Most Reps Are Playing the Wrong Board Game
The best reps don't react to the next move; they're already planning the next five.
Lisa and Cindy reveal why the best medical device sales professionals don't simply react to what's happening around them. They anticipate obstacles, recognize patterns, and think several moves ahead before walking into an account.
They break down the mindset shifts that transform good reps into exceptional ones. From anticipating physician objections to recognizing referral patterns, they share practical ways to become more strategic in every interaction.
Learn how to connect the dots, stay ahead of change, and build a game plan that creates long-term success in medical device sales.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Play Chess, Not Checkers β Lisa and Cindy explain why elite sales reps succeed by thinking several moves ahead instead of reacting to what's directly in front of them.
Connect the Dots β Gathering information isn't enough. Learn how top performers strategically connect people, processes, and opportunities to create momentum.
Anticipate Before You React β Discover how preparing for objections, physician changes, and market shifts helps you stay in control of every conversation.
Recognize Winning Patterns β From referral trends to operating room schedules, identifying patterns allows you to make smarter decisions before competitors do.
Ask Better Questions β Surface-level answers rarely tell the whole story. Lisa and Cindy discuss why deeper "why" questions uncover opportunities others miss.
Build Your Future Pipeline Today β Don't wait until a physician retires or leaves. Learn why developing relationships with fellows and future decision-makers is a winning long-term strategy.
Critical Thinking Creates Elite Reps β Success isn't about memorizing information, it's about applying knowledge strategically to every account and every interaction.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
"Know their practice better than your competition knows the product." β Cynthia Ficara
"In medical device, you are not just selling a procedure. Those successful reps that make a career out of this sell to a practice." β Cynthia Ficara
"Stepping back sometimes gets you five more feet forward when you do it the right way." β Cynthia Ficara
"When you know what matters, you can bring value." β Cynthia Ficara
"Your widget is an amazing asset when you know how to place it there." β Cynthia Ficara
"You gotta make their world your world β and in return, they'll give you that time more often than not." β Anneliese Rhodes
"It's not just about you, not just about your company and your product. It's about the patient, it's about the doctor, it's about their specialty, it's about what their world looks like." β Anneliese Rhodes
"Every time you and I talk to surgeons on a daily basis, they want to know that we're invested in their practice." β Anneliese Rhodes
"When they tie positive receptors to you versus the negative of a pushy sales rep, they look forward to seeing you." β Anneliese Rhodes
"Take the blinders off and be a little more open-minded β they would be more successful." β Anneliese Rhodes
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Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
The Secret to Elite Sales Performance: Play Chess, Not Checkers
Lisa: Welcome everyone to another episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales, brought to you by Anneliese Rhodes and Cynthia Ficara. We are in the middle of a hot, hot summer, and we are still bringing you guys lots of hot topics, right?
Cindy: Lots of hot topics. Actually, this topic is so hot you could even think about it at the beach. I don't know. I feel like I need to go to the beach. I think my mind's been on the beach lately, I love the beach. I gotta start focus and thinking on where I need to be. Yeah. So we thank you for joining us today, for driving in the car on this gorgeous day here with us at Secrets in Medical Device Sales, to give you another secret, for what we're talking about today.
Lisa: Yeah, and by the way, I am going to the beach, this coming weekend, so I'm super excited. It's gonna be fun. So this is actually something, the secret... Are we gonna give it away right now? What did we decide we're gonna do? You
Cindy: know what? We can do something different. Why don't we give the secret away right now?
Lisa: Right now.
Cindy: Because I feel like sometimes secrets, when Lisa and I have all these discussions, and we're, trying to bring a point home, sometimes you drive home a secret. In this particular conversation, the topic we're talking about, I think the secret actually lays out a really good yellow brick road for the entire conversation.
Lisa: Yeah, I agree.
Cindy: So I'm gonna do this backwards today. I'll say the secret, then Lisa, you talk about what we're talking about.
Lisa: Okay.
Cindy: Hope everybody's paying attention. This is a lot of thinking here for the summer, right? No pun intended. Okay, so the secret that we are talking about today is that top-performing reps. Are able to see an entire chess board in a game of chess. So the secret is top reps play chess, not checkers.
Lisa: I love that saying. It's such a great saying. What's sad is, like, I don't know how to play chess, but I'm a really good sales rep, so maybe I need to learn. I- apparently I'm gonna have to learn now. Alright, so what do we mean by that? Like, how are we gonna tie that in today? And I think, critical thinking, strategic thinking, being five steps ahead, connecting the dots, like all the things that we probably talk about in every episode in different ways, shapes, or forms. But today we're gonna give some really good key examples of this. Because, I mean, I see this a lot, right? Some of you out there do a really good job, I'm sure, of connecting the dots or being actually even better about being steps ahead. I mean, I work really hard, and I pride myself a lot of the time on being so many steps ahead, but it's funny because you can still misstep, right? Like, you can still miss something even when you think you're just steps ahead. So today we're gonna talk about what this looks like, give some good examples, and just help remind you guys in the heat of the summer, how you still need to stay on top of your game and continue.
Cindy: You know, I was in a Starbucks not that long ago, and there was an adult, I would probably say this man was probably in his 40s. I'm bad at age, but if I had to guess, I'd say he's in his 40s, and he was sitting with this cute little boy who was about eight years old. And they were next to me, and they were playing chess, and I could not help but, like, eavesdrop on them because he was really his chess coach. I mean, this little boy was brilliant, and he was challenging him and challenging him. And I think that it is so important that we challenge ourselves in medical device sales. And the point about the chess board is you look at the entire chess board, and you have all these different players. You have a king, you have a rookie, you have a queen, you have a pawn, and you take your hand and you place them on the board, and you work your way from one end to the other. And in medical device, we have all those chess pieces. We have pawns, we have kings, we have queens- Sorry ... we have rookies. And the ones who win the game of chess are the ones who strategically know where to place their players to get to the other end And win.
Lisa: Gotcha.
Cindy: That's exactly what we do a medical device.
Lisa: So great. I really like that. Good for you. I, you know what's really sad? I only knew about the king and the queen. I'd forgotten about the pawns and the rooks. I love it. And you know what's really cool as you were talking about that, in my head I'm identifying who are my kings, who are my queens, who are the rooks, who are the pawns. Like, and you guys can do the same thing as well in your territory figuring that out, because you're right. I mean, the entire game of chess is based on strategy. The entire game of medical device sales is based on strategy. Mm-hmm. Like, it's based on who are you prioritizing this week or this month? Who are you, spending the most time with, concentrating on selling to? All of that. It's all the same thing. It's just, chess board just looks a little different. It's an operating room in a hospital versus an actual board with pieces on it, but we're still- Mm-hmm ... playing chess. Exactly. So, okay. So, without further ado, Yeah ... let's dive in.
Don't Just Collect Information: Connect the Dots
Lisa: So I think the first thing, and you know, this is something, I think you said this or maybe I did, but, like, we were talking about this earlier is, like, your average rep, your typical reps that are out there, they collect the information, right? Some reps are really good at getting all the information, but they're not- Mm-hmm ... really good at connecting the information. what do I mean by that? So recently, I was trying to get something approved, at the hospital level, right? And I knew the doctor, but I didn't know anybody in the VAC committee or the administration or anything like that. So it's my job not just to collect the information of who the people are, but how am I gonna connect it in a way that's gonna behoove me and my company and my product through the process and get it to where I want it to be, which is approval at the end of the day, right? Like- Mm-hmm ... I can collect all these people's information, I can email them all day long, but unless I connect them strategically and I make it work in my favor, doesn't matter, I'm spinning my wheels, right? Exactly. Like, you could have, you could have a product submitted to VAC And if you don't have a good driver, you don't have the r- the correct driver of a physician, it doesn't matter how long you've submitted or how long you've been waiting. It ain't ever gonna get approved. Because unless you strategically pick the right people, you're, you're just spinning your wheels.
Cindy: You know, I can't help but think, like, so strange vision that came to mind when you said that. I guess maybe because we're on the topic of game boards like chess, as we talked about. But do you remember a long time ago there was a game Mouse Trap, and you had all these pieces, and when you put them together, like, everything worked? Yeah. It's like if a rep just has all this information, it just sits in a pile, but it doesn't do anything- Mm ... unless it's all put together. Yeah. And, you know, I love the, the analogy of thinking like a spider web, when you weave a web together and get all of your information. Ah. But, you know, the crazy thing about this, and it sounds so silly and so simple, but collecting information I, I can look at some reps who question themselves and say, "Why am I always in the middle of the pack? Why? I mean, I'm not not doing my job. I'm out there every day, get all this information. I know this information." I think about it, it's people that, like, memorize things. You know? They memorize, they collect this data, and then they have it in their head. But what good is having data or collecting information if you don't know how to speak to it, you don't know how to take that data that you learned and put it into a conversation to apply it to a situation that will help you in another account where you're trying to move business? So it sounds so silly and so simple, but, um, you know, the, the big topic that we're talking about today is actually thinking, but it's critical thinking. It's critical thinking and applying the knowledge you have and really putting it together. So how do reps do that?
Elite Reps Anticipate Instead of React
Lisa: Right. Okay. So the first little thing that we're gonna talk about is, you anticipate things instead of reacting to things. And some of this can be a learned behavior, like you've just known it because you've been doing it for so long. You know what the process is gonna be, you know what the reactions are gonna be, you know what the pushbacks are gonna be, you know the skepticism that's gonna occur. But maybe you're a rep that doesn't know all that, so how do you get to that place, right? Like, how do you go from being that regular rep to the elite rep? Well, you get smart with it. Let's just say you're bringing a product before a surgeon, and you wanna talk to them about, all the amazing things. It's something brand new, it's gonna transform their practice or it's disruptive therapy or whatever it is. You should be able to anticipate at some level what you think they're gonna say and have the answers in the back of your head. Meaning, when Dr. Smith says, "Well, Cindy, you know I've been doing this for 30 years, and I don't need to change because what I'm doing works, and I don't need anything different, and it's, great, and I have no bad outcomes, and I." You should be able to anticipate that, right? Reps should already know. Yep. Okay, so here's the things that we're gonna hear from these doctors. What is our way of getting around it? And truth be told, and we talked about this a little bit before, but there's a great book called The Challenger Sale. This is where you as a rep who wants to be elite or an elite rep that's trying to make yourself even better, is you challenge back with teaching them something. "Okay, Dr. Smith, you may have been doing this for 30 years, and congratulations, that's fantastic, that none of your patients have ever had any bad outcomes or nothing bad has ever happened and everything is perfect in this world." "But let me just tell you about what we have seen. Let me tell you about what the market has shown. Let me tell you about the research that we've uncovered." You know, something like that, where you're being very smart and strategic, and you're going to push back in a way that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable, but does show them that you already know. You already know what they're gonna say and you've already thought about how you're gonna g- help them get through that little bit of a hurdle so that at the end of it, they go, "You know what? I do wanna try your product." Mm-hmm. That's what an elite rep does. You anticipate instead of react. You don't get defensive. You stay on the offensive at all times.
Cindy: βAnd I think that sometimes, just, just to help you all out there, okay, so we say don't get defensive. So if I were to react, I want you to hear what it sounds like. If somebody tells me the example Lisa just said, about a physician, well, let's just say a physician's leaving or something. If my response is, "What happened?" That makes me sound like I'm reacting or just like, "Oh no, this is bad." But if I change my question to say, "Well, what's likely to happen next?" Because okay, we acknowledge this change, and now what's gonna happen? It's kind of like, it's very common. I mean, how many of you know of maybe an account that you're really, ingrained in, and next year a physician's gonna retire? So you start, be thinking, "Well, what's gonna happen next? Who's gonna take his place? What can I do to help you? How do I keep this moving?" Because it's, it's the strategic plane of looking forward to what's to happen next.
Lisa: Yeah. No, you bring up something... Sorry, I didn't mean to, I like jumped - No, you're good. You caught me, you saw me go, "." When you said this, it totally made me think, like, how many times, Cindy, have you had physicians either up and move on you, or retire, or make a life-changing decision and you don't have anything in the wings, right? Like, you haven't anticipated this. How do you get in front of that? Well, I'll tell you one way you guys can do that. Go to your fellows and figure out where they're going. Follow the people that are new and that are gonna graduate and are gonna go into practices. Like, figure out where they are. Learn about them ahead of time, because every new fellow that comes into a practice is probably, to some degree, replacing or maybe advancing the practice. But sometimes they're replacing physicians that are retiring or moving to a different practice. I mean, let's just say one of your biggest users of all decides to up and move Well, what are you gonna do? Sit back and go, "Oh, poor, woe is me. I can't, can't do anything about this"? No. You're gonna figure out, better be real quick, on how you're gonna manage that situation. And, maybe there is a small amount of time where you aren't getting the sales that you were getting, and you have that discussion with your management team. But at the same time, you better be out there looking, if you haven't already, for the new people. Doctors don't just up and move out of nowhere. They give hints here and there. Or, I mean, sometimes things happen, but, most of the time you kind of have an idea if the physician's leaving, especially if they're like, "Hey, I'm not gonna be here in six months." What are you gonna do, sit around and, and wait for them to leave before you react? No. You get on that immediately and you start figuring out, okay, who's coming in to replace them? Go meet the physicians, go take them to dinner, learn about them, like the whole thing. That's an elite representation right there. Not a reactionary one.
Cindy: Absolutely. I just wanna expand on something you said, because I think it was really good when you mentioned about fellows. Because, yes, know where your fellows are going, but this is a chess move, everybody. Reach out to people in your company that live in different geographic areas, whether it is in, northeast, southeast, east, west, Midwest, and have a communication amongst your team in the country. Or if you're in a different country and know, like, "Hey, here's my fellows that are all here this year. I'm gonna find out where they're going, then I'm gonna contact that rep and let them know, 'Hey, this person's coming to you,'" in the hopes that they do the same for you. Because there is nothing better that when a fellow is coming in, like Lisa said, set up dinner with them, meet them, because then what happens is you already have a connection. Again, strategic move for when they come into your territory and then you find out, oh, wow, this other doctor's leaving or something happened. You've already keep pumping your pipeline of people, it's so great. Because questions you need to be asking yourself, when you're anticipating instead of reacting to things is really, how does it affect me. How does this affect, A, what I'm working on; B- What is coming next? Does this change anything here in the future? And see what can I do to make a smooth transition into whatever obstacles come my way. And I think that's really important. So Lisa, you're right. Number one thing when you're playing a game of chess is really to anticipate and not react. Yeah. When somebody's on their chess board and they move their rookie, don't just immediately jump quick. Look at the whole board before you make your next move.
Recognizing Patterns Before Everyone Else
Lisa: Perfect. Alright, next one. Second one, is recognizing patterns. So this is something that is, extremely important. I think the longer you are in medical devices, the easier and quicker this becomes, just because from a sheer aspect of not understanding or knowing when you're brand new. But the truth is, is that we all know what patterns look like, right? Like remember we played that old game when we were kids, like recognizing certain patterns or like the memory game where like the.. Yes ... cards were in the different places .. and you had to remember where that card was, and you flip it back over again, and then you flip it over. That's so fun. You know, that kind of thing, right? So like after a while your brain tells you, "Ooh, I've seen that before. Where did I see that? Oh, yeah, the card is over there on the far left. I'm gonna match this, the, sand pail with the other sand pail β or the shovel with the shovel." Memory. I think the game's called Memory.
Cindy: Yeah, it is. It's called Memory.
Lisa: Oh, there we go. Yeah. Good memory, Lisa. Me just, I was just gonna ... This is a game of memory, right? So you need to start recognizing patterns. Are the cases slowing down, or are they speeding up? Dr. Smith always operates on Wednesdays and Thursdays, therefore he has clinic on Fridays. Okay, Fridays are the day that I need to talk to him. Are there different things happening within the OR? Like are there people leaving all the time? Are they super unhappy? Referral patterns, that's a big one too, Cindy.
Cindy: Oh, my gosh, yes ...
Lisa: Gosh, we could do a whole episode on referral patterns.
Cindy: We probably should. Note to self, though.
Lisa: would be a really good one. So are those referral patterns changing, and is that affecting your physician's practice, which affects your practice, right? So like those are super important things to start recognizing as an elite rep so that not you just, you're not just socking it away in the back of your head. You're putting two and two together and you're coming up with a new plan. You're strategizing differently. You're figuring out a way to work around whatever the situation is.
Cindy: So since this entire episode is about game boards, which we mentioned Memory or games, there's one more that this totally hits when you recognize patterns is, do you remember the game Clue? You'd have like Colonel Mustard would have the knife. Oh, yeah ... in the whatever room. Yes, of course. And like Mrs. White, it's the same thing. You gotta gather all your clues. Yeah. So when you learn all these clues, you hold onto them and you see the outcome, but guess what this does for you? You go into another account and you're like, "Whoa, I remember that. I remember when Professor Plum took the lead pipe into the study," right? And now you're in the next, and you're like, "Oh, wait, there's Professor Plum again. He's gonna grab the lead pipe." All these things are things that you remember. Lisa, you said it's perfect. Case is slowing. It's a perfect example. Say you're in a hospital, and you're like, "Wow, these cases are slowing down," right? Well, you just had a flashback. You remember that six months ago, one of your other accounts, that case is slowing down. Well, you, you investigated it and what did you find? You found that your competitor had a trial going on in that hospital. Maybe that's a clue, again clue, for you to start asking questions. Ask questions to the staff, ask questions to your physician. You know, "Are you involved in this ABC trial going on?" Or, sometimes you have to be really frank and just say, "Well, I notice things are slowing down. These are the trends, is there anything I'm missing?" Because when you recognize a pattern, okay- Yeah it's not just recognizing. Once you see something, now you act on it. You've got the clues together, right? If you just hold onto it, you're throwing it all in a bucket. But if you start putting things together, that's how you make things happen. Again, weave a web of all the information that you have and take what you've learned from another hospital and apply it to your next one.
Lisa: Love it
Cindy: or your coworkers.
Lisa: I love it.
Cindy: When Lisa and I worked together, if something happened I would say, I'd call her, "Hey, this just happened." And six months later she's like, "What was that healthcare thing you mentioned? Like, insurance... I remember that. What happened?" And it's so great when you have a collaboration amongst your coworkers as well.
Great Reps Don't Stop at "Why"
Lisa: Yeah. All right. The third one that we wanted to talk to you guys today about in terms of playing chess not checkers, and, and really being strategic and by the way, I've got a really great book, um, for all of you. I'm actually listening to it right now. I didn't even tell you about this, Cindy.
Cindy: anticipation. So it is
Lisa: asking great questions, but asking the question why. Why are they doing this? Why is it happening? Why are you telling me this? So there's a book I'm listening to right now, and I suggest all of you guys should listen to it. It's called Good Leaders Ask Great Questions.
Cindy: Questions. That's a great one. John
Lisa: C. Maxwell.
Cindy: Oh my gosh, Max,
Lisa: Love him by the way. He's so fantastic. I'm so
Cindy: glad you brought... Okay.
Lisa: I literally just finished another one of his books. I'll tell you about it after. But, anyhow, so great leaders, right? Good leaders, great leaders, great questions. Let's do it. It doesn't mean that you don't know what's. How are you gonna know what's going on If you don't ask why. How are you supposed to figure that out? What, do you think they're just gonna give you that information? Uh, no. Nobody just gives out information. So, like, "We're using your competitor." "Well, why?" "Tell me more. What am I missing? What do they have that I..." I mean, you don't need to say, "What do they have that I don't have?" But you need to say, "Okay, um, can you tell me why you decided to use my competitor instead of me today?" Or maybe they say, "We've always done it this way." "Well, why have you done it that way? Have you ever thought about doing it a different way?" There are things that you guys need to start asking more about to gather information so that then you can use that to help you with recognizing the patterns.
Cindy: And I'm gonna say this, number three, is the most important thing. So I'm gonna ask all of you out there listening, what type of why rep are you? Here's what I mean by that. There's number one rep and number two rep. The number one rep asks why, and they're told a certain answer. And they accept it. We'll call that a surface answer. Yeah. Okay? You just told me, so okay, that's why. Then your manager notices a trend, now you're not getting business there, and your manager says to you, "Hey, what's going on?" You give him a surface answer. Okay? Rep number two asks the same question, gets the same surface answer. But what does rep number two do? Rep number two is going to follow up with about four or five deeper why questions.
Lisa: Love that.
Cindy: They get a surface answer. Okay. All right. Maybe, competitor came in. Great. What is it about that competitor that you like? Because now you can start thinking, again, critical thinking. We are playing a game of chess. What do I have that they don't? Because suddenly they think, "Oh, the competitor's come in. Yeah, we're just gonna lose to that, wash our hands, we're done." Oh, no, no, no. Find where you fit and go after it. Oh. So the why -- Yeah ... is really, really important. It's not just why, it's five more why questions. Yeah. It's a deep, deep, deep understanding, and it's amazing that sometimes the surface answer, somebody may believe what they think and then realize, oh, wait a minute, that's not the situation at all whatsoever. Of course, we can use your product in this situation.
Your Next Move Starts Today
Lisa: Yep. I love that. I think we touched on some really good stuff today, Cindy. I mean, this is, you know, two
Cindy: My favorite, all the board games that we remembered when we were kids. Monopoly I'm not- I collect $200.
Lisa: Oh my God, Monopoly. What about Life? I loved Life, by the way.
Cindy: Oh, the game Life.
Lisa: I wanted, like, the twins and the triplets, and my car was always full of kids and all that. Oh my God, I loved Life. That was my favorite board game by far.
Cindy: Oh, wasn't it Park Place and what was it called on, on Monopoly?
Lisa: I don't know.
Cindy: Oh, yeah, the big ones if you get the hotel at the end.
Lisa: I know, but don't pass Go or you have to pay $200. I do remember that.
Cindy: Exactly. If you listen to this and critically think, you won't have to pay $200. You'll be collecting it instead.
Lisa: Yeah, you'll be collecting. Exactly. All right. You're gonna strategically get to where. So I loved today's episode. I think this is a really good episode. Do we have a call to action? What do you think, Cindy? For me, it's go learn how to play the game of chess. 'Cause I really don't know how to play.
Cindy: All right. So I'm gonna make a simple call to action. The next time you ask a customer why, have a follow-up question after that.
Lisa: I love that. That's fantastic. Yeah. That's great.
Cindy: So we hope all of you β took away that elite reps don't just sit back. You've gotta dig in, you've gotta ask, you've gotta anticipate, you've gotta recognize patterns, and you really need to understand why things happen. So we wish you the best out there. Thank you for listening to Secrets of Medical Device Sales, and enjoy the rest of your week. Safe travels.
Lisa: Bye bye.
