From an internship to a full-time role at GE Healthcare, Marie Robert’s journey is anything but typical. Join us as Marie, a spirited product sales specialist, opens up about her transition from a pre-med student to thriving in the medical device sales industry, with a focus on anesthesia and perioperative equipment. Her story is a testament to the power of building strategic relationships and navigating the complexities of selling capital equipment where decision-makers are not always the end users.
The podcast takes a fascinating turn when we explore Marie’s insights into the supportive, non-competitive environment at GE’s commercial leadership program, especially during the tumultuous COVID pandemic. Listen to her experiences of working within a large corporate structure, the unique challenges of procurement-focused decision-making, and how Marie keeps ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving industry. Marie’s ability to communicate clearly with anesthesia professionals and hospital staff highlights her role’s intricate dynamics, emphasizing the necessity of meaningful connections with biomedical engineers.
Marie also shares her strategies for achieving work-life balance amidst the competitive landscape of medical sales. From the emotional demands of the job to the importance of self-care through activities like yoga and SoulCycle, she candidly discusses maintaining personal well-being. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she recounts memorable experiences, including industry camaraderie and competition that rivals the likes of Coke versus Pepsi. Whether you’re considering a career in medical sales or just curious about the industry, Marie’s story is sure to inspire and offer valuable insights into this dynamic field.
Meet the guest:
Marie Robert, Anesthesia sales specialist at GE Healthcare the leading vendor for anesthesia. I came through a really unique sales training program that other companies should absolutely make note of. As someone with no sales experience jumping into such a tenured industry has been a journey, and I hope this episode resonates with everyone!
Connect with her: LinkedIn
Best Food – Casa Della Mozzarella (https://www.instagram.com/casadellamozzarella/?hl=en)
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Episode Transcript
00:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called the Medical Sales Career Builder, and I’m also host of the Medical Sales Podcast. In this podcast, I interview top medical sales reps and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry from medical device to pharmaceutical, to genetic testing and diagnostic lab you name it you will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top 10% performer within your role or climb the corporate ladder. Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast and remember, I am a medical sales expert, sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry and how it can change your life. Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, and today we have with us another special guest. She goes by the name of Marie Robert.
01:06
Now, this is a treat because this is a young woman who found a program through a company, an internship type program. They developed her, they ended up hiring her and now she works in medical device sales anesthesia I’m not going to tell you much more besides the fact that it’s capital equipment, so you absolutely want to listen, but she works alongside senior sales professionals and to have such a young, focused person work alongside senior sales professionals and get that guidance and advice. It’s turned her into quite the rock star. This is a fantastic episode packed with a lot of pros and information. If you’re contemplating which medical sales you want to do and you’re just not sure and who knows where you want to go, then this is absolutely an episode that you want to listen to. She gets into the details of what it means to be in capital equipment and anesthesia.
02:02
As always, we do our best to bring you guests or do things differently in the medical space, so I really do hope you enjoy this interview we have with us Marie Robert. Marie, why don’t you tell everybody exactly what type of medical sales you do?
02:15 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Okay, so hi, I’m Marie Robert, I work for GE Healthcare and I’m a product sales specialist for the anesthesia and peri-op portfolio. So in like sales terms, it’s very similar to an account executive role we take. We close the deals, we start them sometimes too, but a lot of it is inbound and things like that. So it’s an exciting role to be a part of and an exciting company to be a part of at this time.
02:38 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So so the cool thing about about, about what’s happening right now with us is that we have a lot of people listening that have no idea what makes up medical sales and how it works. So when you say inbound, they’re like well, what does that mean? So break it down for us.
02:53 – Marie Robert (Guest)
So inbound in the sense that most of the systems that we’re selling to purchase from us in some capacity. So our role as a sales specialist is to expand either their product categories and get them into purchasing more category or purchasing a higher volume or creating more of a strategic relationship. A lot of my day is composed of looking at the more transactional selling and how we can flip that into more of a strategic agreement, long term contract and things like that, which is exciting.
03:26 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Got it. So when you say anesthesia advice, give us a little bit more. So what is your team made up of, what type of physicians are you calling on and what exactly are you selling?
03:37 – Marie Robert (Guest)
So we sell the physical anesthesia machine, so the actual machine with the ventilator that is breathing for you in the operating room, that’s delivering you that anesthetic agent, and we sell to what I think are like the gods of hospitals, which are the anesthesiologists that literally keep a patient in between life and death while they are receiving some incredible surgeries. And so it’s an exciting space to be a part of as well, because there’s so much breadth in the type of surgeries that you’re able to see and just like be a part of, which is exciting, and there’s a lot of different touch points in the hospital that you can kind of talk to, but it’s mainly anesthesiologists, getting them excited about the tech and making their job easier with your equipment.
04:19 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it. So give us a day in the life. You know what time you’re waking up, what’s happening, where are you supposed to go, where are you supposed to be all the way to when you finally take it all home, and what time that is?
04:30 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Okay. So I would say each day changes day to day. The great thing about sales is you run your ship and my manager always says run your franchise. These are your numbers, these are your deliverables. How you get there and how quick you get there, how long you do, it’s up to you.
04:47
So I would say a typical day for me starts around 6 am and I’m going to a hospital to either scrub in and watch a surgery or go in and demo a machine for anesthesiologists.
05:00
The best time, as everybody knows, to do that is before 7 or 8.
05:04
So I’m getting to the hospital around six looking at everything that’s happening, looking at the board and then finding my call points to the anesthesia team to be able to show the device or what’s happening in the OR, if they already have the device going, what help they need for setup and, if there’s any issues, what types of cases are happening for setup and if there’s any issues, what types of cases are happening.
05:27
So that’s probably like six to noon is doing that kind of stuff, like hands-on in the OR with the customer, and then from noon to four is the internal meetings, the quoting and the finance calls. So quoting devices for the customers, having your internal calls with supply chain for the customers, having your internal calls with supply chain finance, operations, a&r, everyone like that and then also having conference calls with maybe bigger teams at the hospital. So what we see and I’m sure every device rep feels this is that the clinical end user is never the decision maker. They’re never the one that’s cutting you, the PO that’s finishing the process. So a lot of it is in that afternoon time communicating to purchasing, to procurement, what you saw during the day and why they should move your deal forward.
06:15 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Are those planned meetings? Are those impromptu meetings? How are those set up?
06:21 – Marie Robert (Guest)
I would say that they’re normally planned if you don’t already have like a close relationship. There’s some big hospital systems that we do, luckily, have a relationship with and so you can just call them up and say like, hey, I was in the OR this morning. Dr G really liked how this ventilation mode helped this neonate and we were able to cut down OR time by 20% or something like that, and so normally they’re planned meetings just talking about the results of a trial or things like that, but it always looks different. So that’s probably like 12 to four and then, unfortunately, four to six is then kind of cleaning up all the stuff and figuring out the next day. So it’s a long day but it’s always very exciting because you’re touching so many different things. But I would say the first half of my day is always in field and then the back half of the day is always for those internal meetings and things like that.
07:13 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay. So two things. Number one explain to us your role in these internal meetings. Are you driving the whole thing? Are you facilitating? Are you just chiming in with where you think it makes sense? Are you trying to develop a need and then walk us through the day-to-day of, I mean, 12 to four? You dropped it like, yeah, just 12 to four. That is a long period of time. What does that exactly look like? So go ahead.
07:36 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah. So I would say my role again in the sales world. We don’t call ourselves account executives at GE, but in the sales world it’s more similar to an account executive role in the sense that we’re driving everything. So from doing the demo to quoting, to pushing finance to fix discounts, to worrying about supply chain and getting the thing implemented, we are with the lifespan of that equipment.
08:02
So the internal calls are really advocating for my customer to my internal business on how we can cut back price, how we can change payment terms if they don’t have budget for this capital year, what it would look like to change it to next year and still book an order. Meeting with supply chain and figuring out how to get my customer’s equipment prioritized in the long slew of things that need to happen. So that 12 to 4 time is really pushing deals forward in the ways that they need to be in terms of touching all those internal people. So I always joke that I work for the customer. So the beginning half of the day is building up the customer’s trust in me and then the back half of the day is me advocating for them to my business and to my company. So the sales role is really interesting at my job because you do so much.
08:52 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, so you’ve been doing this for two years now.
08:59 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yes. So I came through a leadership program that GE has specifically called CLP, which is Commercial Leadership Program, and so after college I moved around a couple of different places in the US and learned the business inside and out and then ultimately landed in a full-time role in New York, which is really exciting. But that’s how a lot of young sales reps, at least at GE, get their start is coming through the leadership program, because without that, most reps like on my team have 10, minimum 10 years of experience. So really the only other way to break in into this type of role at GE is to come through a leadership program.
09:40 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
How did you find out about this leadership program?
09:42 – Marie Robert (Guest)
So when it was college time I was pre-med the whole time. I wanted to get my DNP, so doctorate in nursing. That was my whole thing and I was all set and ready to go to Northeastern and kind of start that journey. And I ended up being a nurse’s aide during COVID and that time really changed the way that I looked at my future career and I kind of was like I can’t do four more years of school, especially online. I can’t do this type of job. I don’t think that it’s what I want to do.
10:13
So I broke the news to everyone at school and to my parents that I was going to not move forward with my acceptance there and I just started going to virtual job fairs, because all of my college’s job fairs were virtual. I ended up sitting in on one for finance, which was not my major. But I was like, let me just listen, maybe I want a job in finance, who knows? And they talked about the finance leadership program that GE has and while I didn’t want that one, I was able to look at the other leadership ones and saw the commercial one and decided to go for that.
10:48 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So top three things that you love about this job.
10:56 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Okay, top three things. I would say I love my team. We’re super collaborative, we’re super communicative. We don’t have a physical office anymore. They sold that off maybe like two years ago at this point, but because all of us sell in New York, we’re able to see each other a lot and work together and, like I said, so many members on my team have so much tenure and it’s so exciting to learn from them, just as a young person being surrounded in a room with everyone who has more experience and just like different degrees and different skill sets. Like I just love my team.
11:32
And then I would say similarly, the culture at GE. So it’s always been a culture of mentoring, a culture of sharing best practices, and it doesn’t ever really feel competitive, like everybody’s on your side to work with you and we’re never hounded about numbers, which is something I also really appreciate. It might be specific to my boss, but we’re obviously held to quota, but it’s never like you need to do this or else we’re going to fire you. If you don’t hit this number, you’re out next year. It doesn’t have that intense culture that I know some other sales organizations have. It’s very much like wanting to help and wanting to assist to push deals forward, and understanding what you’re here to do and that they trust you, that you understand, that they don’t put any extra pressure.
12:18
And then, third, I love my space in the product line that I’m in. So I love anesthesia, I love being in the OR and I love that within my role, I own the customer relationship completely, so there’s no one else that’s trying to come in and do anything else and I’m like the backseat. I drive that deal from start to finish and throughout the product’s lifespan. So there’s so many customers I see that have never given me a penny. They might’ve given the previous rep 10 years ago a sale and I’m still carrying out that relationship through and through. So I love just having that ownership over the strategy and over um like over the relationship. It’s awesome.
12:57 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
What are the three biggest challenges?
13:01 – Marie Robert (Guest)
I think the biggest challenges are I’m in a big organization so it’s very like in corporate they say matrixed like it’s very matrixed and it’s also very siloed. So like sometimes different parts of the company don’t talk to each other finance operations, supply chain, install, project management, product management Like as a sales rep, when you see it and you feel it with the customer and all those aspects, you can think about ways that maybe they should integrate a little bit more. Like hey, maybe product management should talk to the engineers that install, who should talk to the supply chain people about how they ship stuff out. And so I think that that’s always a challenge is just navigating the internal organization and advocating for change to happen. And unfortunately, like a lot of the time it’s just like the silos have been set up for dozens of years and that’s just kind of how it is. So I think that that’s tough.
14:00
I think the second thing is just the industry is hard in the sense that we touched on before, like the person you sell to and the person touching the product at the end of the day doesn’t make the final decision. It’s up to a procurement team most of the time that cares about dollars and cents and they just have other priorities. So understanding that like you could do everything right at your level, but there just might be another decision that comes from the top. And so knowing how to navigate that, I think, is just becoming more and more difficult. As hospitals standardize on a vendor, standardize on a type of product, it just makes it more difficult.
14:41
And then I think, like the other part, that’s really difficult. And then I think, like the other part, that’s really, that’s really hard is just thinking about sales, like in general, like we’re always thinking, are we going to be replaced by an Amazon one day? Are we going to be replaced by AI? Or like what’s going to happen with that? Like we know how much we do every day and how that impacts the customer, but I don’t know. I think about, like how travel agents used to be such a big thing. You needed one for every trip, and now it’s kind of like okay, I can just book my own flight and hotel.
15:13 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I’ll give you a little bit of context. So I got into the industry gosh 2006. And 2006,? They were saying that within 10 years, there will no longer be reps, yeah.
15:27 – Marie Robert (Guest)
And we’re still here and we’re still very much.
15:30 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
We’ve quadrupled as far as rep volume, but you know just some context. That narrative is always around Now, at the same time, ais. Nothing was like this, like what we’re experiencing now, where we have this amazing opportunity to do a lot, but I don’t think the rep’s going anywhere. I think human relationship is critical. If anything, it’s going to get more. You’re going to become more empowered maybe less reps that can do more, but we’ll even see because, like I said, they’ve been saying that for 20 years and there’s more reps than they’ve ever been.
16:05 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah, no, I agree. I agree that there’s more reps now, so that is good. But, like with that, I think it’s hard. It’s good and bad, like the customer has never been more informed or had as much information as they do now.
16:18 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You know, 20 years ago to see your product.
16:19 – Marie Robert (Guest)
They needed to physically see you. Now they can just kind of Google and they’re like oh yeah, I’ve seen that, I’ve seen that machine, I saw this study. Like I already saw it, like I, you don’t have anything else that you’re going to say. So I think it’s good that they’re so informed and so educated now, but it also makes it challenging because you’re just not as needed in that demo capacity that you were like 20 years ago.
16:40 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, no, you’re right. This is why the advent of being a rep on LinkedIn and being a brand ambassador for your company goes so far, because now they’re looking on Google, they don’t want to talk to a rep in person, but if they’re seeing your content and it’s speaking their language, then they’re going to want to get you virtually, which of course leads to them wanting to see you in person and you get to still drive that relationship. So exactly.
17:04
Okay. So you know, people listen to this right now and I think you, you, you really qualified what you’re doing because you didn’t say yeah, you know I wanted to be here and I’m here. You said no, I found a very exclusive program offered by the company which led me to another exclusive program which ultimately led me to this, and most of my colleagues have 10 years more experience than I do yeah we got it, and this is anesthesia, medical device device, capital equipment.
17:30
With all that being said, though, for the people listening that say that’s great that she went that way, but I’m going to try and get in anyway who, what type of person, should absolutely look to do what you’re doing, and what type of person should probably stay as far away from this as possible?
17:53 – Marie Robert (Guest)
this is possible. I think that someone who would succeed in this role is definitely like what they say is like a self-starter. Like you have to be completely internally motivated to want to get up and want to keep doing things and you have to kind of like be a little crazy in the sense that, like every time someone tells you no or like this isn’t going to work, you just continually pivot and you’re like, well, what about this? Well, what about that? Like just not ever giving up, in a sense, and not taking no for an answer and being willing to put in the hard work to get the results, and if that means waking up at 4am to drive two hours to Long Island to maybe not even see anyone, but just so that you’ve been felt there and that you’re there wanting to do that and being a self-starter and being able to walk up to someone who wants absolutely nothing to do with you and be able to confidently say why they should have a conversation or even entertain a conversation with you. So being, I think, confident and then having just that internal work ethic is really important. And not getting frustrated too easily, because it’s so easy to get frustrated in this role. Like there’s so many reasons that the customer has to not listen to you or not buy from you. And you just have to constantly get creative and be like what I call a curious learner and like learning about their organization and about different ways to help them really at the end of the day. And then so someone who wouldn’t be good for this is someone who doesn’t like to talk to people, like people who aren’t people’s people, like they wouldn’t like this job because it’s a lot of talking and a lot of personality. So someone who’s really like stubborn or gets like hotheaded or frustrated also wouldn’t be good. Because you do have to advocate for yourself sometimes and push back and challenge the customer, but you can never become argumentative and you kind of just got to take things on the chin sometimes because when you’re dealing with doctors that you know work really long hours and who like do life-saving procedures and like your equipment’s not working, like they’re not going to be afraid to call you and say you know some not so great things, yeah, and they won’t be afraid to call you. I’d be like I’m going to call your manager, I’m going to report this, like, I’m going to do this Like, and you you have to just like stay together with it because it’d be so easy to just fly off the handle and be like well, I hate you too. And like, all of a sudden so that. And then someone who doesn’t like to get up early, because the job unfortunately, like is, if you’re there first and you’re able to talk to them and you’re able to show up for them in a way that the other companies maybe haven’t like, that’s really really important to be flexible in that way.
20:29
A lot of times, like, people ask, like especially at the procurement level. Like, hey, like, why should we choose you? And it’s and you know, the product is great in every but everyone nowadays has a decent product. So it’s really like well, I’ve been to these five hospitals. I know every single person who touches this equipment. I can tell you from each perspective of them why they would want this. I know what their schedule’s like. I know what days they’re going to be there. I know when they’re going to be in a good mood. I have fully invested in your team and in you guys as an organization and I want to partner with you. This isn’t just like hey, they liked my product. Can you cut me a PO? The customers really want to feel like you’re part of them and you’re on their team.
21:16 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That makes perfect sense, Okay. So when you’re in this space, you know there’s all different types of physicians, right? You have certain physicians that are really nice to talk to.
21:28
You have certain surgeons that are very difficult to talk to. You have certain surgeons that are not, as that are, actually really nice to talk to as well, and whatever medical especially medical device specialty you’re a part of, you might have a nuance to the type of surgeon you deal with. Talk to us about the anesthesiology customer, and is it more than just the anesthesiologist that you got to learn to work with?
21:53 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah, so the anesthesia customer is definitely older. So there’s always it’s predominantly male and it’s predominantly older. So there’s always that kind of balance to what I do because I’m younger and I’m female. So I think a lot of it is just like finding common ground and building rapport with them and, like a lot of the other reps in my space look like them and are their age and are maybe more similar to them in a lot of ways. So I would say that, like I really lean on the data a lot. I love data and referencing it Like this is how much money you waste in the OR every month with OR downtime.
22:32
This is this. Like this is how many less residents are going into anesthesia and choosing anesthesia for these reasons. Like what can we do to like bring up the interest in this space specifically? So that’s the type of clientele in terms of just like how old they are and they’re normally, like I said, male and they’re very smart. Like these are like the smartest people ever. I love just hearing about their journey to anesthesia and like the most exciting cases they’ve done. So they’re very smart and they’re very, just like methodical and very black and white with things, cause that’s how anesthesia kind of has to be.
23:09
It’s a you’re dialing in a specific number to keep them in between life and death. So they’re very. They want a straight answer. They don’t want you to walk around what you’re trying to say and they want you to show up. They want you to answer the call into, to be there when they want you to be there. So there’s definitely like that part of it. And, besides anesthesia, a lot of the people that you’re working with are on the hospital side, are like the biomed, the techs, so the people who actually touch and service the equipment, getting them on your side as well and being able to communicate with them and what they do, like they don’t care about clinical outcomes, it’s not their job. They want to make sure that machine is going to be working every morning at 6am when they turn it on, and if it’s not working, how to quickly, quickly fix it, because then the anesthesiologist and the physicians get angry. So it’s about just like working for the customer and constantly like being on their side and advocating, advocating for them.
24:11 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I hope you’re enjoying today’s episode and I want to let you know our programs cover the entire career of a medical sales professional, from getting into the medical sales industry to training on how to be a top performer in the medical sales industry to masterfully navigating your career to executive level leadership. These programs are personalized and customized for your specific career and background and trained by over 50 experts, including surgeons. Our results speak for ourselves and we’re landing positions for our candidates in less than 120 days in top medical technology companies like Stryker, medtronic, merck, abbott you name it. Would you run an Ironman race without training and a strategy? You wouldn’t. So why are you trying to do the same with the medical sales position? You need training, you need a strategy and you need to visit evolveyourassesscom, fill out the application schedule some time with one of our account executives and let’s get you into the position that you’ve always dreamed of. Sure, define, biomed.
25:15 – Marie Robert (Guest)
So a biomedical engineer is a member of the hospital who’s responsible for the equipment in terms of managing it and fixing it. So they’ll oversee every device in the hospital, usually like all the IV pumps, baby warmers, whatever and if something needs to get fixed, the physician or whoever is calling the biomedical department to fix it.
25:32 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Do you have time with them?
25:33 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yes, that’s actually a huge call point for us because we have a lot of benefits on that side the facilities management and the biomed side of our product line. So biomed’s always a first visit. Often they’re very nice, they want people to come visit them and they also have incredible relationships within the hospital because they touch every department and they see every vendor also because probably in that hospital they have every type of vendor in there and they also have what we call like an IB list, so an install base list. So going to Biomed when you first visit a site is always good because they will give you the lowdown on what’s in that hospital and they will tell you honestly what they hate, like how many calls do they get about an IV pump that’s not working or a CT tube that goes down every single week? They will tell you and they kind of shepherd you through the process of who to talk to next.
26:33 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, so you know, considering how much customer care you need to be available to provide, what are your nights and weekends looking like?
26:45 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Nights. So it depends how busy things are. So when we have a big like install or a go live happening, like, your nights are being taken up with being at that facility making sure everything’s there, sometimes physically putting the product together. If there’s things that need to still happen, that kind of haven’t happened yet, and kind of quarterbacking, making sure that everyone is there, so the field engineer to install it’s there, your product, your project manager that’s been kind of overseeing things like your clinical applications, people on your side that are going to teach the staff, like if there’s a big project coming up. Your nights are kind of taken up with that, unfortunately.
27:23
But I would say on average, like 70% of the year, I’m done around five or six and I’m able to kind of shut it down until the next morning. Weekends, I would say I only have to work maybe one weekend day a month, which is nice, it’s not crazy. It’s not like I’m in surgical cases and things like that on the weekends. I always check my phone on the weekends but I normally will leave it at home and just check it once on Saturday, once on Sunday to make sure nothing crazy happened. But I make a really big effort at night and on the weekends, and this is controversial. But to leave the work phone at home, like, leave it there, no need to check it, everything’s fine and anything can wait, and just having having that mindset, when you manage a business.
28:10 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So, Marie, what are you?
28:11 – Marie Robert (Guest)
doing exactly, but I think you, I think you would agree I I feel like he does something similar, like he does that too. So I think that it’s important to have that distinction, or else you’re just going to become like addicted to looking at the phone and also again like you want to be there for your customer. But also they’re very smart. They can solve things without you. If the whole operations of the hospital is going to go down because of one rep, it’s probably not a good thing.
28:42 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Well said. So you know, talk about how you make it work. Right, you are a young lady in this new position, but you still have a social life. You still have things to do outside of work. We want to know the inside scoop, you know. Again, go back to when you’re waking up, when you’re not working. What are you doing and how do you keep yourself in a space to do this wonderful work that you do?
29:05 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah, I tell every new rep that’s coming into this like find a therapist. I think that that’s number one 200 episodes.
29:14 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I’ve never heard that. That is good advice. But go ahead.
29:18 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah, no, find a therapist. And every member on my team especially you know I work with, most of the people I work with are men like 45 and older and they’re like, oh, you’re a generation this and that with therapy. But I’m like, no, you seriously need it. Because when you’re a job all day, is people pleasing having to advocate, having to, you know, work with difficult people, and when your compensation is based off of quote unquote, how much people like and trust you, it’s important to have someone to kind of talk through those emotions with and be able to like build some good, like good skills for facing that kind of adversity. So I always advocate for therapy. I think it’s so important for everyone, especially in this line of work.
30:03
But besides that, I love doing yoga, I love going to SoulCycle. That’s like my favorite thing. I always say like I never know if I’m going to close my big deal or I’m going to lose it or if I’m going to win the favor of this anesthesiologist, but I know twice a week I’ll be on a soul cycle. It’s like a constant for me. And so I think in a job where you have less of a routine than typical jobs like, creating that routine for yourself is important. So getting movement every single day and then just like having like a good group of friends Like I love my friends in the city we do dinners like once a week where we go and someone cooks. We have like game nights we’ll go out Like it’s just fun to have that balance because I’m sure you know like medical sales is very like work hard, play hard. So being able to do both of those things is important.
30:56 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That’s fantastic. Thank you for sharing that with us. Yeah, okay, so I want you to take us back. Take us back to the procedure or surgery and, of course, you know compliantly as much as you can share. We want to know the moment in a, in a surgery, that you said holy goodness, this is what I do for a living. Wow, I am doing this for a living. What was it? What was happening?
31:26 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Take us there. Yeah, so it was. I can think about it right now. It was in like a labor and delivery room and a woman was preeclampsic and you could just see it was an emergency C-section that needed to happen and you can slow down. Slow, Marie, okay.
31:34 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Half the people doesn’t have no idea what preeclampsic means. You need to break it down. Slow it, Marie. Okay, half the people listening have no idea what preeclampsia means. You need to break it down. Talk to us, go ahead, define that and then please continue the story.
31:49 – Marie Robert (Guest)
So I’m trying how to okay. Basically, she was having a lot of blood loss and there were issues and complications during the birth that led to her having extensive blood loss is the easier way to put it. And so it was going to have to be an emergency C-section in the OR. And just watching how quick the team assembled and then also being able to watch the equipment get used and all the different pieces that got used during that, but specifically in the anesthesia machine, like just saw, like the nuances of our product and the ability that it was able to pivot from a traditional C-section to one that was going to have a lot more complications, the way it was able to flex so quickly and the anesthesiologist was able to do his job and that baby is healthy, the mom is healthy, everyone’s good now.
32:32
And just like having like the anesthesia team. Look at me and be like if this was our device we had a year ago, this woman would have not made it team. Look at me and be like if this was our device we had a year ago, this woman would have not made it. Like they’re like they’re like this small change just in this technology was able to save this woman’s life because she, she was going to bleed out. So that was just like such a like happy moment for me to be able to see this woman and her baby and then to be able to see the teams be so proud and just to see the machine get like used in such a high acuity situation. I feel like as reps sometimes we see the product and we’re like, okay, this is, we need to sell it, this is how we make a living. But when you get to see it used and like save a life, it really like puts the bigger picture in perspective.
33:17 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it. You know one thing I want to know do you spend a lot of time kind of studying the technology of your space, or would you say that your space is so dynamic it?
33:29 – Marie Robert (Guest)
just kind of happens organically. I would say both. So I try to dedicate a couple hours each week to just learning about the space in general and like I follow the anesthesia Reddit and like I love to hear what the doctors are saying to each other, like just sitting in the workroom and like listening to the things they say and absorbing their language also, so that when you speak or when they speak, you know what they’re talking about. Even if not as in-depthly, you at least understand the big words and the things that they’re saying. So I would say I try to dedicate a couple hours each week to learning about the space and learning about new standards. Learning about what’s happening in Europe, because that it’s easier to get things passed through the FDA there or their version of the FDA, so seeing what technology is going to try to come to the US, and learning that. But also in the space.
34:14
Um, there’s so many vendors in the OR but because New York’s so small, we all know each other. Like I see the Striker rep, the Medtronic rep, the Arthrex guy, the Steris guy we all know each other because we all operate in the same space, even though none of us sell the same type of product. We’re just all in the space together. So it’s kind of cool when you walk into a surgery and you’re like, oh okay, they’re using like the Striker product or this Medtronic product. It’s kind of cool to get to be there with a different type of team too.
34:43 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah that’s very cool. So you know, in a number of specialties we talk about the cutthroat of the competition, and some specialties are more cutthroat than others. What is it like in your specialty and what does the competition, what does competing look like?
34:59 – Marie Robert (Guest)
And what does the competition, what does competing look like? Yeah, so I always think about the different businesses in general and I think about it. Is it like a Frito-Lay or is it like a Coke and Pepsi? And so Frito-Lay is like every major chip is owned by Frito-Lay, like Doritos Pringles Lays, your next biggest competitor. Frito-layay is not even like 10% market share, like Frito-Lay has it all. And it’s weird if you walk into a store and like they don’t have it, it’s like what kind of store is this, whereas like Coke and Pepsi, they’re always both there, but they’re both there and it’s like a 50-50 kind of split in the business. And there’s other things besides Coke and Pepsi, but they’re the kind of the big players. So I would say in the anesthesia space it’s more similar to a Coke and Pepsi.
35:43
There’s two vendors, so us, ge and another company that’s German called Draeger, and we are like the Coke and Pepsi of that space. We’re both longstanding 100-year companies, legacy companies that got bought by bigger companies and so we compete in every single space or every single market. I should say like worldwide. It’s us and Draeger, like. Those are the two kind of vendors, but there’s a couple that are really coming up that are newer technologies, because, again, our space is so old, like we’ve both been doing this for hundreds of years. There are some newer ones that were developed overseas, in Asia, that are starting to come up and starting to rapidly grow market share and while that’s scary, in some ways it’s also cool to see how my business has pivoted to.
36:34
Okay, we’re not just going to stay complacent that it’s us in this one other company, like we need to flex, we need to innovate, because we have another company that’s coming in and really kind of innovating in different ways in terms of what they’re able to do at a different type of cost and price point. So the competition’s heavy, I would say. And like all of us, like it’s another thing where the three of us know each other, like my, I know my Drager rep and I know the, the other company that’s kind of coming up, that Asian one, mind right. Like we all know each other. So it’s kind of interesting too, because since we know each other, it it doesn’t make it difficult to sell against them, but like you know them now, so you know their selling style, you know what they’re going to say against you and it’s kind of it’s kind of interesting and they’re also so much older.
37:24 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You gotta paint a picture for us, like we got we. We want to see what this looks like. Give us an example of something where it’s the, it’s the competition in action.
37:34 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah. So the worst thing that you could hear as a rep is that something’s going to RFP, which means that they are going. Rfp is request for proposal. It means that the hospital isn’t set on a vendor and so they are going to put it out to the three major vendors and all three of you are going to demo and put quotes in. It’s the worst thing in the world to hear as a vendor if you have the install base at that account that they’re going to put it to RFP.
37:58
Like that is not a good idea. That’s like your boyfriend saying that he wants to like explore new options. Like it’s just not, it’s not good. It’s sometimes good if you don’t have the business there and they’re putting it to RFP because then you know that something’s wrong with the current vendor. So I guess sometimes it can be good. But no rep ever likes to hear RFP because that normally means it’s going to come down to a dollars conversation and that’s never a good one that you really want to have with the customer if they’re just going to buy on price. Unless you’re the cheapest vendor, which I’m not, so I never want to hear that it’s going to RFP. So when they do the demos, all three of you are in a room with each other and you have your.
38:39 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You’re seeing someone else’s demo.
38:41 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yeah, so you have it and you are all in the same room. Sometimes they’ll put a divider in between the two of you, but like sales reps are nosy, like we’re listening, we’re going in and we’re figuring things out.
38:54
So, like you just kind of, you hear everything. So you are all three next to each other and you’re hearing everything, they hear everything. So you are all three next to each other and you’re hearing everything they’re saying. The doctors are coming in Like, and you’re hearing everything that they’re doing and you can hear them undercut what you just said and you’ll jump in on what they’re-. Oh, my God, you got give us give us one of your-.
39:14
It’s old school selling to like the max, like you’re hoping the old, like I’m always hoping that they have, like kids that get sick or like they got to leave, or something that is hilarious.
39:23 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Give us, give us, you know, anything you can remember, like what was the most awkward setup? Like this, where you’re trying to do your thing and you’re literally hearing another, another, the competitor undercut or or say something that goes right in the face of what you’re saying.
39:39 – Marie Robert (Guest)
I yeah, I mean it’s just always awkward because you you want to be, you want to appear respectful and, above it, like you, don’t want to just turn into like a cat fight, like in the conference room, but it’s always so. I don know. It’s always awkward whenever they’re trying to undercut you and I think that a lot of it is just finding the moments in that demo day to build rapport and to build that relationship, and most of it doesn’t happen on the demo floor. Something I like to do is every single new building that they put us in for these demos, because they’ll change the building just so nobody can get in it before and things like that and tamper with the product. But I always like to find where the closest bathroom is and where the closest coffee shop is, because that’s what they’re always looking for.
40:30
So we had like a competitive demo a few months ago where we flew in our global product manager and I was able to have him go with the head um, like the head buyer at the facility, because I was like he’s looking for a coffee shop, I know where it is, let’s walk him down to it and we can talk to him on the way down, and the product manager is like you’re insane. He’s like it hasn’t even started. I’m gonna walk him a coffee. I’m like, yes, go. I’m like walk him right now because I’m like that other rep. They’re rolling in, they got no idea where the closest Starbucks is, so it’s finding that. It’s finding that time to like the bathroom and the coffee can get some insider knowledge beforehand or after getting feedback. So having some sort of relationship to be like, okay, well, what were they saying after? And things like that.
41:27 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That’s fantastic. Well, Marie, is there anything else you’d like our audience to know about what you do?
41:34 – Marie Robert (Guest)
It’s a lot of fun. I know everything I said.
41:36
It might’ve not sounded like the most fun to some people but it seriously is so fun, like being able to sell in a clinical space and being able to talk to doctors and talk to so many different areas of the hospital and then within your own organization.
41:53
It makes you so well-rounded and truly people who start in these types of sales roles can go anywhere because you learn so many different facets, like right here I have a whiteboard about how to navigate a P&L sheet, because I was a pre-med girl I had no idea how to do finance and so now I have this sheet where I can whiteboard it in and figure out what their operating income is and things like that. Because you have to flex that muscle some days and then some days you’re in the OR talking about title, volume and like all these crazy clinical things during cases, um, and then some days you’re just putting together like accessories for the product in a warehouse. You’re literally on the floor with a screwdriver just like putting it together. So it’s so fun because every day is different and you manage your own schedule, which is really a privilege, and sales teams are always the best we have the most fun. So I love it so much and I really, really love my team and everything that we’re able to accomplish together.
42:52 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love this. I love it, Marie. Your energy, your focus. Come on, you’re doing the thing out there, all right. So we got one more thing to do. Okay, are you ready for this, Marie?
43:03 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Yes, I’m ready.
43:05 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, this is the lightning round.
43:07 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Okay.
43:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
All right, I’m gonna ask you four questions. You have less than 10 seconds to answer. First question is what is the best book you’ve read in the last six months?
43:17 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Ooh, I just read the Perfect Couple, which became a Netflix show, but it’s like a murder mystery.
43:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I saw an episode of the Perfect Couple. I know what you’re talking about.
43:28 – Marie Robert (Guest)
It’s good, but.
43:29 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I had no idea it was a book, so the book’s good.
43:31 – Marie Robert (Guest)
The book’s good. I read the book first. I know I should probably say like some sort of business book, but truthfully I don’t read a ton of those. So the Perfect Couple was good and the show’s great, but the book’s very different. It’s like a whole different kind of story in there.
43:46 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, I’m going to check that book out. That sounds interesting. All right, best TV show or movie you’ve seen in the last six months.
43:54 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Ooh, challengers with Zendaya, that one was good. I like tennis so it was cool to watch that, and the score on that movie was really, really cool, like the house music when they’re doing the tennis is nice.
44:05 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Okay, I’m going to have to check that out too. Okay, and then we want the location, the restaurant and the item Best meal you’ve had in the last six months.
44:19 – Marie Robert (Guest)
Ooh, I know this is supposed to be really quick, but there’s so many different things. Okay, there’s this deli in the Bronx, la Casa de Mozzarella. There’s a burrata sandwich that has prosciutto and it’s on fresh ciabatta with arugula. It’s on Arthur Ave. It’s so good. Every time I go to a hospital up there I get that sandwich. It’s incredible.
44:38 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You just sold the heck out of it. Everyone that’s near that there is going to hear this and go. I’m digging that sandwich and the next time I’m in the Bronx I’m going for that sandwich too.
44:45 – Marie Robert (Guest)
It’s like a single file line. It’s always so busy you kind of got to pay cash. They’re making the cheese back there. It’s insane. It’s so good. That will be in the show notes, folks, so you will be able to go to the restaurant as well. Yes, and last question, but not least, what’s the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?
45:09
oh, okay I got tickets with a friend to go see the vmas, which was on long island. So the video music awards and just getting to see the whole production that goes into that show and all the performers and just how passionate they were about everything. Seeing taylor swift that close was really cool and all the performers and just how passionate they were about everything. Seeing Taylor Swift that close was really cool and it was like a like a once in a lifetime experience to get to go to an award show like that. So that was really cool and it was after like a long surgery day so it was like a quick like take the red cap off, like brush your hair, kind of moment.
45:35 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That is awesome. That is so fantastic, Marie, it was wonderful spending time with you and getting to learn about what you do and how much fun you’re having doing it. We can’t wait to see all the exciting things you have coming up in your career. And thank you for being on the show. And that was Marie Robert. Wow, you know. So much energy, so much excitement she is. She’s on her way, blazing a trail in a very exciting and nuanced medical device sale.
46:03
Listen, some of you heard this episode and you thought to yourself wow, how cool would it be to do something like that? And it’s true, it would be amazing, especially to get in with some program the company offers. We want you to explore it all and if you have something like that that you can take a part in, then you’ve got to check out what that can do for you. And if you don’t know where to go or don’t know where to start or really just don’t even know what I’m talking about, but you want the opportunity then you need to go to barbersuccesscom. We are a resource. Of course. We want to help you get into the right medical sales position in the right company in the right specialty. That is our whole game. That is what we care about. That’s what we want to do. We truly believe that taking you and getting you in the right place where you’re going to love it. You’re going to show up every day and give it 100% and turn your physicians into even better physicians because they’re getting even better patient outcomes. That is what levels up healthcare. That is what makes healthcare a better place in the US, and we get to be a part of that in the US and we get to be a part of that.
47:25
So if you’re just curious, if you’re trying to find your way and this is going to anyone, anyone that is in medical sales, anyone that wants to be in medical sales maybe you’re in a position and you don’t really want to be there anymore and you’re just not sure what to do about it and you need some guidance. Maybe you were in a completely different job outside of medicine and you want to be in medical sales and you don’t even know where to start or who to talk to. Or you’ve been trying for a year and nothing is happening. Or maybe you’re a representative who you know, you’ve been giving it your best at the company you work for in medical sales and it’s just not falling for you the way you thought it would and falling for you the way you thought it would, and you’re just not sure what to do. We are your resource. Go to Evolvesuccesscom, fill out an application and let’s have a conversation and get you exactly where you want to be.
48:09
People like Marie are fortunate and blessed to find themselves in their positions and really just go nuts in a space like this, and you can tell by her energy that she made the right decision and she’s going to do this industry well because she’s going to give it her best. You can do the same. You can do exactly the same. So again, reach out EvarvisSuccesscom.
48:29
We always do our best to bring you innovative guests that are doing things differently in the medical space. So make sure you tune in next week for another episode of the Medical Sales Podcast. I Tune in next week for another episode of the Medical Sales Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and remember I have a customized and personalized program that gets you into the medical technology industry as a sales professional, or any type of role for that matter. Become a top performer in your position and masterfully navigate your career to executive level leadership. Check out these programs and learn more at EvolvesAssesscom by visiting our site, filling out an application schedule, some time with one of our account executives and allowing us to get you where you need to be. Stay tuned for more awesome content with amazing interviews on the Medical Sales Podcast.
Medical Territory Manager!
I was a Regional Sales Representative for Long-Term Care pharmacy services. I had dreamed of getting into the med sales industry when I went into my career as a nurse, but the pharmacy sales job came to me, and I had just settled. Fortunately, I had a job shakeup that allowed me to determine that now was the time to pursue my original vision.
I absolutely would not have this position without Samuel and the Evolve Your Success community. A lot of people my age would just stop trying, but EYS believed in me.
EYS allowed me to break into the industry in 90-Days after I had been trying on my own for over two years! I had lots of recruiter screenings, and a few interviews with hiring managers, but I was never offered a position.
Before EYS, I didn’t realize I was doing the bare minimum to get hired. I was applying everywhere, hoping to get noticed and waiting. It just wasn’t working! I didn’t know that that was not enough to compete in an industry this sought after, and against people who knew what I didn’t know about the process.
Of course, I had to think hard before making a financial investment that’s reasonably substantial. But when I read the testimonials of real med sales reps on the site and learned that I wasn’t the only one taking a chance on my success, that EYS was sharing that risk also, I knew I had to do it. Though you might be able to cobble together some of the steps of getting a role in med sales from online research on your own, you just can’t know what you don’t know!
The process of going through EYS presents this insider knowledge to the student, as well as giving you a progression of difficulty as you obtain the information, and you begin to master it. Not only that, but they give you access to amazing mentors and instructors, allow you to practice your interview skills, and teach you how to market yourself through social media and your own website! I cannot stress enough that EYS was the factor that made the difference in my successfully landing my dream job! The support, structure, and knowledge gained was invaluable!
I would recommend this course to ANYONE looking to break into medical sales
Thank you so much, EYS! This journey has been life changing and has resulted in the successful culmination of my 18-Year ambition! 
Sports Medicine in Phoenix! I extend so much gratitude to the Evolve Your Success group as I land this role and get ready to pursue my dream job. I am a Physical Therapist who became a little stuck in the profession due to issues with reimbursement and the difficulty for continued growth upwards. I turned to EYS to assist me in learning about the medical sales industry and gain knowledgable mentors who were able to help coach me in this process. I am a strong believer in surrounding yourself with the best and good things will happen. I did work hard, but with the support of my mentors and other colleagues going through a career change, I felt a sense of community and it confirmed my drive to get into this industry. I have already learned so much through the interview process, and feel very blessed to have had the resources this group provided. I have made lifelong friends and I cannot wait to continue to follow others’ journeys to pursue this incredible field. I urge you to give Evolve Your Success a try to gain mentorship, guidance, and support through any career transition.
and am excited to make a difference in patients’ lives as a Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist.
! Though I truly enjoyed working as a physical therapist, I can’t wait to start my career in the sales world as a Clinical Account Executive.
. I owe this opportunity to Samuel, the program, and the incredible mentors at EYS.
