Due to growth and a major new product launch, I am recruiting for 9 openings across the country for ConMed Electrosurgery in the following areas:

1. Kansas City – interviews next week

2. Los Angeles – interviews next week

3. San Fernando Valley – interviews next week

4. Seattle, WA

5. Little Rock, AR – interviews underway

6. Tallahassee, FL

7. Austin, TX – interviews underway

8. Richmond, VA

9. Dover, DE

The essential requirements for these positions are: 1) Bachelor’s degree 2) 3-10 years of proven success in an outside B2B sales role 3) a clean driving record 4) local- based in the territory already. You will notice that prior medical sales experience is NOT required. If you are a driven B2B sales rep who is hungry to break into O.R. sales, this is an ideal opportunity to do so. You are exactly who we are looking for!

ConMed Electrosurgery offers great training, from the time your start as a new territory manager and continuing as you advance your career as a regional trainer and sales manager. Watch our video to learn more about what it is like to work for ConMed Electrosurgery.

If you are interested, please apply on-line for immediate consideration: http://www.conmed.com/ATS/ats_Denver/extranet_dev/employment.php

Many people would like to break into medical device sales for many reasons. Often one of the main reasons is money. There is a perception that breaking into medical device sales is akin to hitting the lottery.

People can develop inflated expectations about what they expect to make the first year, when in reality, the first year can be very challenging. There is a huge learning curve for anyone entering a this as new industry and selling environment. I’ve described hospitals as “small cities” before. Learning to navigate the many rules and restrictions, gaining access to doctors and figuring out who the key players really are is a gigantic task. It takes plenty of sophistication and tenacity to sell in such a complex environment.

Add to that the huge task of acquiring product and clinical knowledge to converse credibly with doctors and hospital staff. This especially applies to positions focused in the operating room, like orthopedics: anatomy, medical terminology, surgical techniques, solutions to unanticipated problems.

Anyone who is breaking into the industry, and needs to develop these kinds of knowledge and skills, should be thankful that they are not taking over a top-notch territory. It would be a recipe for disaster to try to keep up with the expectations of a customer base with high expectations from day one. Instead, industry newcomers should be thankful for a shot at an under-performing territory, where they can learn and build their business.

It takes hard work and dedication to reach the ranks of highly successful medical device reps. You should expect to toil away for 2-3 years building your business. And hopefully you will love every minute of it- the learning, the challenge, the competition, the hard work, the privilege of being a meaningful resource to your customers and selling products that enhance outcomes for patients and make the lives of the clinicians easier too. You won’t starve while building your business, but you won’t get rich either. It’s not like hitting the lottery. It’s much more meaningful.

In popular culture, Frankenstein is the creation of the mad scientist. If you’ve ever read Mary Shelley’s classic, the novel is very different. Dr. Frankenstein is the scientist who creates the “fiend” who hunts and haunts him for the rest of his days.

If I were Dr. Frankenstein, I would create the perfect candidate, who could look and act something like this:

1. My perfect candidate-creature would research the company and understand the products s/he would potentially be selling, even before the first phone interview.

2. This creature would greet me with evident but not over the top enthusiasm and stay engaged throughout the phone interview.

3. I would receive a concise but thoughtful thank you note the same day, in which the creature reiterated their qualifications and interest in the position I am recruiting for.

4. The creature would promptly complete and supply all requested materials within a business day.

5. I would receive pleasant and periodic updates throughout the interview process from the candidate about his/her progress.

6. The candidate would ask smart questions, and for help and guidance when needed.

7. The candidate would show up for interviews well-prepared and well-groomed (very much unlike Shelly’s fiend.)

8. Like Shelly’s fiend, the candidate would be focused, almost single-minded, in their pursuit of the position. They would not give up, not stop closing, until s/he had an offer in hand.

I have had the pleasure of working with some candidates like this, who are not of my own making, but nearly perfect in their own right. It is always an absolute pleasure.

The list of active openings I am working on is listed below. If you are LOCAL and qualified, please send me your resume at LMcCallister@Linvatec.com. Qualified referrals very much appreciated!

If you would like to stay in touch regarding future opportunities, please connect with me thru LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamcmedicalsalesrecruiter

Electrosurgery, Territory Manager openings

Minimum qualifications: BA, clean driving record and 3-7 years outside B2B sales with a strong track record of meeting and exceeding quota

1. Orlando, Florida

2. South Chicago

Territory Manager, Endoscopic Technologies

Minimum qualifications: BA, clean driving record and 5+ years outside B2B sales with a strong track record of meeting and exceeding quota

1. Raleigh, North Carolina – prior medical sales experience a plus

Sales Representative openings, ConMed Linvatec – Orthopedics

Minimum qualifications: BA, clean driving record, sales experience with prior orthopedics experience highly valued

1. Wilmington, NC

2. Connecticut- Sales Associate

4. Northern New Jersey – Sales Associate

Marketing

Marketing Director – senior level marketing role, 10 years of marketing experience in medical devices including prior management experience, MBA preferred

Product Manager – 3+ prior years of marketing and product management experience for medical products, MBA and experience in total joints/reconstruction preferred

A year ago at this time, I was in a wheelchair. I hadn’t walked for 8 weeks because I broke my right leg skiing. You tend to break something when you hit a tree. I had a tibial plateau fracture. My PCL had also torn loose, thankfully attached to a hunk of bone. Fortunately, all my other ligaments were intact and the meniscal cartilage in my knee was only wrinkled. After Memorial Day, I began to walk again and tried to rebuild the weakened muscles in my right leg.

This Memorial Day weekend, I am running the Bolder Boulder 10k. To say I feel elated to be running again is an understatement.

Earlier this year, the strength in my right leg was still lagging far behind my left, which had grown quite strong. Without realizing it, I had developed a myriad of small ways of over-compensating for my injury. I decided more physical therapy was necessary to correct the persistent imbalance. When I went to see the wonderful Bob Cranny at Altitude Physical Therapy in January, my right calf was 1/2 inch smaller in circumference than my left. My right thigh was a full inch smaller. This explained why even a short dash across the street was nearly impossible for me, much less running a few miles.

I told Bob my goal was to run the Bolder Boulder. I had signed up for it the week before I broke my leg the year before and had a voucher for my entry fee I was determined to use. He thought the Bolder Boulder was very doable. Bob later asked me, “Have you ever thought about doing a marathon?” He is one positive guy. He is a triathlete with several Ironman races under his belt, and has a loyal following of athletes who seek him out whenever they need to be set right.

At the end of our first session, he wrote down several exercises for me to do at home on a sheet of paper. At the top, he wrote “Lisa’s Come Back Plan!”

Over the next several months, I went to physical therapy a couple of times a week, and worked out at home and at the gym whenever I could. Bob and I chatted about kids, life and business as we did 30-second wall sits. He’d urge me on, “No deficits! You’ll be stronger than before!”

He was right about that. My right leg grew stronger, so did my left. Even my core is stronger. My legs still aren’t exactly equal, but they are much closer than before, and I’ll keep working on it.

Last Sunday I ran nearly six miles. It felt great. Still, my gait is still not as smooth as it once was, and running is not effortless like it used to be. I am much slower. But I still love it and am so glad to have running back in my life again.

Monday morning, I will be running in the Bolder Boulder along with 59,000 other people. I’ll be at the back of the pack, but enjoying every minute it.

Many people don’t realize that the questions a candidate asks during an interview are just as important as those they answer. It is not uncommon for a manager to tell me the reason for ruling out a candidate is that the candidate did not ask any questions. The rest of the interview might have been fine, but if a candidate doesn’t have a single question, it is taken as a sign of 1) lack of preparation or 2) lack of interest. Hiring managers don’t have time for either one.

I always suggest candidates come up with some insightful questions. Frankly, those of us who interview a lot get bored of answering the same old questions over and over again: “What is training like?” or “What’s the interview process?” Yes these are necessary questions, I’ll admit. (This is why I’ve created FAQs for some of the positions I recruit for routinely.) However, as every sales person should know, a sharp, probing question is like a double espresso. It wakes you up, sends blood to your brain and makes you sit forward in your seat. It makes you think. Hiring managers are grateful for a jolt like this every once in a while when they are conducting back-to-back interviews. It keeps things interesting.

The best way to uncover powerful questions is to research, research, research. Learn as much as you can. The things you can’t figure out on your own are probably really good questions. By asking an insightful question, you’ll reveal how much you’ve already learned, and how willing you are to learn. Since hiring managers are often concerned about how long your learning curve will be before you are knowledgeable about the products and fully effective in the territory, demonstrating that you are a fast, self-motivated learner is one the keys to any successful interview.

Most of the best questions will come out of your interview preparation. There is one other very important question however you should be certain to include in your repertoire. If it is not the very best question to ask, it’s pretty darn close.

The question is: Did that answer your question?

It’s a great question to ask periodically throughout your interview, but especially when if you sense the hiring manager disengage. They may well be thinking, “Well that wasn’t what I was looking for…” but they may not articulate it. You need to make sure you are providing the hiring manager with the information they need to consider you seriously for the position. This question is another way to demonstrate that you are interested and that you care. If you tend to babble a bit, asking this question can also be a good way to stop yourself from over-talking.

When you prepare for your next interview, make a list of all the questions you have. Then try to see if you can find answers to any of them yourself. The ones that remain may be the ones you need to ask, and always keep this one essential question handy.

From the second endoscopy center, we drove down to a hospital where they rep had recently sold a Beamer system, an electrosurgical unit which can  be used to stop bleeding in the digestive track. Unlike surgeons, who love blood almost as much as vampires, the rep explained that the tension level in the endoscopy suite usually goes through the roof when there is a “bleeder”. He told me that some of the cautious G.I. doctors in rural areas will send their patients to urban hospitals at the first suspicion of blood.

The rep explained how much more in-depth the sales cycle for this particular product had been. Although the sale of such a product is frequently doctor driven, in this particular instance it had been the nurse manager who had really pushed the purchase. In smaller community hospitals, doctors may be on 8-12 week rotations, lessening their influence in buying decisions. After making the sale, the rep had in-serviced the staff for 8 hours a day over the course of an entire week. During that time, he identified one staff member as someone he could tap as a “specialist” to help others in the account when they had questions, lessening the on-going support demands on him.

Since it was about 12 noon when we arrived at the hospital, and the festivities of GI nurses day far from over, we met a pizza delivery guy in the lobby. Although meals are not a standard operating procedure for device reps, it was a special day after all, and yours truly was working up an appetite.

The rep signed on one of the vendor tracking systems in the lobby. Later, he told me how meticulous he had to be about signing in and out. If he left a facility without signing out, the vendor system could lock him out and he would not be able to login at the next facility he visited.

We went up to the GI floor, where it happened to be a pretty quiet day. In the storage room, the rep retrieved the Beamer system for an in-service. On the side of the unit, the rep had added a couple of plastic hooks for hanging the cords used with the system. He had labeled shelves and created sample “kits” of the disposable products used with the system. I was impressed at the way he had organized his products to make use of them as simple as possible for his customers. Organization was certainly one of this reps strengths.

Later, when he in-serviced a nurse on the system, it occurred to me just how many different products medical staff are expected to know how to use. While a product in isolation might seem simple and intuitive, remembering the codes, set-ups and functions of a product in the context of a complex hospital setting is something very different. This is why medical device reps play such an important role in training or in-servicing hospital staff.

We checked out the scope room where a few dozen flexible endoscopes hung like long black snakes. Knowing that each scope probably cost thousands of dollars, I recognized just how expensive the inventory in that small room was. I wondered why there were so many and I soon found out why.

Next, the rep showed me the room where they scopes were cleaned. There were specialized cleaning units for cleaning and sterilizing the scopes through multiple steps. Each scope took at least 2 hours to cycle through the cleaning process.

On a busy day with multiple procedures, many scopes were needed in rotation due to the lag time of cleaning. I didn’t clean any scopes that day, but the rep asked the nurse manager if he could come back sometime to watch and even help in order to learn- a smart approach to learning more about his customer.

After lunch, we headed back into the city to yet another account. Along the way, I worked through a few more questions, such as:

How much of your time do you dedicate to the different aspects of your job? 15-20% cases, 15-20% travel or preparing for it 30% making calls and the remainder of time in-servicing existing accounts and products or handling paperwork.

What are the top 3 things a rep must do in order to succeed in this business? 1. get organized 2. learn products 3. hustle

Fill in the blank: If you love  (hardwork) you will love this job. If you hate (being flexible) you will hate this job.

The rep had long targeted medical sales as the industry he wanted to be in, but paid his dues gaining outside B2B sales experience first. His advise to others hoping to break into the industry is to establish a successful track record in sales and document it in a brag book.

Prior to working in medical sales, this rep worked in the wine business. I asked him how the two industries compared. In the wine industry, he was accustomed to working 70-80 hours a week, including Saturday and Sunday. “At least doctors take vacations,” he said, compared to the non-stop 365 schedule of retail and restaurants. In many ways, he finds the sales processes very similar, because both required selling at multiple levels in order to gain the business. The customers in medical sales are much more professional though. “At least a doctor knows what he’s talking about, compared to a snobby wine merchant who thinks he knows everything,” he said.

At the next account, we met with a nurse who was interested in pricing on several products. He took notes and promised to follow-up with a quote. It was a short call and to the point, but looked like it could lead to a nice sale. The rep offered the nurse a binder filled with various catalogs of product and his business card. As we headed out, the rep mentioned that he preferred to create binder where all the product information could be contained. Brochures tended to end up in the trash. Once again, the rep was thinking of ways to make things easier for his accounts. It was a consistent theme throughout the day.

Back at the car, I asked the rep to show me his trunk. It was neatly packed with various products, brochures and customer information. The rep said he felt that lack of organization was a contributing reason for reps failure. “If you are not organized, you’ll sink in this business,” he said. Not only organizing stuff, but time and travel was key. Planning ahead for travel enabled him to better control costs and coordinate his schedule with his wife.

The ride-along was a terrific way for me to learn more about the day in the life of a Endoscopic technologies rep- and I hope for you too!  And although GI nurses and associates day is a new holiday for me, it’s one I plan on celebrating again next year!

Part One…

A couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday morning, I met up with the local sales rep for ConMed Endoscopic Technologies before 8:00 am. Like the rep, I was decked out in a pair of scrubs and a comfortable pair of running shoes.

It happened to be GI Nurses and Associates Day. Who knew there was such a holiday? Apparently, I had a lot to learn!

Our first stop was a nearby endoscopy center, where due to the festive occasion, we dropped off some bagels. One of the nurses invited us back to a large storage room. The walls were lined with products from different companies.

The rep asked for the nurse who was responsible for ordering  a certain product. Over the course of the day, we talked to nurses in several facilities who ordered product and seemed to have a lot of discretion over the purchases. In this case, the rep let the ordering nurse and several others know about other products he offered. He also got the name of a rep for one of the large national distributors.

When we were back in the car, he explained that he found it beneficial to partner with distributor reps in areas of his large territory, especially those who were tenured and have long-term relationships with customers. In such instances, as a manufacturer’s rep, he goes into the accounts with the distributor reps, closes new business for his products, and handles all the in-servicing of the account. Both he and the distributor rep increase their sales as a result.

We arrived at another endoscopy center on the other side of town. The waiting room was full of eager patients looking forward to a colonoscopy. This routine diagnostic procedure, recommended for most people at 50 years of age, is the most common GI procedure performed. Other common procedures include esophagogastroduodenoscopy, more commonly referred to as EGD or Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, a.k.a ERCP. (Thank goodness for acronyms!)

Here, we had an interesting conversation with the nurse manager. She had primary responsibility for sourcing many of the products used in the facility. One of her first questions was if the sales rep knew where to find collapsible wast canisters due to space constraints. The thought of all the medical waste generated by the facility sitting in a dump somewhere bothered her.

The nurse manager complemented the CET rep on his strong customer service, and grumbled about another company who had recently switched to a 1-800 number for all product issues. “When I have a patient on the table, I don’t want to call a 1-800 number and talk to someone who doesn’t know me or my situation.” She finds it harder to get things resolved quickly, compared to speaking directly with a sales rep for an immediate answer.

She also shared her experience about working with a rep who became “livid” when she had decided to buy from another company. The rep tried to low-ball on price. She told him flatly that was not how she did business. The rep then said he would go to another person in the facility about the purchase.

Not a smart move.

It was the nurse manager’s turn to be livid. “Excuse me,” she said to the low-ball sales rep, “I think you are misinformed about who is buying the product.” To us she explained that she wants to do business with someone who shares her ethics and values, and is honest and fair. This particular rep was someone she would never buy from as a result of this incident.

Back in the car, I asked the sales rep how he handled situations like the one she described. After all, it is a sales rep’s responsibility to figure out how to get the business. While making people angry is not a good way to grow one’s business, sometimes reps need to find alternative avenues for making a sale. The CET rep said he would consider approaching someone else in a facility for support in a similar situation, but he wouldn’t confront the other decision maker blatantly. Rather, he would ask someone else for support, and then fess up that he’d hit a wall elsewhere.

Coming soon…

Part two, in which the heroine eats pizza and cleans a scope (well, almost.)

I spoke to a talented medical device saleswoman recently. Her dedication to her job is exceptional and she routinely works 90 hours a week. She is a single mom and is fortunate that her mother lives with her to help care for her children. The number of hours she works is definitely on the high end, but she finds great satisfaction in her job and knows her children are well-provided for.

Given the demands of achieving success in any full-time sales position, having a strong support system is key for many sales women. In medical device sales, this may mean having a someone else who can drop children off at daycare or school in the morning if an early case is scheduled. It may mean having someone who can help lift heavy equipment into the trunk of the car. Or, it may mean having a friend or mentor who can listen and offer suggestions about challenges faced in the field.

Medical device sales positions are typically field based positions, which offer a lot of freedom but lack the traditional support found through co-workers in an office-setting. Finding ways to connect with other reps in other territories is often crucial to discovering new and better ways of doing things and getting through the rough patches when they come along. Most reps I know call their peers on a regular basis for advice and support. It is important for anyone starting in medical device sales to start building such relationships from the beginning.

When working from home as most medical sales reps do, it’s important separate work from family life, not only to ensure that you are productive, but also for your own sanity. Sometimes biggest discipline issue can be turning off work for a while to spend time with family, since work is never more than a few steps away.

Some of these things can play a role for men in the industry as well. The rep I rode with this past week said he works constantly: in the field during the day, planning trips or answering emails at night after his kids are in bed, and spending time each weekend catching up on paperwork. At the same time, he feels he has greater flexibility to create his own schedule and working from home allows him to see his family more than when he was working out of an office.

If you are determined to be successful in the industry, there are many creative solutions for the challenges that come along. Organization and planning are key to overcoming many of them.

Today I am riding with a rep who sells products used in GI procedures. This is another day-in-the life experience, where I have an opportunity to interrogate the rep… with 26 questions to be exact.

Please follow me on Twitter if you want to get updates throughout the day at http://twitter.com/myjobscope. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask the rep, please feel free to @message me @MyJobScope during the day.

My goal is to understand the job better, so I can explain it better to those I am recruiting. I hope that you’ll find it interesting and informative. In a few days time, I will write up the experience. Until then, here is my list of questions:

1.     Which products do you advise surgeons on during procedures? How?

2.     When you are in procedures, are the patients awake?

3.     What is the best way to increase volume in account? What do you leverage the most: service, contracts, GPOs, innovative products, price, all of the above?

4.     What is a typical sales cycle?

5.     What are the keys to successful territory management and strategy?

6.     What/who are the main call points?

7.     How much are decisions driven by physician preference? Economic factors?

8.     Who are the important influencers?

9.     How much do you call on the C-Level? Purchasing?

10. What is the most complex deal you’ve closed?

11. Biggest competition? How many other reps do you compete with in this territory?

12. Why would someone who is really good at what they do want this job?

13. What essential skills does this job come down to? What has made you successful?

14. How do you stay current on new products? Procedures?

15. What’s one thing you do that had been very successful for you?

16. Why do you think reps fail?

17. What is the biggest difference between this and B2B sales? Why is it more satisfying?

18. What is the most fun on a day-to-day basis about this job?

19. Biggest headache?

20. If someone wanted to prepare themselves for a position like this, what would you recommend they do?

21. Fill in the blank: If you love ___________ you will love this job.

22. Fill in the blank: If you hate ___________ you will hate this job.

23. How often are you in procedures?

24. Percentage breakdown of your time according to different parts of the job?

25. What are the key questions you ask to qualify opportunities?

26. What are the top 3 things a rep must do in order to succeed?

Happy G.I. nurses and associates day! I hope you can tune in for the party.