How to Plan Out your Career
AI-Generated Transcript below. There may be errors.
Claire Davis 0:00
Hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of today's medical sales leader. I'm Claire Davis, your host. And today I have someone with me who truly embodies what modern medical sales and health care careers can look like. Welcome, Stu, it's so nice to have you on the show.
Stu Brandon 0:37
Thank you very much, Claire. And I don't know if I could say I embody that, but I'll go with it.
Claire Davis 0:44
Okay, go with it. So you don't know Stu yet. Please take a minute right now. We'll wait. And make sure you follow Him and check out what he's doing over on LinkedIn. Because I know in the short time that he and I have gotten to know each other over on LinkedIn, I've learned a ton from him. And you really know what you're talking about. Stu is a 29 year veteran in ortho sales, which is a big deal. And he's successfully nugget navigated. Something that can hold a lot of us back in our career, whether you're in sales, whether you're a provider, whether you are in any piece of healthcare with proprietary information or technique, and that is a non compete. So today, we're going to talk with Stu about his specialty, which is helping reps to overcome the non compete and also to establish what your life and career can really look like. Because sometimes it takes somebody else or takes looking at somebody else's path to even begin to imagine what that could be like for ourselves. So my first question for you is do really is what lit the fire under you to start pursuing this as a possibility the non cookie cutter traditional sales role.
Stu Brandon 1:54
Yeah. Well, Claire, I can tell you that from my team's experience, I was with a big orthopedic company in a relatively small geography for 21 years. And every rep and med device understands what's happening, or average selling prices are decreasing. And that's market forces. I mean, there's, that's not going to reverse. But at the same time, a lot of these companies are decreasing people's commission rates on top of the ASP is going down. So it's a it's a double whammy. And I looked at my teammates at the time about 10 years ago, and we were talking about the market trends, etc. And we looked at each other. And we said, this is just unsustainable, if it keeps going the way it is. And talking with everybody. I mean, we all realize that, that prices are going to continue to go down to some, to some extent, I don't think we've hit the bottom yet. And truthfully, if I had a crystal ball, you know, who knows how close we are. But I knew that our current model was unsustainable. And, and ironically, what helped us understand that was, as we were talking about transitioning to some smaller companies, where we'd have a bigger geography a little bit higher commission rates, we were in negotiation with a rural hospital, that we were going to be kind of the sole provider of orthopedic implants, that would be trauma implants total joint, as well as a sports medicine products. And we were down the path, you know, we you know, the hospital eventually did it after we left, but we looked at each other and thought that it was about a million dollar sales opportunity, which, which was big for our business. But we were at 9% Commission as our whole team. So that's $90,000, we would have had to hire someone else to help us. And by the time you do that, there's there's limited upside, not only for that future person, but for everyone on the team. And we were a unique team, we were all sharing a percentage of the revenue as it was of that 9% From our territory. But we just looked at each other and said, guys, how are we going to do this? This isn't sustainable, because we're going to get this and we're going to have to hire someone else. If we get another opportunity hire someone else. And then we are all working significantly harder. For just a little bit more at best.
Claire Davis 4:32
Yeah. And you know, at the core, once that realization occurs, Did you sense a deep motivation with the team? I mean, what what effect did that have on the people involved?
Stu Brandon 4:44
I would say for us, it wasn't demotivating because unlike a lot of teams, we were actually a team that we chose to work together. A lot of these large orthopedic companies are creating these mega teams where they're your territories next to theirs. which is next to, there's all three of you combine, which is very hard to create a true team if you're just thrown together rather than choose to work together. So, for us it, yes, there was a demotivating side to it. But we took the path of like, look, there's this problem, how are we going to? How are we going to get through it? How are we going to solve it? Because we wanted to continue to work with each other? Yeah. So what did you do? So what we did was, we began about a year's process of figuring out, okay, this isn't a long term fit for us. What is next? So, through our relationships that we had with some of our surgeons, you know, we, we were constantly talking with them about the future of the industry, both our side as well as their side. And, you know, so they were aware of some of the struggles that we were having, in then we just kept talking to through with them about, you know, what the future is, what their aspirations were, what their struggles and frustrations were were, with some of the big companies and surgeons are frustrated, as well with the way the industry is going. So we took that as an opportunity to find a smaller manufacturer, in then we we chose to, to go with them. And a certain percentage of our customers wanted to go with us. And so that was good, but then that embarked on dealing with non competes.
Claire Davis 6:34
Right. Right. Which brings us to kind of the core of what I'm I'm really interested in, in you sharing today, because I think that this holds a lot of folks back. One, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, but a misunderstanding of the power that a noncompete may or may not have.
Stu Brandon 6:53
Yeah, I think you're definitely right. I think that there's a lot of people in fact, I just had a conversation with a guy yesterday about noncompetes, who he had battled similar things to me. And ultimately, what I have found is your contract, whether your non compete is enforceable or not enforceable, it is a mechanism that companies or distributors can use to intimidate you, and try and manipulate you, to stop you from leaving. Now, I can tell you right now that I am not a lawyer, and everybody has to first of all, talk with their lawyer, lawyer about their non compete, because everybody's situation isn't different. But at its core, what I just said is true. If they have a non compete, or if you have a non compete in your contract, it is there for one reason, should things go the way that your employer doesn't want them to go, if you're talking about leaving, they can use that to intimidate and manipulate you. And that is what, you know, we learned the hard way. And it's something that I don't want anybody to go through. There is a side of it, that my employer thought I had breached my contract. And Legally speaking, you know, he did have a claim against that, just as I would have had a claim that I believe he breached his contract with us over the stuff that happened over the years. And ultimately, that's the frustration of of our legal system for a lot of people is that it ends up whoever has more money, whether it be a large manufacturer or a big distributor, they're going to have more money than the people that are fighting. And so they can, they can cause the person to spend 10s of 1000s of dollars just to try and keep working in the industry.
Claire Davis 8:54
So from what I understand of non competes, one of the factors can even just be what state you live in, that some states have this ability to enforce these. And some states say no, they're unenforceable. So are there some other kind of baseline things that people should know about non competes before they sign them and when they're negotiating for a new job?
Stu Brandon 9:16
Yeah, and again, I am not an expert on that. But I do know that even quote, unquote, Right to Work states, if you have a non compete, it can be a major headache for you. And, and even I know California for that it's illegal that people that sign a non compete. And again, I'm not a lawyer, but I do believe that that would even allow them. If you were in California and have a non compete from years back. You still I believe have to get in front of a judge for the judge to say this is not enforceable. And that process can be very expensive for people to do that.
Claire Davis 9:52
Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about the alternative or say, you know, say your work Ken on a great big contract and you work for a huge orthopedic, med tech company that would shall not be named right? There are many. And say this happens to you, you're under a non compete, what are your options? And and specifically, I want to sort of lean into what you now coach people to do, which is build teams look at other avenues. So what are our options? Right?
Stu Brandon 10:29
Well, the reality is, is that there are a lot of options. And I'll just go back, what I was stuck in was I did not understand what the real options were, for us at the time, I was so focused on the business that we wanted to bring over, I was so focused on our core competencies, products, etc, which it was, which was natural. But what I was naive to, the fact is, there's all sorts of products that orthopedic surgeons are using in our instance, that that you can pick up that aren't even before you change companies, that won't be a conflict from your current manufacturer. Now, with some of the large companies, you know, that's harder to do, like, you know, take j&j, they've got a ton of ton of companies, not much in medical sales that that you could pick up that wouldn't be in, in competition of one of their companies. But there still still are some stuff. So one way to go about it is you can even pick up products, now as a way to start building that towards the five year plan or whatever the whatever that is. But on top of that, what I really coach people to do is to have relationships with your customers, which this is a long process as well, where you are constantly talking with them, just about the business of orthopedics from their side, you know, their struggles that they're having, and having the relationship that they understand the struggles that you are having as well and industry has, and not using it as a way to say hey, you know, I'm, I'm in a hard spot here, help me out. But if you're constantly looking for ways to help them out, understand their plight, because let's use orthopedics as the example, I mean joint replacement. Each year, CMS continues to cut physicians reimbursement for a total joint. In fact, my dad was an orthopedic surgeon and he said back in the 80s, Medicare reimbursement for a total joint to a physician was $5,000. And today, it's I think about $1,300. Wow, yeah, now, the numbers of joint replacements are astronomical now compared to they were then. But just just look at that, at that difference. And what has happened since the since the 80s. To today, and our doctors are on a hamster wheel, while just gotta keep doing more gotta keep doing more. That is exactly where the ortho rep feels. We just got to do more cases, more cases, because our ASP is decreasing and our commission rates are decreasing as well. And these large companies aren't done. They, they understand on one level that, that if I go to complain to my surgeon, customer, they can say, Stu, we've been dealing with this for years, you know, suck it up, or whatever. And that's why I would say it's just so important to have that relationship with your customer. So that they understand that you truly do empathize with their situation, and understand where they are, and that you are creatively trying to help them get where they want and need to be as well as their minds me.
Claire Davis 13:59
Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
Stu Brandon 14:00
No, go ahead.
Claire Davis 14:02
This reminds me of a story that I was just speaking with a client and one thing that I find when we are so you know hell bent on selling whatever is in our bag, is we are we almost had blinders on. So when you're talking about, you know, continuing that conversation with that physician and understanding all the parts that he's still he or she are dealing with, with their orthopedic business, it's hard to do that when we're just focusing on do they need arthroscopic equipment do they need, you know, total knee? But But when that's possible, that's when those long term relationships seem to be able to be forged. A client of mine recently he was calling on a physician and he already had a product in mind that he was trying to sell, but he did what you're saying. And he found out that the reason that the business wasn't growing had enough thing to do with his product, but everything to do with the EMR integration, which nobody had time to deal with. So he stepped up to deal with it. And not that that's carrying another product, I guess in a sense it is. But I think if he wasn't, if he wasn't able to step back and do what you're sharing, I don't think he would have been able to bring that hospital system aboard, because there was another problem behind the problem behind the problem that he was able to see.
Stu Brandon 15:27
So the other thing is that building this relationship with them, is the thing that we did do correctly. And we did a bunch of things wrong is we over the years forge the relationship, where we went and talked with every single one of our surgeons, let them know exactly where things were, you know, because we understood their struggles, as well, as you know, we laid out our struggles, and, and they were extremely supportive of us, every single one of our customers was supportive of us doing what we were about to do. And what we did do. Now, what I will tell you is that not every single surgeon, you know, followed us, which that's completely fine. And I talk a lot about influence on my LinkedIn posts or videos, and I consider influence, when you have the relationship with your customer, that you have the ability to go to them and really talk about anything, you're not worried about them, you know, betraying confidence with someone else you truly have. You are influential enough in their life for them to listen and give you unbiased candid feedback, which that is the key to making these types of decisions. Knowing what customers support you, and there are customers that will support you because they like you and want what's best for you. But then there's a couple other customers that will support you, in their view of, of implants or orthopedic products, whatever it is, is they can look at them and say like, Yes, I like that I would be willing to help support you in this different way as well. And that is it. That's what most reps struggle with, is just having those conversations having the relationship to do that. Because most reps are paranoid that if they start doing that word will get out. And and as far as non competes go, that is not a violation of your non compete to be talking with your customers about issues that they are having an issues that you are having, and understanding options for the future for everybody.
Claire Davis 17:44
Yeah, well, I mean, if anything, that just sounds like great relationship building. I mean, at the at the core, people still want to work with people that they like. So what better way to identify that than to share and listen Be a good listener for what people really mean, and what they're really dealing with? So do you suggest also that, you know, reps who are considering maybe this long game with, you know, not necessarily tied to their one specific product or company they're with now? Do you suggest that they have a conversation where that's the focus with their physician, maybe, you know, if they go grab coffee in the break room or something, say, hey, you know, I'm hoping that I can be a support and a partner to you long term wherever I go, is that something you coach on?
Stu Brandon 18:31
Absolutely. And I think that that is just a continued conversation that you're having over a long, long period of time. And it's showing that not just in your words, but your actions. And even even from the standpoint I see reps all the time who the surgeon has, has a problem, whether it's a revision of a total joint or something that they are focused on, okay, I have a product that can be used for this, when in fact, it may not be the best one for that surgeon to be using. And even the relationship of differing business to other people, where other people have better products to use for certain instances, that type of thing can go a long way to show your surgeons that you care about about them, and that you want what's best for them, as opposed to Yeah, anytime I go to sue, he brings me a product that is used for that, even though it may not be the best, just the ability to to know what's a good fit for your customers, what isn't a good fit? And I mean, what better way to show them that you respect them, and what was best for them if you don't have the best solution and you say, hey, go to talk to that guy. He's got a better solution for you.
Claire Davis 19:56 '
You know, it's funny, I think that a lot of times when we Talk about what would surgeons want, for example, with with their technology, a lot of times the first thing we automatically think of is data and outcomes. And of course, that's important. But I was actually speaking to one of our friends who's a heart surgeon the other day. And she said that, yes, of course, these are the kinds of things that I want, I want to make sure that they've got, you know, the trials are solid, that data is solid, that might my colleagues have used it, and they've had a good experience. But what she did also say was that she has small hands. And while that seems rather, rather, you know, insignificant, right, when it comes to a buying decision, for her, it's top of the list. Because as a small statured woman, if she's trying to get in there and clamp something, and the clamp is too big for her hand, she's not going to use it. So I feel like the way that you are teaching people to have this ongoing, more in depth conversation about what each individual Doctor really needs and likes. Because everybody's got a different way of making decisions. I think that's really smart.
Stu Brandon 21:06
Right? Well, you nailed it there. Everybody has a different way of making decisions. And one thing that I keep bringing up with people is that as, as professional salespeople, why do a lot of us sell to people completely the opposite way that we like to buy products. And the example that, you know, that I will get give you is, as more and more cases are going from the hospitals to physician don't ASCs I made this mistake two years ago, I was all excited thinking, Okay, if we can just come in a better pricing with very equivalent products, that's going to move the needle, and it's going to move it quickly. Because that is a logical thing to think. However, when a friend of mine suggested something about my own buying buying patterns, there's a lot of things that I spend money on that I could buy an equivalent thing that may be just as good for cheaper, but I don't interesting. And why is that? Because we make we make decisions and buying decisions for emotional reasons, not always logical. And in the tool, or the clamp for the heart surgeon and her small hands. I mean, that's just to go to it could be as simple as, you know, something like that. Or a doctor may just like these tools better, just how they fit in their hand. I mean, even if it's not something like you said about the size of the instruments, but just like, hey, these just feel better to me. Like I guarantee you mechanics and woodworkers, they prefer certain tools over others, even though both work.
Claire Davis 22:56
Yeah, yeah. You know, that's a really great point. It brings up a point I heard a physician making on a podcast yesterday, I have to think about which podcast it was, and that sales podcast maybe. And he was saying, you know, what's, what's one of your most? What's one of your the things that you rely on most when it comes to working with someone in medical sales? And he said, The surgeon said, availability, hands down. So maybe it's when you're comparing two products. It's the product that comes with the rep or the manager who's easier to get a hold of when it breaks or when they're out of one or when a trade needs fixed. Right. So there's so many different ways so Okay, so I'm curious now, though, tell us what what was that buying behavior that you keyed in on that you make decisions on? I promise not I promised to use this information for good.
Stu Brandon 23:55
All right, you're talking about for me personally, right? Yes. It was, it was pretty silly. Because if it was, it was soft drinks. Okay, I have to have Coca Cola. If I'm drinking. If I'm drinking a cola, it has to be coke. Okay, and so, I would spend $5 for a coke instead of $1 for a Pepsi. Yeah, it just just would. However, the funny thing is, is I like Dr. Pepper also. And there's a lot of imitation Dr. Peppers out there that I like better than Dr. Pepper that are significantly cheaper. So it's just something like that is like emotionally I'm very tied to Coca Cola. But other things. I don't care. Enough. It's completely not a logical reason, right?
Claire Davis 24:47
Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess it isn't. It isn't because really at the, you know, we're human. In all the human behavioral decision making principles apply. Hear. So, you know, silly, you're not honestly, I think that it's just it's great marketing and branding Coca Cola, obviously is a is a giant and it's, you know, it's because they've really learned how to make a brand, something that's tied to a heart string. Right? Someone told me the other day, they said the difference between a product and a product in your home is the product in your home was because it was a brand that you fell in love with. It was just a brand with a product attached. Yeah, believe it.
Stu Brandon 25:31
Right. And I just want to go back to what that surgeon said about,
Claire Davis 25:36
hey, you know, we're human, in all the human behavioral decision making there rep being available?
Stu Brandon 25:42
is obviously that's important. But I know from experience that that's not always I mean, a certain level, they'll have availability, yes, yeah. But there's a lot of surgeons out there that that wouldn't rank nearly as high on their list is what you said, Sure. And those are important things to say. Because, again, you may have what you deem the best product, you may always be available. But what if your personality doesn't, doesn't mesh? Well, with that surgeons personality, it doesn't matter if you have the best or it doesn't matter, if you have are always available, you might just be annoying to that person.
Claire Davis 26:28
Because then they're too correct.
Stu Brandon 26:30
And these are little things that, you know, the reality is in sales. There's not a formula that we if you do A, B, C, and D, you're gonna get the sale. Because it can be anything whimsical, like, I just don't like still, I'm not gonna buy from him. Or Susan, okay guy, but I don't want to see him every day and the or I would rather see someone else.
Claire Davis 26:57
Or, hey, are those those types who will only buy when their colleague is already using? That's right, that's something that we ran into a lot in diagnostics, especially in, you know, tumor base technology. And when we would sell to one thoracic surgeon, it really was the windfall for the rest of the group. Because without that one buy in the one that they really looked to, to try new technology. They were going to wait and see and wait and see.
Stu Brandon 27:29
Well, I can tell you what orthopedic total joint surgeons is, a lot of times, well, if this guy in my group is using it, I'm not going to use it. Oh, interesting. Okay, I'm gonna blaze my own trail using us. So yeah.
Claire Davis 27:45
Okay, so, you know, we're talking a lot about decision making, now blazing our own trail. So it makes me start thinking about when you're working in healthcare as a rep as a manager, a sales professional? How do you start to bring your mind around to this isn't the only way to do business? I don't only have an option to work for a large orthopedic or med tech company, as somebody on someone's team, how do you encourage people to start the conversation? Or the or the dreaming even of what else is out there?
Stu Brandon 28:30
Well, I can tell you for years, I was a Depew snob. I worked for I worked for diffuse and these, you know, early on, that was my first job early on in sales training. I was I was drinking the Kool Aid. Fact, I got out of sales training, I was thinking, oh my gosh, with how good these are compared to what I just learned how bad the other companies are. I was thinking it's malpractice if you weren't using hips and knees from steel, of course now. And then this was a gradual thing over time. And then, oh, four or five years into my career. I sat down with a guy who was doing exactly what we are doing now. But 20, almost 25 years ago, 24 years ago, he was representing multiple small companies. And I am embarrassed to say this, but I sat down with him. And I was looking at him and saying, you know, poor guy, he's having to rep. He's having to rep all of these, all of these things. Where he was just so far ahead of where I think the industry is, is continuing to gradually go because he had the ability to okay, this surgeon likes this. I will start with this company. And if there's things that he doesn't like about it, that's okay, we've got other things that we could bring him if he's open to it. And so what I would say is the early or, as soon as possible, you need to understand that the products that you have to sell, they may be great products. But within our industry, hip and knee replacement, I mean, the, there's no way really to prove an implant is better than the other from the standpoint of if a surgeon uses it, and does the procedure for the right reasons, and he's a good surgeon, he's gonna get good results. Now, there will be things that work better in his hands or her hands compared to another person. But again, that goes back to the tools, you know, those tools feel better to them. But I would say that the, the quicker that you can understand that what you have is not the best option for everybody, the better. And the quicker that you can understand that, hey, everybody's got good products, the better, because then you can detach yourself from Okay, I am Stu that works from the Pew, rather than I'm Sue who works for my surgeon, I find them solutions that work for them and their patients.
Claire Davis 31:20
Interesting. And where do you, you know, point people to starting this kind of sort of mixed bag carry of products? Do they individually approach larger companies? Is it better to speak with small ones? How does that all work?
Stu Brandon 31:37
Yeah. So to the like, today, if someone wants to do this, the large companies are going to say no, you have to sell only, I have a dream that someday, I'll be able to go to anybody and say, Hey, doctor, so and so wants to buy through me? Can I have access to your products? Because what we are talking I mean, we equate it to insurance, you have the captive agents, and you have insurance brokers, right? Where you have an independent, like my independent insurance guy who I went to high school with, if I called him up, he could have said, hey, I want some life insurance. Tomorrow, I'm gonna have like 10 Different companies, life insurance products that we can go through. Whereas if it's, you know, your Allstate or State Farm or, or those, they're, they're what I would call a captive agent, they work for that company, we're a broker can work for the customer. And, and that, to me, that, to me, is is the way ultimately the best way to sell products, and also for our hospitals for our ASCs for our Surgeon customers. I truly believe that's the best way to buy products as well.
Claire Davis 32:59
I think that to me, if I was a surgeon, I think that is the way I would want to buy products, because I would, it would help me to skip the agenda behind it and know that the person who was selling to me was assessing my needs uniquely and had a variety of options based on the size of my hand, if my partners are using and they know I don't want to, you know, use the same thing I want to trailblaze Right. Correct. So, okay.
Stu Brandon 33:30
Yeah. And truthfully, the, the thing that is the struggle now is that's not the way it has been done. And so we are bumping up against a little bit of that. But I think that every year, that goes by surgeons in their residencies and fellowships are exposed to more and more products than than 20 years ago. You know, 20 years ago, it was dominated by, by four companies, or what makes up for companies now. And even just market shift is in orthopedics, the market shifts extremely slowly. But 1015 years ago, the large four orthopedic companies had 95% market share and joint replacement. Today, it's about 84 85%. Interesting, so okay, it's a slow shift, but the way market share shifts in orthopedics. It is rapidly shifting.
Claire Davis 34:33
Interesting. So what do you think the future is here for someone who is say tied right now to a large orthopedic company, it is it? Is it feasible for them to be able to put together a plan like the one that you're suggesting and jump into that style of a career within a month within a year? What What's that look like? a month?
Stu Brandon 34:56
No, because it does take some planning. I would say six months to a year is what it takes to plan it out. If I had it to do differently, I wish there would have been people out there that that could have helped us through. So we wouldn't have to go through the noncompete kind of struggles that we did. But in our area, that wasn't an option. But the pain we went through, again, we learned so much through that. But ultimately, it was worth it. Because we would not be happy if we were still where we were. And the biggest part is figuring out like, look, what do I want my career to be? Because I wholeheartedly believe that, you know, our working career is long in one ways, but it's extremely short in the other in another. And we spend so much time at work, we need to be pursuing something that that genuinely makes us happy and makes us fulfilled. And I see so many ortho reps out there that are frustrated, but they have the handcuffs, because what am I going to do, you know, I have a non compete, or, you know, maybe I don't have any influence with my surgeons, they won't, they won't listen to me, they won't do that. And I don't mean to sound harsh with this. But just understanding which camp you are, if you have influence, and people would listen to you and value you, in your opinion and consider other things with you. You need to know if you have that, or you need to know if they view you as a as their, you know, whatever company rep that I call that I may be friends with you, but I'm a work friend, I'm a friend, because I use I use your product. Right. And, you know, it can be a, it can be a hard thing to handle, if you find out that you are just viewed by them as a as just the rep. But at the same time, it's important to understand that. Because if you understand that you're viewed as just a rep, you still have the opportunity to okay, how am I going to reinvent my career from the standpoint of how people perceive me? By becoming better at what I do. Yeah, and then maybe you can work your way to that. That other side where you know what, maybe they can't do it without you anymore. And they want you to be involved. And then you you know, you can work your way to influence but understanding where you are and where you want to go. Once you know those two places, you can form a plan to get there.
Claire Davis 37:45
Yeah, I personally feel at this stage in the game, that when you do find out that, hey, maybe you're not the one they were ushering into the office despite the COVID warnings, right? Maybe you were the one that they were. But if not, if you find out that maybe you don't have that power of influence yet, what an opportunity. Because now you know what to work on or now you know, you can identify something that you want to change and then proactively work on it. I've personally prefer that to being able to open doors, but not quite understand why. So sometimes I think that the challenge really does burn down any kind of mystery and help us to understand what we can work on. So really, I really liked that. Yes, do one thing you mentioned in a recent post that I wanted to ask you was You talk a lot about the team and building a team around you. So can you explain a little bit for everybody listening here, what you mean by a team, how you assemble it and what you're doing with those people?
Stu Brandon 38:55
Yeah, so let's just look at it this way is what what we have done is we have created also a platform where if there is a frustrated rep out there that has some influence that a surgeon would be willing to look at something, we have the ability to help them through their noncompete join our organization, don't sign a non compete, you know, we can help you through the not through your non compete in your life. You know, after a year, 18 months, whatever that is, we'll be better than it is now. Then you can also pick up other products to help, you know, round out what it is that you want in your product portfolio, and what you want and in your geography, because I can tell you where I live in Northwest Illinois. I love what I do up here. But the products that I represent for my core surgeons that I've had for a long time aren't necessarily what surgeons would like in the city of Chicago, or aren't necessarily what surgeons would like, you know I'm in Indiana or you know, just go go anywhere. And, and so there are things that we, that we sell and provide our surgeons here, that in other areas that we go, we don't, because they're not interested in them. And that's okay. And that's part of having kind of a team of companies that we work with. But also, the team have of going back to the rep is having a team that he can come join, help walk them through that to get them, get them past that to get him through, or not have to deal with a non compete in the same way that we did. And then on that, again, we mentioned earlier, you know, life is too short to be dealing with people that you don't know, like, and trust. Yeah. And for us, you know, myself and my two business partners, we thoroughly enjoy working with each other. But, but just as important as that is that my strengths are not strengths of my two business partners, where they have strengths that are totally my weaknesses. So figuring out teams that complement each other as well is extremely important. Because not everybody, excuse me, if we are all the same person, you know, we're all the same person, we can only do the same type of things. Where if we're, if we're complementary, we can go so much farther, we can, you know, have a much bigger impact, not only on our professional careers, but on other people's careers as well. And that, and that's part of what we're trying to do, too, is is help frustrated people create the career that they want in our business. And hopefully, some of those will end up working with us. But if they don't, that's okay. I want to use my life experiences to help them because you know what? It's, I don't want anybody to go through what I went through.
Claire Davis 42:17
I hear you, I hear Yeah. Well, I think that it's a special calling that you have to help people figure out what possibilities lay in store for them and their life and career. And in an industry that's one so competitive that it can make you put blinders on sometimes to this. And to that is a huge sacrifice for many, whether you're a provider, or you're in the field that you're taking, call this support your physicians. So I love what you all are doing.
Stu Brandon 42:47
Can I Can I add one more? One more thing here? Yes, I just got back from caucus and I was with, with a surgeon there and another rep that I had known a long time. And I've had this conversation with several people lately. And I made the observation to them, I said, we come to industry meetings like this, and our surgeons are all learning from each other, they are collaborating, they are learning best practices, they're learning, you know, the ways to deal economically with their insurance providers with CMS. I mean, they're just learning new techniques. They're sharing all of this with each other. And if you think about it, they are all technically competitors with each other. But yet they are open and free and sharing this collaborating with each other. And I said, Look at industry, we don't collaborate anything. And I think that that is part of the thing that I am learning more and more and more is that I do think the future of it on the industry side is collaboration with other people as well. And obviously everything has to be aboveboard. But understanding that truly there is enough business for everybody to go around. And you know, what I said earlier about referring cases to other people or referring doctors, hey, go go talk with him and his company has a great solution for that. But even partnering with each other, you know, to be able to provide a bigger bag of of products that you can take and show people I mean I think that that just just helps everybody and it is interesting to me. Friend of mine was talking with a higher up from one a large companies I won't mention which one but he made mention of why would I want to help another company? We are trying to squash our competition. And how can our industry survive and thrive if we have our physician customers do Totally collaborating with each other. But then as industry, we're just trying to squash each other.
Claire Davis 45:07
Yeah. Yep. It doesn't seem like it works, right? Correct. It's, I love that you bring that up, there was a woman who I worked with closely in LA when we were selling women's diagnostic oncology tests. And every time we would walk into the hospital, and I was shadowing and absorbing, like a sponge, she would walk in, and she didn't know, just the physicians and the staff name. She knew every single competing reps, name, kids names, practically birthdays, certainly products, and favorite places to grab lunch in between cases. And she did exactly what you said, she sent cases to the competitor when appropriate, right, she made friends with those people. And that kind of art of detachment. And collaboration is so critical, she was incredibly successful wherever she went. And in her case, I know just one of the reasons she was, is because you never know who you're going to work for and with in the future. So if you if the rising tide lifts all ships, and you're the one, creating this momentum of support, and help and promotion for people all over the place, it's reciprocal in nature. And anyway, she's off doing amazing things again, but I never forgot it. Because when I came in and training told me in an earlier position, yeah, you know, you see pamphlets from our competitors, go ahead and just tip those in the garbage can. That wasn't her way at all. She She taught me to place them back on the desk and put them in front of ours, you know, and, and make everything look great. Because at the end it at the end, if we really think about what is the whole point of this? Why are we even in this industry? It's because eventually it's going to be our friend, or our family member, or our mother or our selves on the table. And so why would we operate in any other way than trying to do it the very best and support other people also trying to do their very best. So I think that collaboration idea is absolutely untapped and brilliant, Yeah,
Stu Brandon 47:39
Yeah 100% agree with that. And ultimately, what better way to to gain the respect of our potential customers, if we can, if we can speak and speak well of other products, because we all know salespeople who just pound their product, their product, their product, without understanding the good things about other other products? Yeah. And just, I think the earning the respect from them and being able to talk openly and say, Look, they've got great products, or whatever it is, and speak intelligently towards that about it. And understand that it's not malpractice, if they're not using your products.
Claire Davis 48:27
Yep. All right, you're not the only one. Correct, you know, it's like going to it's like a it's like anything, if you want to build trust, you know, authenticity, honesty, it can be felt, and it's trusted. So I really like that. So if someone is as lit up about what you're doing, as I am, Stu, where do they find out more? And how do they connect with you?
Stu Brandon 48:49
I would say that the best way to do it is to just search to Brandon and LinkedIn and DM me. We do have WW dot rep freedom.com. You can go there and click a link but I would say the quickest way to get get to me as DM me on LinkedIn.
Claire Davis 49:09
Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything you shared today. And for everybody listening. Thank you for tuning in. If you are interested in that kind of freedom with your career and your life, do yourself a favor and connect with Steve today. Go check out what he's doing on LinkedIn. But until next time, thank you so much for joining us on today's medical sales leader and we'll see you next time with more modern tips.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
