Use this Secret “Hack” to Win in Sales
What if the key to winning in medical device sales was simpler than you think?
In this episode, we uncover the ultimate sales hack for 2025: passion. Passion isn’t just a feeling—it’s the strategic energy that creates trust, overcomes objections, and adds value to your customer relationships. We break down how to infuse passion into every part of your sales process, from building rapport to overcoming objections with confidence.
If you’re ready to reignite your enthusiasm, connect deeply with your customers, and elevate your sales game, this episode is for you.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 - Introduction and the ultimate sales hack for 2025
02:49 - Revealing the secret
04:05 - Why passion is critical for sales success
07:35 - Building rapport and trust through passion
10:16 - How passion makes sales calls more engaging
12:31 - Overcoming objections with energy and confidence
15:31 - Creating value and the role of genuine excitement
17:05 - Taking action with passion to create urgency
17:45 - The power of storytelling in sales
23:05 - Closing thoughts: Starting the year with passion
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
The 80/20 Rule in Sales Success - Understand why 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers and how to focus strategically on these key accounts while still planting seeds in others.
Turning Passion into Trust - Learn how passion builds rapport and trust with customers, making your sales calls more personal and authentic.
Overcoming Objections with Confidence - Discover how passion, combined with knowledge, can help you confidently address and overcome customer objections.
The Power of Storytelling in Sales - See how real-life anecdotes can make your products relatable and create a deeper emotional connection with your audience.
Strategic Passion in Action - Explore how breaking down passion into actionable steps can create urgency, inspire customers, and lead to better outcomes in sales.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
From Anneliese Rhodes:
"When you lose passion, whether in sales or life, that’s your signal to rekindle it or find something new."
"Customers don’t want your agenda—they want you to meet theirs. Flip the script."
"You can’t fake passion. It’s either there, or it’s not, and customers can feel the difference."
"Paint a picture for your customers—make them feel something about your product, and they’ll buy into it."
"Wake up each day feeling passionate about the difference you make. That’s what drives success."
From Cynthia Ficara:
"If you don’t know your customer’s needs, you can’t connect with passion—it’s about listening first."
"Passion builds trust because it’s contagious. When you believe in your product, your customer will too."
"Passion isn’t just energy; it’s strategic—backed by knowledge and confidence in your solution."
"People don’t buy from what they’re told—they buy from how they feel."
"Storytelling with passion isn’t about selling. It’s about inspiring belief in what you offer."
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Welcome everyone to the very first episode in 2025 in secrets of medical device sales. And today we have a very exciting episode for you guys, because I think there is no better way to kick off 2025 than to talk about how you can absolutely ultimately win in sales. By this hack, you guys, that literally, like, I don't know how long it took me to figure it out, Cindy, but when I finally did, and maybe I just had to get into my groove, man, I'm telling you, I can sell ice to an Eskimo.
Cynthia Ficara: And let me tell you, I will know when the hack is missing. I will know when you're trying to sell to me without this hack because it's so essential. So if any of you out there are listening, starting off your new year and you're trying to figure out how to be more impactful in your sales process, if you want a better connection with a customer, or if you're trying to more or less eliminate the skepticism you're receiving from the customer, please, please, please listen in because this one is going to be a really fun episode.
Anneliese Rhodes: It is. And it's so easy. And it's like, I think we're like feeling the energy on this one because it is energy. It is. And so Cindy, what's our secret to this hack? What's the hack?
Your Secret Weapon: Passion
Cynthia Ficara: Oh my gosh. I'm so excited. I just have to reveal the secret. So the secret to winning in sales It is passion, it is passion and believing in what you're selling and how you effectively get across with problems and solutions. And it is unbelievable. The reception of a customer who is. Is being delivered a message with passion and when he's been delivered a message without passion.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, I mean, I can't think, and I feel really bad, like, I feel bad for all you used car salesmen out there because I totally threw you guys under the bus.
I feel like every time I think about it, I'm like, used car salesman, because here's the deal. All they're trying to do is get the sale. They don't care what you want. They don't care what you're looking for. They're like, Ooh, this is what I like about it. So this is what you're going to like about it. And like, guys, no.
So we're going to break down passion today and tell you, I mean, I know that sounds silly because you're like, Ooh, it's just this energy and yes, it is energy, but there's a little bit of strategy behind passion. And it's funny because I think it brings everything together. You know, I can tell you Cindy, from my standpoint.
I've been doing aortic sales for quite a while and it's not an easy job. You know, we're on call. We've got big numbers. Um, lives can be at stake. I mean, there's a lot on the line with aortic sales. But yet, I love my job. I love my products. I love what I do every day. I love my doctors. I love the stress of the job.
Telling you, the only reason I believe that I've been successful through all of this is the fact that I'm passionate about what I do. Because I think the minute that you lose that passion or it's gone, it's like in a relationship. When you lose that. Man, you either better rekindle that somehow or it's not going to work.
And I think the same thing is true in sales. You know, when you don't have that passion, that's kind of like your ding, ding, ding, go find something else.
Cynthia Ficara: I, I think you're so right. And, you know, Lisa, you, you are very passionate about your job. And I, and I love that about you when, you know, when I've asked you questions about things, you can hear it in your voice, you can hear it in your tone.
And it's very genuine. It is very genuine because You know, in sales, some of the best sales people are those that solve a problem. And when you are coming across as solving a problem and you know what you know, and you believe to the core and what you believe in that you can help solve this problem, that's where the passion comes in.
And it's just contagious. You, then you want to take on. What you're getting and, and you've always been that way about your job. And that's, I think why you've been so successful. You know, it, it kind of makes me laugh when you're talking about the used car salesman, because the difference in, in what you said is so simple.
A used car salesman can pretty much just read a script because they say the same thing to everybody. It seems like a one way conversation, right?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's like, oh, look at this shiny red Mustang. I mean, literally, that's all I ever think about. Shiny convertible red Mustang. Look at it. It's cool. It's fast. It's, you know, you're going to be the coolest person out there driving it. Maybe I don't want to be the coolest person out there. Maybe I'm not going to look for a Mustang. Yeah, I'm looking for a minivan because I got 10 kids. I mean, but the thing is, is like, it's their agenda, not the customer's agenda.
And you got to flip that script. You need to make your agenda what your customer's agenda is. And, and truly like. You'll find your love and your passion in those products. When you see them work and you see your customers happy with the results and you see the patients walking around and they're like, you know, whether you're hearing it from your physician or you see them yourselves, they're like, my life has been changed.
I can do X, Y, Z. I mean, there is, there is no better feeling when you have a product that really makes a difference in a patient's life and old and the doctor's life and ultimately your life, you know, and you can't fake that. It's not, it's not fake able. It's either there or it's not. And you know, I think that truly is a secret to being successful in sales.
Cindy is having that passion and it's not hard. It's not hard, but today you guys, we're going to break it down for you and really help you understand what does that look like in terms of different scenarios? Because I think it's not just like I said before, it's not this feeling. It's more than that. I mean, the feeling is amazing, but it's more than that.
Strategic Passion: What’s the Difference?
It's also strategic.
Cynthia Ficara: Yes. And when you put the strategery, I love, and you said, strategery to passion in a plan, you can't help but be passionate and that's going to be your end result, which is very exciting. So to begin breaking down passion, we're going to start with. You want to win in sales. The first thing we're going to talk about is building rapport and trust.
So if your problem lies in that your sales calls may feel impersonal, you know, um, or maybe just That the customer is not receiving what you say. Well, maybe they don't believe in you. Maybe your, your current customer could be a potential client. That just isn't really, I just don't believe what they're saying.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah.
Cynthia Ficara: So that's a problem, right? So when we're talking about breaking down passion, how can we help in this area? So the solution is how passionate people can really establish a connection when you create trust. And so if you're feeling impersonal, maybe you just relax a little bit and you talk to them about what they need and you can't be excited and enthusiastic about something if you don't know that they want to be excited about something because maybe they don't even have a problem.
Maybe this isn't even what they're looking for. So for them to even begin to believe in you or your product or service, you've got to know what they need. You've got to understand their needs and what they want and to feel comfortable with you. And when you relax and you Identify their needs in your genuine, authentic way of showing up as a high performer for this customer.
Then you will slowly build rapport and trust and that passion is going to come out, out of that. And when you're able to just be you and get to the bottom of what they need, that belief builds so much stronger. So building that rapport and trust is going to help the delivery of passion be that much better.
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Anneliese Rhodes: Agreed. And you know, one of the things that we talk about, and I can't remember what episode we talked about it, you know, 2024, but is listening. Your listening skills. It's really important. When you say relax, guess what happens? You start listening. You start hearing things.
You're not so like edge of your chair. Whoa, wait, whoa, wait, whoa, wait. I got to tell you about this. It's like, no. Whoa, slow the horses down, you know, sit back, let's listen to what the customer is telling us. And then when they tell you about something that then you have passion for that, and you know, your product's going to solve that, then you let it come out and you do it in a way that's smart and strategic and you let them feel how that product makes you feel.
And hopefully in turn, they're going to feel it. So I think, you know, building that rapport and trust is a lot about calming down, relaxing, listening to their needs, and then applying it to about your product.
Cynthia Ficara: Very well said. So another thing I think about is, um, how many times do you think doctors get, you know, one liners thrown at them or maybe your, your customers that they're just getting these sales pitches and they can kind of see through that.
So I think that, yeah, I mean, you know, they just keep getting these things. It's just like a monotonous push of, you know, all right, this doesn't sound exciting. They're just going to throw me whatever. Okay, can you take this to committee? We need this other product. Well, that's not going to make me want to even engage in what they're doing, and I'm not even going to want their attention.
So I think that, um, one of those, one of the problems of the fact that customers can be bombarded with all this stuff that I think it's important as salespeople that we engage them. And we pay attention. So how passion can help in this is it's going to naturally capture their attention. If you're more passionate and dynamic in involving them in a conversation versus the sales pitch, I mean, let's face it, Lisa, when you talk to somebody monotone versus somebody who has inflection and excitement and belief in what they're saying, it's almost like listening to two entirely different conversations. Even if they're saying the same thing.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. And what you were saying the whole time, do you remember that episode we did in 2024 about don't be that rep? Like, don't be that rep. Don't be that guy or gal that's like, Hey, Dr. So and so, you know, uh, Dr. Smith, I'm going to show up at the wrong time and talk about my product and you got to help me get it through the VAC committee.
And it's like, Whoa, buddy, stop. First of all, nothing's going to happen there. He's totally going to, you know, lock you out of his. room, but number two, like they don't hear you. They're not hearing you. So I love what you said about being engaging, being creative, deliver it naturally, but being inspiring about it, feeling the passion and guys, we're not talking about faking it.
You know, this is not a fake it till you make it. Oh
Cynthia Ficara: gosh. No, you absolutely.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. You absolutely have to like, absolutely. You got to believe in your product. And if you don't, yeah. I don't know, either find a way to believe in it or get out because you gotta, you gotta love, you gotta love what you do, you do, I mean, again, we're not saying that every day is easy, it's not, there's a lot of pressure on all of us, we feel it, we do it too, but you gotta have passion for what you do overall, or that comes through, and customers feel that, and when you're like, pushing, pushing, pushing, I gotta get this, I gotta get that, I need you to take it to VAC, they're gonna be like, whoa buddy, I actually don't have to take it there, you know?
So, like, make them come to you. Tell them about something and have them go, Wait, what? What does your product do that nobody else's does? That's what you want to inspire that like passion and that feeling of I want to be part of that group. I want to get that product in here.
Cynthia Ficara: Yeah, so let's talk about another way.
Overcoming Objections with Confidence
Passion can really help you make your sale this year. And, um, Everybody in sales has objections, right? I believe those that are passionate. There's passionate salespeople out there can overcome objections because if you've got, you know, say you have a client or customer, I should say, uh, a doctor or a nurse or whatever, and you know, they're just doubtful.
And maybe they're just giving you objection, maybe because I just want you to go away or you haven't identified a strong enough need. They don't have a reason to buy what you're trying to sell and they're making it very difficult. Well, you know, tell me this. If I were to walk in to a customer that already has doubts and I.
point out their doubts. And I just, Oh, okay. So you didn't believe in that. Okay. So yeah, my, my call is going nowhere, but what happens if I believe so much in my product and this customer just doesn't have enough knowledge? Right? And we did an episode back on that. We did. We did. Yeah. And so to overcome this objection, if I bring passion into this conversation, again, it's a conversation.
It's not a one way sales pitch. You're so much better to address their arguments. Objections with energy and enthusiasm, but also empathy, you know, you can frame that more as an opportunity and continue your discussion rather than just like a stumbling block, because then, then, you know, they hear your confidence in what you're saying and they can become a little more confident or.
Get some confidence to maybe, you know, reassure some of the, um, products, the benefits that you're presenting to them. But if they had a specific doubt going in and you present it with passion and belief and understanding of what their problem is, then the solution is so much clearly seen. And that is all delivered with passion.
Because if I just come tell you something, why am I even there? Why not just write an email? It's
Anneliese Rhodes: like, oh my gosh, you can say the
Cynthia Ficara: same thing, but yes.
Anneliese Rhodes: If you're so right, it's a good point. And you know, what's coming to mind right now is with, remember how I said, passion is still strategic. You have to know your device, your products inside and out.
So the passion also is coming from your knowledge of not only knowing what you're going to bring to that customer, but when they, when they give you an objection and you know, we did a great episode on cost objections, you got to be able to already know it's coming at you. And you got to be able to just bat it away, you know, Hey, no problem.
I got a solution for you on that one. You have to continually have that confidence and that confidence comes from knowledge. And we talked about this in a lot of our episodes. So I think that's so important, Cindy, in terms of overcoming objections. Is the passion isn't just this energy of whatever. It's the confident knowledge that you know, you believe in.
And you're going to be able to say, no problem, here's my solution.
Cynthia Ficara: You know what's so crazy is I almost feel like some of the things we're talking about today have all been previous episodes. So that's kind of fun because the fourth problem area that I want to address that I think passion can really help with is bringing value.
And that was also an episode. It was. It's a secret to success. If you, you know, sometimes customers will struggle to really understand your unique value, right? Of either of you or your product or your service. And so the only way to really help convey that is with passion, right? Because if you're able to, to.
Really discuss the benefits and you're very compelling and, and honestly, value. If you have genuine excitement, how simple is that? Just genuine excitement. You said early on all these years, you still love the space you're in and you can't fake that. So that genuine excitement really helps somebody say, Oh, well, wait a minute, she's kind of excited about this.
I'm What am I missing? What have I not understood? What do I still need to know? All of the things that passion brings advances your sale because every sale is just a conversation in steps, right? So now you get to just bring it to the next step.
Passion Beyond Products
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that. That was so perfectly said. That was perfect. I think I'm not even gonna get into that anymore.
It's all about value. It's all about bringing value. And the more that you believe in your product, the more passionate you are, the more value you'll bring. And so, you know, the next thing is, is taking action, right? Taking action towards those customers. How are you going to bring them solutions? You cannot be hesitant. You need to move forward with confidence. Have the confidence in yourself, in the product, in the customer. Learn Of what you're going to bring to them, and that all just derives from passion. You know, you've probably done it in the past with other customers. Well, pull on that. Pull on what you've already done and talk about it with your customers.
Well, you know, Dr. Smith, last week, we did this great case, and this is exactly what we did, and it was an amazing outcome. You know, patient went home the next morning. I mean, Golly, I don't, if that doesn't speak to passion, I don't know what is. So I think, you know, you've got to, you've got to get those customers to be like, Ooh, I want to hop on that train too.
I feel that urgency. You want them to feel that urgency of being like, I don't want to miss out, you know, the FOMO, fear of missing out. I get that all the time. I have FOMO. I want to feel that. I want them to feel that urgency from me. I want them to be like, well, dang it. If Lisa's doing this, I want to be a part of this.
You know, it's funny. We talked about this in another episode, but like when I'm in the hospital and one of my docs is like, what are you doing here? And I'm like, oh, I just did a great cake. You did. What's going on? What happened? You know, it's like, it's FOMO, right? So create that by being passionate, happy, smile on your face, excited about what you're doing, what you're selling.
Creating Value Through Storytelling
I mean, it's not hard.
Cynthia Ficara: No, it's not. And that leads right into our very last part of breaking down where passion is really, really going to give you that little slight edge to advance your sale. And that is storytelling. And there's nobody better than you, Lisa, but you just even mentioned what you just said, and taking action, incorporating that into storytelling.
So. Actually, for once, I have a funny story. Just recently, we went to a conference and I was waiting in a long line to check in because I couldn't just do my mobile key, which is my favorite. And they even had like little, um, you know, there's little ropes around to, to wind around. So I'm standing around multiple people and this is a work conference, so there's a lot of corporate people.
Now, only one person that I knew was on our, um, worked for our company, like four people back. But the lady in front of me saw my luggage and she was like, Oh, I like that color. I'm like, Oh, thanks. And, and she's like, do you like that luggage? And I said, well, for me, cause she asked me a question, right? I'm like, for me, I said, I absolutely love this luggage.
I was like, to be honest with you, I have had this luggage for six years and three months. It has been on hundreds of flights. I stopped counting after 110. And so you, you know, when you put luggage on the conveyor belt, how it's like, well, first of all, it gets dirty, but it's all beat up. Yeah, but then I started thinking maybe I should just like for me.
My problem was I just wanted luggage that I could keep using, right? But I would buy, I'm like, Oh, just forget this. Why would I spend a lot of money on luggage if it's going to get all beat up? So I'll just buy a cheap one. Well, that lasts two flights and the wheels break. Yeah. Until I found this. My current luggage and the luggage that I use is away luggage.
And I don't even know if, if many people have heard of that or not, but I'm seeing it everywhere. Now I even sat down in, um, one of the little cafeterias in the like cafeterias, like the little, I don't know, place to eat in the airport. They flyers on away luggage. And so for me, they got me on, it's a hard case.
So I just take a magic eraser to get all the dirt off. And mine's like a really bright blue. It's like a almost. Teal, aqua blue. It's called pool. That's not even really color, but it's really bright. So I can find it when it comes off the conveyor belt. It's not black. It does get dirty. I clean it off. But they also offer a lifetime guarantee for wheels and zippers and that thing has been so beat up.
So I was spinning around and the ladies laughing. I'm like, no, seriously. This thing's been beat up and for me, it's great. And she starts laughing and she's like, do you work for them? And I'm like, no, but I absolutely love my luggage. And I would literally like, I would like anybody to try this luggage because it solved the problem for me.
And so if she identifies, do you like your luggage? Well, I like the fact that it's durable. It's awesome. I don't have to buy new luggage anymore. I have my sister, my parents, and then they all have them and they haven't had to replace it in the year. So to me, that speaks volumes. The ROI of buying it is better.
Now let's just take a second and think about. If I answered her question differently, because she actually did ask me more about what it was and she wanted to look into it and I wasn't trying to sell her. But what if she was a customer and I was, if I would've answered her story when she said, Oh, I like the color.
Do you like your luggage? Yes. Yeah. It's blue. Or I could have said something like, yeah, had it for a while. It's fine. Or I mean, or, or maybe I answered. I like it. I can, I can, um, I can replace the wheels if I want.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. I mean, does that matter? Yeah. Your story and just telling her, you know, about your travel and how many flights and it's a, you're now creating a picture.
You're painting a picture for her to literally see. And now she's like, uh, I want to buy that too. You know? And, and it's like, it didn't even matter. Or how to get it or any of that. It just, she wanted to buy it. And that's what you're talking about here. You know, we are, we're painters, right? We got to paint these pictures and make customers buy them and want to buy them and feel something from them.
I mean, they say, when you buy paintings, you should only buy paintings that make you feel something. Well, when you buy products, you should only buy them when you feel something. You want something in return. They want a memorable, great experience for their patients, for themselves. They want good results.
Is that what you feel for your product? Sell it on that. Sell it on those feelings that make you feel that way. That'll make them feel that way. It's contagious. If you feel it, they're going to feel it. And by the way, while you're talking about this away luggage in the back of my head, I'm going, me, I really hate my luggage.
Maybe I should use your luggage because I really hate mine. Mine's cloth. I hate the wheels. I hate touching it. It's so gross, but like legit, like, you know, that just made me get excited about it. So, I think, Cindy, us talking about passion today was super, really important, but it was like perfect for the beginning of 2025.
Start your year feeling passionate about your company, about your products, about what you sell, about your numbers, you know, about what you get to do every day. You get to wake up and maybe potentially save patients lives. And if you're not saving their life, you're sure as heck making them better. You know, medicine is an amazing place to be and we are so lucky that we are here to work with all the customers we get to work with day in and day out and really be able to.
I mean, they're brilliant people, you know, and we get to be a part of that. And it's it's a small community. There's not a ton of people in the medical device industry and, you know, um, I think when you bring passion into your job every day, why shouldn't you wake up happy every day? And, and I'm not saying that I wake up like, woohoo, you know, the sun's up and blah, blah, blah.
Sometimes I'm really tired. And a lot of times, you know, it's, it's not easy out there, but dang it, I really believe if you bring passion, you just kind of bring it back to the basics. Then people are, are, you're in, your energy is contagious and people want to be around people that they like. They buy from people that they like and they trust.
So create that. That's it. Create it with passion.
Cynthia Ficara: And people don't buy from what they're told, they buy from how they feel. Yes, that's right. And that sums up passion in one word. So for all of you out there that want to know the sales hack for the year to be absolutely winning in sales, it's bring the passion.
Anneliese Rhodes: How can we enhance our overall sales process for greater impact this year? What might we be overlooking or missing in our sales strategies?
Cynthia Ficara: Infusing this simple hack into a sales call can effectively tackle several important challenges, greatly influencing the overall sales process.
Tune in as we reveal this simple hack.
