Road Warriors and Their Untold Stories

In this episode of Road Warriors, Repertoire publisher Scott Adams interviews the Hilton family. The Hilton family has worked with McKesson for years, spanning 5 generations in the medical-surgical supplies industry. During this podcast with Herb, Dan, Doug, and Brad, Adams dives into the lessons learned, stories remembered, and some of the stops along the way during the over 50-year journey of this family in our industry.   “I always say we work in an amazing industry, but when you step back and look at how many families are part of it, you genuinely realize how special it is,” says Adams. “If it wasn't special, people wouldn't introduce their families into it.”   We hope you enjoy the first of several episodes in a new series, “Road Warrior and Their Untold Stories: The Family Edition.” 

In this episode of the Road Warriors podcast, Scott Adams sits down with Mike Abney, senior vice president of sales and distribution at Quidel, to get an inside scoop on what his mentor John Sasen, and several others, meant to him and his career. “The mentors Mike had throughout his career are a top 10 list of hall of fame worthy individuals”, says Scott Adams publisher of Repertoire Magazine. “We discussed success in today's environment, advice for new reps, and as always got a handful of hilarious stories.” Here is a short list of Mike's mentors: Pat Kelly, John Sasen, Bill Riddel, Doug Barrow, Doug Bryant, and Richard Riley.

In this episode, Scott Adams sits down with Jon Wells, president and CEO of Midmark, to get an inside scoop on what Midmark is doing to stay at the forefront of the rapidly changing healthcare industry. They discuss how distributor reps can help customers solve their biggest problems, the importance of providing innovative and strategic solutions and taking an empathetic approach in today's market.

Welcome to episode 18 with Scott Adams as he interviews Robert Rajalingam from Cardinal. In this podcast Scott and Robert discuss today’s healthcare environment and everything from his biggest challenges, to how the industry and Cardinal stepped up to meet the challenges of a worldwide pandemic, all while taking on a new role as President of Cardinal Health. “I thoroughly enjoyed recording this podcast, Robert’s background and communication style make this episode a must listen” says host Scott Adams  

Welcome to episode 17 with Scott Adams as he interviews Aaron Novak. Aaron was formerly with PSS/McKesson and now an entrepreneur in Jacksonville Florida. One of Aaron’s companies is a Sandler Systems franchise. “Given the “New Norm” I thought this podcast would be timely. This is a little different than a traditional Road Warriors episode, in that I asked Aaron several questions around sales and sales leadership as we start to sell in this new virtual environment and guiding customers through allocation”. Says Scott Adams

Welcome to episode 16 with Scott Adams as he interviews Brian Sullivan (Sully). In this podcast Scott and Sully chop it up about everything from mentors to 3 things every rep needs to be doing to prepare to start making face to face sales calls again. “Sully is without a doubt one of the energetic motivating people you will every hear. His book “20 Days to the Top” is a must read for anyone aspiring to be a great salesperson”. Scott Adams

The Road Warriors series has historically been around salespeople, their stories, mentors, and travels. Given the current circumstance we all find ourselves in, we are pivoting the series to “Warriors” in the med/surg industry that are doing everything they can to deliver products to providers. When things are back to normal, we will make the switch back to the original intent of this series. In this episode with Optimal’s Manny Losada, Scott Adams dives into the things Optimal and MedPro are doing to ensure staff safety, while getting their jobs of distributing medical products done as effectively as possible. Manny also talks about his daughter working on the frontlines of a New Jersey hospital and what it’s like to watch a true warrior work 12-hour shifts day after day while taking care of her patients.

Welcome to episode 14 with Scott Adams as he interviews Jim Niekamp. In this podcast Jim shares some amazing advice for sales, marketing, and leadership. He is without a doubt one of the best story tellers you will ever listen to and every story he tells ties back to a pearl of wisdom we can use in life and sales. This podcast is a solid hour but will feel like 15 minutes. “You are going to love it” says Scott Adams

In this episode, Scott interviews Mike Racioppi of Henry Schein. Mike gives some great insight into the current state of the industry, what he looks for when hiring leaders, and sage advice about how to achieve success. And to top it all off, Mike’s story about John Moran and Welch Allyn is one of the best we’ve had on the podcast yet!

Welcome to episode 12! Join Scott Adams as he interviews Cindy Juhas of CME. In this episode, Cindy dives into some topics with Scott that are rarely discussed. She tells some great stories and shares a few great sales pearls. “If you don’t want to hear the truth, don’t ask Cindy,” Scott says.

On this episode of Road Warriors we talk with Rob Saron of Symmetry Surgical. Scott and Rob discuss today’s healthcare environment and Rob shares some great stories and his experience from traveling around the world selling his wares. Rob is a true “Road Warrior” if there ever was one.

Welcome to episode 10 with Scott Adams as he interviews Gary Keeler of McKesson. In this podcast Scott and Gary discuss today’s healthcare environment and everything from his biggest challenges, to how the industry and national meetings have changed, as well as advice Gary gives to people starting a career in healthcare sales. “Gary has always been one of the most direct tell it like it is people in the industry and in this podcast he doesn’t disappoint” says host Scott Adams.

Welcome to episode 9 with Scott Adams as he interviews Scott Becker of Healthcare Partners at McGuireWoods LLP; founder-Publisher of Becker’s Healthcare. In this podcast Scott and Scott discuss today’s healthcare environment and everything from hiring the right people, to newcomers to the space like Amazon, and advice Scott gives his kids on being successful in a career. “This episode was one I have been looking forward to for a while, because Scott has so much insight to our industry from the lense of the media” says host Scott Adams.

Welcome to episode 8 with Scott Adams as he interviews former PSS President and current NDC executive Mr. Doug Harper. In this podcast Doug talks about days with Pat Kelly and John Sasen as well as trends he’s seeing in today’s environment and how he determines where our markets are headed. “This episode is one of my favorites to date because Doug answer most of the questions with a story” say host Scott Adams

Welcome to episode 7 with Scott Adams as he interviews former NFLer and Henry Schein Vice President of the East Chris Verhulst. In this podcast Scott drills down on some great NFL and sales topics with Chris.  There is a great story Chris tells about playing for Jerry Glanville his rookie season in Houston as well as his 3 tips for young reps to be successful.

Welcome to episode 6 with Scott Adams as he interviews the classiest man in the industry Mr. Jay Keene of McKesson. From his early days in the industry with Durr Medical in operations to sales and sales management with General Medical and today McKesson, Jay has been an industry pillar.  In this podcast Jay talks about a few keys to success in sales; know when to stop selling, always be listening, and being coachable.  Jay is living proof of the importance relationships still mean to our business.  If you’re a road warrior, you will love this podcast.

Scott Adams interviews the one and only Ty Ford, Western Region VP of Sales for Henry Schein. This is the first of the podcast series that truly begins to explore the heart of where we want to go with these interviews: Real-world sales stories that bring wisdom through the experience of others in medical sales. In this episode, Scott and Ty discuss importance of relationships, ride days, and perseverance (and a classic story about Bill West and Ty near the end of the show). This episode was sponsored by Quidel.

Welcome to episode 4 with Scott Adams as he interviews the one and only Tony (Dr Ben Dover) Melaro.  Tony spent 39 years with Welch Allyn, something that doesn’t happen in today’s world very often.  In this episode Scott asked Tony how he was able to spend 39 years with one company, his response was simple we had a culture of fun.  And not to disappoint the audience Tony does a little Dr Ben during the show. We hope you enjoy this podcast it was a blast to produce.

Brad and Scott talk about being a young rep and the importance of competing if you want to be a good rep – whether you’re brand new or an old pro, you always have to compete. Brad is one of the best speakers in our industry, so you don’t want to miss this episode.

This week’s guest is Eddie Dienes of McKesson. Eddie tells some great stories in this new episode - talking about everything from John Sasen putting a lobster to sleep at a restaurant to one of his delivery drivers running his van through a 7-11. And, as always, there are more than a couple pearls of sales wisdom delivered.

“Road Warriors and Their Untold Stories” Hosted by Repertoire Magazine Publisher Scott Adams. The goal of this podcast is to be educational, funny, real, and most importantly entertaining to the listener.  The target audience for this series is the Sales Representative out in their car making sales calls every day. “I am so excited to launch this program. We will be interviewing current and past sales reps throughout this podcast series.  My goal is to let them tell their stories and hopefully to gain some pearls of wisdom along the way” Scott Adams There isn’t a better person to launch the series than Repertoire founder Brian Taylor.  Brian has been a sales rep in medical sales for 40 years.  His sales/business stories could be a 10 part series in themselves.  Please click on the link below to listen to the inaugural episode.  We will launch a new episode every two weeks.