What separates top-performing medical sales reps from the rest?
It’s not just talent; it’s elite training.
Amy Harrington, VP of Clinical Training, reveals how the right approach to learning can make or break your success in this industry.
Inside this episode:
- How Amy went from surgical tech to nurse to top-tier medical sales leader
- Why sales training isn’t optional—it’s the secret weapon for dominating the field
- The overlooked power of personalized learning in high-stakes industries
- How startups shaped her ability to adapt, innovate, and build winning teams
Whether you aim to break in, level up, or reinvent your career, this episode delivers the insider playbook for thriving in medical sales.
Meet the guest:
Amy Harrington is the Vice President of Clinical Training and Practice Development at R2 Technologies, Inc., where she leads the company’s clinical education and advancement strategies. With over a decade of experience in the aesthetic and medical technology industries, Amy is known for designing innovative training programs that equip sales teams to sell confidently through science and knowledge.
Since joining R2 in 2021, Amy has been a driving force behind the company’scompany’s growth and innovation. Her strategic leadership—first as Director of Clinical Development & Education, then as Senior Director of Clinical Development, and now as VP of Practice Development—has been instrumental in establishing the R2 brand within clinical practices. Her contributions reflect a deep commitment to advancing the field of aesthetics through education and collaboration.
Before R2, Amy held impactful leadership roles at Syneos Health, Obagi, and Solta Medical, where she developed and implemented transformative clinical and sales training programs. Beginning her career as a Registered Nurse in the operating room, she gained invaluable hands-on experience that continues to inform her practical and patient-centered approach to clinical education.
Amy’s academic background includes a dual bachelor’s Degree in nursing and biology from the University of Maine, as well as an associate’s Degree in criminalistics. She further enhanced her expertise in curriculum development with an instructional design certification from the Association of Talent Development.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Amy is a wellness enthusiast who enjoys yoga, rowing, and exploring Maine’s landscapes. A proud dog mom, she embraces an active outdoor lifestyle while balancing her passion for transforming clinical education with her love for the outdoors.
Connect with her: LinkedIn, Instagram
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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. 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.
00:59
Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, samuel, and today we have another special guest and she goes by the name of Amy Harrington. Now Amy is actually a vice president of clinical training. Her whole career she has been training physicians and sales reps in all different types of specialties within medical sales on how to be their best sell powerfully. She’s the type of trainer that, with all the teams she’s worked with, if there are ever cuts being made in an organization. They’re never, ever cutting her because of the value she brings.
01:29
Now, I’m not going to spoil it. She’s impressive. I’m going to let the episode do all the talking. As always, we do our best to bring you guests or do anything differently in the medical space, so I really do hope you enjoy this interview. So you know I was reading your profile and it looks like you this interview. So you know I was reading your profile and it looks like you. So are you the head honcho that makes like all training programs for all these med tech companies? Is that accurate or am I going to the wrong direction here?
01:53 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I don’t know if I would describe it as head honcho. I definitely. I don’t think that I’m the head honcho or feel like I’m the head honcho, but I do think that I just figure out what needs to get done and just roll my sleeves up and get it done. So I, you know, I’ve worked a lot with startups, so I get a little scrappy and just like, oh, we need this, I’ll do it, I’ll build, you know, that environment of startups development. I kind of wear. I’ve worn two hats here for the last couple of years.
02:32
Mostly my career has been in training, but I have evolved into also running teams for practice development.
02:37
But I would say that, simply put, my job is really to kind of make sure that the sales team knows their stuff. They have the knowledge and they know inside and out what they need to be able to talk to customers, whether that’s the science of skin, whether it’s mechanism of action of a technology, whatever that is. So the medical professional feels confident after they’ve had that interaction with whether it’s a clinical person that’s on a clinical training team or a salesperson that’s on a sales team they feel confident to use or to buy our product first and then to use the device moving forward. So, like like every other professional I think in the training realm and I’m sure that you can relate with this is I translate a lot of the kind of the technical stuff, the science-y stuff, the clinical stuff. I translate that into a practical form so that you can bridge that gap and really help that the salesperson sell with science and clinical and the language that you need to be able to do that.
03:46 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So are you the kind of person that can approach a startup, see, they have a valuable product with a valuable offering. They got five to 10 people to spare to actually get this thing sold, and you’re the one that says, okay, this is the framework, this is what’s going to look like, this is the execution, and I’ll even help you guys roll this out.
04:08 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
You know it’s so hard to kind of pinpoint exactly what it is because it’s a lot of so many different things. You know I go in and say, okay, what is our ultimate goal goal? So, for example, right now, our the ultimate goal is we need to onboard 10 new capital sales reps and we need to train them on everything and anything that is company, technology, science, culture, all of that related. And so I take all of the learning needs and I kind of translate that into what is what’s going to be digestible for this group and the next group it might be only clinicians and the next group it might be only marketers. And so I kind of take, I customize everything that I have and if I don’t have something that I need, I’m going to build it and I’m going to create whatever resource I need.
04:58
So it could be creating new curriculum, it could be taking a very complex clinical study and clinical data and it could be translating that into concepts of practical knowledge that will help a salesperson sell and it will help them be more confident, because I’m going to break it down into little, bite sized pieces where they can they understand it long or however basic. I need to do that. I will look at my audience and really customize the material so that they can again digest it and go out and do what their role is. So it’s really, you know, I think it’s. I think my job really comes down to connection, like I’m connecting what we have, what we don’t have, the gaps, and I’m creating and building and building the architecture around how to bridge those gaps and build the knowledge for sales, for clinicians, for our customers. So, whatever tools and strategy is needed, I’m kind of creating that architecture.
05:59 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Now, as VP, are you the final say? Do you have someone you have to report to on what you want to do? You know how does, and of course, there’s the official relationship of what that sounds like, but what’s the reality? Is it kind of like look, Amy, we need this. Figure it out All you? Or is it more like I really want to do this, but I got to get so-and-so’s approval to make sure I can roll this out?
06:28 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
How does it normally look? You know, I don’t think anything is always normal. I think the culture in every organization is different and unique to that organization. I’ve been in both of those roles. So I’ve been in the role where I’ve had a lot of for lack of a better word micromanagement. I’ve had a lot of having to say you know, I’d really like to do this, can I do this? And then a lot of like in the pharmaceutical industry. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot more regulations and a lot more sidelines right.
06:53 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So you have to stay within your boundaries. You can only say this Red tape central, yeah, exactly.
07:01 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
And then when you, when you get into different fields different fields kind of have different culture and so, um, I’ve also worked in that environment where it’s like you know what? We hired you, we trust you Just here individuality to be able to do that, because I like the creative side of building the tools. That’s the environment I’m in right now and I’ve been really fortunate enough to have some mentors on the sales side that have said, in multiple different companies that they’ve built up, they’ve said Amy, we need you to come build this program, come with us come build this program.
07:46
And then you know, five years down the road they say Amy, come with us to this and come build this program. So I’ve gotten to that point in my career where I have a little bit more of that autonomy and I think that that that is a good environment for me to thrive in.
08:00 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Love it, I love it. So so, amy, please share with us what type of company do you work for now?
08:06 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I’m currently with a startup company. It’s a medical device company in the aesthetic industry, got it. So our, our call points are dermatologists, plastic surgeons, solo estheticians, medical spas, franchise medical spas All of those are are who we sell our device to.
08:23 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Oh that’s cool, so okay. So I got to ask how many different industries have you worked in within medical sales?
08:31 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
That’s a good question. So I started, I had a kind of like this back and forth in my career which kind of lends into one of the things, one of the pillars of what I believe in. You know. You asked me, like, what advice do I give to reps? One of the things is like, just say yes to opportunity, even if it’s not exactly what you like, what you thought you might be doing, because it just it grows legs and it evolves and you meet people that give you opportunities down the road and and so I feel like that’s something that where my career, how my career kind of transpired. So I started off being asked to learn how to be a surgical tech and I, you know, I was working in a medical office and somebody I knew just said would you be interested in being a surgical tech? I didn’t even know what a surgical tech was.
09:19 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Somebody at the office or a stranger to the office. So somebody at the office or a stranger to the office.
09:24 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I so funny story. The director of nursing was my high school softball coach’s wife.
09:31 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Oh, wow, yeah.
09:33 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
And I was. I was a big athlete in school and I I just I had a really good relationship with my coaches. And so it was his wife and she was the director of nursing and she said you’re working in this office doing transcription, and you know, I had two degrees at that point. And she’s like, why don’t you like try something? And I was like, okay, do you want to be a surgical tech? And so I went in to see one surgery and I peeked through the little window and I was like, yes, that’s exactly it. So I, yeah, I started off being a surgical tech. I grew, I grew from there and uh, you know, at one point it hit me, you know at two in the morning and, taking call, scrubbed into a case and I thought the nurse that has same education, basically that I do, is over there probably making twice the amount of money that I am, and we’re working the same amount of hours working just as hard. I’m like why am I not a nurse?
10:23
So I went back to school for an accelerated program, went back to school for nursing and as soon as I graduated nursing I started running all of the ortho pods, like what they call them. So I was doing all the ortho cases. I had a really amazing orthopedic surgeon mentor who taught me so much and I became kind of like the case cover for the orthos. And then I just I got seen by, um, some orthopedic reps and they said would you come work 1099 as an orthopedic rep and cover all the cases in this area? And I was like, yeah sure.
10:54 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So I just how long were you a nurse before you were poached?
11:01 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Um, I was kind of getting poached when I was a surgical tech and I kept on like just entertaining it but not jumping in. Um, not long it was. It was probably less than a year, maybe a year wow.
11:15 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So you were like you were barely a nurse, and I know I’m making the jump, wow but I worked part-time as, as a, as a orthopedic rep.
11:24 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
They were really flexible with me and I worked part-time as, as a, as a orthopedic rep, they were really flexible with me and I worked full-time as a nurse. Um, so I was still working as a nurse and then all of a sudden we you know the orthopedic companies, they, they all kind of merged, and Biomet and Zimmer and um, and so I got, we lost the orthopedic surgeon, started using a different program company and so they shifted. And then this orthopedic group said, hey, would you come cover our cases? But we want you full time. And it was at that point where I was like, wait a second, I just went to school for nursing, how am I jumping ship and going to work for an orthopedic company? I was like but again, to back to my, to my um, my one of my foundational things of advice is just like, just say yes, just try it, just do it, because there’s always doors that open. And and so I did. I I went and worked full time as a trauma and uh, orthopedic rep, covering the state of Maine.
12:17 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Wow.
12:18 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Um, I learned a lot, but I did also learn that I was not a great salesperson in that environment.
12:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
But I did also learn that I was not a great salesperson in that environment. So wait, before we continue, I want to hang out where you had two jobs for a moment. So you were a part-time nurse and a part-time rep.
12:37
I was a full-time nurse and a part-time rep. But a full-time nurse is a part-time nurse because you have the three day. You know the three day, two day, you, you have opportunities, as you, as you showed to be a rep and be a nurse at the same time. When you were a nurse full-time nurse, part-time rep and you, you know two worlds here. What was in the mind? Was it like, oh my gosh, it would be so wonderful if I could do this rep stuff full-time. Or was it like, like I’m doing this rep stuff, it’s kind of cool, but man, I don’t know, I want to stay as a nurse. You know what was what was going through your mind.
13:10 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
You ask really good questions. It was a long time ago, but I think I really loved the freedom and the autonomy of being a sales rep. It was difficult trying to do both at the same time because I was also um covering. I was the nurse on one day at one at the facility and then the rep, their rep, the next day at the facility, so the lines got a little bit blurry, um, and that made it very challenging, um, but at the same time I loved doing both of what I was doing and I just I only made the the the choice to go to repping full-time because the opportunity presented itself and I didn’t know if I was going to get that opportunity again. Okay, so I was. I was like I can always come back to nursing.
13:54 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure, and were you? Were you convinced of the opportunity or you kind of knew that this could be a big thing if you, if you went to the full-time rep?
14:06 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
be a big thing if you, if you, went to the full-time rep. I didn’t. I don’t think I knew what it was when I was in it. I was doing it because it was a fun opportunity and I love to learn. I’m a lifelong learner and I wanted to learn something new. I just got done nursing. Now I’m like okay, I’m ready for the next thing to learn. Yeah, I mean, obviously the hours were different, the pay was different. You know, as a sales, as a new sales rep, I was actually making more than I was as a nurse, and so those were all factors that played into it. But for the most part it wasn’t like oh my gosh, this is a huge opportunity. I could get into sales. I never had aspirations to get into sales.
14:43 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So it was for lack of a better way of saying it it was almost kind of like a natural progression, opportunity to opportunity and why not? Kind of sentiment more than anything else. So you said that you weren’t a good sales rep, though, so I want to hear what was going on in the day to day of the job that made you say you know what, I am not good at this.
15:12 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I think it was about meeting expectations. And so I am a. I was a. I mean think I’m a clinician that’s come out of an environment where, first and foremost, it’s about my patients. It’s about keeping my patients safe, it’s about keeping the environment in the operating room safe for my patient and doing my job the best that I can.
15:25
And then I had to shift gears and go into an operating room where there was a nurse taking care of a patient and I had to speak to the orthopedic surgeon while he’s in the middle of a complex case, while he’s choosing and sizing and cutting and I’m trying to sell him what I’ve got in my trunk, because there’s a fracture that gets an x-ray of a fracture, that gets, you know, an x-ray of a fracture that comes on board.
15:46
And I just felt like there was a disconnect of selling in that environment for me, because I was still, first and foremost, passionately, a clinician and I knew like I shouldn’t be talking, I shouldn’t be disrupting him, I don’t want to to get his focus off that patient. That is what’s most important. But then that was your only time. A lot of times that was the only time scrubbing up into a case. That was the only time you had the ear of the surgeon and that was you know. Sometimes, you know you talk about pitch, developing a pitch. I think it was in this environment that people the salespeople learned how to develop a pitch. It’s like when you’re scrubbing in for three minutes you got to tell me about the products that you need to sell or you need to push or you want me to try in that three minutes while they’re scrubbing in, before they go into surgery.
16:30 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So, that’s fascinating. So you’re saying that you were a rep. You realize there’s a gap in doing your job effectively that, of course, you didn’t like, and then you end up becoming the geez trainer for how to do it effectively. Okay, before you even explain all that, right, close the gap for me on. You realize you weren’t good at this because of this issue, that you saw that, hey, this physician needs to focus, I should not be selling them. But you still understood that this is my job. How did you? How did you resolve it?
17:12 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Yeah, I mean it was a high pressure sale. You know there was urgency there because you know you needed to make a number and that was the only time you were in front of the doctor. And that was where I don’t think that I did flourish. Where I did thrive was in in servicing and being there for the surgical tech because, like the back of my mind, I knew every instrument, I knew every step of the surgery. I knew exactly what they needed to do and when they ran into trouble they turned around and they said Amy, what do we do?
17:45
So for that in that case I was very valuable and I could get business in turn. I could, I could translate that business slowly because they saw the value in me as a rep, because I knew my stuff. Um, but when it came to me asking for the business, I struggled and so I thought that I would. I I recognized at that point that my knowledge was my power and closing sales and asking for business was not, was not there for my power. And so I just started moving away of away from that sales position but moved towards the training position for a sales company, because I knew that that’s what I was good at the training position for a sales company, because I knew that that’s what I was good at.
18:24 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So what did that look like? So was that you were a rep and you took an in-house stint in training. You left the company. How did it happen?
18:28 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
So at that point I applied to go back into the operating room. I needed a break. You know you think about it. Back in the day we wore pagers and you know when you’re covering trauma you could get a page at two o’clock in the morning. You can get a page when you’re out with friends at dinner.
18:43
Bless your heart for taking those jumps right and when you’re covering the entire state. Sometimes you’re like, oh, okay, I’m about six hours away, I’ll jump in my car, I’ll be there in six hours. Um, sometimes I remember driving in the winter time in maine, driving six hours to go cover a case, to be there for 7 am, cut time. And you walk into the operating room and the front desk says, oh, they didn’t call you, that case was canceled. So, yeah, so I took a break. I took a break. I went back into the operating room. For about five years I worked as a surgical tech and operating room nurse, a circulator and scrub.
19:25 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You left the sales world and you went back to being a clinician.
19:30 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I did Yep.
19:31 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So okay, when you, a year after making that decision, was it itching to go back into corporate, Was it? I’m so glad I went back to being a nurse. Where was your head?
19:42 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Um, for a little while I really liked the regular schedule and being able to have a life and being able to plan and not being. You know you still take call when you’re a nurse in the operating room but, um, you at least plan that call and you can say you know, you know you can take days when you don’t have to be on call. So I really I needed the break and I liked it, but for I was itching in a sense because there is a lot of autonomy and freedom when you’re a rep. You know what your case schedule is, but you know what you. You can drive there and if you’re in the on the road for three hours, you can call your parents and catch up, whereas as a nurse you’re, you know you’re punching in, you’re working hard, they work so hard, um, and then you’re punching out for a 30 minute lunch. It can’t be 29 minutes and can’t be 31 minutes. You’re punching out for a 30 minute lunch and you’re right back at it for a 10 hour day.
20:33
So, um, it’s, I did. I did love the, the kind of that freedom and the pace of being a rep, a little bit more than the nursing environment. But there were so many things in the operating room that I absolutely love to the fast pace, the trauma, the something new every day, something different every day, taking care of the patients, the connection with the patients. You don’t get that when you’re a rep. So there was good things and bad things about Wolf Rolls that I really liked.
21:04 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So when did you turn this into being a curriculum creator?
21:08 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
That one. I cannot take credit for. This one fell into my lap and this is, I think, at this point, this is where my career really started. The other stuff was just kind of like the building blocks. The transition that happened after this was really, I think, where my career started building.
21:25
I got a call one day from someone in my position now, so she was at the time, I believe, a director a director of training and education for a medical device company in aesthetics. I knew nothing about aesthetics. They said you know Botox and I thought, oh yeah, for the vocal cords. I knew nothing about facial aesthetics and you know radio frequency and lasers, and it was completely new world. I just got a call one day and they said we saw your resume on Monster. We think you’d be a great. And I was like my resume, it hasn’t been online for five years and said, well, we think you’d be a really great fit for our organization. Would you fly to San Francisco and interview with us? And again I was like I’m not looking, I’m not interested, I know nothing about this, I don’t want to be on the road traveling. There was all of these no’s in my brain. But then I said, well, why not? So I flew to San Francisco, did five interviews, took a red eye home, worked the 10 hour shift.
22:25
The next day they offered me the job and I was like uh-oh, now what? And it was a training job. It was a training, it was a clinical installation trainer. And so you’re going into the office, you’re training the medical staff on how, all the technical aspects of the medical device, that’s theory, that’s the didactic, that’s skin basics and skin histology, it’s mechanism of action, it’s all of that. And that is where I fell in love with training. I had done it with orthopedics and in-servicing, but I really fell in love with training in this role because that was what I was doing every day.
23:02 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So it wasn’t training the sales reps, it was training the actual accounts.
23:08 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
It was training the actual accounts until I made a name for myself and I was recognized as a very good educator. And then I started at that company. Yeah, and so they would send me. They sent me to Canada, Australia, Amsterdam. They had me go train all of their global distributors. I started training all new clinicians, all new clinical educators, into our organization and then I also ran new prior training. So every new sales rep that came in I started training.
23:38 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So you were training sales reps. At that time you were doing both Okay so so again, take us to when you first started training the sales reps and you had your first successful training class was was your head? Now, this is my passion. I have found it. All engines go, or was it a little? A little bit more nuanced.
23:59
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 evolveyoursuccesscom, 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.
25:13 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
It was both of those things, I think my passion came. It was very much rooted in the fact that asked permission from my company to pay for everything and fly me over to Australia for two weeks, because they saw the value at New Hire Training, they saw the value in what I could bring to their organization. So those little wins and people acknowledging that I was really good at this, I think that’s what fed my passion. And when I realized that I was providing value to sales reps that I didn’t even see at the time but I just I kept on having these, these successes where people were asking for me and I was, you know, winning awards and um, and I realized like there’s a reason why I’m doing this and it’s because I’m good at it and that kind of naturally developed into this passion for it. Does that, does that make sense? Okay?
26:03 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
The sales enablement whisperer. I’m all over it, I love it. I love it, so so, so let’s talk about it. You know, I want, I want to switch gears a little bit and get into how reps can appreciate sales training. I think.
26:19
I think there’s a couple of myths I want to dispel. That’s first of all and maybe it’s not a myth You’re going to educate all of us right now. So people say, oh yeah, when a company’s cracking down and cuts have to be made, sales training is the first to go. Now, I’ve heard that my entire career. But when I really think about it, especially now with having a company myself, I almost think that I’m not sure that’s true. That can’t make sense, because if you get rid of the training department, what in the world are you going to do with your representatives when a new launch comes, when you’re trying to drive this goal and the gap can be closed, but you’re not sure how you’re going to close it? I’m assuming that’s when the training department comes into play. Speak to that. Is that a myth? Is that true? What are the realities around that?
27:06 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
You know, I’ve heard that. I’ve heard that also, I’ve been at organizations where I, you know, when things maybe look a little unstable, they say, well, sales, like training, might be the first to go. So I’ve heard it, but in reality, my experience has always been exactly the opposite. It’s been the opposite because I, I’ve, I have shown and built value around learning and and giving, enabling them to sell with through knowledge. And I I feel like, and I’ve also been through restructures of companies and my team was the one that were the ones that were the most valuable because at the end of the day, you know, you still have to service your customers, you still have to train your customers, and if your customer’s not using your device and your salespeople can’t sell your device because they don’t have the knowledge, then I mean really it starts with the training. So I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s a myth, it just hasn’t been my experience at all.
28:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure, sure, okay, fair, so let’s talk about it then. So with sales training, you know you were a rep and I’m sure as a rep, you would hear people say we got sales training. Oh man, especially the seasoned reps, right? Oh gosh, another sales training. Okay, what are they going to try? Who are they bringing out this time, or what’s the new spin this time? Talk to us about how should reps really look at sales training in their organizations, and I’m sure, out of all people, you probably understand the value the most. Why is it that reps need to be really intentional about the training that their companies offer and what it can really do for them? Speak, speak to us as best you can about that.
28:51 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Oh my gosh, how much time do we have? I think I could write a book on this. I mean at the very, very foundation, like the basics. I mean it’s so important to learn your product inside and out because, like, confidence comes from knowledge and confidence sells. People buy from someone who believes in what they’re selling and knows their product and can answer questions and be confident about their answers. So I mean just that, from the like, again, from the very basic. Like you, you need to to understand and know your product. But I mean, listen, I’ve been there, I’ve done two weeks in Morsaw, indiana, for orthopedic training, and I was out there and I was just like, oh my gosh, I cannot wait for this to be over, right? I I didn’t when I was in it, I was just like I just want to go do my job. Right, there’s a lot of people that a lot of organizations that don’t do sales training well and I feel and I might have a very unique philosophy on this, which may not be the majority of how- you bet you better stay.
29:57 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
This is what we’re here for.
29:59 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
So I mean, you hear of all these like and I won’t mention them by name but all of these selling models, like every organization that I’ve ever interviewed for for a sales enablement role or a training role, um, or had they always talk about your selling skills model, the memorization algorithms for how to sell? I just I think it’s so much less complex than that because I’ve I’ve been through as a sales rep, I’ve been through multiple different selling skills programs. Ask me any question about them. I don’t even know what the acronym stands for, and I’m a learner, I love to learn, but I don’t know what the acronyms stand for. I can’t remember them because they weren’t meaningful to me. To me, the knowledge is in the practical part of it, and that’s where I think that I’ve created value in what I do, because I’m not going to go and tell you some acronym that you need to memorize and tell you how to sell. I’m going to teach you the soft skills and the emotional intelligence and the practicality behind like why do you need to know that? What this device does, and why does this device do this and why does it do this this way and why, like? I want to give you all the why behind everything, so that you understand the importance and you can. I always say, let’s teach them how to fish, let’s teach you how to think through this problem. So you’re not saying, okay, I need to ask a question, now I need to, and a lot of it is just such foundational skills.
31:22
It’s listening, you know, listen to your customers, understand what they want to know. Like I can teach a rep how to go through a 50 slide pitch deck and tell you how to present every single slide on that pitch deck Again, kind of talking about how to teach somebody these skills that maybe they don’t use. Or I can teach you how to ask the right question and listen to the answer and say, okay, now where do we take that guide, the conversation? You can take those 50 slides and not present a single one, or present just one, because that person said all they cared about was ROI, or all they cared about was the clinical endpoints, or all they cared about was the price. And you could close a deal on just price alone or just ROI alone or just clinical results alone. But you have to ask the right questions, you have to listen, and to me that’s just that’s.
32:10
That’s emotional intelligence, it’s listening skills. It’s not necessarily some cookie cutter acronym, but every new higher sales training program you’re going to enter into they talk about okay, which selling skills model do we want them to learn? So again, I’m maybe a little bit old fashioned or maybe a little I’m of the minority, I think, when I talk about just let’s just be, let’s learn how to practically talk to people, uncover what their need is, provide value around what we have to fulfill their need. Let’s ask, let’s teach them the questions that they need to ask. To close, like all of those things, so then, how do you balance?
32:53 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
you know, because I always thought these selling models existed. One because there’s a people believe there’s a way to just approach selling. But I also thought they existed because they adopted certain adult learning, adult learning principles, like these acronyms. Because, you know, as adults we’re just not, we’re not all like we were in our, in our, you know, freshman year in college and our brains aren’t firing exactly the same way, and so, because of the wisdom, the real life experience when we are learning a new concept, it helps to have some kind of acronym, some structure that we can kind of call on when we’re in that situation. If your method or approach kind of shies away from these acronyms, how do you balance the adult learning with these people that maybe they don’t know how to sell powerfully and you’re responsible for their success? How are you balancing?
33:48 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
That’s a really fantastic question. I, you know, I don’t. I don’t think that there’s no value in selling models. I do for exactly that, the way that you just described it. There are some people that need that formalized learning, and they need to have something very regimented to to kind of learn in order to go out and do their job. Um, I, I think, I mean, I think that there’s a place for both. I just think that, basically, you know, kind of exactly like what you were saying with adult learning, um, what one acronym and the one methodology might work for you. Something completely different might work for me something completely different might work for X.
34:28 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Y Z rep.
34:29 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
And so if you’re picking one selling model and you’re paying $30,000 as an organization for that one selling model and it resonates for 25% of your reps, based on their tenure and their learning, the way that they learn, to me I just feel like customizing the learning for each and every individual that’s in your organization. And that, to me, is emotional intelligence. Let’s role play, let’s ask good questions, let’s listen, let’s, let’s learn those foundational skills that every single sales model talks about but they don’t like they do, they all spin it in a different way. I, I mean, I guess I just I like to learn the skills. I just don’t have an acronym for it.
35:09 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Hey, you might have your own method, not even know that you’re teaching a whole new method, okay. Okay, so let’s get into this then. So you have your way of doing this. You have your reps, your training. For those reps listening right now that maybe they are with a company that they’re selling their sales model, their sales training is not as beneficial as they would hope for. They’re looking for more development. For those who are listening right now, what would you advise? You know, what would you advise to someone listening right now If they were listening to the episode and said wow, you know, I love what Amy’s talking about. I want to show up the way Amy helps her reps show up. What can I do? What would you? What would you advise?
35:52 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Um, well, first, I do think that you should master the selling model that you are using and learn it, um. But I also think that you have to go a little bit outside of that. I think it’s all about being curious and wanting to show up. I’ll use your words. If you care and you want to show up, you’re going to want to be better, and that goes back to being a lifelong learner. If something’s not working for you, figure out. Okay. Who do I have to reach out to? What classes do I have to take? What articles do I have to read? Like, if I know that I need to get better with this, I’m going to feed myself information in order to grow in that, in that area. So, for example, if you know, if listening skills are not your strong suit and the feedback that you’ve gotten from your mentors is like listen to what you’re, you’re saying, reach out to those mentors and say, like, coach me, help me. Like, let’s practice. I’m going to pitch to you and tell me stop me exactly where I’m over talking you or I didn’t hear you, so that I can learn Some of the best reps, and some of them are really young.
37:09
I’ve recently, on my team, had a girl right out of college and she would call me and say, okay, this is my ultimate goal, how do I get there? She sought out coaching. She wasn’t afraid to call me or you know, vp in the organization. She called me and she said I want to talk to an ASM, I want to talk to the VP of the of the reps, I want to talk to the leading sales rep and I want to find out everything that they’re doing that works so that I can start working on that. It was the drive, it was the, it was the desire. It was the desire to learn more, it was the curiosity of learning what they were doing. You know, all of those things I think feed into just being better at what you’re doing if you want to succeed.
37:53 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure, no, that makes sense. That makes sense. You know, and we’re going to have a little bit of fun, amy, guessing how many people, would you say, you’ve trained over your years. Oh, wow, oh gosh.
38:10 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Thousands, because between customers at one point I was covering like 18 states and every single install Five thousand. Probably more, because I’ve also trained like in front of large groups like 50 to 100 people in ballrooms when you’re training, like in front of large groups, like 50 to a hundred people in ballrooms when you’re training. So I’ve worked like I’ve done, eight hour trainings in front of 50 people where you’re training on every single product. So, and webinars, webinars. When you have a hundred people, you’re right.
38:38 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
We can go on for days. So I’m going to go ahead and just throw like 20,000 out there and here’s where I’m going with it. So you know, when you think about all the reps out of that, of all the people you’ve trained, think about all the reps you’ve trained, what would you say is just the number one consistent gap, the biggest opportunity, that reps that you just see over and over and you’re like man, this is the problem that most reps have and all of them should be absolutely thinking about this.
39:09 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I think I have two answers for you.
39:10 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Sure.
39:13 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I’m going to let me, let me think this through so I can say this is very personal to me, though, because I think it’s the way that my brain works.
39:28
Personal to me, though, because I think it’s the way that my brain works. I think one of the biggest issues that I’ve had, or what I’ve coached to, when I’m coaching reps um, you know, when they pitch a sales pitch to me and or even interviews like I’ve interviewed, you know, hundreds of people for jobs Um, I think that the the ability to be concise and succinct in your message off of what you know that the person asking the question wants to hear. So I think one of the biggest things that sales reps do is over-talk and over-sell, and that comes sometimes from a lack of knowledge. They have a bucket of knowledge that they have about their product and they walk into their, they cold call, or they walk into their prospect’s office and they say, wow, I know all this stuff right. So they just we call it kind of word word vomit yep, right, so they’re just throwing all of this stuff out, them out to them.
40:23
and if you’re coming to sell to me like that, I’m going to be like I’m sorry, I don’t have time. Like I, I gotta go. Which is what a lot of medical clinicians are doing is closing the door on reps, like I don’t have time to talk to you. If you come in with a focus and you say tell me why you took this meeting today and what is the one thing that you need to learn at the end of this 10 minutes, 45 minutes, one hour, what is the one thing that you need to learn at the end of this 10 minutes, 45 minutes, one hour? What is the one thing that you need to learn in order to move our conversation forward to the next steps? Clinical results. Let me focus there. Let me tell you what you want to hear.
40:55
Like so many times, a sales rep will go in and be like okay, again, I’ve got this 50 slide presentation. This is the history of our company, this is the mechanism of action, and that person care, like I don’t care, is it gonna make me money? And you just lost me in the first five minutes because now, oh, you know what, I’ve got a patient. I’ve got to go because you, just, you just lost me with all of the words. Find out what they want to know and be concise and succinct and be you know. Just deliver that very valuable information to them and then ask if they want to learn more, because if you grab them with what interests them, they’ll continue the conversation.
41:32 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
When’s the book coming out? Amy? That was awesome. That was awesome. I love that. Thank you for sharing that, and I think that that can resonate with anyone. I think that’s incredibly valuable and I even love that you have an actual statement you can share, which is what is the one thing that can move our conversation forward before we end this meeting. I think that’s that alone. Everybody I hope people listening are taking notes, because this is gold and pearls that Amy’s dropping here. That’s fantastic, ok. And then the other side of that question the thousands of sales reps that you’ve worked with. What consistent trait do you see? That, just over and over and over again, it lends to success. Every time you see it in a sales rep brand new college grad experience, it doesn’t matter. When you see this, you’re like, oh yeah, that person’s going places, and I know you already talked about the curiosity. But I’m going to go ahead and say give us, give us another thing.
42:36 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Well, you read my mind. It was very much curiosity, but I can tell you that there are certain people in my career that I have remembered. I can sometimes. Sometimes I work with people and I don’t remember their names I’m so bad with names but there’s people that I’ve worked with 20 years ago that I remember their name and the reason is that they have this quality they are charismatic, they network.
42:55
I am a born introvert, so being in a sales organization and being in this type of role is a challenge every day for me, because I have to run teams, I have to have one-on-ones, I have to be with people all the time. Sometimes I’m in week long trainings and I’m in front of groups and I’m I’m talking the entire time. So I’m an introvert, so networking can sometimes be a struggle for me. But when people do it right, when people are like they’re taking that extra time where you know it’s not a mandatory dinner, nope, I’m going. So-and-so is there, my VP of sales is there, my head trainer is there. I am going to go and maximize and capitalize on that time that I have in front of people. Oh, it’s an optional cocktail hour. Now I’m going to go out and have dinner with my friends? Nope, you’re going, you’re staying. The extra time, any time, any face time that you can get with people in your organization or outside your organization that can move the needle for you, or the relationships will get you somewhere. Whether it’s the resource you want or what you’re asking for or just building your reputation, take it.
44:02
That’s where I’ve seen you know. Christy Williams is the girl that I remember. She was so good. She talked to everybody. She knew your family’s name.
44:11
I had chickens at the time. She knew my chickens names. Every time I would see her. She was on the West Coast, I was on the East how are your chickens? How are your dogs? She made me feel important. I will remember her name for years to come as being somebody that was memorable, and so whenever I think of oh gosh, you know what I need somebody on the West coast I wonder if Christie’s looking and so that you know, making an impression on people by making them feel valued, knowing them, that curiosity, learning about them, acting not acting, but being interested in them. I think that sets people apart and that’s also why you know for my, the last three jobs that I’ve had and where I’ve had the most growth in my career have been people that I’ve worked with in the past that have called me, didn’t see a job posting. They’ve called me and said will you come work for me? So it’s all about the relationships. There’s nothing more important than relationships. So take the face time every chance you can, even if you don’t want to.
45:12 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Beautifully said. We’re going to do one more and then we’re going to have our lightning round. We’re going to wrap this up. So the one more is you know we talked a lot today about the sales reps and your experience with sales rep, you being a sales rep. I want to go even before that, when you were trying to be a sales rep, and think of all the people that you’ve interviewed that are trying to be sales reps. You know there’s everything you’ve mentioned which is being curious, showing initiative, you know, being prepared in the interview and being diligent to even study your interviewer and show up with a little knowledge around who your interviewer is and what’s important to them. But what’s one thing that’s not common, that maybe a lot of people haven’t heard before, that people that have a medical sales interview can start doing or start keeping in mind that can really give them an advantage.
46:02 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I tell some of the young people in my life I coach them on this and it’s always about just because you haven’t done something or you don’t think you can do it. It’s always yes, yes, and it’s that hunger, it’s expressing the hunger like I can and will do anything. Want me to do something else, or you want me to do something that’s outside of my scope? The answer is yes Because, again, that’s the moments that we learn and that’s the moments that sets you apart from every other person in the organization and that’s what’s going to get you recognized. But I think that, for one to say one word, I think it’s resilience. You know, in sales, you are going to hear no, a heck of a lot more than you’re going to hear yes. No is common language. You know most of the time. You know, and especially in oversaturated markets when you’re doing sales, people sometimes don’t even want to talk to you. It’s not even a no, it’s like there’s no time for them to talk to you. Keep pushing, and I think that it’s control the controllables and let go of what you can’t control. Don’t waste energy. Don’t waste I mean, we are so busy and we live in such a chaotic world Like don’t waste your energy and your mental health on something that you can’t control or something that’s going to cause you stress.
47:23
I think that’s my biggest. That’s something that I’m learning also. It’s, you know, the things that I can’t control. I’m learning that language of let them. Let them do that that way, you can’t control it, it’s not within your power.
47:35
Or you know, one of the first things I learned when I went on the road as a rep, when I sat in the airport for the first time for eight hours when my flight kept on getting canceled and I thought at first I was just super stressed out. And then, all of a sudden, I sat there and it was like a switch flicked for me and it was like I can’t control this. I just simply can’t control this. There is zero, there is nothing that I can do in this moment to change what is happening, and so I’m going to just I’m going to go buy a book and I’m going to read a book and I’m going to go have a nice dinner, and I can’t control this, so I’m not going to let it stress me out. One of the things that a lot of people do is they they get caught up in the in the stuff that they can’t control? Sure, Sure.
48:22 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
So would you say, uh, a candidate trying to become a medical sales rep that you’re interviewing? If they did a powerful job of expressing to you how they managed not being able to control the controllables, that would impress you and set them apart from the other candidates.
48:39 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I think it’s more about that resilience, that you know what, like, if that doesn’t happen, I’m going to keep pushing, and I guess I tie those things in, like I’m not going to get caught up on the person that said no or the thing I can’t do. I’m going to move forward and push through and be resilient on what I can. So it’s that hunger, that hunger to just make it happen.
48:59 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Examples of the hunger? Yeah, and then I guess you’re the kind of hiring manager that appreciates when somebody goes for the same position over and, over and over again.
49:10 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Yes, for sure Okay.
49:13 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Last few questions. Amy, how have you made your whole career work? Do you have a family? Do you have children? Do you have a significant other or are you just solo? Amy, how are you doing life?
49:25 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I work a lot, but I have so much fun with my two dogs. Those are my children. I am one of those people that call them my children. They are my babies. I have two dogs, I live alone and I work a lot.
49:42 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
You live in that envious life. I love it. This has been Amy. We could do this all day long. This is too much fun. We’re having too much fun, but we have to bring this to a close because there’s only so much time in a day. The last thing we’re going to do is called the lightning round. Are you ready? I’m ready. Okay, all right, I’m going to ask you four questions and you have less than 10 seconds to answer them and to basically give us the first thing that comes to mind. All right, first question what is the?
50:13 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
best book you have read in the last six months the.
50:17 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Women.
50:18 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Ooh by who? Kristen Hanna?
50:20 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
If you can just indulge me for a moment, what’s that about?
50:23 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
It’s about a nurse during the Vietnam War. It works in the operating room in the Vietnam War and it’s about the fact that they were not recognized as ever, even going to war because they were women.
50:34 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Whoa, I might have to check that one out. All right, next question what is the best TV show or movie you have seen in the last six months?
50:45 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
I don’t watch a lot of TV, I listen to a lot of audio books and I read a lot of books.
50:50 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
I just started the diplomat. Okay To diplomat. Okay, okay, fantastic. And then third one what is the best meal you’ve had in the last six months? We want the restaurant, the location and, of course, the meal. Samuel, you should have prepped me for these and of course the meal Samuel you should have prepped me for these. No, that would be cheating. No, this this has to be. You just got to give us what you got.
51:18 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
Food is, like, so important to me I could. I could spend the whole podcast talking to you about food. Let’s say I just went somewhere. Lucky Cheetah it’s a new place in Portland, maine, in the Old Fort it’s a new Asian restaurant Super cool, funky vibe.
51:41 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Oh, okay, any meals to consider there, or just anything on the menu. Everything, okay, we’ll leave it at anything on the menu. I don’t want to stress you out, amy. I get it because food’s important to me. It stresses me out too, all right. Last question what is the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?
51:56 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
You know, my memory is really awful and I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, but I do remember, within the last week, having a really happy moment. I know I’m over 10 seconds. We just got slammed with snow in the Northeast. Finally, I live on the coast of Maine, so we don’t get a lot of snow. We just got hit with a lot of snow and on Sunday afternoon I just totally went for a chill vibe. I went out for a snowshoe with my two dogs no music, no audio book, just me and the snow and the dogs in the middle of the woods and it was absolutely glorious.
52:27 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Amen to that. Okay, and then the very last thing. You know, how can people find you Instagram, linkedin? What’s the best way to get ahold of you?
52:45 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
All of the above LinkedIn Instagram. You know we were talking about a gentleman early on. I don’t know if I can mention him by name, but Blake. You know I am so impressed by people that reach out out of the blue and network and just say, hey, I’m really interested in starting my career in this, which is what Blake did, and I was so impressed with him as a human being, just like he just wanted to learn. He had that curiosity. Reach out, reach out LinkedIn, instagram, anything.
53:07 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
That is amazing. Thank you so much, Amy, for all of this. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience before we close up today?
53:15 – Amy Harrington (Guest)
No, I think we covered a lot, but this was so much fun. Thank you so much for talking with me today.
53:20 – Samuel Adeyinka (Host)
Thank you, amy. It was fantastic to meet you and I can’t wait to see the amazing things you continue to do in the training space. And that was Amy Harrington. Wow, you know, when I think about someone that’s had the vantage point she’s had 20,000 plus people and so many of themselves. We have so many people she’s interviewed and so many people she’s trained. She’s really had the opportunity to see what makes what lends to success when it comes to medical sales and what really holds you back when it comes to medical sales, and it was just fantastic to hear her share some of the biggest things that hold reps back and some of the biggest things that helps reps thrive.
54:01
One of the things that I just want to double down on is that curiosity, that desire to learn, that basically, that position of I don’t have what I want or what I’m working towards is not happening. So what am I going to do to make it work? Period there is no. Well, I guess it’s not for me. There is no. Yeah, this is really hard. There is no, even lamenting the experience there’s just. What am I going to do to get to where I need to be? Let me dive into every opportunity, every resource and let me go all the way in. I actually think, besides just medical sales, that is a key to life and that will take you far.
54:41
As always, we do our best to bring you guests that are doing things differently in the medical sales space, so make sure you 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 EvolvesSuccesscom 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.