What No One Tells You About Making Mistakes in Sales

Have you ever made a mistake that left you feeling gut-punched and doubting yourself? 

This week on Secrets in Medical Device Sales, The Girls of Grit tackles a topic that’s tough to admit but essential for growth: making mistakes. They share their own experiences of mishaps in the field and the hard-earned lessons they’ve gained.

In this episode, you’ll learn the secret to overcoming errors with integrity, humility, and resilience. From acknowledging your mistake to seeking feedback and rebuilding trust, they break down four practical steps to turn setbacks into comebacks.

This episode will remind you that mistakes are inevitable—but how you respond defines your character and career. You’re not alone; with the right mindset and support, you can rise stronger than ever.

Tune in for a dose of honesty, grit, and actionable advice to help you navigate the tough moments in sales—and life. 

Own it. Learn from it. Grow through it.

Episode Chapter Markers

00:00 Introduction 

01:05 Today's Topic: The Reality of Making Mistakes

02:20 The Importance of Integrity and Honesty

04:38 Personal Story: A Costly Mistake

12:12 Steps to Recover from Mistakes

20:53 Seeking Support and Building Resilience

Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments

• Owning Mistakes: Success starts with accountability. Mistakes happen to everyone, but how you handle them—honestly and with integrity—sets you apart. Own it, address it quickly, and maintain trust in professional relationships.

• Steps to Recovery: Overcome mistakes with four key steps: acknowledge the error, apologize if needed, learn from the experience, and seek feedback. 

• The Case of the Missing Equipment: Forgetting critical equipment for a case was a hard lesson for Anneliese, but it reinforced the need for preparation. This mistake drove her to develop better habits and a commitment to always double-check.

• Growth Through Pain: Mistakes hurt but are opportunities for personal and professional growth. Instead of dwelling on errors, use them to build stronger routines, reinforce trust, and push yourself to improve.

• Support Matters: Leaning on colleagues or mentors can make a huge difference after a mistake. Sharing your experience can provide relief, offer new perspectives, and remind you that you're not alone in tough situations.

• Define, Don’t Defeat: Mistakes don’t define your worth; your response does. Stay resilient, approach setbacks with grit, and show authenticity in owning your journey—professionally and personally.

Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode

• "In the mistakes is where you learn and you grow." — Anneliese Rhodes

• "Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody’s immune to it and it doesn’t matter where you are in your career; at some point, you are going to make a mistake." — Anneliese Rhodes

• "It’s what you do in that time that really matters—as a trusted advisor, as a mother, as a wife, as a sales rep, it defines your character." — Anneliese Rhodes

• "Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react." — Cynthia Ficara

• "Mistakes change your actions, and that’s how you grow." — Cynthia Ficara

• "When you focus on the patient—or the impact you’re making—it changes how you handle mistakes." — Cynthia Ficara

• "The emotional part is real, and it’s okay to acknowledge it, but what you do next matters most." — Cynthia Ficara

• "It’s about owning it, learning from it, and deciding how you’re going to fix it and move forward." — Cynthia Ficara

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A Team Dklutr production

Blog Transcript:

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Mistakes: React, Recover, and Stay Honest

Anneliese Rhodes: Welcome everyone to another episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales brought to you by the Girls of Grit. We are so happy you guys continue to join us every single week and listen to all of our fun and exciting episodes.

Cynthia Ficara: And, well, we think they’re fun and exciting.

Anneliese Rhodes: So today's episode—actually though, today's episode, I think, Cindy, is a really good one because it's kind of a tough one to talk about. You don’t want to admit that you do it.

Cynthia Ficara: Right. So, it’s not funny.

Anneliese Rhodes: It’s not funny. But it’s really good. It’s a really good one because it’s so essential to your success as a long-term trusted sales rep and a sales advisor. It’s so essential. So, what are we talking about today, Cindy?

Cynthia Ficara: Aha, you’re right. Let’s reveal. So today we are talking about the reality and the realness of making mistakes. And, you know, this happens to every single one of us. It happens to the best of us.

Cynthia Ficara: It happens to the elite. Everybody is human. We all make mistakes, but you know, honestly, it’s not even about the mistake. It’s how you react and what you do to recover from it. And I think that this is just really essential because, you know, Lisa and I aren’t perfect. 

We’ve made mistakes, and we’ve learned from them. I mean, you walk in somewhere, and you think, “Oh my gosh, I did this before. I will never, ever, ever make that mistake.” I don’t know. Has anybody felt that way before when you’re just like, “Oh,” and it touches you in the gut? Doesn’t it?

Anneliese Rhodes: 1000%. I literally just raised my hand. Yes. You know, nobody is perfect. We want to believe that we are, but we all know we’re not. And look, the truth is that mistakes are where you learn and you grow. So today we’re going to talk about it as it relates to medical devices, medical sales, and being in this industry. And it is, I think, so key because you are going to make a mistake. You’re going to make a lot of them.

So the biggest thing to do is to make sure that you handle the situation with integrity and honesty. And we’re going to talk about this and what this looks like, you guys. But I think it’s really important, you know because you have a choice—you can handle it in a crappy way, and you can lie your way through something. And sometimes people get away with little white lies or big lies. And you think to yourself, “Wow, that went great. I got away with that one. I can do it again.”

But the truth is, everybody knows when you’re lying, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, especially because we work with really smart people.

Cynthia Ficara: Smart scientists.

Anneliese Rhodes: And they’re going to say, “Uh, that’s a lie.” So, why even go through that? Why even go down that path? Just be honest. And, you know, with that, I have a story.

Owning Mistakes: A Lesson in Integrity

Cynthia Ficara: We have our secret. Yes. That rolls in. We do have a secret.

Anneliese Rhodes: We do have.

Cynthia Ficara: Exactly the secret that we run. We want to reveal when it comes to making mistakes. So honestly, overcoming them is something that we all can do. And the best thing to do, the secret to overcoming your mistake, is to own it.

Anneliese Rhodes: Own.

Cynthia Ficara: That.

Anneliese Rhodes: Baby.

Cynthia Ficara: It’s ownership. That’s the secret that we’re revealing today. And I know that sounds kind of silly or maybe very simple at the same time. It’s so important. You know, when you were speaking, it dawned on me—I don’t remember who said this quote—but it’s, “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react.”

If I sat here and Googled it, I could let you know who said it, but I think that applies to making mistakes. And we want to talk about reacting in a very positive way, in a way that will affect your business positively, and your relationships positively.

So, we’ll first kind of dive into a little bit about, you know, what the steps are into that comeback. You know, I mean, we’ve all had those moments—you make a mistake, your gut tightens up, and you think, “Oh my God, this is awful. The world’s falling apart.” What do you do in that minute? Yeah. How do we come back from this?

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. So, I have a story that, honestly, I mean, this is something that happened to me a while ago, and it still feels like it was just yesterday. It was a very, very bad mistake on my part and something that I still to this day punish myself for making.

But I learned a lot, I’ll tell you that. And I don’t ever leave my house now without making sure I’m a hundred percent buttoned up. So, I was called in for a case—this was years ago—and I had a bunch of different stuff with me. I thought that I grabbed the right things for this case.

I drove all the way to the hospital—it was an early morning case—and I got there with a little bit of time left. I pulled into the parking lot, and per usual, I pulled everything out. I’m looking and making sure. At that point, I was just checking after because I assumed that I had everything.

So, I pulled into the parking garage and went to pull out all the products. And I’m looking at what I brought, and I’ll be darned—I didn’t bring the right things. That moment, that feeling is just—it’s so bad. It’s the worst feeling ever. It’s like this empty, lonely feeling of, “Oh my gosh, I just made one of the ultimate mistakes, and it’s all on me.”

And I can’t blame anybody else. I can’t say, “Oh, they didn’t send me the right stuff,” or, “It was there—I swear somebody took it.” Somebody went into my car and stole it, you know, the little elves—

Cynthia Ficara: That came out and said, “I want this.”

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, the dog ate my lunch, or the dog ate my homework. Can’t say that either, right?

So, what did I do? Well, I took a big gulp, and I picked up the phone, and I called my doctor.

Cynthia Ficara: And?

Anneliese Rhodes: I told him, I said, “Hey, I don’t even know how to tell you this, but I’m just going to tell you. Here’s what happened. Here’s what I have. I don’t have what you need, and I need you to call somebody else. I need you to do it now because I know the patient’s going to be rolling into the hospital and into the OR pretty soon.”

That was a really bad feeling. And it was low, and I felt—girl, I felt like a loser. I’m like, “I can’t believe after 15 years—15 years into doing this—I make this kind of rookie mistake.” And I say rookie because rookie is just a term for when you’re new at something.

But the truth is, everybody makes mistakes. Nobody’s immune to it. And it doesn’t matter where you are in your career—at some point, you are going to make a mistake.

Thank God it wasn’t catastrophic to the point where, like, the patient was already on the table. You know, I thought I had it. I rolled in, and then I opened the bag, and it was not there. But the point is, it was a hard pill to swallow, but I picked up the phone and made the call immediately, knowing full well I might never get that physician’s business back.

Cynthia Ficara: You know, just hearing what you said, this is actually such a great example because it was an honest mistake. And I would say all mistakes start out honestly, right? Don’t they start out the way—you’re driving there, right? Because you’re like, “I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I’ve got everything.”

I just didn’t double-check. Yeah, it was an honest mistake. And that, you know, you assumed you had everything. So, you learned that you’re not going to assume anymore. But you did something that I think is really part of what we’re discussing today about owning it—your time sensitivity, you know, to immediately pick up that phone and address it.

Because yes, it sucks, and it hurts, but you just gave the doctor the biggest next step to come up with a different plan. Unfortunately, they had to use somebody else, but your honesty in that situation—that’s huge. I’m really proud of you for calling them and doing that. That’s a tough mistake though. That’s hard.

Turning Mistakes Into Opportunities for Redemption

Cynthia Ficara: So now that mistake happened, let me ask you this. Has it ever happened since?

Anneliese Rhodes: No. Can I curse on this? Because I'd say no, absolutely not. You better believe I double, triple, I don't know, quadruple-check everything all the time. In fact, the other day, I literally stopped my truck, got up on the side of the road, and was like, “Wait, I didn’t do my check.” It was pitch black out, and I had my phone flashlight, and I was looking through everything to make sure—even though I knew that night that I put it into my truck, I knew I had the right stuff.

That morning, I was like, “I didn’t check again.” It’s a heart-stopping moment that you never want to have happen again, and you will do anything in the world to prevent it.

Cynthia Ficara: And how crazy is it when mistakes change your actions? That’s exactly what you did—to the point where it became such a routine that even though you did the routine, now you had to recheck the routine.

So I think that was such a great story. Let’s just kind of start in a simple way and break down practical steps to make the comeback. And your story pretty much says a lot there.

Anneliese Rhodes: So I have a story to tell you. I mean, I have a finished product, you know, after the screw-up, the major slip-up, the phone call, and the gut punch—and the tears, which I cried many tears, I will tell you. Oh, it was bad.

I called my manager. I called my friends. I was like, “This is so bad.”

I went back to that physician. I gave him a week. Well, actually, let me back up. I did follow up with him later that afternoon and just said, “Hey, again, I am so sorry. I hope everything went well with the procedure. I hope the patient’s doing well.”

Then the following week, I went to his office and set up lunch, just like I would if it was the first time ever meeting him. And I waited and waited until I was at lunch. I sat down with him, and he met with me, which I took as a good sign because, at least, he didn’t say, “Screw you. I’m never talking to you again.”

We sat down and talked about it. We talked about how it happened. He looked at me, Cindy, and he was like, “You know, Lisa, I’m going to give you another shot. And I’m going to give you another shot because you acted with integrity. You called me immediately. You knew what was most important, which was the patient—not you, not your sales, not the money in your pocket. It was this patient. And because of that, I’m going to give you another shot, but don’t screw it up again.”

Cynthia Ficara: And that’s huge because you know what? What you just said makes me think about something. Sometimes it’s embarrassing—like, it’s embarrassing to own up and be like, “Okay, this is a mistake that I definitely shouldn’t have made.” But to be strong enough to overcome that embarrassment and push it aside for exactly that reason is so important.

If you’re listening to medical device sales, it’s always about the patient. And maybe if you’re in something else different, think about the impact you’re making or what it is that you’re selling. When you focus on that, things change a little bit. When you take it all off yourself, because you know you didn’t intend for this to happen—clearly, gosh, clearly—but immediately doing something about it makes it better.

Acknowledge Your Mistakes

Cynthia Ficara: So I think I just want to kind of go through four quick practical steps in making a comeback. And I think number one, we’ve already said, but I think it’s so huge. And number one is to acknowledge the mistake because you—we already kind of said our secret is owning it—but you’ve got to acknowledge it.

And then this is the little hard part here, but you have to assess this situation calmly. No tears. I can’t imagine at that moment that you were calm. I’m sure your heart rate was like, “Oh, girl, I was sweating.”

Anneliese Rhodes: I was sweating. I was—

Cynthia Ficara: No deodorant. What helped you on that boat?

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. And I was holding back the tears—just absolutely heart pumping, holding back tears, sweating, praying the guy doesn’t curse me out, which I knew he wouldn’t because he’s a great guy. But, you know, yeah, all of it—all of the above. You’re right.

And doing that calmly—I mean, that’s a mental thing. You know, I don’t know. I can’t remember if I did it calmly or not, but, I mean, in my head, it was a total nightmare. But you’re right. We have to do that calmly because you must be thinking through it while you’re acknowledging it.

So maybe those little white lies don’t pop up every now and then because I think, you know, it could have been easy for me to say, “Hey, they didn’t ship me the right product,” right?

Cynthia Ficara: And—

Anneliese Rhodes: I didn’t do that.

Rebuilding Trust After a Mistake

Cynthia Ficara: So number two, apologize if necessary, because it affected the doctor in a way—his plans changed, right? Ultimately, thank goodness in this situation, the patient ended up being just fine, but, you know, apologies really help build that integrity and help with that relationship.

Because if you think about it now, it’s like, if you’re on a spectrum of one to 10 and you’ve had this great relationship when you make a big mistake like that, you go from 10 all the way back down to about two, right?

So now, it’s about building trust again. You’ve actually got to go through and rebuild this. So now you’re down at level two. You went to the lunch service, maybe the in-service, maybe now you’re two and a half. And then as you get back, and you repeatedly show your attention to detail and your trust and service to this physician, hospital, and patient, you get yourself back up to a relationship of 10.

Anneliese Rhodes: That’s a tough—

Cynthia Ficara: One.

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, that was really—actually, that’s a great point because you’re right. When I was having that lunch meeting, I didn’t feel like a 10 anymore. You know, I felt like a two—or even a one or a zero.

And I will tell you, when we finally did a case again, girl, I was so nervous. I was so worried. It was like, I, of course, triple-checked everything, but you’re not at that. You and your mind have already cut yourself down. You’ve already beat yourself up so hard that you’re walking in like a beaten dog.

And it’s like, you’ve got to gain that confidence back. You’ve got to get that confidence back. And, you know, it took a lot for me. I mean, by the end of the case, it was great. Everything was perfect. And I’m like, “Yeah,” high-fiving. We’re all happy again. Everything’s positive.

But, you know, you go back down on that sliding scale, and it’s not hard to do when you screw up.

Learning, Growing, and Rebuilding Trust

Anneliese Rhodes: So, you're right. It's a process. And I think number three in that practical steps thing is you’ve got to analyze and learn. And that’s exactly what I did. I learned, I learned my lesson. Not only did I learn it and create new habits out of it, but it also made me stop in my tracks and really take some time to make sure that I was doing everything appropriately at that point to earn that customer's business back.

Cynthia Ficara: Well, you already said you’ve kind of changed some of your actions, right? You even triple-checked now, to the point that a little while ago, you pulled over in the dark just to triple-check again what you’d already triple-checked before. So, I mean, that really is learning.

And the crazy thing is, I think a lot of growth in our businesses comes from mistakes. So, the question is, is it such a dire mistake that you’re going to completely crush your foundation, or can you rebuild it? And sometimes, these mistakes that we correct and build become so strong that we have an even better relationship because that’s how we grow. You know, I really do believe that.

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, gosh, that’s a great point. Absolutely. I mean, again, I think you only learn in the hard times. It’s not like you’re learning in the easy times. Not that I would wish this on anybody because it was really a tough time.

But, you know, when we sat down and were talking, this is another thing to think about when you’re looking for steps of coming back—get them to tell you how they feel. I asked him, I was like, “Look, I know this is disappointing for me. I’m sure it’s disappointing for you. Do you trust me? Do you trust me to come and work with you again? I want to build that trust back. I want to gain your trust back. Tell me how I can do it.” And that’s basically seeking feedback from your customers. Asking them, “Hey, how can I earn your business back? How can I get it back?”

Cynthia Ficara: Well, I think that’s so full circle with the honesty that it takes to do that. And I think that you know, you’ve got to remember that most of us are women listening to this, and there’s the emotional part.

We already hold ourselves to a higher accountability because we always seem up against more. So when we build this trust and something like this happens, it’s human nature. It’s okay to be really hard on ourselves, but it’s in that moment that you’ve got to peel back the layers, own it, and decide: “How am I going to react to this? What am I going to do to fix it, put the pieces back together, and go forward?”

But that emotional part is real. You can acknowledge it. But again, as I mentioned before, life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent of how you react. Well, okay, it hurts. But guess what? Get stronger. Now it’s time to become resilient, move forward, and have greater success because I think it’s very possible.

Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, you know, when you were talking, it made me think of something. I didn’t want to tell anybody that I’d made this mistake, by the way. I did not want anyone to know other than my husband and my friends, who I was crying to.

But they weren’t my colleagues. They weren’t my managers. Well, I did call my manager. But within the company, I didn’t want anyone to know.

Then about—oh, I don’t know—a couple of months later, maybe six or seven months later, I let it slip to one of my colleagues. It was a male colleague, and he’s like, “I’ve done that.”

And I’m like, “Wait, what? You’re kidding me. Really?”

And he’s like a top performer. He goes, “Oh, Lisa, everybody’s done that once.”

And I’m like, “Seriously? I thought I was the only person in the world.” I legit wanted to hide under a rock for months. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. Even saying it over the phone to my manager, I was like, “Ah, please don’t crucify me for this one.”

It was so bad.

And then he’s like, “Well, dang, I wish you’d called me months ago. It would’ve been nice to have a little bit of moral support.”

The Power of Support in Overcoming Mistakes

Anneliese Rhodes: So, I think along with the fact that we are women and we hold ourselves to such high standards—and man, do we feel those emotional responses—I think it’s also a good thing to reach out to others.

It’s never easy to admit when you’re wrong. It’s never easy to acknowledge the fact that you messed something up and it was totally on you. But it’s really nice when you can share it with somebody, and they totally empathize with you. And they’re like, “Hey,” I mean, this guy was like, “Hey, I did that.”

That was like the ultimate. And it doesn’t even need to be that. It can just be, “Wow, I feel you. I’m so sorry. Listen, everybody makes mistakes.” And that is the truth. That’s why we’re talking about it today—because everybody makes mistakes. Even your physicians make mistakes. You just have to understand that the way you handle them has to be with the most integrity—with your highest integrity, honesty, openness, and timeliness.

And, you know, talking about it and making sure that you’re owning up to it as quickly and as honestly as you can.

Cynthia Ficara: You know, Lisa, I just want to back up for a minute because I think that you just hit on something that is so important. You talked about reaching out to the male coworker, and it’s like some of the things we’ve talked about in previous episodes—about how you really get support from others.

I think all of us have that circle of closeness, where it’s safe. We are not on an island in this job, and sometimes it’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to need that help because when you have somebody else to support you—clearly, that sounded like it made you feel so much better—just to know that you weren’t alone.

That, you know, he bounced back from this. But then, maybe it’s something that if you have that close-knit group of people, you can say, “Look guys, hey, this just happened. I don’t want it to happen to anybody else. I just want everybody to be aware—let my pain just infuse in you for a minute, and then you’ll never do it.”

Yeah, 100 percent. And that’s what builds us. Sometimes, as women out here in medical device sales, we feel that we’re alone. We’ve mentioned before about finding mentors and finding support, but I think this episode just drives that home. And I think that’s a reminder to seek out some of that support because it really helps when you find somebody who doesn’t judge you.

Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely. And that can give you guidance and say to you, not just, “I was there too,” but, “I was there too, and you’re going to be okay. Put some steps into place so it’ll never happen again. Here’s what I did with my customer or in my situation. Maybe you can try this with them. Why don’t you do X, Y, Z?”

The things that you and I just talked about—that really helps because sometimes when you make these mistakes, your mind just goes blank, and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, my life is over. I’m going to lose my job. Oh, this is terrible. I’m such a bad rep.” You know, it’s like we literally—we talk about this.

Learning Through Mistakes and Growing Stronger

Anneliese Rhodes: Maybe it’s just me, but I go to a thousand real quick. And I’m like, “Oh, I’m the worst rep ever.” And it was really nice to hear, “Hey man, I screwed up too.”

And, you know, again, with us being women, we just hold ourselves to such high standards. We have to maybe back off that a little bit, be real, give ourselves some grace, and be okay with the fact that we screwed up. Own it. Be honest about it, and have the integrity to talk to your physicians about it—or customers about it, whoever it is that you made the mistake with.

Know that they may not forgive you. And that’s human nature. Sometimes they may not, but do everything in your power to try and rectify the situation. Then learn from it. Create those new habits. I mean, I can’t tell you—it’s not just checking my products now. There are other things I’ve done from mistakes I’ve learned from that are now part of my rituals. Whatever it is I’m doing with work, I’ve never veered from those because I know what can happen if I don’t put in those good habits.

So, I think this is a really good episode, Cindy. I’m glad we talked about this today. You know, everybody is going to make mistakes in life—whether it’s personal or business. You’ve got to know that ahead of time, and you’ve got to embrace the tough. Like you said, you’re going to learn from that. It’s what you do in that time that really defines you as a person, as a good character versus a bad character.

As a sales rep, as a trusted advisor, as a mother, as a wife, as a father, as a husband—all of those things. It’s what you do in that time that really matters.

Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. And I’m so glad you were vulnerable and shared this mistake that you made years ago. Because I think one thing I’ve taken from what you described is that we talk about authenticity, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And in every example on previous podcasts, we’ve tied authenticity into being positive. It’s always been, that you go into an OR, you go into a meeting, and you’re authentically you. But you know what? You need to be authentically in a bad situation too.

It’s how you react. That was a really good reminder because when you take yourself wherever you go, and you always put your best foot forward—that foot’s going to fall sometimes, and you’re going to make mistakes. I love that you were able to come back from that.

In a quick summary, the four steps we mentioned are: acknowledge the mistake, apologize if necessary, learn from it and analyze it, and then seek feedback from your customer. Getting support from coworkers, or anybody else, will help you get through it.

I really hope that our little secret today—of owning up to a mistake—will take you into this week ready to just breathe and make every good attempt for things to go right. And if something doesn’t, now we hope we’ve given you a little bit of what to do.

Anneliese Rhodes: That’s right. Now you know you’re not alone.

Cynthia Ficara: You’re not alone.

Anneliese Rhodes: I was just about to say that—you’re not alone. So, anyhow, that wraps up today’s episode. Thanks, everyone, for tuning into another episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales. Go out there and kill it. Love it.