Episode 46 – In the C-Suite with Will Gray, VP of Marketing and Commercial Operations, Corporate Accounts, Boston Scientific

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome. He started out as a Marine officer. This included time on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. He carried these Marine leadership values into Frito Lay and then Boston Scientific.  Now, Will shares his thoughts on being proactive and excelling in his book “PROACTIVE: Achieving Excellence in Sales and Customer Relations”.  He and his team assist with nearly 5 billion dollars of revenue at Boston Scientific.  We talk about leading across his 5 pillars of responsibility. We also explore values that can be applied at any point in a career.  We also talk about the new normal coming out of the pandemic.  Leaders like Will are inspiring yet humble as you will see when you tune in.  With leaders like this it is no wonder that Boston Scientific is a great place to work and thrive.  It was ranked No. 1 Best Employer in 2019 by Forbes in the Health Care Equipment and Services Industry. 

Now Go Win Your Week!

Most of you know that I am also the host of the MedTech Leaders community. You can learn more about this non-LinkedIn community at medtechleaders.net.  This is where leaders and those aspiring to be leaders get together to help each other with best practices, problems, solutions, ideas and successes.  If you are interested in the MTL community…there is a 30-day free trial. Again, more info at medtechleaders.net.

Will Gray’s LinkedIn link – linkedin.com/in/will-gray-26a55713

Boston Scientific Website link – https://www.bostonscientific.com/en-US/Home.html

Will’s book – PROACTIVE: Achieving Excellence in Sales and Customer Relations

Paperback – https://amzn.to/2P5J8vhKindle – https://amzn.to/3apPDAs

Will recommends the following books:

Left of Bang: How the Mariine Corp’s Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life By Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley

Paperback – https://amzn.to/3xe1cVeKindle – https://amzn.to/32tOW50

Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work By Steven Pressfield

Paperback – https://amzn.to/3aukT1vKindle – https://amzn.to/3arD4ow

Outliers: The Story of Success  By Malcolm Gladwell

Paperback – https://amzn.to/3n56kX0Kindle – https://amzn.to/3dAG2sH

How Will You Measure Your Life?  By Clayton M. Christensen 

Paperback – https://amzn.to/3dAIHCyKindle –  https://amzn.to/3v87HqY

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

MedTech Leaders Community link

Link to Ted’s contact page  

Episode 45 – CRM2 – Going From CRM to Sales Force Automation

In Episode 35 we laid the CRM foundation. Today we build on that foundation and begin to move into Sales Force Automation and Marketing Automation.  This is where SFA and MA can start working hard for your company to increase revenues. Eliza Hammer-Gage, Senior Consultant, Red Argyle joins me again to show another way we can move MedTech into the realm of modern B2B demand generation tactics.  Remember what I shared before, less than 40% of businesses have a CRM adoption rate over 90%.  Because these statistics include large B2C companies, I suspect the adoption rate in small to medium sized MedTech companies is worse. This means a lot of companies are leaving money and opportunities on the table.

This is part of our series on Demand Generation.  Red Argyle is a highly regarded SalesForce CRM consulting partner.

Note that I am not paid by the people or companies that I interview.

Now Go Win Your Week!

Eliza Hammer Gage’s LinkedIn Profile link

Red Argyle website link

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

Link to Ted’s contact page 

Most of you know that I am also the host of the MedTech Leaders community. You can learn more about this non-LinkedIn community at medtechleaders.net.  This is where leaders and those aspiring to be leaders get together to help each other with best practices, problems, solutions, ideas and successes.  This is supported with subject matter experts. If you are interested in the MTL community…there is a 30-day free trial.

Episode 44 – In the C-Suite with Arnoud Snepvangers, CEO, Eaglet Eye

Covid may have caused some sleepless nights for Arnoud in 2020.  But his response with the use of Demand Generation Tactics and Learning Management Systems set Eaglet Eye up for a strong second half of the year and a strong start to 2021.  Arnoud proves it can be done very economically.  The result is that it creates a very positive high technology impression despite the size of the company.  Using Learning Management Systems is an interesting response to travel restrictions caused by Covid.  But the end result is better use of best practices by customers and happier customers. Now the Eaglet Eye Team will never go back to the traditional ways of training customers.  We also talk about what it is like to manage a small emerging growth technology company that is helping doctors help people see better.

Great news! The Medical Device Success podcast is now over 18,000 downloads.  Thanks for all the support! 

Now Go Win Your Week!

Most of you know that I am also the host of the MedTech Leaders community. You can learn more about this non-LinkedIn community at medtechleaders.net.  This is where leaders and those aspiring to be leaders get together to help each other with best practices, problems, solutions, ideas and successes.  If you are interested in the MedTech Leaders community…there is a 30-day free trial. Again, more info at medtechleaders.net.

Arnoud Snepvangers LinkedIn profile link

Eaglet Eye website link

LearnDash learning management system link

Arnoud’s favorite podcasts:

Science podcasts: 

BBC infinite monkey cage http://www.infinitemonkeycage.com/

BBC life scientific – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7

WNYC Radio Lab https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab

Business podcasts:

The Journal – https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journalThe intelligence (Economist) – https://theintelligence.economist.com

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

MedTech Leaders Community link

Link to Ted’s contact page  

Episode 43 – In the C-Suite with Patrick Kothe, CEO, EM Device Lab

“In order to grow, you have to master what you are doing today”. Career advice from Patrick Kothe. Pat has led EM Device Lab down a brilliant development path where they “productized” a current standard procedure and benefit from a simpler regulatory path and a shorter time to commercialization.  This also reduced capital requirements.  However, Pat took no shortcuts with customer discovery and validation where they got feedback on their product from around 600 emergency medicine doctors.  Join Pat and me to learn about critical characteristics of a bootstrap CEO and key strategies for success. We also talk about the lessons learned from failures.  They are less than 30 days to product launch!  We wish the EM Device Lab team best of luck as they go to market.

Now Go Win Your Week!

Most of you know that I am also the host of the MedTech Leaders community. You can learn more about this non-linkedin community at medtechleaders.net.  This is where leaders and those aspiring to be leaders get together to help each other with best practices, problems, solutions, ideas and successes.  If you are interested in the MedTech Leaders community…there is a 30-day free trial.

Patrick Kothe’s LinkedIn Profile link

EM Device Lab website link

Pat’s Podcast Link – Mastering Medical Device

Or find it on your favorite podcast service. 

Pat’s recommended book: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, By David Maraniss

Paperback linkKindle link

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

MedTech Leaders Community link

Link to Ted’s contact page  

Episode 42 – In the C-Suite with Jennifer Fried, CEO, ExplORer Surgical

Surveys indicate that virtual support in the operating room and procedure room is here to stay. From the “back of a napkin” to commercialization, Jennifer Fried has led the ExplORer Surgical team to success. They are busy staking out a position as a leader in virtual support to medical device companies seeking to improve best practices, clinical support, training, collaboration and coaching in the operating room. In this episode she starts out explaining the technology and how it works.  Then, we dive into the story of ExplORer Surgical.  Believe it or not…the development of this technology is NOT a response to the pandemic.  Of course, it has benefited from the pandemic.  However, if you leave it at that, you miss some of the important value propositions that underly the power of the platform.  Everybody is a winner with this platform…the patient, the hospital and the medical device company. Tune in!

Now Go Win Your Week!

Jennifer Fried’s LinkedIn Profile link

Explorer Surgical website link 

Jennifer’s recommended books

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, by Ben HorowitzHardcover link Kindle link Venture Deals, Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, by Brad Feld and Jason MendelsonHard cover link Kindle link

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

MedTech Leaders Community link

Link to Ted’s contact page  

Episode 41 – Bridging the Virtual Gap – Connecting with Customers on Camera

Talking and listening on-camera are not natural skills.

MedTech sellers have rapidly been trained to adopt new tools, new platforms and fresh messaging they need to succeed in a virtual world.  Yet most are left using trial and error to figure out how to use video to connect with customers and build relationships.

Why is this important? Because a recent survey of C-suite hospital executives showed that 75% believed that virtual interaction with vendors would stay the same in 2021 as 2020 or increase.  The same access problems will remain with physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Julie Hansen provides those missing virtual selling skills for connecting effectively on video.

Almost every actor who has transitioned successfully from live performance to film or television has received on-camera training.  Why do we expect our sales teams – people primarily from business or technical backgrounds – to be able to master on their own what professional performers require training on?

Julie Hansen is the founder of Performance Sales and Training where she puts her early career experience in television acting to use.  After acting, Julie had a successful sales career.  While in sales she realized what many sales people were missing in terms of “acting” skills.  Now that selling is more virtual than ever, the ability to connect through the lens of a camera is more important than ever.  She has written two books (links below) and will publish a third in the near future that focuses on connecting through the camera.

Julie has been rated a Top 50 Keynote Speaker by Top Sales World.

Now Go Win Your Week!

Julie Hansen’s LinkedIn Profile Link

Performance Sales and Training Website

Sales Presentations for Dummies

Paperback LinkKindle ebook Link

ACT like a Sales Pro 

Paperback Link Kindle ebook Link

Ted Newill’s LinkedIn Profile link

Medical Device Success website link

The video cast and other great subject matter expert content is in the MedTech Leaders Community link

Link to Ted’s contact page