Sales experience and clinical experience are both learnable. This week we cover what to do when you have one but not the other, and how to build credibility fast once you are in the door.
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
A few thoughts from the field before we get into it…
When I started in this industry, I had something going for me and something working against me. I had sales experience. I knew how to build a relationship, manage a pipeline, handle an objection, and close a sale. What I did not have was any medical or healthcare background whatsoever. Zero clinical exposure. No science degree. I was starting from scratch on the product side.
What I eventually figured out was that both things are learnable. Sales skills can be taught. Clinical knowledge can be acquired. The question is never really whether you have one or the other. The question is whether you are willing to learn what you are missing from people who know more than you do.
That willingness is rarer than you would think. A lot of people who come into med device from a strong sales background assume the clinical side will sort itself out. It does not. You have to go after it. A lot of people who come in from clinical roles assume they can figure out the selling part on their own. That is also a mistake.
Three things I would tell anyone starting out. Be genuinely open to learning from people who are more experienced than you, in whatever area you are lacking. Never try to bluff your way through something you do not know. Surgeons, OR staff, and hospital administrators will see through it instantly, and you will lose their trust in a way that is very hard to recover from. If you do not know the answer to a question, say so, then go find out and come back with the answer. Most people think admitting they do not know something is a sign of weakness. In this industry, it is a sign of integrity, and the people who trust you most are the ones who know you will always give them a straight answer.
Glad you're here. Let's get into it.
Andy Knapik, Founder
The Modern Med Rep
INDUSTRY INTEL
What's moving in med device this week and why it matters
Five Things Shaping the Industry Right Now
→ Boston Scientific was hit by a major cyberattack, disrupting global operations.
The company detected the incident on August 25 and immediately filed an SEC disclosure. The attack knocked out order processing and manufacturing systems, halting shipments of pacemakers and cardiac stents to hospitals worldwide. Manufacturing employees in Cork, Ireland were sent home. Boston Scientific is the ninth medtech company to disclose a cyberattack in 2026. The pattern we flagged in Issues #002 and #003 is not slowing down.
→ Stryker is acquiring ZuriMED to expand into rotator cuff augmentation.
ZuriMED makes a polyester patch system that supports rotator cuff repairs during and after surgery, helping prevent the tissue from re-tearing. Stryker says rotator cuff augmentation is one of the fastest-growing areas in sports medicine right now. The acquisition follows the orthopedics segment trends we covered in Issue #005 and signals continued investment in the sports medicine and upper extremity space.
→ Abbott is moving into Boston Scientific's left atrial appendage market.
Early clinical data for Abbott's Amulet 360 device showed 93.9% complete closure in atrial fibrillation patients at 45 days. The left atrial appendage closure market is one of the faster-growing segments in cardiovascular device, and Abbott's entry signals intensifying competition in a space Boston Scientific has dominated.
→ GE HealthCare is taking on Siemens Healthineers in photon-counting CT.
GE HealthCare is pushing its photon-counting CT technology directly against Siemens Healthineers, which has led this market. We covered the imaging landscape in depth in Issue #004. Photon-counting CT produces higher-resolution images at lower radiation doses than conventional CT and is gaining traction in oncology, cardiology, and vascular surgery.
→ Medtronic recalled its pH monitoring capsule linked to 184 serious injuries.
For the second time in two years, Medtronic has pulled capsules from the market over a fault that could obstruct patients' airways. The recall is a reminder that product safety events are a routine part of this industry and that reps need to be prepared to handle them professionally with their clinical customers. Issue #005 covered the mechanics of how to do that well.
MARKET SPOTLIGHT
A deep dive into the segments, companies and technologies shaping the industry
Your First 90 Days in Medical Device: What to Expect and How to Build Credibility Fast
Getting the job is one thing. The first 90 days are where you either establish yourself or fall behind in ways that are hard to recover from. Medical device sales has a steeper learning curve than most industries, and the expectations are real even when companies say there is a ramp period.
Here is what to expect and how to make the most of the time you have.
Expect to feel overwhelmed, and do not let it derail you. The volume of product knowledge, clinical terminology, anatomy, procedure knowledge, and customer context you need to absorb in a short period is genuinely a lot. Every new rep goes through a period of feeling out of their depth. The ones who succeed are not the ones who find it easy. They are the ones who keep showing up, keep asking questions, and do not pretend to know things they do not know.
Learn the product before you learn the pitch. The single most important thing you can do in your first 30 days is understand what you are selling at a clinical level. Not just the features and benefits. How the procedure works. What problem the product solves. What can go wrong if it is used incorrectly. Watch videos of the procedure. Talk to your clinical education team. Attend as many cases as possible, even in a purely observational role. You cannot credibly sell something you do not understand, and surgeons will know within minutes whether you do.
Build relationships with OR staff before you try to build them with surgeons. Scrub techs, circulators, and OR nurses are the people who will help you or hurt you in the operating room long before a surgeon ever forms an opinion of you. Learn their names. Show up prepared. Do not get in the way. Be genuinely helpful. The reps who build strong OR staff relationships early get access and goodwill that takes competitors years to match.
Take every chance to be in the room. Time in the OR is the currency of credibility in med device. Every case you support, observe, or assist with is building the clinical foundation that your career will stand on. In the first 90 days, say yes to everything. Early morning cases, long cases, cases in segments you are not yet selling. Be present and be useful, and the relationships will follow.
Know your numbers. Understand your territory quota, how it is structured, and what the pipeline looks like from day one. Even if you are on a ramp, knowing which accounts are active, which are prospects, and what the conversion history looks like in your territory gives you a framework for where to spend your time. Reps who do not know their numbers are flying blind.
The most important thing in your first 90 days:
Build trust faster than you build business. In medical device, business follows trust, not the other way around. The reps who try to sell too hard, too fast, before they have established credibility in the room, consistently underperform the ones who spend those first months focused on learning, showing up, and earning the right to ask for business later.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Where the jobs are, what’s paying, and how to position yourself to get there
Capital Sales vs. Disposable Sales: Know the Difference Before You Apply
Industry Foundation: One of the most fundamental distinctions in device sales is whether you are selling capital equipment or disposables, and it changes everything about the role.
Capital equipment means large, expensive systems: surgical robots, imaging machines, patient monitoring platforms. A single capital sale can take 6 to 18 months and involve hospital committees, CFOs, and multi-year financing agreements. The sale is infrequent but enormous. Disposable sales mean the consumables used in procedures: implants, sutures, ablation catheters and single-use instruments. These sell in much higher volumes, close faster, and generate recurring revenue every time a procedure is performed. Some roles involve both: you sell the capital system once and then drive disposable utilization from it over several years.
Understanding which type of role you are targeting matters for how you position yourself in an interview and how you evaluate a compensation structure. Capital roles tend to have higher base salaries and longer ramp periods. Disposable roles tend to be more commission-driven with faster feedback on performance. The Med Device Career Decoder covers what to look for in each type of role at themodernmedrep.com.
With that foundation in place, here is where the active hiring is right now across the segments we have covered in this newsletter.
Sports medicine and upper extremity. Stryker's ZuriMED acquisition signals continued investment in rotator cuff and shoulder surgery. This sub-segment, which we covered in Issue #005, is actively building commercial teams around new product launches in a space that is growing fast and is increasingly compatible with ASC settings.
Cardiovascular. Abbott's Amulet 360 entry into left atrial appendage closure and the continued expansion of pulsed field ablation are both generating commercial team builds. EP and structural heart remain among the highest-compensated roles in device, and the competitive intensity is driving hiring across all major players.
Imaging and diagnostics. The photon-counting CT competition between GE HealthCare and Siemens Healthineers is creating active expansion of imaging sales teams, particularly around AI-enabled platforms and molecular imaging. We covered this in depth in Issue #004.
Cybersecurity-adjacent commercial roles. The wave of cyberattacks hitting major device companies is creating demand for commercial professionals who understand data security, can speak to hospital IT concerns, and can navigate the increasingly complex conversation around connected devices and digital risk. This is an emerging differentiator for reps in capital equipment and digital health segments.
The segment with the most consistent hiring across all of 2026:
Surgical robotics. As we covered in Issues #001 and #002, every major robotic platform is building or expanding its commercial team. Clinical specialists and territory managers with any exposure to robotics remain in strong demand across Medtronic, J&J, CMR Surgical, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, and Globus Medical.
THE MED INSIDER
One thing every med device professional should know this week
What a Cyberattack at Device Company Means in the Field
The Boston Scientific attack is the kind of story that gets covered as a technology and business news event. But it has a very practical dimension for anyone working in or selling medical devices, and it is worth understanding.
When Boston Scientific's order processing systems went down, hospitals waiting on pacemakers and cardiac stents could not receive their orders. Procedures were potentially delayed. Clinical teams had to scramble for alternatives. The reps who sell Boston Scientific products suddenly had nothing to ship, through no fault of their own, and had to manage those conversations with their accounts in real time.
This is not a hypothetical scenario anymore. Nine medtech companies have disclosed cyberattacks in 2026. The companies targeted include some of the largest and most sophisticated organizations in the industry. The question for anyone in device sales is not whether this will affect your company eventually. It is whether you will know how to handle it with your customers when it does.
The practical response is the same as a recall: call your key accounts before they call you. Be direct about what is happening and what you know. Be honest about what you do not know. Give them a realistic timeline for restoration if you have one. And follow up as the situation develops, even when the news is not good. The reps who manage supply chain disruptions with transparency and professionalism build deeper trust with their accounts than the ones who go quiet and hope the situation resolves on its own.
The broader signal:
Cybersecurity is becoming part of the medical device commercial conversation in a way it was not three years ago. Hospital IT departments are asking about data security for connected devices. Purchasing committees are evaluating vendors' digital resilience. Reps who can speak to how their company handles security, what its response protocols look like, and how patient data and device function are protected during an incident are having a different class of conversation than those who cannot.
FROM THE FIELD
Your Questions, Answered
This week's question came up in a real conversation I had recently:
"I am studying Health Sciences in college, and I have no sales experience. What do I need to do to get into medical device sales?"
You are in a better position than you might think. You already have something that many device candidates spend years trying to build: clinical credibility. You understand anatomy, pathology, and how the healthcare system works. That is a genuine advantage in an industry where your customer is a surgeon and your office is an operating room.
What you need to build on the other side is commercial experience. Not necessarily device sales experience, but any experience that shows you can build relationships, handle rejection, and close. Medical device companies hire from pharma, B2B sales, and clinical roles all the time. Candidates who come from a health sciences background and can also demonstrate some commercial instinct tend to be very attractive to hiring managers.
Practical steps while you are still in school: look for internships or part-time roles in healthcare settings, medical equipment companies, or pharmaceutical sales. Shadow a device rep if you can find one willing to let you observe for a day. Get comfortable in clinical environments before you graduate. And start building your network on LinkedIn now, reaching out to reps, clinical specialists, and recruiters in the segment you are most interested in. You do not need to have everything figured out before you apply. You need to be able to tell a clear story about why you want this industry, what you bring to it, and what you are actively doing to fill the gaps. That story, told well, is what gets you in the door.
Have a question? Reply to this email. The best ones make it into the next issue.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
- Benjamin Franklin
