How to Succeed as a Manager in Medical Sales
Logan, a distinguished leader in the medical sales industry, joins us to share her unconventional journey, from pre-med student to CEO in neuromonitoring, and later, to a hands-on role in spinal device sales. Her story is a powerful example of how diverse experiences can shape a well-rounded, impactful career in medtech. Logan offers key insights into the role of neuromonitoring in surgery, the risks of false positives, and the critical communication needed between OR teams.
We explore the often-overlooked dynamics between neuromonitoring techs and device reps inside the OR. Logan pulls back the curtain on how strong reps build trust, stay composed under pressure, and keep patient care at the center, even when tensions rise. Her perspective reveals why emotional intelligence and accountability are non-negotiables for long-term success.
Logan’s transition from the C-suite back into the field brings a rare perspective on leadership and growth. She reflects on the humility and reward of working directly in surgical settings, the realities of financial motivation in healthcare, and the silos that still exist between clinical and commercial roles. Her take on leadership is clear, great managers must coach, delegate, and develop others if they want their teams to thrive.
Whether you’re in the OR, aiming for the executive suite, or somewhere in between, Logan’s story is packed with insight, reflection, and hard-earned advice on how to grow a purpose-driven career in medical sales.
Connect with Logan: LinkedIn
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Episode Transcript:
00:05 – 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. So, logan, how are we doing today?
00:53 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Good Samuel, how are you doing?
00:54 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I am fantastic. Logan, tell us a little bit about you, where you came from, where you started and how you got to this wonderful space.
01:01 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely.
01:01
I appreciate it and glad to be here.
01:03
So I started out which is wild almost 20 years ago, which is crazy because I’m just a child, but anyway, I started in neuromonitoring and I was a tech and then I became a manager, then a director of business development, so I oversaw all the contracting, all the sales for the Southeast region of our company, and then I moved over to a smaller group and became the VP of operations and sales and contracting and then eventually, right before COVID the CEO, I was there till about 2023, the end of 2023.
01:37
And then I took a little bit of a hiatus and I got into spinal device sales and I sold hardware and I did a neuromodeling platform with that company as well and among some other things. And now I’ve always been very passionate about coaching and mentoring and now I’m just kind of still selling that and going out and I started my own consulting company where I am doing leadership development and then coaching and consulting for those in management looking to get to the next level or stay, because what I found is it’s really challenging to go from manager to director or director to VP, especially when you’re in the field. It’s just that visibility is really hard to get, so I’m hoping to help Makes sense.
02:18 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it, I love it. So let’s go back, though. You know you said you started your career in neuromodernity. How’d you get into that? You know, was that right out of college, what even turned you on to neuromonitoring? And then, more importantly, let’s let everybody know that’s listening right now. What exactly is neuromonitoring?
02:35 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So, first and foremost, neuromonitoring is basically monitoring the patient’s nervous system when they go in for sprain, neuro vascular ENT procedures. You’ve got somebody who comes in, brings equipment, they hook up electrodes and they basically give the surgeon biofeedback of what’s going on during the case, like, are they getting too close to a nervous structure? Do they need to redirect a pedicle screw? Do they need to abort the procedure? Do they need to, you know, loosen a distraction or something like that? And so you’re a really integral part of the team.
03:06
And I found out about it honestly because I was pre-med and completely panicked about what to do next and not sure if I wanted to go to more school. And I was working at our school gym and someone who had just graduated told me that they were doing this. They said they were in the OR every day and then they also told me they didn’t work every day. So for my 21-year-old brain, I was like, absolutely sign me up. But when I heard that they did the training to be able to do this with the company and I would get paid right away, I wouldn’t have to go to more school and I would get exposure in the OR, I was sold.
03:41 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So how does a neuromonitoring tech work with a medical device rep? Give us the type of procedure you’d be in right, you were in neurospine neuromonitoring. So give us an example of a procedure and show us what it means for the neuromonitoring tech to work with the neuro device rep.
04:01 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So when I would come in I was showing up kind of the same very same time as the rep would. They’re getting their devices and implants ready for the case. I’m setting up my equipment, I’m setting up the leads, you know, before anesthesia. But I basically, while the rep is running the case, making sure that the hardware is going in the way it needs to go talking to the scrub tech and making sure they have everything they need. I’m working along anesthesia to make sure that everything is getting placed properly and giving the surgeon feedback.
04:32
If we start to see a decrease in signals which means it could be affecting the spinal cord or peripheral nerves, like that, I always tell people it’s an extra safety belt for the procedure and it’s another tool in the toolbox. The tough thing about neuromonitoring in general is there are a lot of false positives. Anesthesia can affect us. You know there can be something going on with the patient and so you really do rely on the surgeon also giving you that feedback and then your rep and you looking at each other so you know what’s going on during the case, because sometimes as the neuromonitoring person you’re stuck in the corner and the rep is really like the you know, the conductor of the room. They are coordinating everything, they know the flow and so, if you’re lost, your eyes are looking for the rep to give you a little guidance.
05:18 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So when you say so, and again, remember a lot of people listening. They’re not familiar with this space at all. When you say false, positive, speak specifically to what you’re talking about.
05:27 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So, specifically, what ends up happening is I will see something on my screen that gives me a decrease and it looks like what might be a surgical change or the meaning that something’s happened during the case that has impacted the patient negatively. But really it’s just the fact that, like anesthesia gave a little too much something, they gave too much gas, it suppressed their brain signal and so all of a sudden, my what I, the information I’m giving, isn’t accurate to the patients, you know. So you have to kind of know what’s going on, cause if you’re saying, hey, doc, you know you don’t want to be the boy who cried wolf or the girl who cried wolf.
06:04
And this is going wrong. This is this, because then you know that information is not useful whatsoever, and then you’re you’re kind of discredited.
06:12 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure, and you manage that by doing what?
06:16 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So communicating in the room. I think you know the rep. I always look to the reps because when they were going to tell me the triggers of the surgeons, they knew them inside and out and so I knew what to avoid and then they would also help me. So I knew the flow of the case, like I knew that they were going to know what goes in next. There are, you know, key parts of the surgery where the spinal cord or the brain or the nerve roots are most at risk and that rep is going to know when those tense parts are. So those are the points in time where I don’t walk away from my screen or I’m not checking my phone for a text message Like I locked and loaded, dialed in. So I always looking to the reps you know to to kind of help me coordinate that.
06:59 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Got it so cool. Your experience, logan, because you’ve literally seen it all right. You’ve been a neuromonitoring tech, you’ve been a rep, you’ve been a leader, you’ve been a CEO and now you’re a coach. So talk to us a little bit about the neuromonitoring experience of medical device reps. So you were in a hospital or a clinic. Where were you as the bulk of your neuromonitoring tech career? Where was it? Where were your stations?
07:26 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So I started out in Michigan and we basically, similar to reps, go out to hospitals. We are contracted with the hospitals whatever surgeon needs us, so I was waking up every day to a different hospital to a different surgeon to a different team, so the reps. We lived a very similar lifestyle, so that’s kind of where I was at is. I was on the road all the time and when I started, like I said, almost 20 years ago, neuromonitoring wasn’t as prevalent as it is now, so I was covering a lot more ground.
07:55 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, yeah. So in the neuromonitoring tech, were you really close with the reps? I mean, you were like talking to them all the time, you were getting to know them, or was it?
08:09 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
no, when you, when you got on the floor and you saw them, that’s when you developed the relationship. So I it was. I think it’s unique. I’m an relatively outgoing person. I’m also six feet tall.
08:16
So when I was in the OR and I was expected to sit in the corner, I didn’t always do that.
08:21
I would stand, I would walk around the room, I would want to see what’s going on, I would chat with the reps and I felt like it made me a stronger tech to really have those relationships. And also a lot of times we would be the last to know about time changes in the schedule and cancellation. So I really relied on my reps to tell me what was going on. So I personally built my relationship with the reps. And also when I got into business development and trying to help my neuromodeling company grow, the reps who trusted me, who knew me, knew that if it was me or my team in those cases, those cases were going to go smoother because we were looking to them to see like, how’s the case going, what’s the most important part of the procedures? And we weren’t crying wolf, you know, to the surgeon as often, and so the surgeon, when they were trying new devices, new tech, felt much more comfortable to do so with someone in the room who was on the same level as the rep.
09:20 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Got it, got it Okay. So talk to us about, from your perspective, what makes. What did you notice the best reps did from the reps that for lack of a better word of saying it weren’t as hot? Actually, you know what? Tell us. What does good look like from your vantage point? When you were in neuromonitoring tech, what did a good rep look like versus a rep that’s not doing as hot? What’s the juxtaposition there?
09:48 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I will tell you. I mean, I’ve seen some cases go sideways really fast and those are always the toughest moments, when you see the rep that like doesn’t know what they’re doing and loses their confidence and and honestly, kind of throws the scrub tech under the bus or anything like that. That that, to me, is what makes a rep get kicked out of an OR.
10:11
That’s the rep you never want to work with. That is. That’s the opposite of good. What I’ve seen in the really successful reps is they know how to navigate the surgeon. They know what to say, what not to say. They never take it to heart when they get yelled at. You know, if the surgeon you know yells at them, they’ll be their buddy two seconds later and they can take the heat and they know what they’re talking about.
10:36
I mean, I think any rep who comes in and is just trying to sell, sell, sell, they’re going to get asked to leave because in that patient care space that’s not the space that you want to be selling. You know, if you want to pitch something at the scrub sink or outside of the operating room and the surgeon very literally has their hands inside of a patient, you know. So it’s the guys and girls who, like they’re not throwing the circulator, the scrub tech under the bus, they are taking accountability and that means so much. You know what I mean. You are not going to sacrifice yourself or like anything for short term gain. You’re in it for the long haul and those surgeons will keep calling those reps.
11:28 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Let’s dig a little deeper. You know I want people to have a visual, almost, of what we’re talking about here. So when you say, give us an example of of a specific incidents where someone is throwing someone on the bus, like what does that mean, what does that look like, and then give us an example of where someone is really navigating powerfully and driving a good procedure, give us, you know, paint two scenarios so people can really understand what you’re saying.
11:53 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah. So if we’re, if we’re going to go with the first example of, you know someone who’s probably not going to be asked to come back to the room. You know it’s the person who’s so focused on the surgeon that when the they’re bringing the CRM in to do something, they are helping the CRM tech who’s struggling and it’s making the case go longer but they’re like hanging off to the side or something.
12:15
They’re not engaged or they’re selling or, you know, the scrub tech is struggling a little bit and they look over at the surgeon and like roll their eyes or do this. Rather than engaging in the scrub tech and helping them, they’re just more focused on, like, their dynamic and how they’re perceived, versus actually caring about the patient on the table and actually wanting the procedure to move along. They’re more like I need, I need to be the cool guy. I need to be the guy in the room who’s, you know, got that relationship with the surgeon who’s up here there is a little.
12:48 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
they’re trying to sell the cert, so maybe they’re they’re engaged in the surgeon a specific conversation about the product, while the scrub tech is over there clearly struggling.
12:59 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Just looking for help and you are just leaving them out to hang Gotcha Okay. And it’s brutal to watch because everybody else in the room can feel the tension start to melt and even the surgeon feels it, because they don’t want anybody in the room can feel the tension start to melt and, you know, even the surgeon feels it, because they don’t want anybody in their room to struggle. They don’t want to be handed something that’s not put together right, that’s not fastened correctly, and when they start to try to put it in the patient, stuff goes to hell. I mean, that’s, that’s not what anybody wants. And the reps who are really successful come in and they are.
13:33
You know, I always say, like being in the or is like being in a dance, like everyone has a it’s, it’s like a beautifully choreographed dance. Once it’s going well. You know people move and you know where you’re helpful, you know when you’re not. You can always tell when someone’s in a new or or when they’re new to the or when they’re just in the way constantly she said in the way constantly okay, it’s it’s tough, but like it’s like you, you know and you learn that you’ll learn.
14:05
Okay, this is where they’re going to go next. I need to be out of the way. You know the person who’s keeping the flow going and, and just part of that, and it’s so fluid and beautiful. I mean, it’s literally a ballet.
14:16 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, yeah, now, okay, so you got a lot of reps, a lot of potential reps, listening right now that want to be part of this ballet and they’re thinking how do I not do this? Is this something that every new rep just goes through, or is there a way, to your first day, to know? You know, maybe because you’re so curious about what everybody’s doing in the upcoming procedure that you’re not constantly in the way, or is it kind of unavoidable and just kind of got to go through the trenches and learn and eventually get out of it?
14:44 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I will say I think there’s always a learning curve. There just is. But if you have a really good trainer or somebody with you like helping you, they should be saying like stand here. If you don’t have that and the tough thing is sometimes in these you know fields, you don’t have a real somebody kind of taking ownership of you. You’re thrown to the wolves a little bit. You know, go to the, go to the scrub tech, go to the circulator and tell them hey, you know I’m logan, this is my. You know like I’m pretty new to the or. So you know I’m Logan, this is my. You know like I’m pretty new to the OR. So let me know if I’m in the way or anything like that, you know, and then you might get a sassy comment back. Oh, I will for sure let you know if you’re in the way.
15:20
But, I will tell you what they appreciate, you just being self-aware enough to bring it up.
15:28 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That is cool. 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 a 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. How long were you in Neuromon and Neurotech?
16:27 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So even when I was the CEO, I was still covering cases tech so even when I was the CEO, I was still covering cases.
16:35
Oh wow, so do this in number of years. So I was 18 years, I was still in the OR. Even when I was a director, even was a VP, I still covered cases. We actually started a company in India in 2017. And so I was going over there to help get that started. I’m super passionate about like mission trips and things like that, so I actually am involved in a Nepal spine foundation, so I was going to Nepal and covering cases Ghana, barbados, it’s you know. So, yeah, I’ve been in the OR, and I’ve been in the OR in a lot of places too.
17:04 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So okay, so talk to us a little bit then. So you’re a neuromodern tech, you’re doing a thing. What was the next level up and how long into your career did that happen?
17:13 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So I was just a tech and I was in the middle of nowhere in one of my territories I think the closest coworker I had was 200 miles away and I was living in Indiana in the time and I realized no one was seeing me. My surgeons loved me, my hospitals loved me, and that took a little bit for me to win them over, but nobody was seeing that and I was like I am never going to grow in this company unless I get some visibility. So I actually went into our CEO’s office the next time I was in the corporate and I sat down and I said I want to be a manager. What does that look like? How do I get there? And he basically told me I was going to have to relocate and I was like sign me up. And then he said Omaha, nebraska, and I said absolutely not. So I was like let me know if there’s a better spot.
18:03
And eventually I got down to Tampa, florida, and I got the opportunity to manage. So then the rep life didn’t happen for you until after you already rose the ranks within the neuromonitoring space, you know, and I even told because I had a lot of people come up to me when I became a spinal rep and say you know, would you do this again? I think if I was to go back in my career, to be honest I would have made the transition sooner, just because you do get a little niched in with neuromonitoring and when you’re in device the world is a lot more open.
18:53 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So in medical sales.
18:54 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
It’s so much more open.
18:55 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I mean, yeah, every every week, every week we go over a new, a new space, logan. So I got to ask then you know, when you went from gosh CEO status to rep to rep the medical device rep, you had to have been like the most amazing rep anyone’s ever seen. I’m saying that because you, literally you knew everything. You knew where to be, you knew how to show up, you knew what drives a good case, you knew what the nuances are when, when you know you have your A plus rep versus your A minus rep. Even Talk to us a little bit about what that looked like for you, and I’m assuming you probably hit the ground sprinting, not running.
19:36 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I would say if sprinting meant like my one foot was in a cast. But you know, I, to be honest, being a device rep, and on that other side of the table, you know the other side of the scrub table to. You know, because I was back in the other corner of the room my anesthesia, if you’re visually in the OR, it’s anesthesia the patient. And then on the other side it’s the scrub table and the you know rep running the room. Right, there was so much that I didn’t see and I honestly didn’t know which is.
20:07
You know, I think that’s the crazy thing is how siloed sometimes medicine and even med device can be, that you are in the same room as these amazing technologies but you don’t understand why. You may understand what they’re doing, but you don’t understand always why the surgeon is doing that procedure on that patient. Like you, don’t understand what calls for that, what calls for that and, to be honest, when I started I didn’t know why a surgeon would do an anterior lumbar surgery versus a posterior lumbar surgery on certain levels. And through my experience being a device rep, I got to learn all that. So it’s I learned so much. But yeah, I did I. It was a lot easier for me, I think, than most people just starting out, because I knew and not only that, I knew so many people and I was going back into the same hospitals, and so it was a little bit like a homecoming.
20:56 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Oh, wow, right, OK, so you were.
20:59 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Oh, that must be cool it was cool and humbling because they were like why are you, why are you doing this? But I told him I was like this is you know, I in neuromonitoring I was the CEO and that was it. And then I didn’t know what else to do from there, honestly. And so, going back and being a device rep, I was just so excited about struggling a little bit in my own way, like I was excited to be kind of bad at something and then learn how to do it and be exposed to this whole new field. And the guys you brought beyond honestly were the two best reps that I had seen, like ever in the OR, so I was really excited to learn from them.
21:40 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So then I got to ask you know, cause, cause? I guess you’re right, you know CEO. People automatically assume you’re CEO, you’re making millions of dollars, you’re doing this, you’re doing that and now you’re going to be going. So what’s the reality? Is it that the money is better, no matter how you cut it? Even though you were CEO status at this near-mining company and you were doing well enough, the money was still better and the career options were still better on the medical device side. Or was it more about, well no, the impacts. Even though I’m CEO and I have a whole company, the impact I was able to make with having all these customers was better.
22:19 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Talk to us a little bit about what the greener pasture of being a medical rep versus this neuromonitoring CEO? Yeah, absolutely, I mean. You hit the nail on the head. Impact for me is my number one driver, so I’m always looking for the place that I can make more impact, and I did feel like that was my struggle with being a CEO of a small neuromonitoring company. I was, yes, I was running a company and doing lots of different things, but was I changing the field? Was I providing impact?
22:42
And, honestly, covid was such a struggle out in the Pacific Northwest with all the hospital shutdowns, I felt like I was just.
22:49
I was like I was dealing with the punches, like I was just taking a gut punch every six months with COVID, and so I needed a little bit of a break and I knew that med device I would be able to meet more people, I would be able to offer more solutions to my surgeons and that was pretty exciting because you know, I was in this space of telling them when they screwed up or when there’s a problem, and, being in MedDevice, you get to offer a solution and that’s a huge game changer Instead of being someone who’s bringing up the negative all the time. You’re on the positive, you’re bringing solutions, you’re finding answers to the problems. You’re getting to see all the positive patient outcomes where I was only experiencing follow-ups on patients that weren’t doing well and that you know that’s a little brutal sometimes. So, yeah, it was that. And then I will be honest, too, that the money I made as, even as a CEO, wasn’t not as much as I, as nearly as much as I could have made and did make as a med device rep.
23:51 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Wow, wow, there it is. Folks. I mean that’s real right. You know we’re talking real things here. So, okay, so you’re a med device rep, you’re learning. You’re also I’ll never walk away from you have a big advantage because of what you’ve been doing for the last more than a decade. I mean your advantage must have been noticed by enough people in every clinic and every hospital you walked into. Take us back to people that you coach. You know what happened in your career that then went from okay, I’ve been CEO, I’m now a device rep, but I’m seeing a need here with people that are in management. I’m seeing a need, and I love what you said earlier. You know you don’t just deal with people that want to be managers. You deal with people that want to be, that are managers and want to be higher right. So, second, they want to go to second line leadership and maybe even third line leadership. Talk to us about what happened that even turned this desire to help on.
24:53 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So you know, to be honest, when I I was so excited to be a manager when I became one and I got that opportunity and I had this amazing, really young team in Tampa and I remember going to our HR department and being like hey, what now? Like where’s the playbook right? Like I got all this training on the technical stuff. I got this, you know, like an 80 page protocol handbook that I knew to follow. I got nothing as a manager and I just remember I was drowning, like it was some of my my like best, happiest times because I had so much fun and we had such an amazing team. But man, I was probably working like 80 to 90 hours. I mean, no joke, I was. And then you’re also manning the schedule every weekend, so every call that comes your way. And I was running at one point I was running the west coast of Florida, tennessee and Louisiana.
25:43 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Wow.
25:44 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Wow. So I was. I was hopping on planes twice a week to just go and and cover cases. I was never home and you know, I really wanted to learn how to do it but I realized like this was not sustainable. And I’ve heard that from so many managers that really want something else. And then they get to management. They have no support, so they assume they can’t do it. They assume OK, well, I’m not cut out for leadership. But the reality is like as a manager, you’re doing probably too much of the day to day. When you become a director, vp or above, you’re doing very little of the day to day and you’re working with your team to help them navigate that day to day, but you aren’t doing it yourself and you at some point have to learn to let that go. And when you’re a manager, that’s your time to figure out how you go from being a really strong individual contributor to a leader.
26:41 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So because I’m under the impression that managers have the hardest job, right, because, like you just said, individual contributors are the doers but they get the benefit of you can take a vacation and you can say, okay, I need to work life balance. So I did a lot of doing and I made goals. So, back off, right, the manager has to be responsible for a team of those doers and then they’re also getting all the directives from the director and they have to mitigate what the director wants and like that’s not realistic. I’m not going to have my reps do that While the reps are saying, well, I got this problem, I got that problem, I got this problem, while still having to manage effectively and meet goal for the whole team. So I’ve always looked at it like managers have the hardest job in the world. It’s harder than the individual contributor and it’s harder than who they report to the directors. But you’re saying to make that mission easier as a manager, learn to delegate, or are you saying something else?
27:34 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
No, yeah, 100%. You have to learn to lift up your team and create a kind of a team of leaders and have them stepping up, power them enough to do more on their own.
27:47
Yeah, you should always be training your replacement in my mind in order to keep growing in your career. You should always be training your replacement In my mind in order to keep growing in your career. You should always have in my. That might not be for your whole job, but there are pieces of your role that you should always identify someone in your team who’s got a strength and give them a little bit of additional responsibility. You know, and I think a lot of people are craving that in their job and a lot of managers are like well, I don’t want to burn my team out or worse. They’re like I want the visibility on me. I want the boss to know I’m doing everything. If you’re working for the right place, they’re going to not want you doing everything. They’re going to want you lifting your team up, and so if you’re really going to be a healthy manager creating other good leaders, you give them a little responsibility. You share the wealth and your team succeeding makes you a successful leader.
28:40 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So then I’m curious you know you talked to a lot of managers give us, give us, give us, give us the codes here the top three. What are the top three biggest issues managers have today? That they’re just most managers if they’re struggling with these three things.
28:58 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah. So the first thing is exactly what you mentioned, that Oreo effect of feeling the squeeze from the top to the bottom, a hundred percent. You know, they feel like they are the epitome of middle management, where they’re getting directives, They’ve got a struggling team but they don’t know how to really make impact and that can be extremely draining. The second thing is work life balance. I think them feeling like they’ve got to do it all and then they’re losing out time with their family, their friends, you know they’re not taking care of themselves. That’s a huge, huge struggle. And then I think, just knowing what’s next, I think is the other thing. Like if they feel like they’re struggling in management, they don’t know how to get support. Like they feel like if they bring that up to their boss, then that’s them saying I don’t know how to do my job.
29:47 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I can’t do my job.
29:48 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah, and that’s not true. I think one of the hardest things to do in your career is to ask for help and the biggest. Anytime I’ve asked for help or support and gotten it has been like the biggest game changing moves in my career and the pivots.
30:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So, with your solution, your coaching company, now tell us a little bit.
30:14 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So, with your solution, your coaching company? Now tell us a little bit. What are you helping these managers conquer? Yeah, so you and I have talked about this, that the talking to managers and coaching them has not really been a field, honestly, that there’s a lot of coaching when you go VP and above there’s executive coaching, right, tons of programs, yeah, yeah. But when it comes, you go to like maybe, a weekend manager retreat but not really everybody can come because you got to be on call and everyone’s checking their phone and it’s like you spent thousands and thousands of dollars for a pretty like lackluster.
30:46 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure.
30:47 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Maybe trust falls and stuff. But my hope is to do one-on one coaching and then I want to build out group coaching. I think that we’ve seen to is like supporting other people in this space is huge. I think learning from other people’s problems because sometimes you don’t know what you’re even going to deal with yet you know.
31:07
I think that’s been the good and bad about management is there’s always a new people problem. Management is there’s always a new people problem, like there’s always a new type of person and a new type of problem. That I’ve never dealt with before. I have not dealt with every single problem and every single dynamic out there, but you get enough people and you get kind of a brain trust together and you talk about things and I think that’s been a challenge for people to open up and feel like they can talk about issues they’ve dealt with. There’s a lot of well, you don’t want to violate, like HR and things like that, but you can do it in a way that’s not violating somebody’s you know, personnel agreement and something like that but to be helpful and be a resource.
31:49 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You said something that I think is key, and even for managers listening to this right now, you know that are like Logan is speaking my language. Where do I find her contact information? You know you said but I’m a manager, I’m busy, I got to deal with the top, I got to deal with the bottom, I don’t have time. What do you say to that manager? That manager says Logan, I love what you’re saying, I even think you could help me, but I don’t have time.
32:13 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I think you got to prioritize. I mean, I think, at the end of the day, if you don’t feel like you have the time, it’s just like anything else. It’s like your health, right? If you’re like I don’t have time to work out, I don’t have time to eat healthy, right, and you’re going to get sick, and then life has a way of forcing it on you. Like I always say, like the universe.
32:34 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
the universe whispers until it screams. Ooh, I like that. I’m stealing that, the universe. Ooh, I’m telling you now, I’m stealing that, the universe.
32:42 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I’m pretty sure Oprah said it, so you can steal all day long, okay, okay. But yeah, I mean and to me that means you know something, something you know you need something, but you ignore it. You ignore it until it becomes unignorable, until something just manifests in your life in such a big way that you’re like, for some reason, I think some people think, oh, it’s not, it’s too late. Well, I’ve been a manager for three years now.
33:07
It’s too late to figure out how to get leadership training and it like that is so backwards yeah, that is backwards, that is very backwards yeah, I mean, and it’s you know, and I see so many managers leave or get burned out and say like I never want to manage and to me in this field, like those are like normally the most empathetic people and that’s why they get burned out. They they’re taking on like all the emotions of their team. But imagine if healthcare in general had more of those type of people in it. Like what, like, especially in leadership, like what the world could change if the right people stay in this field.
33:42 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That’s my belief. Now she’s preaching, guys. She’s preaching. Okay. So then Logan, laid out for us. You know a lot of people listen to this podcast. Who are we talking to? You know, describe the kind of person that should be giving you a call, looking up on LinkedIn, trying to get access to you because you finally have a solution for them.
34:02 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah, no. If you are managing in the field, if you’re in sales, if you are a clinical manager and you’re struggling with this and you kind of feel like you’re not able to work with your team, maybe you were really great with, like, your surgeon relationships and you are not getting your team going and you just feel like you’re not cut out for leadership. Just know that that is most likely not the case, especially if you care Like, if you care about your team and you care about the people. That’s the number. I can’t teach you how to care and you can’t pretend either, because people will sniff that stuff out. If you like, don’t like your team and you think I’m faking it pretty good, you’re not. They can. They can smell that. If you genuinely care like, if you care about your, your surgeons and those relationships and you care about your team and you want to see your career goal like I, I those are the people who I’m really excited to work with.
34:57 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it. How long do you normally work with people, and what can they expect on the other side?
35:01 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah, so normally I do about eight sessions with them and I. What I do because we work in this crazy field is we schedule it week by week and every other week. So I normally give it at least three months of time and we can kind of go as much as they’d like or as little as they like. But I’m very flexible, I guess, as far as like the bookings and things like that, because I understand setting something in stone with working in the OR doesn’t always work. My goal is, however, by the end of it they will be able to carve out that time and that is a huge difference maker is to be able to own your schedule. Especially for somebody who goes in the OR every single day or manages people. You have to learn to control your time and get a little bit of that back, because if you can’t do it for yourself, how are you going to do it for your team? And if you can’t control your time yourself, how are you going to do it for your team? And if you can’t control your time, how can you control your energy and where you’re spending your time developing yourself? So that is my main goal is to work with them.
35:58
I think most people have similar problems. But in the beginning I think they feel like, well, I have this unique situation to be. I think most people’s problems are like having difficult conversations and then also just bringing things up soon enough, like I think those things, and then delegating and we build off of that. So by the end you have systems that you can kind of rely on and you build off of those systems and to something that’s like you can flywheel, you can keep it as you grow. When you become a director, when you become a VP, those systems become habits.
36:36 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Let’s go. Last thing I want to know so you know what’s the biggest success you’ve seen in this space? Where someone was doing it one way and then they got your coaching or they got something and you got to see them operate, and now they’re just having a completely different level of impact.
36:53 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah. So I still distinctly remember talking to this person who was a really good technical supervisor, really bright, and he would get really frustrated with his team and, honestly, even other people in the company, because you felt like no one was at his level and you know we worked together and I was like hey, nobody is trying to be bad at their jobs and like for some reason that didn’t occur to him I get it, I get it okay, so because you know it’s like they’re a high achiever, they’re thinking at that level but, like the reality is, no one shows up for work see how I can screw this up today.
37:32 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That is very real. Yeah, you’re right.
37:34 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So I think assuming good intention, assuming that people want to do well, is a differentiator and that can be a huge mindset shift to go from making you like the taskmaster and like the whip behind somebody to the person who’s like holding their hand out to help lead them.
37:53 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I love it. I love it, logan, this was fantastic. Where can people find you?
37:57 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
So I’m on LinkedIn. You just go at Logan McKnight on LinkedIn and then I’ve got goodnight consulting, and so it’s goodnight. Consultingnet is my website, if you guys want to check it out, but I’m posting stuff on LinkedIn weekly that I hope you guys find helpful, and I’ll be launching a webinar in a few weeks too, which I’ll post on my LinkedIn and you guys can check that out.
38:17 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Absolutely, and those of you that are in our EYS school community in MedSalesMatch, logan is there. She has her own page for neuro device, neuro spine, medical device sales. So make sure you check it out and, if you’re, if you want, you can get everything that Logan’s talking about there and you can even get time with her with the link she has there on that page. Logan, we got one more thing to do today. Are you ready?
38:42 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I’m ready.
38:43 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
This is called the lightning round. I’m going to be asking you four questions. You have less than 10 seconds to answer. Here we go. First question is what is the best book you’ve read in the last six months?
38:52 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Ooh, I would say Likeable Badass, that was a really good book.
38:56 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That just sounds interesting. What is the best TV show or movie you’ve seen in the last six months?
39:05 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Oh my gosh, have I seen a TV show or movie? You know, it’s funny.
39:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I think that we wanted to go see the Jurassic.
39:08 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Park, the like new Jurassic Park movie and so we watched one of the older ones. And it’s not new. I still love that, though.
39:13 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That’s cool, very cool. All right, and then what is the best meal you’ve had in the last six months? We want the restaurant, we want the location and, if you want, you can give us the actual, like the name of the meal.
39:24 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I love going to a scent bar in Bellevue. It’s got a really beautiful skyline out in Seattle and they just have a really great happy hour.
39:34 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Yeah, it’ll be in the show notes. It’ll be in the show notes, but it’s pronounced Ascent, far. Okay, all right. Last but not least, what is the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?
39:44 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
I mean honestly, I think building this, like talking to people, like before I pulled the trigger, I’m a member of Stripes group, which is women in medical tech, and, like they have a mentorship program, they have a group to help other women. That group has been amazing. Honestly, it’s also how I met you, Samuel so like the connections mean everything.
40:03
I think that’s been the biggest life changing experience is just putting myself out there, and that was what I was most apprehensive about. I’m so glad I did it and for anyone who’s nervous about posting or creating a personal brand on LinkedIn, just do it.
40:19 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Just get over it Just go. Let’s go Logan. It was a pleasure. You dropped some real pearls for everybody today. Thank you for the time you spent on the Metacost podcast and we can’t wait to see what you’re going to go on and continue to do.
40:30 – Logan Mcknight (Guest)
Yeah, thanks, samuel. Have a good day.
40:33 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
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, scheduling 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.
