From Restaurant Server To Medical Device Sales Professional In 90 Days With Elizabeth Wild

POSTED ON March 22, 2023

Elizabeth Wild was once a restaurant server, but her desire to do so much more made her pursue another career. Watching ACL surgeries on YouTube and chatting with surgeons opened her eyes to the many opportunities of medical device sales. In this conversation with Samuel Adeyinka, Elizabeth shares how she got into the Medical Sales Career Builder Program and became a medical device sales professional in just 90 days. She explains how being exposed to different speakers allowed her to build a strong network and how mock interviews helped her prove her worth. Elizabeth also details her work supporting pacemakers and defibrillators, spending most of her time educating patients and physicians about ortho devices.

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From Restaurant Server To Medical Device Sales Professional In 90 Days With Elizabeth Wild

This episode is so near and dear to my heart. It is a treat to bring you. It is exciting. I am so excited and thrilled right now. I can barely contain it, so bear with me, everyone. This episode is something, so I’m going to give you the backstory, and then I’m going to do everything within my power not to give it all away.

This is another episode that’s coming from a graduate of the Medical Sales Career Builder Program. That’s our program that gets professionals into medical sales positions and medical sales, meaning anything healthcare sales, like pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, you name it. This one is about Elizabeth Wild. She was a young lady that was a server at a restaurant, and she wanted to get into medical sales.

She had been after it for two years and wasn’t getting the results she wanted. She found us, and within three months, she is now a medical device sales rep. To say it makes me giddy, but I’m not going to spoil it for you. It’s an amazing and phenomenal story. I want you guys to tune in. For any of you trying to get in, these are the kinds of stories you need to know so you can understand what people are experiencing in our program. More importantly, what people are doing and what they’re going through the journey that it takes them on to get them that end result that we want for them, and we’re working together with them to achieve. This is it. As always, thank you for tuning in. I sincerely hope you enjoy this episode with Elizabeth Wild.

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Elizabeth, how are you doing?

Good. How are you, Samuel? I’m so excited to be here.

I am fantastic and excited for you to be here. Why don’t you tell the audience who you are and what you do?

My name is Elizabeth, but I go by Liz. I’m working in cardiac rhythm management.

One of the reasons why this is such a treat for everyone, Elizabeth was a client of ours in the Medical Sales Career Builder Program. To be able to have you on the show, and now, you are officially a medical device sales rep in cardiac. It’s more than a treat for me. I want people to see exactly what your journey was like. Let’s take it back to the top. Why don’t you let everybody know what was your job and where were you before you found the Medical Sales Career Builder Program?

Prior to joining the program, I was serving and bartending at a brewery nearby. I moved to the Charlotte area and graduated. I’ve known that I wanted to get into med devices for a very long time since I was eighteen. I had no idea how to get there because it’s not a clearcut path. I went down the Pre-Med route because I love science. I knew I wanted to be in healthcare but I wasn’t sure how to get into med device.

I was doing a lot of networking. I was talking to reps on the phone all the time throughout the week, but I wasn’t getting any interviews. I was applying to places and I wasn’t getting any interviews. I wasn’t sure if it was my resume or if I was talking to the wrong people. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, but I was motivated to start my professional career. I wanted to do more with my life than serving, and I found the program. Samuel and the team helped me.

I want to go back a little bit. You were a Pre-Med major and you say that for a while, since 18-ish, that’s a very young age to know that you want medical sales. What even turn you on? Why did you want medical sales rep at eighteen? What was your first introduction to wanting to be a medical sales rep?

I grew up competing in dance my whole life and at a young age, I wanted to become a professional dancer and a dance teacher. Dance was my whole life. In my junior year of high school, I tore my ACL at practice. I got interested in the clinical setting because I wanted to know everything about my ACL tear. I was watching ACL surgeries on YouTube. I’m doing all this research. Every time I went to my appointments with my surgeon, I’d ask him all these questions like, “What graphs do you use and why do you choose to do that?”

I wanted to know everything. He was finally like, “You should probably come and shadow me some time because I feel like you’re going to go down this path someday.” I went in to shadow him. The surgeon was going on and doing his thing, but there was this guy next to me, and I was asking him questions. He was talking me through the entire surgery and I was like, “What do you do? What is your job because you know everything that’s going on right now?” He was a med device rep, so that was the a-ha moment.

I was like, “You get to be in here. You get to work with a surgeon and make a direct impact on the patients. You’re not a surgeon and you get to be like that cool guy who gets to tell everyone about the device and be there through it all.” That was when I realized I wanted to get into the industry, but I had no idea how to get there. That was the first rep I’d ever met and I didn’t even know what it was so I went down the Pre-Med route. That’s when I decided that I wanted to go into the med device.

You graduated, then you started serving, and then I’m assuming you said, “While I’m serving, I’m going to try to get into this industry.”

Yes. I usually work nights. During the day, I would be on LinkedIn networking, reaching out to people, and making phone calls.

How did we come into your world?

I was doing all the homework, reaching out to reps, and doing all the research I could to find out everything I could about the industry. I was listening to podcasts like yours and a few others about breaking into med device. I finally felt like I needed some extra help because I wasn’t getting where I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to break into the industry by next year for sure, but I wasn’t sure how to get there.

I want everyone to hear what exactly happened. Was it an episode? Was it something you saw online? Was it on LinkedIn? What happened?

While I was tuning in to your show, I came across an episode with you and Eric, and he explained how he went through your program and got great results. He loved it so much that he went back and signed up for your second program after he had broken into the industry. That was when I took the initiative to look up your website, make a phone call, and figure out what Evolve Your Success is all about. I knew that if he got the results and all these other people had, then I thought for sure I will.

You find us, we have a conversation, and you get into the program. Give us a little bit about what the experience was like. What was it like when you first got in? What were you thinking? What did you think was going to happen? Talk to us a little bit about that.

After we had our first phone call, I knew that I wanted to do it, but I wasn’t sure. I’m so glad that I took the risk and the initiative because it was worth it. When I first joined, I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but it felt good after the first class and seeing everyone. In class, there were at least ten other people and it felt good to be in a room full of other people who were experiencing the same thing that I was.

I was reaching out to people and being motivated and wanting to break into the industry. The class was that thing. If I was feeling down going to class, afterward, I would always feel more motivated or have a burst of energy. I have the motivation to jump back on LinkedIn and keep going at it. It can be difficult sometimes because results don’t come overnight. I liked being surrounded by a community where everyone was there for me.

MSP 129 | Restaurant Server — Restaurant Server The Medical Sales Career Builder Program puts you in a room full of other people with the same experiences as you It is a good way to be feel motivated and have a burst of energy

Talk to us a little bit about the timeline for you. What was told to you and then what was the timeline when you got your position?

As your program says, you typically get a job within 90 days. I pretty much hit the 90-day mark when I got the offer finally, which was amazing. The program does walk you through everything you need to know. Things aren’t going to happen overnight. You need to take the time to do everything right the first time. If you don’t or if you skip through, you’re going to have to backtrack.

You say you didn’t go through it alone. Number one, you have other students that you were doing this with. Talk to us a little bit about some of the other help you got throughout the program that gave you that, “I’m not doing this alone.”

The mock interviews definitely helped. Julia was a great mentor to me and I’m thankful that I always had her to reach out to and ask any questions I had about the whole process. Same with Christina. They helped me to know my worth and know that I deserve this, and any company deserves to have you if you’re motivated to be doing all of this and you have all of these skills. All those other experiences that I’ve had until this point make me worthy of being in this position. I’m thankful that I had them to remind me of that and remind me of my worth because otherwise, I could have seen myself settling for something less, lower pay, or a less supportive team.

Did you get any pleasant surprises or something you didn’t expect that you did receive going through the program?

I would say building my network in general because you bring in speakers every other week or so. It was nice to be able to talk with them and ask them any questions. Hear their experience and get an insight into what it’s like to work for these divisions because each division is honestly so different. It was good to hear everyone’s perspective from a professional opinion because they had all been in the industry for a long time. It was great to hear everything they had to say.

Did you feel like you had guidance on what you should pursue? Talk to us a little bit about what that was like.

I was pretty sure that I wanted to go into med device. I wasn’t considering pharma, but the program reassured that for me. It was good to have that reassurance and know exactly what to expect and what the difference is between the two industries. In addition to that, there are so many divisions in med device like ortho, cardiac, and dermatology. The team helped me figure out, “What suits you best? Why are you here? What’s the main thing you want to do?” The main reason I wanted to get into this industry is that I want to make an impact on people’s lives.

I’m thankful and I thought about the position I’m in because I’ll be directly saving people’s lives in cardiac. It is exciting and it reassured me that this is where I need to be. Even though ortho is what sparked my interest in the industry, the main reason why I’m here is I want to have an impact on people’s lives. I’m very thankful that they helped guide me in the right direction and reassure me that this is where I need to be.

[bctt tweet=”Always treasure the guidance you receive from other people that reassure you are in the right direction and allow you to make a huge impact.” via=”no”]

Now we’re going to have a little fun. Take us to the moment you heard the offer. Go to that moment. Was it a phone call? Was it a Zoom call? What actually happened? Walk us through the whole experience.

I had a talk with the territory manager, my direct manager, the sales manager, and the lead rep on the team. We all got coffee together and talked for a few hours. It went well and I was 90% sure I had the position, but I wasn’t sure. The next day, I was getting lunch with my boyfriend. I didn’t sleep that whole night. I kept waking up, thinking about it. We were getting lunch and she texted me and was like, “Can you give me a quick call?” My stomach dropped and I was like, “I wonder if I’m going to get it.” I stepped out and called her. She gave me the verbal offer and I started tearing up because I’m so excited.

Talk to us a little bit about cardiac. For those reading that was in the same boat you were in that want to get in, tell them a little bit about what cardiac is and what you understand about the role now that you’ve received it.

I’m going to be supporting pacemakers and defibrillators. I’ll be in the OR supporting surgeons in inserting pacemakers and defibrillators. I’ll also be on call whenever there’s an issue with the device. I’ll come in and help them work through that. I am teaching patients, techs, and physicians about the devices and how they work. I’m looking forward to that and excited that I’ll get some patient interaction here and there because it’s not something that you get in a lot of divisions.

That is awesome. You’re right. That’s a unique position to be able to call on providers and patients. That’s a beautiful start to achieving that.

I couldn’t be happier, so I’m very pumped.

What would you like to share with some of our audience, people that want to get in, people that are already in, or leaders of the industry?

I would say to not limit yourself. It’s hard when you want to break into the industry so badly and you feel like you would accept any position that comes your way. Think of why you’re here and what you want to do. You’re not putting in all of this work in networking and finding a job to settle for the first thing that comes your way. Know your worth, fight for what you want, and don’t settle for the first thing that comes your way.

What would you share with the medical sales reps that are already out there doing their thing that is tuning in to this and maybe even having some nostalgia from when they tried to get in?

I’m incredibly thankful for everyone who talked to me and gave me references and even more connections. I’m so thankful for everyone who helped me and took the time to talk with me about what they do and how they broke in. It gave me the insight I needed to figure out what vision would be best for me and where I see myself going in this field. I’m incredibly thankful for all the reps that spoke with me and helped me break in because I wouldn’t be here without that.

Elizabeth, it was such a treat to hear your story and hear how you found The Medical Sales Career Builder Program. You went through our program and you came on the other side. We’re going to have a little bit more fun now. First off, is there anything else you’d like to share with anyone on this episode?

Chase after your dreams and work at them. Never settle for less. Never give up. When things start to get hard, that’s when you’re about to break through. Remind yourself when things get tough that you’re about to reach a breaking point and breakthrough.

[bctt tweet=”Chase after your dreams and work at them. Never settle for less. Never give up. When things start to get hard, that’s when you’re about to break through.” via=”no”]

Let’s have a little bit of fun with our lightning round. I’m going to ask you four questions. You have less than ten seconds to answer, and we’re going to start right now. Are you ready?

Yes.

Elizabeth, what is the best book you have read in the last six months?

Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It’s a book that you recommended to me. I’m very glad that you gave me that recommendation.

That’s one of the required readings in The Medical Sales Career Builder Program. I love the fact that you mentioned that one. We’ll take it. To understand a little bit about that, what about that book that makes you say that it’s the best book you’ve read in the last six months?

When I was going through the job search, it is something that I constantly reminded myself of, “Why am I doing this? Why do I want to be here? Why do I want to work for that company? Why do I want to be on this team?” It constantly relapses back to why you want to do something. Why it’s so important to have that foundation is something that was helpful for the job search.

What is the best TV/movie you’ve watched in the last six months?

It’s Stranger Things. I want to watch it again but I did get nightmares. The last season is so intense. I would have dreams that a Demogorgon was chasing after me, but I had to keep watching it even though I was suffering inside. I keep watching it, but I loved it.

My son turned me onto that one. He would always watch it. I assumed it was a kids’ show. I didn’t even pay any money. One day, he’s like, “Dad, you have to watch this.” I said, “Let me watch it.” I was hooked. I went back to the beginning. I watched seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4. Now I’m an avid fan. Those actors are phenomenal.

I know. It’s crazy how young they are and the talent that they have. My young cousins started and I was like, “Are you guys allowed to watch this? Are you sure your parents don’t care?” They were like, “It’s fine. They can watch it.” They probably thought it was a kids’ show too. I was watching it with my little cousins and they were so into it.

It’s fascinating. The best meal you’ve had in the last six months?

There’s this good Indian restaurant called Copper downtown, and I’m obsessed with it. It’s the most authentic Indian food and it’s amazing.

It’s downtown where?

Charlotte.

Downtown Charlotte. Is it a chain or a family-owned one?

It’s family-owned. It’s amazing. It’s called Copper. The Tikka Masala, the chicken, is amazing. That’s my favorite.

Everyone, next time you’re in Charlotte, you better go and say Elizabeth, the medical sales rep, sent you.

Get me a discount.

Lastly, I think we know the answer, but we’re going to ask it anyway, the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?

Getting the offer for this position because my life is going to be completely different, and I’m so looking forward to that.

Amen to that. Elizabeth, again, it was such a treat having you on the show and getting to learn about your success here. You talk about it from your mouth, and we cannot wait to see all the exciting things for your future. Congratulations again on getting the position.

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me, Samuel. I’m so excited and thankful for all your help and everyone else’s throughout the process.

Amen to that.

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Wasn’t that a story? Tell me that wasn’t a story. The emotion and the passion behind it. The wanting of something that meant so much, and to finally have it. It’s one of the best feelings in the world. To deliberately go after something good that will change your life and your family’s life and puts you in a position to change other people’s lives.

Go after it with all intention. Get the right guidance, and then have it. I don’t think there’s a better feeling. It’s one of the reasons why I love everything we do here at Evolve Your Success. That was fantastic. That was Elizabeth Wild. Again, you learned how much it meant to her through everything that she shared with us.

We are so elated and blessed to be able to work with her and see what she’s going to do and all the wonderful things she’s going to do. I know you’ve tuned in to this episode and a lot of you out there are thinking, “It is time to stop playing around and get serious about what I want to do with my life and my career and take action.” That’s exactly what we want you to do.

If you’re trying to get into this industry and you’re banging your head up against the wall because you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re grasping at straws and you’re trying things. Nothing is truly sticking, and you’re flailing. That’s number one. Number two, you’ve been getting these interviews and they’re going nowhere.

You keep getting told the same old thing. “You don’t have sales experience or medical experience.” That is ridiculous. Don’t even accept that notion. Ninety percent of our clients are people that didn’t have sales experience, medical experience, or something that they were supposed to have.

Maybe you’re getting the interviews and you’re getting to the final rounds, and for some reason, they keep not selecting you. We know why that’s happening. We know every tool, resource, strategy, connection, understanding, sequence, and portfolio, every single thing you need to have to get you into a position that’s fit for you.

There’s a number of you that don’t even know where you’re supposed to be. You’ve heard about medical device, and it sounded cool. You heard about pharma and that sounded cool, or you heard about biotech. Let’s stick with one of them. You heard about medical device, and you heard about ortho, spine, biologics, cranial, and cardiac, you’re asking, “I have no idea what’s supposed to happen. OB-GYN or trauma, where do I go?” Let’s take the guesswork and the frustration out of it. Let’s take the endless wishing and never knowing if it’s going to happen.

It has gone on 4, 5, 6, 7, a year, or maybe 2. Let’s take action and do something different that gets results. I want more people to experience Elizabeth’s success. Why not be you? Make sure you visit EvolveYourSuccess.com and select Attain Medical Sales Role. Submit some information, schedule a call, and let’s talk about getting you into this position finally. Once and for all, three months from now, completely different conversation. That’s where we want you to be. As always, thank you for tuning in. Make sure you tune in next time for another episode.

Important Links

About Elizabeth Wild

Meet Elizabeth Wild, a result-driven customer service professional, nurse technician, and Field Clinical Representative at Boston Scientific. With over 5 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Elizabeth is a team-oriented individual who thrives in dynamic, fast-paced environments, particularly in surgical departments.

Elizabeth is a self-motivated individual with a solid track record of success in identifying growth opportunities and developing strong customer relationships. She possesses excellent written and verbal communication skills, and her ultimate goal is always to achieve customer satisfaction.

Elizabeth’s experience in the healthcare industry has enabled her to be organized, detail-oriented, confident, and capable of handling multiple and diverse responsibilities. Her ability to adapt quickly to new situations and think on her feet makes her a valuable asset to any team.

Currently, Elizabeth is working as a Field Clinical Representative at Boston Scientific, a role that involves working closely with healthcare professionals to provide support and training on the use of the company’s products.

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