Why do Many Medical Salespeople from Industry Leading Companies Fail with Startups?

In my two decades of providing sales and sales leadership training-consulting experience, I have seen the challenge of startups and turnarounds hiring experienced industry salespeople from major competitive companies instead of providing their own sales training. Five of my most successful training clients who achieved exit strategy success demonstrated to me; homegrown and trained talent is more successful than talent hired from the competition.

1.    Sofamor Danek (Medtronic Spine)

2.    Advanced Bionics (Boston Scientific Neuromodulation)

3.    Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implants (Sinova Medical)

4.    Venetec’s StatLock Technology (Bard) 

5.    Entellus (Stryker)

The same has been true of clients I haven’t mentioned and many of my clients who haven’t been acquired or were already on the stock exchanges. Let me illustrate what I learned:

Many startups hire competitive medical device company sales leaders, without startup experience, to lead their salesforce launches. Often, these leaders hire people they trust rather than hiring the best salespeople available and providing the necessary sales knowledge and skills training required for startup success. Major medical device salespeople and leaders, who leave their original company to pursue a startup opportunity, often underestimate the loyalty their customers have to their former employer, not just their individual sales people or managers.

Creating an internal training system for salespeople is not a daunting process if the investors and the founders understand that selling is a complex process developed through great training and experience. Many independent training consultants build sales training systems. Working in conjunction with internal training employees the training strategist and system creator will involve the new training staff so they can deliver the training programs over time. Training programs and systems can be constructed in eight weeks, if necessary. The cost of paying a training and learning expert is an investment rather than an expense, as it can provide value for years. There are significant differences in providing appropriate knowledge, developing sales skills, and creating sales strategies, then creating power points and building three-ring binders. A training specialist must also understand how individuals learn and retain information for recall so the programs maximize the daily learning goals. Online or web-based training often provides information without interaction. Learning occurs when people interact with information, not just read it.

Many salespeople who received their initial sales training with major medical device companies never really lose their loyalty to their original product and maintain friendships with former colleagues. They seem to compare their start-up technology's features, benefits, and value propositions to their original company's technology. Maybe because the training was better or it was their first sales training experience? It's also harder to go back to an important customer with a new competitive technology then salespeople expect.

Innovation requires education and training. Startups with disruptive technology have their best opportunities selling to innovators and early adopters, about 15% of the market. The innovators and early adopters want to work with disruptive technologies that deliver value as well as with well-trained salespeople. The early majority, about 34% of the market is more aligned with leading suppliers with names everyone recognizes, not startups. It is always important to remember you get one shot at a product launch. Do you really want to depend on competitive salespeople you've only provided product information and haven't seen them in a sales simulation?

Marketing staff maintains relationships with national KOLs who are either well-known industry-leading physicians or innovative physicians, often both. KOLs want training on the new technology before they endorse it. Can you depend upon a salesforce you haven't trained technically and with specific selling skills and strategies? Companies need their salespeople to train and develop regional KOL relationships. Regional KOLs often have more influence on local markets than national KOLs and help grow market share through their regional colleagues. 

If you are involved in medical device startups from investment to product launch, consider how my experience during my long medical sales and consulting career can help you create a successful startup salesforce, contact Charlie Johnson Consulting Associates at (860)483-1507 or by email, [email protected].