strongest competitive advantage yet.

Is your company’s culture a catalyst for growth or a runaway train careening toward a cliff? Michael Waidler, area business director with Palette Life Sciences, joins the show to discuss MedTech company lifecycles and how reps can contribute to, prepare for, and take advantage of key cultural shifts. In this episode, you’ll learn why culture is the cornerstone of everything we do (for better or worse), how leaders can better prepare their teams for the realities of acquisition, and what a growth-driven culture looks like in practice.

Sure, someone might nod along with what you’re saying and vocalize agreement, but could you recognize the exact moment you started to lose them in your conversation? Shelly O’Donovan, CEO of Authentic Influence Group, joins the show to explain how MedTech reps can gain a competitive advantage simply by recognizing dozens of largely subconscious indicators. In this episode, you’ll discover why learning to read ‘micro-expressions’ can have a major impact on your relationships, and how other forms of subtle, authentic communication help you unlock the deep trust that drives business.

Sales reps think that the right combinations of words will unlock a physician’s trust; trusted partners know that the most persuasive act is listening. This week, we’re revisiting our chat with Amy Smith, director of marketing at Neuros Medical, to highlight the strategic advantages sales reps can realize through careful practice observation and candid communication. In this popular episode, you’ll learn how to analyze the business operations of a practice and give the uncomfortable feedback that physicians need to hear most.

MedTech recruiter Hilary Trader’s message is loud and clear: Stop acting like you’re on a first date or at a dinner party when interviewing for jobs. You need to set humility aside and sell yourself like a product—close hard and fast, or don’t bother showing up. In this week’s episode, you’ll learn how you can better market yourself as a company’s plug-and-play option for overcoming immediate and future pain points, why it always pays to be brutally honest with recruiters, and what it means to confidently (and not cockily) play by “the rules of the game.”

“Why”—when we use this word to question others, it can easily be perceived as an attack or judgment. But when we apply it to ourselves to better understand our own behaviors, it’s the start of personal growth. In this week’s special episode, we’re featuring TrackableMed CEO Zed Williamson’s recent guest appearance on the podcast “Your Best Day Yet,” hosted by Eric Guy of the Center for Victory. Eric and Zed discuss how little-known—yet deeply-ingrained—psychological triggers can sabotage opportunities and the importance of recognizing our own biases. Join us to explore actionable ways you can start building habits that bring out the best in your brain.

What’s the fastest way to cure “commission breath”? Tracking the progress of your true end users and realizing this job is much, much bigger than you. SPR Therapeutics’ regional sales manager Mase Bowman joins the show to share how keeps himself humble yet hungry in the neuromodulation and interventional pain space, helping docs do more procedures with creative solutions. In this episode, learn why reps should work to uncover the dynamics of the C-suite in charge of value analysis, why the greatest professional sin is a lack of a curiosity, and some powerful examples of lead nurturing.

High-performance teams – you know them when you see them, but what actually makes them tick? Jeff Bajorek, a former ortho sales rep who helps companies identify blind spots in their sales processes through acclaimed workshops and training programs, joins us to dissect success. In this episode, you’ll learn key differences between accountability and micromanagement, what it means to be a vulnerable leader, how start-ups can stop being at the mercy of “mercenaries,” and more.

The referral network giveth, and the referral network taketh away! In this episode, you’ll learn how practices can responsibly manage staff as they scale, what it takes to reach a patient population that isn’t already self-selected, and why “brand” should take a backseat in their growth-driven strategy.

What do we fundamentally misunderstand about positive people and their healthy relationships? Sales mentor and 36-year MedTech pro Chip Helm wants to set the record straight: Optimism is a conscious decision made daily, and no one ever lacks time for someone else—they simply choose not to make it. In this episode, you’ll hear a no-nonsense outlook on sales follow-up, hard truths about relationships, how to find true North in our personal and professional lives, and misconceptions about attitude.

How valuable is your authority as a MedTech rep if anybody can access it at any time? MedTech reps should be concerned with granting partners access to their expertise and resources—not with being taken for granted. This week we’re picking up where we left off in Robert Cialdini’s classic book “Influence” and highlighting the MedTech connection to its final three principles: liking, authority, and scarcity. In this episode, you’ll learn how to take a stronger position in your sales conversations and strategically guard your resources.

U.S. Marines will tell you that systems—not processes—save lives on the battlefield, but what’s behind the key distinction there? We’re joined by Shawn Rhodes, former war correspondent and author of “Bulletproof Selling,” to discuss where sales processes break down and how MedTech reps can improve their pipelines with a more systematic approach to business. In this episode, you’ll learn how to systematize your team’s wisdom, teach your customers “how to buy,” and more

What if you always treated your MedTech business like a moonshot? As JFK famously said, “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” That’s the spirit behind Johnny Caffaro’s approach to business development: Sell your most complex product first, then back your way into the primary products. We caught up with the director of Sales for the West at United Orthopedic Corporation to explore the psychology behind this tactic. In this episode, you’ll learn what it means to be a technical asset in the OR, and why more reps should be willing to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty.

What’s the difference between interesting info and transformative knowledge? Grasping concepts in the abstract is one thing, but understanding how they graph on to your daily grind can be difficult without practical, industry-relevant examples. That’s why we’re taking a deep dive into Robert Cialdini’s beloved best-seller, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” to highlight the MedTech connection to three of its six core principles. In this episode, you’ll learn how to use the power of reciprocity, call out customers on their commitments, and properly leverage social proof for greater impact.

Who’s more passionate: the rep who thinks they can sell everybody by simply talking more about all juicy the features and benefits on their sales sheet, or the rep who steps back, listens, and plays the long game? Based on his personal sales experience, Chase Isaacs—business development director for Physician’s Weekly—believes it’s the latter. In this episode, he shares how MedTech reps can fall back in love with what they do by self-evaluating their performance on three criteria: belief, listening, and care.

In this popular episode, Axonics Modulation Technologies VP Trent Campbell shares how newcomers with a disruptive technology can focus on long-term strategic value to reshape market demand. Plus, we dig into what you can do to avoid status quo and navigate the market forces that push toward commoditization—the dreaded “race to the bottom.”

How do you assert product relevance in the market? This, of course, is an evergreen question—one best answered by 38-year frontline sales veteran Mace Horoff. That’s why we’re back in the archives this week to highlight his practical advice on driving value by alerting customers to emerging issues and connecting your offer with the solution.

If the challenges of medical sales during COVID-19 have taught us anything, it’s that the value-based, practice-development approach is here to stay. Tune in to hear about it firsthand from Ben Bouterie, seven-time president’s club winner and Regional Sales Director at Aerin Medical. Learn how to position yourself as a trusted industry advisor versus a sales rep, and leverage this authority to gain trust and opportunities.

This week, we're turning back the playlist and featuring one of the most popular episodes to date. Digging into his ability to open doors with new clients, Jay Pendelton shares tips for medical device reps to get past gatekeepers, develop new relationships, and break into new territories. As Director of Strategy and Talent for Medtronic Cranial & Spinal Technologies (CST), Jay is responsible for driving market share growth and engaging key surgeon customers through differentiating technology.

What if the market for your solution is a million times larger than you think it is? And one simple message could trigger an avalanche of new demand… In this episode, Corey Oldenhuis, one of our behind-the-scenes producers, joins us as a guest host to help break down a recent orthopaedic advertising program that generated dozens of appointments in a matter of days. Learn what they did, the role of empathy in driving key outcomes, and how to agitate the market through patient education.