The Hidden Formula for President’s Club Success
In this solo episode of the Medical Sales Podcast, Samuel Adeyinka breaks down why medical sales reps plateau and what separates those who stay stuck from those who continue to grow, earn more, and advance their careers. Samuel explains the four biggest reasons reps stop progressing: confusing activity with strategy, failing to continuously sharpen their selling skills, building wide relationships without developing deep trust and influence, and waiting for their company to take responsibility for their career development. Drawing from more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Samuel shares practical strategies for identifying untapped opportunities, improving objection handling and business reviews, deepening account relationships, and taking ownership of your professional growth. If you’re working hard but your territory, income, or career has stopped moving forward, this episode will help you identify what may be holding you back and what you need to change to break through to the next level.
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Transcription:
(0:00) The reps who plateau keep writing the same playbook they ran in year one. (0:06) Same 30 accounts, 40 accounts or 50 accounts or 100 accounts. (0:09) Same order, days full of activity that feels productive but isn’t moving the needle at all.
(0:16) The top reps get strategic. (0:18) They ask, where is the real growth? (0:20) Which accounts have untapped potential? (0:23) Which relationships do I need that I have not built yet? (0:26) And which competitors am I not displacing that I should be? (0:29) Because activity is not strategy. (0:32) Running hard in the wrong direction is still running in the wrong direction.
(0:35) Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. (0:37) I’m your host Samuel, founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called the Medical Sales Career Builder. (0:44) And I’m also host of the Medical Sales Podcast.
(0:47) In this podcast, I interviewed top medical sales reps and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. (0:53) It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry, from medical device to pharmaceutical to genetic testing and diagnostic lab, you name it, (1:01) you will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top 10% performer within your role or climb the corporate ladder. (1:10) Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast.
(1:12) And remember, I am a medical sales expert sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry and how it can change your life. (1:27) I want to talk about something that I’ve watched happen over and over again for 20 years in this industry. (1:32) A rep gets in, they work hard, they hit their numbers in year one, year two, maybe even in year three.
(1:38) And then they stop growing. (1:40) Their territory stays exactly the same, but their income plateaus and their career stalls. (1:46) And the rep doesn’t fully understand why because they’re still working hard.
(1:49) They’re still showing up. (1:50) They’re doing everything they did before, but the results are moving. (1:55) This is called the plateau.
(1:57) And if your medical sales rep right now, there’s a very good chance you’re either in it, approaching it, or you just got out of it. (2:04) And today, I’m going to tell you exactly why it happens. (2:07) And more importantly, what separates the reps who break through it from the ones who stay stuck.
(2:13) So before I get into the reasons, I want to say something that might be a little uncomfortable. (2:17) The plateau is almost never about effort. (2:21) You know, that’s not true.
(2:22) Sometimes it can be about effort, but a lot of times, it’s not about effort. (2:26) You know, the reps who plateau are, I’m not even going to say they’re lazy or they’re typically lazy. (2:32) I think that’s completely false.
(2:34) And they’re not flacking off. (2:36) I think that’s false as well. (2:38) I would go as far as to say they’re actually working, and some of them are working hard.
(2:43) And some of them, in my case, you know, well, when I say my case, what I’ve seen is some of them are working harder than anybody else on the team. (2:52) You know who you are, if this resonates. (2:56) The blow happens, though, this plateau, because they’re working hard on the wrong things, facts.
(3:04) Or they stop developing the skills that actually are required to move the needle. (3:10) Or they’re waiting for someone else to fix it, which happens more often than you think. (3:15) And nobody tells you when you’re in this.
(3:17) Nobody says, hey, by the way, you know that you’re currently in the plateau. (3:21) Nobody tells you this. (3:23) Your manager might not even see it.
(3:24) They just know that things aren’t happening the way they need to. (3:27) You just notice that the ceiling stopped moving, and you can’t figure out why. (3:32) So let’s talk about why.
(3:34) Four reasons that I continue to see throughout my entire career and still do on why careers go cold. (3:43) So reason number one, they’re confusing activity with progress. (3:48) I see this all the time.
(3:51) A good example is I can say, okay, you’re one, you’re new. (3:55) You don’t know your accounts. (3:56) You don’t know the personalities.
(3:58) You don’t know the politics inside each office or hospital. (4:01) You go everywhere. (4:02) You call on everyone, and you’re in everything trying to figure it all out.
(4:06) And that activity, of course, is going to produce some results because you’re building from zero, (4:09) especially if you’re entering a territory that had no rep. (4:13) But by year three, you know your territory very well. (4:16) You know who buys.
(4:17) You know who never will. (4:19) You know which relationships matter, which ones are just comfortable. (4:22) And the reps who plateau keep writing the same playbook they ran in year one.
(4:28) And don’t take what I’m saying now as, oh, yeah, everybody knows that. (4:32) I’m going to sit here and tell you out of the hundreds of people I talk to day in, day out. (4:37) Many people don’t know that.
(4:38) And more importantly, if they know it, they are not practicing it. (4:42) They’re showing up and going into the field and doing your thing without really (4:46) understanding where you’re truly trying to get growth and value and make an impact. (4:53) It’s not really doing your thing.
(4:55) It’s doing a thing that’s getting you nowhere. (4:57) And that has to be paid attention to if you’re going to truly move the needle (5:01) and get yourself into winner’s circle of presence. (5:05) Reason number two, they stopped sharpening their actual scaling skills.
(5:11) And you know what, I’m going to throw product skills in there too. (5:13) A rep comes in, goes through training, learns the product, learns the science, (5:17) learns the clinical story, gets really, really good at it, and it stops. (5:22) Because once you know your product’s cold, it’s easy to convince yourself (5:25) that the product is the skill.
(5:28) That knowing more about the mechanism of action is what’s going to close deals. (5:31) And in a lot of cases, that absolutely helps. (5:34) But it doesn’t stop there.
(5:37) Science is forever changing. (5:40) Every philosophy, theory, idea in science gets further developed. (5:45) And the more you are on the cutting edge of what it is that you’re in front of (5:49) that you’re dealing with, that you sell within, the better equipped you’re (5:52) going to be to handle anything a physician throws at you.
(5:55) Not just a physician, any practitioner throws at you. (5:58) But it’s not just that. (6:00) Because the reps that consistently make Presidents Club year after year (6:03) that have territories like everyone else, no strange advantage.
(6:08) They’re the ones who don’t just know their product the best. (6:12) They’re the ones who continue to sharpen their skills and actually sell it. (6:16) And selling it is a skill that has to be developed continuously.
(6:21) How are you getting better at objection handling? (6:24) Are you talking about it? Are you working through it? (6:26) Are you coming up with all the potential objections you could be facing (6:28) and practicing what to say? (6:30) How are you running your business reviews? (6:32) Are you getting more insightful, more specific, more granular (6:36) about how you’re going to overcome this area? (6:39) At understanding what a committee buyer needs versus a clinical buyer? (6:43) At negotiating, all of these things matter. (6:46) And most reps in the industry have not invested in their selling skills (6:49) since their company onboarded them. (6:52) And then they wonder why they put up.
(6:56) Reason number three. (6:58) Their relationships are wide but not deep. (7:02) You’ve been in your territory three, four years.
(7:05) You know everyone. (7:06) You can walk into any account and someone is going to wave at you. (7:09) First name basis with half of the department, (7:11) you think your relationships are strong.
(7:13) You are thinking, I got this. (7:16) But there’s a difference between being known and being trusted. (7:20) I hope you’re enjoying today’s episode.
(7:23) And I want to let you know our programs cover the entire career (7:27) of a medical sales professional. (7:29) From getting into the medical sales industry (7:31) to training on how to be a top performer in the medical sales industry (7:35) to masterfully navigating your career to executive level leadership. (7:39) These programs are personalized and customized (7:42) for your specific career and background (7:43) and trained by over 50 experts, including surgeons.
(7:48) Our results speak for ourselves (7:50) and we’re landing positions for our candidates (7:52) in less than 120 days in top medical technology companies (7:56) like Striker, Metronic, Merck, Abbott, you name it. (7:59) Would you run an Ironman race without training in a strategy? (8:03) You wouldn’t. (8:03) So why are you trying to do the same with the medical sales position? (8:06) You need training, you need a strategy (8:08) and you need to visit evolveyourassess.com, (8:10) fill out the application, (8:12) schedule some time with one of our account executives (8:14) and let’s get you into the position you’ve always dreamed of.
(8:18) Between someone who waves at you in the hallway (8:20) and someone who literally picks up the phone (8:23) because they want to just talk to you (8:25) about what’s going on with your product, (8:27) service, device, drug, whatever it be. (8:31) Between having access and truly having influence. (8:35) The reps who plateau have wide, thin relationships.
(8:38) Now, truthfully, (8:42) reps who are killing it have both. (8:44) They’re wide-handed. (8:46) But so many reps I’ve seen (8:48) that are consistently getting into winter circle, (8:50) consistently thriving, have very, very, very deep relationships.
(8:54) More so than they have wide relationships. (8:56) They know a lot of people, (8:59) these reps that continue to plateau, (9:01) but they’re not very many of them (9:03) are calling them when something goes their own. (9:05) When something changes to the account, (9:06) they’re not getting calls.
(9:07) Not very many of those people would go to bat for them (9:10) if something goes wrong with their product, (9:12) device, or service, or drug. (9:15) And these are the reasons why they plateau. (9:18) When your practitioners are calling you directly, (9:22) when things go on with whatever it is you sell, (9:25) that’s considered a deep relationship.
(9:29) Top reps have fewer relationships, (9:31) but very deep relationships. (9:33) And some have both. (9:34) Many relationships that are also very deep relationships.
(9:39) People in their accounts who actually advocate for them, (9:41) who call them for information, (9:43) people who fight for them when their competitors show up. (9:47) Wide is easy. (9:48) Deep takes time and intentionality.
(9:51) And don’t be that rep that stops at wide (9:53) because you’ll consistently stay in that plateau. (9:56) Reason number four. (9:58) This one’s going to sting a little bit.
(9:59) I know some of you are going to hear this. (10:00) It’s going to sting a little bit. (10:03) You’re waiting for the company to develop.
(10:08) A rep is talented. (10:10) They have skills to go further, (10:12) but they’re sitting back, (10:13) waiting for their manager to come with a development plan, (10:17) waiting for the company to send them a training. (10:19) This training is for you to move further (10:21) or waiting to be identified as someone that should be promoted, (10:24) waiting for that tap on the shoulder, (10:26) and the company is not coming.
(10:29) I’m not saying every manager is neglectful. (10:31) I’m not saying the reality of… (10:33) Okay. (10:34) Let me say this carefully.
(10:36) Again, I’m not saying that every manager is neglectful. (10:41) I’m saying the reality of corporate medical sales (10:44) is that your manager has their own job to do, (10:50) their own quota to hit, (10:52) and they are there to manage the other people on your team. (10:56) And typically, they’re focused on the reps who are underperforming (11:00) and the reps that are producing in huge, monumental ways.
(11:06) The rep in the middle that’s working hard (11:08) and doing okay is simply not a priority. (11:12) That is just the way it is. (11:16) Top performers treat their own development like a business.
(11:19) They are not waiting for anyone to invest in them. (11:22) They are investing in themselves. (11:24) They find the coaches, the mentors, the communities (11:27) that give them what they need to grow, full stop.
(11:31) If you’re waiting for your company to build your career for you, (11:34) I need you to hear this. (11:36) It is not coming. (11:40) Your career is your responsibility.
(11:42) So those are the four reasons. (11:45) Volume without strategy. (11:47) No longer learning.
(11:50) You’re selling skills. (11:52) Wide relationships, but not deep relationships. (11:55) And waiting to be developed.
(11:59) If you’ve heard yourself in any of those four, (12:02) that is not a character flaw. (12:06) It’s a gap. (12:08) And guess what? (12:09) Gaps can be closed.
(12:11) The question is, are you going to close it? (12:14) I’ve watched reps who are completely stuck at 80 to 100 grand a year (12:19) break through to 150, 180, 200, 250, 300, and beyond. (12:24) Once they address the actual problem. (12:28) Reps who were getting password for motion year after year after year (12:31) finally get the title, get the territory, get the comp plan they wanted (12:36) once they started treating their own development seriously.
(12:41) It’s not about working harder. (12:42) You’re already working hard. (12:44) I mean, anyone in medical sales needs to be working hard just to keep the job.
(12:48) But it’s about working on the right things with the right support. (12:51) And that’s what medical sales bootcamp was built for. (12:56) Not for people trying to break into medical sales, (12:58) but for people who are already in medical sales and want to break through (13:01) to the next level with their medical sales role.
(13:05) We work with reps one-on-one with mentors who have actually done (13:08) what you’re trying to do. (13:10) We address strategy, selling skills, relationship depth, (13:13) and career development in a way that is specific to you and your territory, (13:17) your specialty, and your goals. (13:19) And we’re brutally honest, (13:19) meaning if you’re in territory with real restrictions that you cannot control, (13:24) we will not only tell you the best ways to get around them, (13:27) but if you can’t get around them, (13:28) we will help you find where you can start to direct your career (13:32) to get into a position in a territory where you can truly, truly thrive.
(13:37) If any part of this episode, get close to home, (13:40) go to barbersuggest.com and apply. (13:43) You will be prompted as if you were trying to break into medical sales, (13:46) follow all the prompts, (13:48) sign up for a time, and when you get in front of a program advisor, (13:52) simply let them know, (13:53) I am a rep in the industry and I want to talk about medical sales boot camp. (13:58) This program is selective, as it should be, (14:01) and we only work with reps who are serious about their career (14:03) and are ready to jump to the next level.
(14:07) That is it for today. (14:08) If this was helpful, please share it with a rep. (14:12) You know who needs to hear it.
(14:14) Subscribe if you haven’t, and I’ll see you next week (14:17) on the Medical Sales podcast. (14:47) Stay tuned for more awesome content with amazing interviews (14:51) on the Medical Sales podcast.