Superior Medtech Sales Training is a Competitive Advantage

Since, 1990, I have been working in sales, sales leadership and for the last 19 years in sales and sales leadership training consulting roles with over 50 Medtech companies. During that time, I have also studied how adults learn. A very interesting discipline few trainers can employ. During the same time period I have created numerous sales training systems for Medtech companies. Six of my clients successfully achieved their exit strategies. Those people will always remember the experience of their success. Many other clients were medical device companies who I spent five or more years providing their continuous training. They went on to experience tremendous growth during and after my engagement and introduced technologies that healthcare providers used and still use to achieve improved patient outcomes. They included divisions of Medtronic, Stryker, Boston Scientific, Smith & Nephew and others. Other former clients ignored the principals I taught were only one-year clients who failed to succeed. Several of my current clients have the possibility of great success, but only if they:

 Â·     Continue to hire the best salespeople

·     Train them through a comprehensive training system

·     Provide them with the tools to succeed

·     Allow them time to learn in the field

·     Hold them accountable to reasonable quota growth

·     Have their managers coach them to success

·     Pay them according to their success

You can't take short-cuts and expect a successful outcome.  Successfully launching a product and maintaining high sales growth rates through the first few years requires a company who has the discipline to do the right things. Too many companies lack that discipline and are just trying to get to a revenue number that will motivate a more prominent company to buy them. Also, new salespeople need time to learn. You can’t expect a new salesperson with three months tenure to make a significant sales contribution if the technology is complex.

Discipline includes having trained sales leaders who can hire the best sales candidates and coach them to success. Of course, having a world-class training system that provides foundational learning in their home-study, engages them in at least a two-week clinical, product, and product application training can be critical. Selling skills are always product specific, not medical specialty specific, so the training needs to include a sales simulation workshop, which can be accomplished in three days. This formula, when appropriately created and includes the sales, marketing, and training team can provide years of success. And among them a few companies that have and keep the discipline can have a successful acquisition or a public offering.