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Relationship Building Genius in Sales with Ted Echemann
Episode 681st June 2022 • Transformed Sales • Wesleyne
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Highlights

  • Transitioning into sales from working in finance for a Fortune 100 company (01:38)
  • How working with the best in sales helped to propel his career (04:48)
  • Taking over a failing territory and reviving it (07:25)
  • Sustainable sales success through continuous cultivation of relationships and having a process that you stick to (13:22)
  • Getting up to speed with a new role when you move from sales in one industry to a completely different industry (14:43)
  • Why it’s more advisable to hire people who already have the sales skills and necessary determination (17:14)
  • Individual Contributor to Manager to Leader: His inspirational sales journey (18:52)
  • What it really takes to be a sales manager who builds a successful sales team (22:42)
  • Overcoming challenges as a sales player-coach (25:07)
  • The importance of requalifying your customers (28:42)
  • Accomplishments he's most proud of in both his personal and professional life (32:28)

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I will have a chat with Ted Echemann, the Key Account Director at GRAIL, a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL is focused on saving lives and improving health by pioneering new technologies for early cancer detection. The company is using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art computer science and data science to overcome one of medicine’s greatest challenges with Galleri™, GRAIL’s multi-cancer early detection blood test.

Ted is a sales leader in the biotech space and thrives in ensuring the commercialization of new innovative products. He has a passion for working with physicians and healthcare organizations to better patient care and improve outcomes. He has worked with many different companies throughout his career. He started out in finance until a personal experience drove him towards looking into Oncology and he eventually made a lateral move that saw him jump into an account management role. Ted did really well in that role when he successfully grew a territory that had been failing and the rest as they say is history. Tune in to tap into the wisdom Ted had to share with us and hopefully, he will inspire you to go out there and thrive in your sales career at whatever level you’re on and beyond.

Quotes

“In sales, patience is the hardest thing because salespeople want immediate gratification, but being patient is a salesperson’s biggest tool” - Ted Echemann

“You can get a contract all day but if you can’t support that contract and drive that customer forward to make them a long term customer, then you really haven’t sold them” - Ted Echemann

“Always have a certain time set out where you’re gonna requalify your customers and make sure they’re still on board” - Ted Echemann

Learn More About Ted in the Links Below:

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

  • Wesleyne’s Website - https://transformedsales.com/
  • Wesleyne on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleynegreer/
  • Wesleyne on Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/wesleynegreer
  • Wesleyne on Twitter - https://twitter.com/wesleynegreer
  • Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com

Transcripts

Wesleyne Greer:

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

Wesleyne Greer:

performance of your team, and you're praised when they do

Wesleyne Greer:

well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is

Wesleyne Greer:

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

Wesleyne Greer:

single month. On the Snack size sales podcast, we discuss the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

Wesleyne Greer:

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

Wesleyne Greer:

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

Wesleyne Greer:

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

Wesleyne Greer:

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

Wesleyne Greer:

single month. So pop your headphones in and get ready to

Wesleyne Greer:

listen to my guests today. They will give you information and

Wesleyne Greer:

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

Wesleyne Greer:

you can put into place today. Thank you for tuning in to

Wesleyne Greer:

another episode of the transform sales podcast where we talk all

Wesleyne Greer:

about the science of selling today, I am so delighted to have

Wesleyne Greer:

Ted Ashman with me. How are you, Ted? I'm good. Wesleyne How are

Wesleyne Greer:

you? I'm doing awesome. Let me tell you a little bit more about

Wesleyne Greer:

10. He's a sales leader in the biotech space leading the

Wesleyne Greer:

commercialization of new innovative products. He has a

Wesleyne Greer:

passion for working with physicians and healthcare

Wesleyne Greer:

organization to better patient care and improve outcomes. And

Wesleyne Greer:

he has been blessed to have the privilege to work with many

Wesleyne Greer:

different companies throughout his career. So Ted, how did you

Wesleyne Greer:

start your career? And how do you now have this great passion

Wesleyne Greer:

for physicians and health care? Yeah, Wesleyan thanks, and great

Wesleyne Greer:

question and glad and happy to be on here, I'm happy that you

Wesleyne Greer:

reached out and that we were able to connect professionally

Wesleyne Greer:

here and really, for all the listeners that you have thank

Wesleyne Greer:

you to them for, you know, getting on and listening to you

Wesleyne Greer:

today. I think, you know, folks like you that are innovators in

Wesleyne Greer:

this space as well, in the podcast world here, it's very

Wesleyne Greer:

important for those that are really trying to come up in this

Wesleyne Greer:

space and learn and for you to bring, you know, folks that are

Wesleyne Greer:

really unable to be accessed by most individuals is really

Wesleyne Greer:

incredible. So thanks for the opportunity to be here. You

Wesleyne Greer:

know, my my career originally started in finance. So I worked

Wesleyne Greer:

for a fortune 100 company at a college I always wanted to be in

Wesleyne Greer:

sales, I had interviewed for a bunch of companies to start, you

Wesleyne Greer:

know, phone ACC and, and others, you know, to get my start in

Wesleyne Greer:

sales and eventually move into medical. But I really loved

Wesleyne Greer:

finance. And I got into a really big organization very

Wesleyne Greer:

competitive, got into sales very quickly and under a year there

Wesleyne Greer:

and had an opportunity to learn a ton. Unfortunately, this was

Wesleyne Greer:

during the 2008 not so good finance time. And so I had to

Wesleyne Greer:

really look at myself and say, Where do I want to be in my

Wesleyne Greer:

career? Where do I want to be in five years? 10 years, when I

Wesleyne Greer:

have a family? Where do I want to be? How do I want to, you

Wesleyne Greer:

know, make an impact in this world. I knew I wanted to be in

Wesleyne Greer:

sales, I knew I wanted to be in leadership, I knew I wanted to

Wesleyne Greer:

inspire others. And you know, I won't tell the whole story here.

Wesleyne Greer:

But I had a personal event in my family that really drove me

Wesleyne Greer:

towards looking into oncology and out of everything. I never

Wesleyne Greer:

thought that I would look at going into oncology diagnostics,

Wesleyne Greer:

let alone did I even know what that was at that time. And so it

Wesleyne Greer:

was something that drove me there, I knew a few folks that

Wesleyne Greer:

had gotten into the medical space. And so I reached out and

Wesleyne Greer:

made a connection with precision therapeutics, and I took a what

Wesleyne Greer:

I would call probably not just a lateral move, but a little bit

Wesleyne Greer:

of a step back to enter the space, I think it's incredibly

Wesleyne Greer:

important for those to for folks looking to get in to really

Wesleyne Greer:

understand that, you know, if you want to get in, you have to

Wesleyne Greer:

make some sacrifices. So I went and I was an account manager for

Wesleyne Greer:

eight different senior Oncology Specialists in the field. And so

Wesleyne Greer:

I did that for a few months, I finally picked up my own

Wesleyne Greer:

territory, it was a territory that was failing. So of course,

Wesleyne Greer:

they're gonna give the new guy a failing territory. And we came

Wesleyne Greer:

down to Texas, and we really exploded the territory. And we

Wesleyne Greer:

did that through relationship building consistency of

Wesleyne Greer:

processes, and all that sort of stuff. But I'm sure we'll talk

Wesleyne Greer:

about some of that today. So you know, it was able to do that.

Wesleyne Greer:

And then my career really propelled from there. I went

Wesleyne Greer:

into key accounts. And then I took on some new initiatives to

Wesleyne Greer:

you know, in that organization to take on the northeast, which

Wesleyne Greer:

wasn't Texas, and I didn't know anybody, but it was a great

Wesleyne Greer:

opportunity to expand my horizons. And then as I looked

Wesleyne Greer:

at the future of being in this field, I knew that I needed to

Wesleyne Greer:

understand where the technology was going some of the newer

Wesleyne Greer:

things and so that's how I got into NGS. And I got into some of

Wesleyne Greer:

the things I'm in today and and that's what led me to be here

Wesleyne Greer:

and I'm in infectious disease now, but it's crazy. You have to

Wesleyne Greer:

really just follow the path don't force anything. Wow. So

Wesleyne Greer:

when you stepped into this

Wesleyne Greer:

World, you kind of took what we might call like a little grunt

Wesleyne Greer:

role. So 48 salespeople as a key accounts manager, so tell me how

Wesleyne Greer:

did it help you by really supporting these more senior

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople? Being an account manager? How did that help

Wesleyne Greer:

propel what you did in your career as a salesperson?

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, Wesleyan Great question. So I was really

Ted Echeman:

blessed with the opportunity to work with really some of the

Ted Echeman:

best in the industry, and even the best in the industry today,

Ted Echeman:

all over from Louisville to New Orleans to Texas, and in

Ted Echeman:

between, and it really was a blessing to be able to step into

Ted Echeman:

that role. I thought at first look, I'm really excited I'm in

Ted Echeman:

all I want to do is get my own sales territory and run. And as

Ted Echeman:

soon as I got into that role, I realized there's an opportunity

Ted Echeman:

here, I've got a lot of career to go. And so don't rush

Ted Echeman:

anything, you know, learn from the best really understand how

Ted Echeman:

to make this work, I knew how to sell, but I didn't understand

Ted Echeman:

how to apply my hustle, my approach and all of that to the

Ted Echeman:

medical field. And, you know, some of the nuances to working

Ted Echeman:

in surgery, working in a clinic and all of those sorts of

Ted Echeman:

things. So I was able to learn that with some really incredible

Ted Echeman:

individuals that are still in this field today, some of the

Ted Echeman:

top performers in the country, and I was really blessed in that

Ted Echeman:

sense. So you know, it was really incredible. And a couple

Ted Echeman:

of those, the key takeaways were really how to handle yourself in

Ted Echeman:

situations in front of physicians, how to handle

Ted Echeman:

yourself in front of physicians, when there's patients present,

Ted Echeman:

when there's other staff present are really, really important,

Ted Echeman:

the way you handle yourself the way you know, sometimes when

Ted Echeman:

you're sitting there, even in surgery, you want to sit there

Ted Echeman:

and you want to wait for your product to be used, or you want

Ted Echeman:

to wait until it comes time for you to be of value. And

Ted Echeman:

sometimes that takes a while. And what I learned was, it's

Ted Echeman:

really important to establish a relationship before surgery

Ted Echeman:

before a procedure, and then be able to ask questions during

Ted Echeman:

that procedure questions that apply to the product that you

Ted Echeman:

have questions that apply to the individual surgery, and you have

Ted Echeman:

to feel out the physician and the person you're working with.

Ted Echeman:

But most are pretty accepting of those questions and want to

Ted Echeman:

teach a lot of these physicians want to teach. And so knowing

Ted Echeman:

that up front, you can start to build that rapport. And it's

Ted Echeman:

just, you know, some of the small nuances that people don't

Ted Echeman:

think about.

Wesleyne Greer:

So when you transitioned into the sales

Wesleyne Greer:

role, you said, you took over a feeling territory, we're in

Wesleyne Greer:

Texas was that

Ted Echeman:

so I moved down to Austin, Texas, one of my

Ted Echeman:

favorite places. I'm in Houston now. So no disrespect to

Ted Echeman:

Houston. I love Houston. But Austin is was a fantastic place

Ted Echeman:

to go. And it was they had a ton of trouble really getting

Ted Echeman:

traction with our products and just a lot of different health

Ted Echeman:

systems and just a different environment down here.

Wesleyne Greer:

So what are some of the things that you did to

Wesleyne Greer:

revive that territory?

Ted Echeman:

Sure. So, you know, right off the bat, I learned to

Ted Echeman:

our original players were in the market, we had a few physicians

Ted Echeman:

that we're already sending, establish relationships with

Ted Echeman:

them was really important, got to know who the key figures

Ted Echeman:

were, even in their offices, got to know who the folks were, you

Ted Echeman:

know, all the way down to the runners in the hospital system

Ted Echeman:

that would you know, bring material from a surgery to

Ted Echeman:

another location in the hospital, really all the key

Ted Echeman:

folks that were involved in the process, learned who they were

Ted Echeman:

really respected them and what they did build rapport with

Ted Echeman:

everybody throughout the process. And as I was able to

Ted Echeman:

build that, and I knew that would take time. And it didn't

Ted Echeman:

take as much time as I thought though, which was really good.

Ted Echeman:

And I think most people will find that will be the case, I

Ted Echeman:

also established a really good rapport with the physicians, I

Ted Echeman:

think they saw how dedicated and supportive I was in working with

Ted Echeman:

those other individuals. I wasn't just there for the

Ted Echeman:

business, I knew that if I did it the right way the business

Ted Echeman:

would come. And what that did was it led to referrals to other

Ted Echeman:

physicians, you know, I was able to then ask for things and you

Ted Echeman:

have to ask, don't be afraid, right? And I was able to ask for

Ted Echeman:

those introductions ask for him to be personally made. And over

Ted Echeman:

time, we just started to build it out. And I think what's

Ted Echeman:

really important is some people want to go spitals and really

Ted Echeman:

expanded from there. So I kept it small, and I grew it. And it

Ted Echeman:

was important to that I didn't just do what I needed to do to

Ted Echeman:

get the business at that given time. But also work with

Ted Echeman:

organizations that were again, we're talking oncology

Ted Echeman:

organizations that are really supportive of patients. And so I

Ted Echeman:

got involved with organizations locally that supported, you

Ted Echeman:

know, these cancer patients outside of just their

Ted Echeman:

traditional care. And so I thought that was really

Ted Echeman:

important to establish that rapport, be able to have a good

Ted Echeman:

relationship with physicians, and I wanted to do it, you know,

Ted Echeman:

Wesleyne I personally wanted to do it. I felt like I had a role

Ted Echeman:

to play in this. And I wanted to make sure that if I did have a

Ted Echeman:

role that I was, you know, doing everything I could to be

Ted Echeman:

impactful in that role.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's awesome. One of the things that I like to

Wesleyne Greer:

tell brand new salespeople is exactly what you did. Go talk to

Wesleyne Greer:

your raving fans, who are the people who bought from you

Wesleyne Greer:

before, understand why they bought from you, and really try

Wesleyne Greer:

to figure out how you can replicate that success. And then

Wesleyne Greer:

ask like, so many salespeople Just don't ask sometimes they

Wesleyne Greer:

don't even ask for the sale. Definitely, they don't ask for

Wesleyne Greer:

referrals. And the worst they can say is no. And if they say

Wesleyne Greer:

no, you go try the next person. If they say no, you just keep

Wesleyne Greer:

going until you find the person who's going to say yes. And so I

Wesleyne Greer:

think that really the way that you organically grew failing

Wesleyne Greer:

territory is exactly what salespeople need to be focused

Wesleyne Greer:

on. If they're in a rut, if they're in a brand new industry,

Wesleyne Greer:

if they're in a brand new territory, like, Where have we

Wesleyne Greer:

found success? And what can I do with this success?

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, you make a great point to you know, as your

Ted Echeman:

you know, sometimes we get away from our basics, right? We get

Ted Echeman:

away from that, and we begin to see regression, right? And we

Ted Echeman:

begin to see, you know, stagnation. And you know, what

Ted Echeman:

happens over time is we just continue to do what we're doing.

Ted Echeman:

And that's not what you need to do sometimes take a step back,

Ted Echeman:

like you say, right, go back to your roots, and really

Ted Echeman:

understand, you know, how did you get to where you're at

Ted Echeman:

today? How did you have that initial success? If you're not

Ted Echeman:

finding success, reach out to someone who's having success in

Ted Echeman:

your organization, talk to them, figure out what processes are

Ted Echeman:

being put in place? What are they doing, maybe they're

Ted Echeman:

putting binders together for their customers, and nobody else

Ted Echeman:

is doing that. Or maybe they're going to see them at a time of

Ted Echeman:

the day that everybody else wants to be done with work,

Ted Echeman:

right, take advantage of those opportunities, you know, a case

Ted Echeman:

that goes till 10pm At night, you know, take advantage of

Ted Echeman:

being there and just being present and taking a part in

Ted Echeman:

that in that process, as I said before, and but yeah, I think

Ted Echeman:

really taking a step back and really zeroing in on what your

Ted Echeman:

your goals are. And I can tell you that right off the bat,

Ted Echeman:

you're not going to see immediate success. So if you're

Ted Echeman:

trying to flip it over, you're not going to see that, but you

Ted Echeman:

have to be patient. And I think in sales patients is the hardest

Ted Echeman:

thing because salespeople want immediate gratification a lot of

Ted Echeman:

times, and I think that that's the hardest part. But being

Ted Echeman:

patient is your biggest tool,

Wesleyne Greer:

my patients patients they say is a virtue,

Wesleyne Greer:

it definitely is. Because especially if you're going from

Wesleyne Greer:

having a territory that maybe it's done 60 or 70% of the quota

Wesleyne Greer:

and you're trying to get it to 100% as a leader, you have to

Wesleyne Greer:

understand that that's not going to happen overnight. As a

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson, you have to set your expectations of right to

Wesleyne Greer:

know that I might have to do three or six months of work. But

Wesleyne Greer:

I know that things are going to turn a corner eventually, I

Wesleyne Greer:

always used to say that in the first half of the year, I plan

Wesleyne Greer:

all those seeds. And in the third and fourth quarter, they

Wesleyne Greer:

will come out to grow. Right? And so it's that relationship

Wesleyne Greer:

rapport building, really understanding what the physician

Wesleyne Greer:

needs, what that client needs, and you being a resource. And

Wesleyne Greer:

sometimes I think the hardest part is you understand what

Wesleyne Greer:

their challenges are. And your solution isn't what they need

Wesleyne Greer:

today. But you help them get to that solution. And since you're

Wesleyne Greer:

the one will help them get to that solution. They're like, Oh,

Wesleyne Greer:

yeah, you're my raving fan.

Ted Echeman:

That's right. That's right. And I think you

Ted Echeman:

mentioned here, I think the next up is super important. You have

Ted Echeman:

to have someone you know that you're cultivating, you have to

Ted Echeman:

have that next up. And you know, someone told me really early in

Ted Echeman:

my career in this cert on the surgical side, and I don't use

Ted Echeman:

it as much today, but I still I apply some of the principles of

Ted Echeman:

it. But I can see where in surgery, it really does apply

Ted Echeman:

and surgical sales really and all sales Wesleyan. But you

Ted Echeman:

know, is the five and five, right is you would work, you

Ted Echeman:

know, five cases with five doctors and establish that

Ted Echeman:

relationship. And as long as and I don't think it has to be five

Ted Echeman:

and five, it can be whatever you want it to be. But it's about

Ted Echeman:

having a process if you stick to the process and hold yourself

Ted Echeman:

accountable. And again, patients don't get too far ahead of

Ted Echeman:

yourself. And you can evolve that process over time. But five

Ted Echeman:

and five was really important. I think it was really important

Ted Echeman:

for me to be able to establish relationships, understand the

Ted Echeman:

process. And that is what I used as my kind of go to when I was

Ted Echeman:

you know at precision therapeutics,

Wesleyne Greer:

wow, five and five. So you moved from oncology

Wesleyne Greer:

to infectious disease, and many people are like, oh, yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

you're so calling on physicians. It's the same thing. But I know

Wesleyne Greer:

when I moved from capital equipment to specialty

Wesleyne Greer:

chemicals, it was like a whole different world. Right. So when

Wesleyne Greer:

you made that transition, what are some of the things that you

Wesleyne Greer:

use to get you up to speed quickly?

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, great question. So you know, talking

Ted Echeman:

about that transition just a little bit. It was different.

Ted Echeman:

You know, there's much of it was the same as far as the

Ted Echeman:

principles of sales and going after clients and all of that

Ted Echeman:

out, but the technology was different. And, you know, the

Ted Echeman:

company that I'm with today is really where I started out in

Ted Echeman:

infectious disease. When I joined, I joined as business

Ted Echeman:

development. And now I'm the VP of US sales here. And but when I

Ted Echeman:

started, we used to do a different model as well. So we'd

Ted Echeman:

send out and so there were tests that we were going out and

Ted Echeman:

selling to physicians that would then you know, make an order,

Ted Echeman:

and we would send them back results. So very similar to what

Ted Echeman:

we were doing early on in my oncology days, whether it be NGS

Ted Echeman:

or, you know, fresh tissue testing. And so, a lot of the

Ted Echeman:

again, a lot of the principles were the same. But what I did

Ted Echeman:

was I network through my oncology folks. So what I would

Ted Echeman:

say is the one thing that I learned in taking this leap, it

Ted Echeman:

was an incredible leap, but I knew it was going to be a

Ted Echeman:

challenge. I also joined a lot of folks that I really respected

Ted Echeman:

that came from oncology, which was really important. And I knew

Ted Echeman:

that it would give me an advantage in the field, I knew I

Ted Echeman:

needed to have confidence when I came over here and not be afraid

Ted Echeman:

to learn something new. And, you know, I realized that I think a

Ted Echeman:

lot of the skills are transferable. Wesleyne, right. I

Ted Echeman:

mean, as you say, it's a different technology, you need

Ted Echeman:

to learn it. But we're all pretty educated. I think we can

Ted Echeman:

learn these different technologies, we can learn the

Ted Echeman:

science, stick to your processes, right? Ask your

Ted Echeman:

clients, the same mentality, ask your customers today, if you're

Ted Echeman:

oncology and you're going to infectious disease, do you know

Ted Echeman:

any infectious disease doctors, do you know, the folks in the

Ted Echeman:

ICU, that most likely they're going to know them? Right? So

Ted Echeman:

you bring up a really good point, and it's a good topic to

Ted Echeman:

talk about is when you transition out of one type of

Ted Echeman:

industry into another one, even though you're really

Ted Echeman:

maintaining, it's still in medical, you know, do it with

Ted Echeman:

confidence, there's still those relationships, everything links

Ted Echeman:

up. And you know, in the end, it's a small world, everybody

Ted Echeman:

knows each other. And so that's what I did. That's how I had

Ted Echeman:

immediate success, I learned the product very quickly, as much as

Ted Echeman:

I needed to learn out in the field. And then I just, I just

Ted Echeman:

asked for customers to make connections for me. And that's

Ted Echeman:

how I made immediate success. And then I just started to build

Ted Echeman:

upon that. And of course, our business model is different

Ted Echeman:

today than it was then. But that's how I transition.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you just made my whole day, because I often

Wesleyne Greer:

talk about and I know you guys love hearing me say this, hiring

Wesleyne Greer:

your competitors redex. But I like to call it and I say that

Wesleyne Greer:

find someone with strong sales skills, and you can teach them

Wesleyne Greer:

the product, you can teach them the technology. Because if your

Wesleyne Greer:

product is as good as you say it is, then you should be able to

Wesleyne Greer:

teach it to a new salesperson, right. But those solid sales

Wesleyne Greer:

skills, the knowing what to do the knowing how to figure it

Wesleyne Greer:

out, those are much harder to teach. So you can ramp a new

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson up that's a strong salesperson in three months,

Wesleyne Greer:

versus one that has all this product knowledge that you have

Wesleyne Greer:

to break all their bad habits, all of those things, you have to

Wesleyne Greer:

undo and roll back. And really you said it's like, it's the

Wesleyne Greer:

same thing. I asked for referrals. I talked to the

Wesleyne Greer:

current customers, I really started the same way I did

Wesleyne Greer:

before.

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, you know, I would always rather hire someone

Ted Echeman:

that has the hustle has the ability is going to spend the

Ted Echeman:

extra hours you know, going after the business, but has less

Ted Echeman:

knowledge, right? And because there's some things that you

Ted Echeman:

just can't teach, right. And that's motivation. That's the

Ted Echeman:

hustle. That's the ability to talk to other people the

Ted Echeman:

hungriness and wake up on a Monday, and you're excited about

Ted Echeman:

that Monday, right? You have to be, especially in sales. If

Ted Echeman:

you're not excited about that Monday, I don't think you need

Ted Echeman:

to be in sales, right? I mean, on Sunday, you should be

Ted Echeman:

preparing for Monday, in my opinion, and always keeping that

Ted Echeman:

up to date as far as your preparation. But yeah, I think I

Ted Echeman:

would always rather hire someone that is, you know, extremely

Ted Echeman:

motivated, and you can teach these folks are very educated,

Ted Echeman:

you can teach them what you need to teach them. Yeah.

Wesleyne Greer:

And so how long did it take you to transition

Wesleyne Greer:

from individual contributor to manager to leader?

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, now a great question. So when I was with

Ted Echeman:

precision therapeutics, I transitioned briefly just under

Ted Echeman:

a year into a manager role. And I had the privilege of managing

Ted Echeman:

some really senior oncology folks in the northeastern United

Ted Echeman:

States down to Texas, kind of an odd territory. And I got my

Ted Echeman:

initial experience managing then the high level salespeople. And

Ted Echeman:

then when I moved to some other organizations, I sort of

Ted Echeman:

indirectly had some opportunity to to manage some folks as well.

Ted Echeman:

And then I had some direct opportunity to manage and hire

Ted Echeman:

out some folks that were mid level, you know, sales folks and

Ted Echeman:

some operators as well, that would go in and work with

Ted Echeman:

institutions to you know, get processes going and things like

Ted Echeman:

that. So, you know, how I transition was really just, you

Ted Echeman:

know, plain and simple. I knew what it took for me to get my

Ted Echeman:

job done. I knew what it took for, you know, the successful

Ted Echeman:

people in the organization to get the job done. I knew how to

Ted Echeman:

get sales through, you know, with what we were selling. And

Ted Echeman:

so I hired people that had contacts I hired people that I

Ted Echeman:

know I've done it before, a bit different here and infectious

Ted Echeman:

disease. Do you really want people that do actually

Ted Echeman:

understand the product, because it is a high level sale, you

Ted Echeman:

want people that know how to navigate some of the larger

Ted Echeman:

health systems, contracting, things like that. But I just

Ted Echeman:

transitioned by, you know, understanding the process. And

Ted Echeman:

one thing I'll also add to that is, I didn't see it as much as a

Ted Echeman:

huge transition, as much of it as it was an opportunity to

Ted Echeman:

learn from some senior folks that I would bring in. And I

Ted Echeman:

think you need to surround yourself with folks that could

Ted Echeman:

have your job, right, folks that can do your job folks that you

Ted Echeman:

could potentially report to, I think it's really important not

Ted Echeman:

to look at, you know, folks that are, you know, in roles that

Ted Echeman:

need to be reporting to you, but really looking at folks that are

Ted Echeman:

going to get the job done, that can have your role, the idea

Ted Echeman:

that I wanted to bring here was hire out a team, that everyone

Ted Echeman:

within that team can be managing this organization. And it was

Ted Echeman:

really important that we kept that high level of skill and

Ted Echeman:

ability here. And so that's how I approached it, I knew that I'd

Ted Echeman:

hire people that would be, you know, resources on different

Ted Echeman:

levels and add to that dynamic, add something to the group to

Ted Echeman:

the team.

Wesleyne Greer:

So do I understand correctly that when

Wesleyne Greer:

you went from oncology to infectious disease, you went

Wesleyne Greer:

from being a manager to an individual contributor? Or was

Wesleyne Greer:

it a lateral move?

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, so. So when I was with the previous company,

Ted Echeman:

before coming over here, I was in national sales. And so I

Ted Echeman:

worked with a couple of specific indications. And I would educate

Ted Echeman:

some of the folks in the field. So my job was to go out and not

Ted Echeman:

necessarily manage them, per se, but I did work with them, to

Ted Echeman:

help them understand the process, make some introductions

Ted Echeman:

to KOLs, get some of that additional business started,

Ted Echeman:

where they didn't really understand that area as much.

Ted Echeman:

And so that was really my job. You know, indirectly. There was

Ted Echeman:

some management there, and there was some involvement there. But

Ted Echeman:

most of those individuals all reported to our our Vice

Ted Echeman:

President of Sales, as well as myself. And then, you know, our

Ted Echeman:

CEO was very involved as well. But so I did have some

Ted Echeman:

experience there. And then in my previous job as well, in

Ted Echeman:

managing, so I did have some experience.

Wesleyne Greer:

Oh, no. So I was wondering, because I know at one

Wesleyne Greer:

point, you said that you took like a step back, if you will.

Wesleyne Greer:

And I didn't know if when you moved, because you know, you

Wesleyne Greer:

transitioned industries, if you will, if that was when you kind

Wesleyne Greer:

of had to take a step back to accelerate or propel?

Ted Echeman:

I did. Yeah. So to finish your question I did, I

Ted Echeman:

actually went to when I went to it by DNA, I went into a

Ted Echeman:

business development role. So individual contributor, and I

Ted Echeman:

wasn't managing anybody. And until I took on this role I'm in

Ted Echeman:

today, I didn't manage anybody, but I really love the transition

Ted Echeman:

back, you know, I, I struggle, quite honestly. And I know

Ted Echeman:

there's a podcast that's going to be out there and everything.

Ted Echeman:

But I do struggle with you know, do I want to be managing

Ted Echeman:

individuals? Or do I really want to be selling because I

Ted Echeman:

honestly, I love the sale, I love that approach. I love

Ted Echeman:

managing my business, being the CEO of that business, and making

Ted Echeman:

it successful and competing, right, and making an impact and

Ted Echeman:

but I also love the management side of things. You know, I love

Ted Echeman:

the coaching, I consider myself more of a player coach than

Ted Echeman:

anything I love to get out there and do it myself. I think it's

Ted Echeman:

important that you have to show people how to do it and prove

Ted Echeman:

that you can do it in order to gain that respect as well.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah, that is often things that top

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople say it's Ah, man, I really love selling. But I also

Wesleyne Greer:

know that I can make a much bigger impact by teaching five

Wesleyne Greer:

or 10 or 20 people how to be as excellent as I am. But I still

Wesleyne Greer:

like the thrill of Oh, we got the PIO. Oh, we did it. Oh,

Wesleyne Greer:

after six months, they finally let us in. Right. So there's

Wesleyne Greer:

always that balance.

Ted Echeman:

Exactly, exactly. I do i from my mentors as well,

Ted Echeman:

you know, most of them say it's hit or miss, right? Some are

Ted Echeman:

like, you know, I want to I just want to go out and do it, right,

Ted Echeman:

because I know how to do it. I know how to get it done. But at

Ted Echeman:

the same time, I don't know if I really want to do that daily

Ted Echeman:

grind anymore. And I liked the management side of things and

Ted Echeman:

some of that. So I think there are some differences out there.

Ted Echeman:

But I think most you know, most that I've talked to really do

Ted Echeman:

want to you know, get out there and sell and be you know, on the

Ted Echeman:

ground making it happened, especially if you're seeing a

Ted Echeman:

failing territory, right. I mean, that's one thing that

Ted Echeman:

like, if you see that, and you know that there's things not

Ted Echeman:

happening there, you know, get in intervene, you know, become a

Ted Echeman:

coach, you know, it's not, you know, what are you doing? Are

Ted Echeman:

you not doing this? It's really about, okay, what have I done as

Ted Echeman:

a manager to not, you know, provide the resources for for

Ted Echeman:

you and really uncovering that. So the folks that report up to

Ted Echeman:

me, you know, they're my customers as well, right? And so

Ted Echeman:

it's really important for me to remember that and, you know,

Ted Echeman:

I've got two ears and one mouth as I always tell my kids and so

Ted Echeman:

I try to adhere by that rule as well and listen as much as

Ted Echeman:

possible and, you know, nobody's perfect. So it could be some

Ted Echeman:

miscommunication or something. So I think it's super important

Ted Echeman:

to go out there and intervene and be a listener and move the

Ted Echeman:

ball forward. We're

Wesleyne Greer:

so in your role as a self proclaimed player,

Wesleyne Greer:

coach, I told you we're gonna get into sports. What are what's

Wesleyne Greer:

one of the biggest challenges that you're having to overcome?

Ted Echeman:

You know, when you're a young company, and

Ted Echeman:

you're innovative, and I'm not even speaking about my company

Ted Echeman:

today, I'm just speaking just in general terms, right? When

Ted Echeman:

you're in more of the startup space, it is really about having

Ted Echeman:

all the pieces together to really make your organization

Ted Echeman:

successful. Right. And so, you know, I think the challenges are

Ted Echeman:

really do we have all the pieces in place, and until you really

Ted Echeman:

get out and talk to customers start to integrate, always make

Ted Echeman:

sure that customer is in the chair, in the same room with you

Ted Echeman:

with your organization, when you're trying to develop

Ted Echeman:

products, when you're trying to move the ball forward, trying to

Ted Echeman:

figure out how do we sell to this customer, let's make sure

Ted Echeman:

the voice of customer is there. And you know, we pretend like

Ted Echeman:

they're listening to us. And then we're also going in getting

Ted Echeman:

that voice of customer as much as possible to, you know, to

Ted Echeman:

make sure that we're putting all the right pieces in place. So I

Ted Echeman:

would say the biggest challenge is just making sure that all the

Ted Echeman:

pieces to the puzzle are in place, you know, to really make

Ted Echeman:

sure that we're supporting the customer, because you can get a

Ted Echeman:

contract all day. But if you can't support that contract, and

Ted Echeman:

drive that customer forward and make them a long term customer,

Ted Echeman:

then you really haven't sold them.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah, I am absolutely with you really

Wesleyne Greer:

thinking about all the pieces of the puzzle. Because being in

Wesleyne Greer:

sales, being in sales leadership, they're like, Okay,

Wesleyne Greer:

here's the process. And it's not just one process. This is the

Wesleyne Greer:

prospecting process. And this is how we demo and then this is

Wesleyne Greer:

this. And this is that and well, what do the customers actually

Wesleyne Greer:

need once I actually sell the item I have to support them? Or

Wesleyne Greer:

do I hand that off to customer success? And so really thinking

Wesleyne Greer:

about how all of those pieces come together? And what is best?

Wesleyne Greer:

Or how can you set your salespeople up for long term

Wesleyne Greer:

success?

Ted Echeman:

Exactly, exactly. Very important. And it varies,

Ted Echeman:

you know, in different levels and different products that

Ted Echeman:

you're selling. But I think what I've learned, really, lately

Ted Echeman:

about more of the democratized testing approach that where a

Ted Echeman:

lot of these products even for oncology, and, you know, other

Ted Echeman:

products, infectious disease are getting democratized. And what I

Ted Echeman:

mean by that is, they're getting put in more of a central

Ted Echeman:

location where testing can be done. So versus everybody doing

Ted Echeman:

a test send out to a laboratory in, you know, California or

Ted Echeman:

wherever, right now we're bringing it closer to the

Ted Echeman:

patient. And I think that's a great trend, right? Because then

Ted Echeman:

we can expand that hopefully, and you know, we can get health

Ted Echeman:

equity, and we can, you know, start to gain traction on some

Ted Echeman:

of the things that we're really lacking in healthcare today. But

Ted Echeman:

yeah, I think it's really important that, you know,

Ted Echeman:

especially with this more democratized approach, that we

Ted Echeman:

have the right pieces to the puzzle in place to support these

Ted Echeman:

customers, so that they can then support their customers, which

Ted Echeman:

are their internal physicians, their patients, so on and so

Ted Echeman:

forth.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yes, yes. And knowing that, you know, yes, the

Wesleyne Greer:

physician is your customer, but they have a customer, if you

Wesleyne Greer:

will, too. And so it's not just about the physician, you also

Wesleyne Greer:

have to think about that end customer like, what is the

Wesleyne Greer:

experience that the patient is going to get? How does this

Wesleyne Greer:

translate into success for them? Like, what are the long term

Wesleyne Greer:

ramifications all of those things? Right? So when we think

Wesleyne Greer:

about our field of, you know, this very technical sale, as you

Wesleyne Greer:

mentioned, it is a complex sale, it is a very complex sale,

Wesleyne Greer:

because there's so many different buying influences that

Wesleyne Greer:

are involved and most times, probably never get to talk to

Wesleyne Greer:

the patients, but they're actually the one that gets to

Wesleyne Greer:

say, yes, that was great. What you did, or yes, that we have

Wesleyne Greer:

increased our patient outcomes, or their you know, their rate of

Wesleyne Greer:

being readmitted is lower, like, so all of those things are so

Wesleyne Greer:

important.

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, I agree. And overtime, you always want to re

Ted Echeman:

qualify your your customers, right, it's really important is,

Ted Echeman:

you know, right, it's kind of the basics that and a lot of

Ted Echeman:

people don't do it, which is really interesting, but always

Ted Echeman:

have a certain time set out where you're going to re

Ted Echeman:

qualify, you're going to get in touch with that customer, you're

Ted Echeman:

generally you're making it about you know, you're bringing other

Ted Echeman:

additional materials. So you're you're justifying that

Ted Echeman:

conversation. But I think it's really important to re qualify,

Ted Echeman:

make sure that customers are still on board, we know that,

Ted Echeman:

you know, competitors are always hitting the market. And as much

Ted Echeman:

as we think that we know, all the competitors in the

Ted Echeman:

landscape, a lot of times, they come out of nowhere. And they'll

Ted Echeman:

be talking to your customer for months and your customers not

Ted Echeman:

saying anything to you, not because they don't trust you, or

Ted Echeman:

that they don't you know, but they may not actually see that

Ted Echeman:

it's a competitor right away, right? And over time, then that

Ted Echeman:

starts to evolve. And if you're not doing the right

Ted Echeman:

qualifications, you're not, you know, staying really relevant to

Ted Echeman:

the conversation with new product development, you know,

Ted Echeman:

things that you can add on to those products that might add

Ted Echeman:

additional value to that entire sale. And what I mean by that is

Ted Echeman:

we don't just sell products, we sell solutions, right? And you

Ted Echeman:

really have to have that mindset. So what is the full

Ted Echeman:

solution, right? It's not just the product It's everything that

Ted Echeman:

supports it and everything around it. So you really have to

Ted Echeman:

be careful, you know, the competitors are there. And so I

Ted Echeman:

say recoil is one of the biggest things that people don't do that

Ted Echeman:

should do.

Wesleyne Greer:

Absolutely. And when I hear someone and they're

Wesleyne Greer:

like, oh, yeah, we don't have any competitors, because our

Wesleyne Greer:

product is so unique. And so cutting edge when like, okay,

Wesleyne Greer:

that's fine. But you know, the biggest competition that most

Wesleyne Greer:

people don't even think about or consider is the competition of

Wesleyne Greer:

doing nothing. Right? Of not changing, right? And so you have

Wesleyne Greer:

to realize that they can say, I don't want to do anything like

Wesleyne Greer:

and that is a lost sale to they're like, Nope, it seems too

Wesleyne Greer:

complex, it doesn't seem worth the risk. It's not this. It's

Wesleyne Greer:

not that. Yeah,

Ted Echeman:

that's a great point. It's a great point. And,

Ted Echeman:

you know, I think it's really important to obviously in

Ted Echeman:

negotiating to always get to that know, as quick as possible,

Ted Echeman:

right. So you can move forward, I think those that don't make a

Ted Echeman:

sale right away with a customer, right, make sure that you

Ted Echeman:

establish that relationship, as well maintain that relationship,

Ted Echeman:

make sure you walk away with an opportunity to come back at some

Ted Echeman:

point and know why you lost that opportunity. Don't just walk

Ted Echeman:

away with a lost opportunity, you know, ask the questions, you

Ted Echeman:

know, what could I have done different? What was it about our

Ted Echeman:

product that didn't entice you today to want to move forward,

Ted Echeman:

you know, you may find that it's something you just didn't

Ted Echeman:

address as well. Or maybe you tried to close too soon without

Ted Echeman:

building up the need as much as you needed to. And which, again,

Ted Echeman:

is very important, right? If you don't build that neat up enough,

Ted Echeman:

you know, you can't come in for that close. And so closing too

Ted Echeman:

early is, I think often what people do as well in this space,

Ted Echeman:

and is not, you know, it's not something you want to do. And so

Ted Echeman:

I think but very important, you know, as you get no said to you,

Ted Echeman:

as customers decide to move forward with another product,

Ted Echeman:

maintain that relationship, and make sure you can come back to

Ted Echeman:

them later and ask the questions.

Wesleyne Greer:

And I love to say that it's okay to lose, but

Wesleyne Greer:

it's not okay to to lose the same way twice. And the way that

Wesleyne Greer:

you prevent that is by doing a full post mortem on okay, why

Wesleyne Greer:

did we lose? What missteps did I personally make, because if the

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson doesn't take responsibility for their part in

Wesleyne Greer:

it, they'll blame the company, their plan their boss, and blame

Wesleyne Greer:

the process. This didn't go out in time it was this, it was that

Wesleyne Greer:

but they have to really peel back the layers of the onion and

Wesleyne Greer:

figure out what they could have done better in order to move the

Wesleyne Greer:

deal through the pipeline.

Ted Echeman:

That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

Ted Echeman:

Yeah, really important.

Wesleyne Greer:

And so you've had such a diverse career

Wesleyne Greer:

starting in financial services and oncology, and now infectious

Wesleyne Greer:

disease, what is something that you are most proud of

Wesleyne Greer:

accomplishing

Ted Echeman:

beyond my kids? Career wise,

Wesleyne Greer:

it can be personal or professional, it

Ted Echeman:

could be Yeah, you know, I would say just being

Ted Echeman:

able to really love what I'm doing, being able to, you know,

Ted Echeman:

have a family that understands, there's a lot of work that goes

Ted Echeman:

into that. And, you know, working for innovative companies

Ted Echeman:

requires a lot of work, you know, and you really have to

Ted Echeman:

love what you do to put that work in and, you know, having my

Ted Echeman:

lovely wife, you know, who supports me tremendously. Let me

Ted Echeman:

you know, do all of these things, the fact that I have a,

Ted Echeman:

you know, a beautiful children I've got, I have three, two

Ted Echeman:

girls, and a boy, you know, is really important to me, and

Ted Echeman:

those are probably my biggest accomplishments, and being able

Ted Echeman:

to provide for them, as well as a really big accomplishment in

Ted Echeman:

my book and giving them opportunities that, you know,

Ted Echeman:

maybe I didn't have growing up and things like that, as well.

Ted Echeman:

And also, I would say, you know, not matching that. But another

Ted Echeman:

thing is, I've been very blessed to have really good mentors. And

Ted Echeman:

throughout my career, I've tried to humble myself and do want to

Ted Echeman:

learn and want to, you know, really be invested in the

Ted Echeman:

process. And so I've gained some really, really key, you know,

Ted Echeman:

folks that I can lean on when I have questions, I would say, as

Ted Echeman:

you grow in your career, really stay close to the people that

Ted Echeman:

you want to follow the people that really motivate you. It may

Ted Echeman:

not even be that obvious sometimes, but it will come to

Ted Echeman:

you stay close to them be able to ask them questions and no

Ted Echeman:

questions, a bad question. So I would say, you know, to backup

Ted Echeman:

the family and to bring it more back to business Wesleyan, I

Ted Echeman:

think the folks that I've been able to establish relationships

Ted Echeman:

with and be able to lean on over the years is one of my biggest

Ted Echeman:

accomplishments, I think, is on top of obviously, being able to

Ted Echeman:

put products out that, you know, hopefully, you know, save lives

Ted Echeman:

and, and increase survival. And all of those things, those are

Ted Echeman:

more of the obvious ones, but for maybe some of your listeners

Ted Echeman:

here, some of the less obvious ones would be really my mentors,

Ted Echeman:

the ones I've been able to build, and

Wesleyne Greer:

I really love that 360 degree view that you

Wesleyne Greer:

gave because it's like my family and my mentors, right. And so

Wesleyne Greer:

it's like, what's above what's below what's beside me and

Wesleyne Greer:

thinking about your wife. And so those are some amazing, amazing

Wesleyne Greer:

things to be proud of. As we wrap up, I am curious what is

Wesleyne Greer:

the one best way that People can reach out to you if they want to

Wesleyne Greer:

get in touch.

Ted Echeman:

Yeah. So I always just tell folks, you know,

Ted Echeman:

connect with me on LinkedIn, I do do some mentoring on the side

Ted Echeman:

as well, with some younger sales folks that are looking to get

Ted Echeman:

into the industry. My recommendation is generally

Ted Echeman:

always to go the route of, you know, some key companies that

Ted Echeman:

are out there that have some great training programs to get

Ted Echeman:

into the market. You know, again, follow the process,

Ted Echeman:

right? I think the process is very important, don't get

Ted Echeman:

impatient things will come. But I would say LinkedIn, and then

Ted Echeman:

you know, for those that I connect with on there, generally

Ted Echeman:

just connect via phone or email and set up some time.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you so much, Ted, for sharing your

Wesleyne Greer:

time, your talent, your expertise, and all of your

Wesleyne Greer:

knowledge with us today. It has been a pleasure, and I've

Wesleyne Greer:

learned so much from you.

Ted Echeman:

Thank you, Wesleyne. I really appreciate

Ted Echeman:

the invitation and I look forward to listening to your

Ted Echeman:

podcast to come as well.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you

Wesleyne Greer:

so much for tuning in. This has been a another episode of the

Wesleyne Greer:

transform sales podcast and remember in everything that you

Wesleyne Greer:

do, make sure that you are focusing on how you can sell

Wesleyne Greer:

better and transform your sales. Until next time. Thank you for

Wesleyne Greer:

joining us today on the snack sized sales podcast. If you

Wesleyne Greer:

enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave us a review. Learn how

Wesleyne Greer:

to continue increasing your bottom line by getting

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simplified sales strategies delivered to your inbox weekly

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by going to www dot snack sized sales.com. Trust me, your bank

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