Why You Can't Miss This: The SECRET to Elevating Your Game!
How can we avoid being a "one-hit wonder" in medical device sales?
In this episode, The Girls of Grit delves into the crucial strategy of maintaining excellence and avoiding complacency. They explore the discomfort of realizing you're no longer the expert in the room and offer practical advice on how to consistently elevate your game.
Cindy and Lisa highlight the need for continuous effort and learning to avoid becoming a "one-hit wonder." Just as top athletes and musicians continually refine their skills, staying at the top in medical device sales requires ongoing self-assessment and growth, not just initial success.
Tune in to discover actionable tips for ensuring you’re always prepared, confident, and ready to lead in the ever-evolving landscape of medical device sales.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Welcome and Setting the Stage
02:09 The Importance of Consistency
03:59 Overcoming Complacency
08:58 The Power of Knowledge and Confidence
24:07 The Secret to Upping Your Game
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Commit to Lifelong Learning: Emphasize the importance of continually updating your knowledge and skills to remain relevant and effective in medical device sales.
Avoid Complacency: Understand that initial success is just the start; maintaining excellence requires ongoing effort and a proactive approach.
Conduct Regular Self-Assessments: Regularly evaluate your performance and strategies to ensure they align with industry changes and personal growth goals.
Maintain Preparedness and Confidence: Stay ready for new challenges and keep your confidence high to effectively lead and perform in a competitive market.
Adapt to Industry Changes: Stay informed about evolving trends and innovations in the medical device industry to ensure you remain at the forefront of your field.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“If you need to up your game, the most important thing is you've just got to reflect and assess your current business.” — Cynthia Ficara
“Giving is the best way of receiving and it keeps you smarter and on your toes.” — Cynthia Ficara
When you bring value to the room, you will always be up in your game.” — Cynthia Ficara
“When you start doubting yourself, it immediately goes to your customers. They immediately start doubting you too.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“The minute you stop becoming a trusted advisor is the minute you lose credibility.”— Anneliese Rhodes
“It's very important to be honest with yourself.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“Assess the areas that need some work.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“If you know you're lacking in a certain area, it's really up to you to make that decision to figure out a way to find that information.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“The more that you elevate your game, the more valuable you become.” — Anneliese Rhodes
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Cynthia Ficara: Have you ever encountered the unexpected moment when you realized you weren't the expert in the room anymore? Perhaps you found yourself relying on a colleague for answers. What is it like to shift from being the go-to person to the one needing assistance?
Anneliese Rhodes: What do you do in that situation? Today, we will discuss our secret to not only enhancing performance but also creating a lasting impact in the field. Tune in as we raise the bar to help you elevate your overall success.
Hey Cindy, good morning, good afternoon, good evening to all our listeners, whatever time it is out there. Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of Secrets and Medical Device Sales brought to you by The Girls of Grit. We are always happy to have you join us, and we love hearing from you.
Cynthia Ficara: Welcome, everybody. Hey, Lisa.
Maintaining Excellence Beyond One-Hit Wonders
If you're driving to work and thinking, "Okay, what do I need to learn today? Am I trying to move my business forward and land something big?" Lisa and I are going to have a discussion on your ride to work about what it takes to be excellent, to up your game, and to be the best.
It’s crazy to think about people being the best—what happens when they’re at their peak for a moment, a week, or even a year? Take famous athletes or actors, for instance. They’re at the top of their game, but what do they do to stay there? What keeps them from becoming a "one-hit wonder"? We want you here for the long haul. We want you to elevate your game every day and be known for bringing value. If you're looking to up your game today, this discussion is going to be fun. Lisa and I will talk about what we've encountered and what we do. It’s a bit of reality, right?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes. I love your analogy; it was spot on, Cindy. One-hit wonders—nobody wants to be one. Everyone wants to be Reba, Chris Stapleton, or Eleni. It’s not that they didn’t have to reinvent themselves, but that's not exactly what we're discussing today.
We’re talking about not only producing great work in sales but continuing to produce it. How do you do that? It’s not easy. Being on top in sales doesn’t mean you have to win awards, but it does mean staying at the top of your game at all times.
You need to always be that expert, and it's easy to let that slip. We all get a bit comfortable in our comfort zones and forget that if we’re not constantly improving, someone will surpass us.
For example, my son plays basketball, and Steph Curry is a great example. I saw a video of him practicing—not just the basics but also tough three-pointers and mid-court shots with his eyes closed. He practices the basics repeatedly while constantly working to be better.
That’s why he’s phenomenal. When he touches a basketball, it’s likely going in the basket. We all need to be like that in our medical device careers, constantly at the top of our game and knowledgeable.
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, I think that was really well said. Think about Steph Curry—practice, practice, and muscle memory. But there’s a second part: complacency. Let’s stick with sports for now. Recently, Scottie Scheffler, a golf fan might know, won his 7th major title this year. Does he think, “I’ve won before, so I don’t need to try anymore”? No. He continues to win more tournaments and even goes to the Olympics and wins a gold medal. He’s not complacent; he’s always working to improve.
Now, think about the music analogy from the 80s. Some people hit it big, then blow all their money and become one-hit wonders, ending up broke because they didn’t continue to work hard. We don’t want you to be a one-hit wonder. The OR is your stage, and you need to be at your best to ensure the best outcomes for patients and to work effectively with surgeons.
Anneliese Rhodes: What you’re talking about isn’t easy. It takes energy, time, and sometimes less sleep. But the question is, is it worth it? For those searching to be successful and tuning into this podcast to improve, yes, it is worth it. Cindy and I can attest to that. It’s not just about being a shining star; it’s about being the expert in the room.
You want to ensure that physicians are always leaning on you, not someone else. The day you get replaced by someone else in that room is a scary day.
Cynthia Ficara: Yeah, that doesn’t feel good, just thinking about it. I don’t want to feel like that. So, you know, you said something that really brings us back to always honing in on why you do this job. Do you want this? And if you want to do it, and granted, if you’re listening, you already know that if you’re listening to this podcast, you want to be your best and do this job. So, I have an idea. What if we just, let me ask you, Lisa, what exactly we’re talking about?
Okay, so if we think about what it’s like, like you said, the day you walk into the room and maybe you’re not at the top of your game, or you realize somebody else knows more than you in the room. I’m not saying a surgeon; I’m talking about maybe you’re with coworkers, or maybe a competitor is in for another part of a certain case.
So, I’m going to ask you maybe three questions. First, what does it feel like when you’re not at the top of your game? And what does that do to your confidence? And then, ultimately, Lisa, where does that lead your business?
So, dive us into what it’s like when you’re not at the top of your game first.
The Impact of Not Being the Go-To Person
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, first of all, hello. I’m always totally kidding. I mean, we’re all human. We all need to be vulnerable enough to admit that. So, you brought up a great point. I’ve been in a certain field for a long time, but before that field, I was actually peripheral. In the peripheral, there are a lot of reps in a room. There can be a lot of reps in one room at one time. Sometimes you know them, and sometimes you don’t. And sometimes you’ve got clinical leaders.
Anyhow, you may be doing a case there, and the doctor may use one of your products and then use one of their products as well in the same case. I can think about a lot of times, Cindy, when I’ve thought to myself, I should have known that answer. I should know the next step. And I will tell you, when you’re in those rooms and your product is being used, it is so important not just to know what your product does, but what every other product does and where the physicians are in those cases. Because when you don’t know the next step and your competitor does, it makes you feel really crappy.
You almost feel like you’re two feet tall, and they can no longer depend on you. That’s a really bad feeling because you want to always be the one with all the answers. I’m not saying you need to have your hand raised at all times going, “I know the answer to everything.”
But what I am saying is when your physicians turn and look at you, or they ask an open-ended question to the room and there are multiple reps in there, you better have that answer. Even if it has nothing to do with your product, or even if it does have something to do with your product, you better know the answer.
But if it’s something else or a different area of the body, you should know the answers to that. That’s your job. And I can tell you I have been in those situations where I didn’t know the answer, and that feeling of leaving that room is multifaceted. Not only do you not feel as proud as you should, but then you start questioning your business with that doctor. You start questioning, are they going to call you again because you didn’t know that answer or because you couldn’t lead them down the path they needed you to, and somebody else did? Are they going to call that rep next time and not you? Are they going to use that rep’s products and not yours?
And that’s a really crappy feeling because you may be really great friends with that doctor, but you turn around and you don’t know an answer that you should have known, or even something that you should know 50 percent of. If you don’t know that, that’s just not a good look.
Cynthia Ficara: And then you start doubting yourself, like you’re explaining and describing, and then your confidence goes down with it. So, if you don’t have confidence, Lisa, if you’re in this mode, what does this do to your business?
Building Confidence Through Expertise
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, it absolutely brings it down. Because when you’re not confident, you’re not happy, you’re not pushing forward, you’re not excelling. You know, all of the things that we talk about, Cindy, in this podcast of really keeping that mindset of being the successful, excellent expert in the room. When you start doubting yourself, it immediately goes to your customers. They immediately start doubting you too.
Cynthia Ficara: Well, I gotta be honest, just talking about this makes me want to switch the subject. So, I am. Let’s flip it. Tell me this. This is already bringing me down. Yeah. So now you’re in a room, and you have, whether it’s a coworker of yours with you and a competitor in the room, and a question comes up. I want you to tell us, what does it feel like when you know the answer? What does that do to your confidence, and where does that take your business?
Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely. When you are, oh man, there’s nothing better than being the leader in that room. I mean, you and I talk about it a lot, you know, in the field that we’re in now, in aortic, you are usually the only person in that room, and there’s nothing like the spotlight. But it’s also a lot of pressure, right? So you better be on top of your game. You better have all the answers.
But yeah, it makes you feel really confident when they turn to you and you know it. I mean, in a split second, you’re already answering the question before they even ask it. You’re thinking ahead, you’re troubleshooting, you’re on top of things. And when they question, “Was this correct? Was that measurement correct? Is this the right device?” your answer is an absolute yes, and then you have reasons why. It has to be because you’re that trusted advisor. The minute you stop becoming a trusted advisor is the minute you lose credibility.
And then, like you just mentioned, there goes your confidence. So yes, when you are on top of your game and you are constantly making sure that you are doing everything possible to be the expert in the room, I mean, the sky’s the limit. They’re going to continue to call you. They’re going to call you in the middle of the night. They’re going to call you on the weekend. They’re going to call you in the morning, and you’re going to get those cases that we all are looking to get.
Cynthia Ficara: And when you walk out of that room, confidence even drives you to continue to do more business within where you are. You know, you talk about going wide and deep in some of your accounts. You may be like, "Oh, I had such a great day. I'm going to go down this hall and find somebody else that I need to do something with." Whereas in the first scenario, we just described, you're probably not walking down the hall. You're going to your car, sulking, and thinking, "Oh my gosh, now what do I do?"
So honestly, you listen to this podcast for a reason. So let's help you. If you're in that situation, who knows? Maybe you just came out of this situation. We just want to help you. How do you up your game? How do you get out of this? What to do when this happens to you because, like, it happens suddenly sometimes. You can be taken by surprise when you thought you knew stuff and you don’t even realize, "Oh shoot, I've been kind of taking my foot off the gas. I'm a little complacent and I know what I'm talking about," but you know, come on, this is medicine, and in sales, every day new things are coming out, things are changing. It's really up to us to keep growing.
As the company grows and as things change, it's up to us to stay current with what's coming out, right?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes, absolutely.
The First Step to Improvement
Cynthia Ficara: I think, number one if you need to up your game, I think the most important thing at first is you've just got to reflect and assess your current business. Like really stop and say, "Was that me?" You know, we kind of gave an extreme situation, but what if you sort of felt that way but maybe didn't recognize it? How did I feel in that room? Did my coworker answer a question that I should have? Did the coworker maybe read an email of some new literature that came out that they read and you didn't? So maybe you're thinking, "Oh shoot." But really assess. Again, you're in your car, nobody's watching. The best thing you can do to make yourself better is to honestly ask yourself, where do I fit into this? So that's number one.
Anneliese Rhodes: And I think you probably will know that. I think sitting in the car all by yourself, you know, immediately, everybody out there right now knows where they might be missing the mark a little bit. I mean, it's not rocket science. We all know when we are not hitting on all cylinders in an area. I mean, I know of one for myself. So you must be honest with yourself. It's okay. We're all human. Nobody's perfect. You're not going to be hitting on all cylinders at all times, but what we're telling you is in order to really keep that successful, excellent expert in the room, you have to be trying to hit on all cylinders at all times. So be honest with yourself. Like you just said, Cindy, assess the areas that need some work.
Cynthia Ficara: And then once you do, like you just said, there's a part where you know, what are you going to do next, Lisa? How do you fix it?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. Well, once you identify where your area is, then you ask for help. You know, in a certain situation that I'm thinking about for myself, I'm going to have to call on someone to teach me some stuff. And that's a little bit of humble pie, Cindy, because, you know, if you've been doing this for a long time, or even if you haven't been, nobody wants to admit when they don't know something or when they don't know everything they should.
And that's part of it—the first part is going ahead and admitting it. Now I have to make the call, and then I'm going to have to spend time with that person or persons and have them teach me how to do something that I don't know how to do correctly or perfectly so that I'm never caught off guard again by a certain question or a specific situation scenario with what I'm doing.
Leveraging Resources and Networking for Growth
Cynthia Ficara: And I think that you bring up a good point. It's interesting how, I mean, you can be in neuro orthopedics, I mean, any area, and there are different levels, right? So let's say you have this general knowledge and some advanced knowledge, but then there are cases where you need that advanced, advanced knowledge.
So I think what you're talking about is, like, now I need to better myself so I can always know the hardest situation and the best way out. So, yes, reaching out to somebody who already knows how to do it. But what else can you do? Maybe look at or pull out some resources, and review training materials. You know, your company is going to give you everything that we talk about. That's like, you know if you have to make sure that you are doing everything on labels to do everything first. But then what other resources are there? Advanced training? I mean, sometimes you can even Google and YouTube certain subjects and then look at them. Also, look into, you know, it's interesting. I know orthopedics has a big following. When you go onto LinkedIn and see what's new and what's happening, always stay up on that.
So just make yourself smarter, get smarter and smarter in your area. I mean, everybody will have a specific area, right? We're not saying, you know, name the president of Peru tomorrow. I want you to know your specific knowledge of the area that you currently work in medicine and reach out, review materials, and get your hands on anything. And you said it's humble pie, right? Because after you do all this, you're really just holding yourself to a higher standard.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. And you brought up a good point. You know, social media is at our fingertips these days. Go into those networks and see what everybody's talking about. Follow, if you're in orthopedics, some top orthopedic surgeons and see if they're talking about a new procedure that your physicians may be interested in. Maybe there's a course that you can watch online. I mean, there are so many ways to, you know, use PubMed, clinical papers.
You just get on Google and start searching for things. If you know you're lacking in a certain area, it's really up to you to make that decision. Then you have to figure out a way to find that information. You know, there are always people within your company who are probably trainers. Go to the trainers. They probably know the answers. And again, you just have to be able to ask them and say, "I need you to teach me. I don't know everything I should know." It's a hard thing to do, but it's such an important thing to do.
Elevating Your Expertise Through Training and Accountability
Cynthia Ficara: You know, you just said trainers, and that made me think of something. You and I have both been trainers, and there’s a saying that "giving is the best way to receive." I can tell you right now, in the different jobs I've had, when I've gone back as a trainer and taught somebody something brand new, I’ve had to be like, "Oh shoot, wait a minute. What exactly is this?" Then you’re back on top of every single spec, every single number, every single thing you need to know. It kind of makes you rise to another occasion.
So if you have the opportunity to be a formal trainer, I think that's fabulous. But I'm also going to challenge you to think about this every day. Maybe not every day, but, you know, there’s turnover in every company, and there will be new people coming in. You don’t have to be a formal trainer to help someone, but I guarantee you if you reach out to somebody relatively new in the company and just say, "Hey, I'm so and so if you don’t know me. I've been here for so many years. What questions do you have? Can I help you with anything?"
It’s amazing how it gets the wheels turning, and they may see something that you might not. So I’m telling you, giving is the best way of receiving, and it keeps you on your toes. So reach out and help those who don’t know as much because that will teach you even more, helping you up your game and be that number one resource in the room.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. And I think one of the most important things of all is just being accountable. You know, if you decide to admit to yourself, "This is where I'm not at 100% of my game. I'm not the expert in the room on this specific subject," whatever it is that we're talking about, write it down. Write a goal down. Say, "Okay, in two weeks or a month, I'm going to learn this specific procedure. I’m going to learn it to the point where I am again the expert in the room on this so that when my surgeon turns to me and says, 'Hey, are you sure?' the answer is always 100% yes." There’s no doubt or concern because you know it. You set the goal, you learned it, you leaned on your trainers, and you leaned on wherever you went for that information. You taught yourself. However you upped your game, you did it and hit that goal.
Then you write it down and make notes on things. Before that specific case, review the notes, go over everything, and make sure you’re hitting all the cylinders you need to hit to have that perfect case so that nobody comes in and answers a question for you.
Cynthia Ficara: You know, I think everything we’ve said is so valuable when we talk about upping your game. Right? Assessing, reaching out, getting rid of your humble pie, becoming accountable, and actually executing things will make it better. So, you know, I think it's really important, Lisa, that it’s time to reveal the secret to upping your game. So what is the secret to upping your game?
The Secret to Upping Your Game
Anneliese Rhodes: Yep. And that word is value. You become more valuable to your customers, to your company, and yourself. Ultimately, you are bringing value in so many different ways. The more you elevate your game, the more valuable you become.
And that in and of itself is the greatest currency because when you are looking to move up in your company or change jobs and go to a new company and get a new title, it's all about the value that you bring. Nobody can argue when you’re the expert in the room. Nobody can argue when you are upping your game at all times. Yes, it takes work. Yes, it takes time and dedication. But that currency is worth its weight in gold.
Cynthia Ficara: You heard it. That’s the secret, everybody: knowing your value. It’s just so fun. And I don't want anybody out there to be a one-hit wonder. Every one of you can do the simplest steps, and it’s super simple.
We just went through this: Number one, assess where you are. Then reach out, review these training materials, and hold yourself to a high standard. Be accountable and write it down. Like we've said before, writing something down makes things so much better. When you bring value to a room, you will always be up in your game, and be the best you can be, and the sky's the limit.
